“Owner Bills” such as this were often used by circuses in the late 1800s and early 1900s to instill trust in products, much in the same way that the Smith Bros and patent medicines put portraits on boxes of cough drops and over the counter remedies. The theory was...
This photograph of proud papa Lou, daughter Dolly and the boss was taken in the early 1980s. Dolly Jacobs first joined the Red Unit as a 14-year old show girl in 1971, moving to a solo spot on Roman Rings in 1977. In the years that followed Dolly became the...
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...
George Nestel, seen here with his manager William Ellinger, was billed as “Commodore Foote” when he appeared in Washington, D.C. with James Nixon’s Cremorne Garden Circus in 1862. The owner of the circus claimed that the “Commodore” was stronger, smaller and...
Just spell my name right! This rather scarce and attractive window card was used to promote the double repeating cannon act on the Cole Bros Circus of 1949. The poster features the image of Donaldo and Silvana Zacchini – although they are billed (and incorrectly...
This is the story of “Princess Wenona,” a rival of Annie Oakley and one of the great trick shot artists of the Wild West era. First of all, despite the billing, she wasn’t a Sioux princess at all. Her real name was Lillian Smith and she began shooting competitively...
