Faded Grandeur!
Scenes such as this were a common sight in rural America a century ago. This photo, of a nice daub outside of Evansville, Indiana, dates from 1921, probably taken a few weeks after The Greatest Show on Earth visited the town. The billposters found enough space for a...
Rudy Rudynoff
This poster is one of a handful that were produced in the 1920s and 30s to promote the great liberty horse trainer and performer Rudy Rudynoff (Rudy Gebhardt). Rudy Gebhardt was the son of a German acrobat and circus wardrobe mistress who grew up on various European...
Sells-Floto – 1902
In 1902 the publishers of the Denver Post newspaper, Harry Tamman and Frederick Bonfils, started a circus. They named it “The Floto Dog and Pony Show” after their well-known sportswriter Otto Floto. Four years later the newspapermen hired William Sells to manage the...
Sparks Circus – Jessica Martin
Jessica Martin was a young tightrope artist in the 1920s whose skills and beauty were no doubt the reason the Sparks Circus commissioned his gorgeous one sheet about 1928. When Jessica graduated from high school in South Philadelphia in 1923, the “class...