M.L. Clark and Son’s Combined Shows

M.L. Clark’s Herd of Performing Elephants (c.1910)

Donaldson Litho Co. – One Sheet

Mack Loren (M.L.) Clark and his brother Wylie (W.C.) first started in the mud show business about 1885. Their circus – The Clark Bros. Shows – traveled like most shows of the time, by wagon.

The two split in the 1890s and while Wylie continued with his circus, M.L. Clark started a traveling medicine show, which included a 19 pony merry-go-round, a few acts and a dentist who would pull teeth for free (now you know why they sold the medicine!)

As the show grew M.L. Clark began hiring circus acts and buying elephants, and up until about 1904 the M.L. Clark Combined Shows was a one ring circus, with a second ring added that season.

In 1907 the name of the circus was changed to M.L. Clark and Son’s Combined Shows and son Lee Clark began managing the show with his father.

It was about that time that this specially designed poster was created by the Donaldson Litho. Co.

In the spring of 1909 the Clark circus moved to rails for a few months, returning to wagons by the end of the season.

By 1910 the circus was carrying cages of wild animals, 210 horses, four elephants and eight camels.

In 1922 M.L. Clark leased the title to Floyd and Howard King with the income being split 50/50.

When M.L. Clark died in 1926 the circus was still a full-fledged wagon show, the last of its kind. The circus continued to tour until 1930 when it closed as the Great Depression was having an impact on potential audiences in the mountains of Virginia and Maryland.

Incidentally, the M.L. Clark title was used in the mid-1940s by a showman named E.E. Coleman who operated a truck show from 1943-1945. 

Chris Berry