Arthur Bros Circus #1
Posted By thecircusblog on March 21, 2012
Three section animal cage wagon…….If my memory holds true Martin was his first name, Martin Arthur, owner of Arthur Bros Circus. I do remember Martin Arthur in the early 1940’s. He was also partners with Jimmy Woods in some small show in 1950.
Please read Comment by Harry Kingston.
Bob Cline also made a comment.
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thecircusblog
My name is Ivan M. Henry and I am the 4th generation of a circus/show business dynasty. I hope you enjoy the blog.Comments
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Many of these Circus Wagons were stored at the Big Barn at Jungleland and were later refurbished by Uncle Al (Al Dixon) and were used in Dr. Doolittle and many other movies as Medicine Show wagons etc. This perticular 3 cage wagon looks like the one Otto Berasini moved his Cats in about 1975. Otto and Cookie did some of the best juggling on the West Coast, ball on ball spining etc. I had the pleasure of working ring 3 with Otto in 2 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Also Reid Bros.and the L A dates in the 70s.
This is a Hagenbeck-Wallace 3 arch cage wagon.
Arthur Bros was in the mid 1940’s .
Other wagons also look H-W also and they closed out in California in 1938
Harry,
I think HW was also touring in Oregon in the 70s atleast in name and had a great band with an electric synthesized sound that later came alive ina little show called Cirque de Sole’.
Hello Ivan,
Your cage was indeed on the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus that closed in 1938 at the old Al G. Barnes Quarters near Thousand Oaks, CA. Louis Goebel acquired a bunch of equipment which was stored in the large barn.
I don’t know the exact details whether Louis Goebel leased or sold the equipment to Martin E. Arthur for his Arthur Bros. Circus from 1943 to 1945 but when Arthur Bros. Closed, most of it came back to Louis Goebel.
For years this equipment was used in movies and carried many different show titles. According to Chappie Fox’s book “Horse Drawn Wagon Collection” this wagon found its way out to Phoenix in a private horse drawn collection. Fred D. Pfening Jr and Paul Ingrassia bought this cage and then donated it to Circus World Museum.
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus is a title owned by the Feld Corporation as part of the American Circus Corporation titles that John Ringling bought in 1930. The Ringling organization has never let anyone use the Hagenbeck-Wallace title since 1938 and it serves as Costume supplier to the Ringling show now.
Just to make things really confusing, Dub Duggan took out his show he called Hagan-Wallace Circus from 1951 to 1961.
Bob