Samuel W. Gumpertz (1868 – June 22, 1952) was an American showman who played a part in the building of

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

's Dreamland. Gumpertz was the talent manager of

Harry Houdini Erik Weisz (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926), known professionally as Harry Houdini ( ), was a Hungarian-American escapologist, illusionist, and stunt performer noted for his escape acts. Houdini first attracted notice in vaudeville in ...

, and he became the right-hand man to John T. Ringling, last of the famed Ringling Brothers, and after Ringling retired in 1932, he took over the circus in the capacity of vice-president and general manager. He was responsible for merging Ringling Brothers with

Barnum and Bailey The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth ...

, Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus and the Al G. Barnes Circus

Biography and career

Gumpertz was born in 1868, to Herman and Elizabeth Gumpertz, his father was a lawyer and veteran of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. Samuel started his career as a professional acrobat aged 9, with the Montgomery and Queen Circus. After running away to join the circus, he took part in every phrase of the industry, as an actor, producer and rough rider at

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

wild west shows Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of co ...

. His career as an acrobat was short lived and Gumpertz resumed his schooling, however after his family relocated to San Francisco, three years thereafter. Gumpertz worked as a child actor at the Tivoli Opera House. As an agent he traveled the world in search of indigenous people to perform in the popular ethnographic sideshows of the day, including Filipinos who were exhibited in an "Igorot Village", long-necked women from Burma and people from Borneo who performed as "wild men of Borneo," who Gumpertz reportedly 'acquired' by paying two hundred bags of salt to tribal leaders. Many people of the time critized him for the explorative nature of his sideshows, but the reality is that these performers were making a good living that would have been impossible doing any other type of work at the time. Gumpertz owned Parkway baths, the largest bathhouse on Coney Island, the Eden Musee Wax Museum and the Chamber of Horrors. Gumpertz ran Dreamland until it burned down in 1911. Afterwards he served as the president of the Coney Island Chamber of Commerce. Then in 1929 he become the manager of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Personal life

Gumpertz was married to Evie Stetson in 1922, who was a member of Webber and Fields Troupe. After her death, he remarried Edith L. Green, his secretary of 22 years. After she died, he married a third time, to Beatrice Frances Wood of Methuen, Massachusetts

References

1868 births 1952 deaths American entertainment industry businesspeople {{US-entertainer-stub