Side-Show and Animal Tricks (Bostock)

Obviously a book with the words, "animal tricks," in the title will include pages of animal tricks. Mostly the guide gives many different kinds of tricks you can teach an animal to do. It was interesting to see animal training written about so plainly when today it is considered a very contoversial subject, and you have entire nations banning the use of any animals in the circus.

Today's scan features a quote from Mr. Bostock, and I am thinking that would be the Bostock from Bostock and Wombwell's Menagerie. I read a little about what a menagerie was via this article at the Fairground Heritage Trust. The Bonstock & Wombwell show was unique in that they had such a diverse and large amount of animals, and were willing to haul their traveling zoo all over the earth.

I was able to find this youtube video with actual footage of the Bostock farm:

Side-Show and Animal Tricks (Sideshow Freaks)

The center of the book focuses on the secrets of "sideshow freaks". While there have been many people who were born with deformities and made a living (sometimes willingly and other times unwillingly) traveling with the circus, this book gives you a practical guide to producing the illusion without the reality.

I have always felt kind of uncomfortable looking at pictures of "freaks" because it seems so horrible to give money just to point and stare at someone, so I admit that this part of the book was a little hard to research. You can find a list of the top ten circus sideshow freaks here...but it is slightly NSFW.

For a thorough history and collection of circus performers & sideshow folk check out ShowHistory.com.

Side-Show and Animal Tricks (Jumbo)

Here is a scan of the inside pages. You'll see it is a list of who was who in circus attractions at the time this was written. The mention that caught my attention was of Jumbo the elephant. Jumbo was P.T. Barnum's prize creature. Jumbo had already traveled a lot- starting in Mali, then going to Paris, and becoming a hit in London zoos before arriving in the states.

Jumbo was extremely popular in life, but in death his story took several bizarre turns. He died after being hit by a train, and from what I've read, why the train hit him depended upon who you asked at the time. Barnum swore Jumbo protected a baby elephant. Others said he charged the train in anger. There are also stories that suggested Jumbo was drunk at the time! You can read eyewitness accounts via this article in Tufts Magazine.

Jumbo's story did not end after he died. Barnum, always quick to take advantage of a situation, had him stuffed and put on display at the Tufts museum. What happened next was the subject of a recent short documentary that was also a tribute to the filmmaker Chelsea Spear's father. You can read more about her work on the project via this Boston.com article.

Below is the doc, titled, Jumbo in a Jar.