• The Four Imperial Japs; a troupe of equalibrists
• Jane Ardway, a young lady of piquant charm, who modestly styles herself a comedienne
• Walter Myers and company give a minstrel act that brings back the good old days with its Thatcher ministralsy. They sing ragtime melodies with an infectious swing
• The Argus Four have voices seldom heard on the variety stage today
• Four Reels of Pictures

Lyceum

• "Infamous Don Miguel", a stirring story of the Cuban revolution
• "The Wordless Message", a pathetic story of a misguided girl
• Two screaming comedies: "The Professor's Predicament" and "Nearly in Mourning"
• "The Right of Way"
• Hazel McLaskey will sing several songs

Other Events About Town

Miss Irene Montgomery, famous rider of the Sells-Floto arena

The Women of the Circus
by Letitia Yates

Five years ago, when the Sells-Floto Circus was playing its annual engagement at Portland, Miss Dallie Julian, the then star premier equestrienne was the recipient of a large bunch of American Beauty roses, the gift of an unknown admirer.

From a drawing,"A day at the Circus"by
Z.A.Hendrick, Janesville,Wisconsin,Aug.8,1907,State Historical Society, Wisconsin

Strange as it may appear, to those who night after night see whole florists' shops passed over the footlights to favorites in the dramatic world, such an occurrence seldom happens in the circus. Why, do you know that back in the dressing tent, it created an absolute furor, so much indeed, that a large percentage of the performers forgot to respond to the equestrien director's whistle and were penalized accordingly.

But it was Shorty Maynard, the inimitable clown, who undertook to personally run the incident to it's lair; and although he was not successful in discovering the perpetrator of the "outrage," he voiced his sentiments in no uncertain language.

"Huh!" said he,"folks will begin to think that the circus is like some of these hall shows. We don't want any of these towners hanging around after our women. If it ever gets to be like that, good-bye to the circus." Then he proceeded to cross-examine Miss Julian with a certain ponderous gravity.

"Who do you suppose sent em to you Dallie?" he queried.

"Honest, I don't know, Shorty," she replied.

"Well, thats all right," retorted the clown, "but don't let it occur again. If you get like one of them actresses, Dallie, it will spell your finish with the Big Top." And so the incident was closed.

Perhaps I should explain. As the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritins, so the people of the circus affiliate but little with they of the theatre. The folks of Sock and Ruskin are simply ticketed and labeled as "hall show" people, and the inhabitants of cities are "towners."

A circus girl has little or no time for frivolity. Her day commences as early as seven o'clock in the morning, when she leaves the sleeping-cars and goes over to the mess-tent for breakfast. It may be two or three miles to the circus lot; and after the morning meal, her time is fully occupied arranging costumes in the dressing-tent, until the bugle sounds for parade, when she slips hurriedly into her professional clothing, mounts a horse, a camel or an elephant, and takes part in what all good press-agents love to describe as a dream of "Oriental magnificence." The parade is hardly over before twelve-thirty; a hasty lunch is partaken of and then comes the dressing for the matinee. Of course, if the girl happens to be one of the star riders, she is not asked to make parade, but a star in the circus world has innummerable and elaborate costumes to look after and keep in order, so she, too, has her hands full, until such time as she is called for the afternoon performance.

If any of the circus people have ever invited you back to the big tent, after the close of the matinee, you will then realize that excellence of achievement in the circus world means unending work. No sooner does the audience leave than many of the performers commence a series of rehearsals. Horses are brought out and put through their paces; fair riders, clad in conventional bloomers, try out new stunts, and acrobats take their turns on the mats and trapeze. Dinner is served between the hours of five and six. Then comes the preperation for the evening performance, and, be it known that every circus girl, be she star or otherwise, appears at least twice. The evening session usually ends at ten thirty. Then the performer must pack her professional trunk, and make her way to the sleepers, where the train pulls for the next town, just as soon as it is loaded. So it is from day to day.

To the outsider, it would seem as if this kind of existence was monotonous, uninteresting and replete with petty hardship; but not so to the women of the circus. As a rule she has been born into the profession, and it surrounds her world like a Chinese wall. She believes in its traditions and disciplines, and is inordinately proud of the fact that her name is written in the "blue book" of the people of the "wandering foot." Perhaps she is the only member of the feminine gender for whom the society column has no attraction nor charm. Because, as she argues it, how could a mere leader of society, who, at the most, perhaps, has held the reins for ten or a dozen years, compare with a woman whose forbears, for a couple of centuries, have made history in the circus world.

Take, for instance, the Stickney sisters, or Miss Hobson, or Maud Burbank, or Miss Royal or in fact, any of the star riders of the Sells Floto circus. AS far back as the history of the sawdust ring goes there have been Stickneys and Hobsons on nearly every racing program. Miss Emily Stickney is known as the original "Polly of the Circus." She was educated in France, it being the hope of her people that she would become immune from the glamour of the tents. Her brother Bob was sent to Harvard, but both returned to the early doctrines of their fathers, just as soon as their education was completed.

And so it goes. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Thats about the size of it. The circus has rattled down through the ages as the one form of amusement which has never been superceded; its charm will probably always remain for the people wanderingly through its magic mazes, and likewise for those to whom its history and belongings have become a religion.

The Entertainers on this Page:

• Raymond Hitchcock
• Flora Zabelle (aka Mrs.Raymond Hitchcock)pic
• Marie Richmond
• Minerva Coverdale
• Gloria gray
• Nan Brown
• Theodore Martin
• George E. Mack
• George White
• Edward Metcalfe
• George Romain
• Charles Prince
• Stella Mayhew &
• Billie Taylor
• W. L. Abingdon and his own company
  Miss Nina Herbert
  Frank Hollins
• Bobker's Whirlwind Arabs - Bobker Ben Ali has assembled 11 extraordinary Arab acrobats
• Alma Youlin
• Kennedy, Nobody and Platt
• Mack and Williams
• Ward Baker
• Charles de Soria
• Charles Leonard Fletcher
• Clark and McCullough
• The "Klein Brothers"
• Thomas and Gertrude Kennedy
• The Four Imperial Japs
• Jane Ardway
• Walter Myers and company
• The Argus Four

Table of Contents

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