Skip to content

Visual Materials

Walter L. Main 3 Ring Trained Wild Animal Shows : high wire artists : introducing the most difficult and dangerous feats ever devised by human ingenuity



You might also be interested in

  • The Barnum & Bailey greatest show on Earth : Déry the most intricate and difficult balancing act in the world. : the 3 Lienerts sensational act the promenade on the horizontal mirror. : The 3 Arleys marvelous act performing the feats exactly as shown in the picture

    The Barnum & Bailey greatest show on Earth : Déry the most intricate and difficult balancing act in the world. : the 3 Lienerts sensational act the promenade on the horizontal mirror. : The 3 Arleys marvelous act performing the feats exactly as shown in the picture

    Visual Materials

    Image of three different acrobatic acts being performed before spectators under a circus tent: two male acrobats balancing on a stack of tables, three female circus performers standing upside down on a mirror suspended from the ceiling, and six male acrobats performing balancing acts with poles; small vignettes of head-and-shoulder portraits of P.T. Barnum and J.A. Bailey in upper left corner.

    priJLC_ENT_000968

  • Clyde Beatty and Cole Bros. world’s largest circus

    Clyde Beatty and Cole Bros. world’s largest circus

    Visual Materials

    Image of one male and two female aerialists swinging from trapezes, one female aerialist swinging from a ribbon held in her mouth, and a female tightrope walker balancing blindfolded on a high wire; date sheet for a Tuesday, August 1st show in Jamestown, New York, pasted below image.

    priJLC_ENT_000089

  • Cristiani Bros. Circus : world's largest

    Cristiani Bros. Circus : world's largest

    Visual Materials

    Image of four elephants standing on their hind legs with a female circus performer, and a ring with performing elephants and a male animal trainer and female performer in the background; date sheet for an August 20-30, [1959], show in Los Angeles, California, pasted below image.

    priJLC_ENT_000160

  • Barnum & Bailey greatest show on Earth : the four Silbons, America's greatest troupe of aerialists

    Barnum & Bailey greatest show on Earth : the four Silbons, America's greatest troupe of aerialists

    Visual Materials

    Image of the two female and two male members of the Silbon aerialist troupe performing, with a central image of the members performing on trapezes in multiple routines simultaneously, while a male circus performer balances on a moving horse in a circus ring with a clown in the background, and an image, at left, of the Silbons standing one-on-top of the other while balancing on hanging rings outdoors.

    priJLC_ENT_001315

  • [Collage of a burlesque and minstrel performers and acts]

    [Collage of a burlesque and minstrel performers and acts]

    Visual Materials

    Image of a collage of vignettes of burlesque, acrobatic, and minstrel acts and performers centered between two standing burlesque dancers in red costumes and including vignettes of the head-and-shoulders of fourteen female performers in formal dress, acrobats performing on bars, trapezes, and in balancing acts on balls and on a tightrope high wire, rows of men dancing with some in blackface, a group of female dancers with jump ropes, and a male minstrel troupe with musical instruments.

    priJLC_ENT_000260

  • Barnum & Bailey greatest show on Earth : Winston's remarkable riding, juggling aerobatic seals most wonderful trained animal feature of the age

    Barnum & Bailey greatest show on Earth : Winston's remarkable riding, juggling aerobatic seals most wonderful trained animal feature of the age

    Visual Materials

    Image of a collage of three images of a costumed male animal trainer in a circus ring with seals consisting of an image of four seals balancing balls while two of the seals ride on the backs of horses and one sits in a horse-drawn carriage, at right; an image of the trainer watching one seal complete a flip in a stop-motion-like view, at upper left; and an image of the trainer watching one seal balance a lamp on its nose while sitting on a ball while another seal balances a cross-shaped item on its nose, at lower left; small vignettes of head-and-shoulder portraits of P.T. Barnum and J.A. Bailey in upper left corner.

    priJLC_ENT_001326