ALTON - “You can’t have a circus without clowns and girls, and you must have plenty of both, if you have a big circus, such as the Hagenbeck-Wallace, which comes to Alton on September 8, for afternoon and night performances, with a more than a mile-long street parade at 11 a.m. circus day.” The circus was set up at Riverfront Park, with a big top that could accommodate 10,000 people.
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The Hagenbeck-Wallace circus had 50 clowns, the best that “ever trouped under the white tops,” and 150 “beautiful and stately girls.” There were also three herds of performing elephants, the Orrin Davenport troupe of equestrians, Australian Wood-choppers, “just arrived from the ‘land of the kangaroos’” and three troupes of Chinese stars, here by special permission of the Chinese government. There were aerialists, acrobats, and perch artists. Over $50,000 (approximately $925,000 in 2024 money) was spent on wardrobe alone for the performers.
The menagerie was the first tent circus-goers entered, and the canvas covered an entire city block. There were 100 domestic animals and 150 wild animals, including elephants, tigers, lions, bears, camels, zebras, monkeys, snakes, and a hippopotamus. But animals were also forced to perform. There were tigers riding on the backs of elephants and lions and bears riding horseback, as well as the more standard lion and tiger training spectacles.
At one point, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was the second-largest circus in America, after the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. In the mid-1920s, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was based in West Baden, Indiana, but circuses traveled from town to town by train, and Alton was a frequent stop.
Audiences were amazed by the unusual animals and incredible feats, but cruel training methods, cramped living quarters, and constant travel (often 50 weeks of the year) put a great deal of stress on the animals. The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus ceased operations in 1938, and many circuses have phased out animal acts in the last 100 years. Even the “Greatest Show on Earth,” Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, stopped using animals in their performances in 2017 and reopened in 2023 with a reimagined show. These days, the best place to see elephants, tigers, lions, bears, camels, zebras, monkeys, snakes, hippopotami, and other wild animals is at an Association of Zoos and Aquariums accredited institution. Luckily, we have about 250 to choose from.https://www.aza.org/inst-status
Sources
“50 Clowns Help Bring Circus Fun.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), September 3, 1924.
“Animal Acts to Feature Circus.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), September 6, 1924.
“AZA-Accredited Members.” Association of Zoos and Aquariums, 2024.https://www.aza.org/inst-status
“Circus Wagon Falls in River, Delays Moving.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), September 9, 1924.
“Clowns and Girls in Wallace Circus.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), August 28, 1924.
“Crowds See Circus Go Up on Riverfront.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), September 8, 1924.
“Great Parade here for “Circus Day”.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), September 5, 1924.
“Hagenbeck-Wallace circus.” Cleveland ; New York : The Otis Lithograph Co., [between 1900 and 1910]. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-54934https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019634239/
Atwell, Harry A., Photographer. “Circus Midway Scene." United States of America, 1935. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Divisionhttps://www.loc.gov/item/2021670512
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