The Cole Bros. Circus was a medium-sized American

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

. It was founded in 1884 as "W.W. Cole's New Colossal Shows", by

William Washington Cole William Washington Cole (1847 – March 10, 1915), was part owner of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Biography He was born in 1847 in New York City to the contortionist William H. Cole and wire walker Mary Ann Cooke. In 1884, he established "W.W. Col ...

. In the 1930s, the circus employed two noted animal trainers,

Clyde Beatty Clyde Beatty (June 10, 1903 – July 19, 1965) was a famed animal trainer, zoo owner, and circus mogul. He joined Howe's Great London Circus in 1921 as a cage boy and spent the next four decades rising to fame as one of the most famous circ ...

and Allen King, both of whom traveled in their own railroad cars. During their shows the Cole Bros. Circus would often parade from their 35 large cars in the rail yards to where the circus was being performed. Another well-known performer with the circus was Bob Strehlau Juggles the Clown. In 1957 the show was renamed Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus and bought by the Acme Circus Operating Corporation, an organization formed by Jerry Collins, Frank McColsky, Randolph Calhoun, and Walter Kernan. Advertisement_for_W

By 2014, Cole Bros. Circus was one of the few traditional circuses in the United States that remained under the big top tent.
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- In 2016, the show was essentially defunct, largely in response to animal rights activists advocating against the use of animals for live performances. In 1940, in Fulton county, Indiana, a fire killed many of the animals in the Cole Brothers circus.

Alternative names

*W.W. Cole's New Colossal Shows *Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus - 1957 *Cole Bros. Circus *Cole Bros. Circus Worlds Largest Circus Under The Big Top *Cole Bros. Circus Of The Stars

Performers

Many performers traveled with Cole Bros. Circus. In 1908, featured on a herald as performing were the Seven Bostock-Sangers, the Heuman Family, Professor Charles Tinney's Concert Band, and prominently Mlle. De Zizi. On a herald published in 1959, Pinito De Oro, Gallaso, Tonito, 8 Moroccans, Beatty, Flying Palustres and

Hugo Zacchini Hugo Zacchini (20 October 1898 – 20 October 1975), one of the Zacchini Brothers, was the first human cannonball to use a compressed-air cannon. His father Ildebrando Zacchini invented the compressed-air cannon used to propel humans in cir ...

were some other performers highlighted. Some additional performers who traveled and/or performed with the circus over time were the Flying Thrillers, the Imperial Harolds, the Esqueda Family, Harietta, the Nelson Family, J. M. Christiansen, Cese O'Dell, Harold Barnes, Rozina and Estrella.

Advertising techniques

The Cole Bros. Circus used many advertising formats in order to draw as much attention and customers as possible. One of the advertising techniques they used the most were heralds. The Cole Bros. Circus heralds often did not have color. These posters often talked about how incredibly enormous the circus was in performance quality and in comparison to other circuses. The posters included quotes such as, "FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY - STUPENDOUSLY PRESENTING THE WORLD'S FAMOUS, BIGGEST AND GREATEST FEATURES", "THIS COUNTRY'S REPRESENTATIVE AMUSEMENT, ENDORSED BY THE CRITICS OF THE UNIVERSE" and "BIGGEST AND BEST CIRCUS IN THE WORLD".

Visited by the Cole Bros. Circus (1935)

Benton Harbor, Michigan Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is 46 miles southwest of Kalamazoo and 71 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. According to the 2020 census, its population was 9,103. It is the smaller, by population, of ...

Marietta, Ohio Marietta is a city in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Ohio, United States. It is located in southeastern Ohio at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, northeast of Parkersburg, West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, Mar ...

Falls City, Nebraska Falls City is a city and county seat of Richardson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 4,133 at the 2020 census, down from 4,325 in 2010 and 4,671 in 2000. History Falls City was founded in the summer of 1857 by James Lane, John ...

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

Known for

The Cole Bros. Circus, like most other American circuses in the 1930s, would set up side poles, dozens of feet tall, to put a big tent on top. Nevertheless, although intriguingly enormous, this was a common scene. However, the Cole Bros. Circus was known especially for its giant street parade from the railroad yard to the circus grounds.

References

External links

* (archived)
Clyde Beatty and Cole Bros. Circus records, 1959
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

CircusWorld archive search for Cole Bros.
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Robert L. Parkinson Library & Research Center, Circus World. *
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Robert L. Parkinson Library & Research Center, Circus World. *
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Robert L. Parkinson Library & Research Center, Circus World. * Atwell, Harry
"Cole Bros. Circus"
Library of Congress * Atwell, Harry
"Erecting the Big Top, Cole Bros. Circus, 1937"
Library of Congress * Poster
"Clyde Beatty - Cole Bros. Circus; Nashville Fair Grounds-Saturday Oct. 8."
Artstor. Collection of Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, 1979. American circuses 1884 establishments in the United States {{US-hist-stub