As early as 1931, Dorothy Herbert was taking her horse Satan across burning hurdles while blindfolded, but each season she pushed herself harder with even more spectacular stunts. In 1935, she presented an act that she later said was the most difficult thing she ever...
It is difficult for us today to understand the importance the horse had in 19th Century America – and when the circus came to town horses were an attraction similar to the big automobile shows of today. Instead of 40 horses pulling the Two Hemispheres Bandwagon,...
When this one sheet was used to promote the Hagenbeck Wallace circus of 1934, it was truly a wild animal show . . . and if you had attended you would have seen 31-year old Clyde Beatty in the center ring with not only lions – but also “Jungle-Bred Royal Bengal...
In the early spring of 1938 New Yorkers were seeing enormous posters with only four words “The Terror is Coming” It was a teaser campaign for Gargantua, the fierce gorilla that John Ringling North had acquired a few months before. Gargantua, along with big game hunter...
Bert Nelson (Cardbert Nelson Snyder) learned how to train big cats at the Selig Zoo in Los Angeles before taking out his own wild animal act, both in vaudeville and circuses. He also appeared in early silent films and as a stunt double in Tarzan movies of the 1930s. A...
