VINTAGE
CIRCUS
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| Vintage Circus |
Have you
visited a circus lately? It's true that the traditional circus isn't
as popular as it once was, and yet circuses and
The
circus as a form of entertainment was invented by a former Sergeant
Major turned showman named Philip Astley.circus toys still exert much appeal.
In 1768
he ran a riding school and during the afternoon used to perform his
'Feats of Horsemanship' in a circular area that he called circus.
By 1770,
Astley's considerable success as a performer had outshone his fame as
a teacher but he needed to inject some novelty into his presentation.
Astley
hired acrobats, tight-rope dancers and jugglers, and interspersed
their acts between his equestrian displays.
Another
addition to the show was a character borrowed from the Elizabethan
theatre, the clown, who filled the pauses between acts with parodies
of juggling, tumbling, tight-rope dancing, and even trick-riding.
From this
stemmed the modern circus, a combination of equestrian displays and
feats of strength and agility.
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| Vintage Circus |
As the
toy industry developed in the early and mid 1800's toys modelled on
the circus began to appear, firstly as rather crude wooden models of
the animals and plain jointed wooden figures of the acrobats and sad
clowns.
When
major and now famous toy manufactures such as Lehmann, Bing, Marklin,
produced their early tin-plate toys, known as novelty toys, many of
them were in the form of circus performers.
With the
introduction of simple clockwork mechanisms, tinplate acrobat figures
were made to do clever things like swing on string tightropes, and
climb poles.
Clowns
were among the most popular figures as these were made to juggle and
bang drums. Early toys, which were brightly coloured, are highly
sought after today and, in good condition, they tend to be expensive.
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| Vintage Circus |
It was in
1903 that the company produced its first Circus Toy Set named after a
hugely popular play of the time 'Humpty Dumpty'.
The
Humpy Dumpty Circus was a great hit.
The
circus personnel list grew over the years to include a lady circus
rider, lady acrobat, ringmaster, gent acrobat, minstrel, Chinese
acrobat, and a lion tamer.
Animals
included an alligator, brown bear, Polar bear, buffalo, bulldog,
camels, donkey, elephant, giraffe, gazelle, goat, hippopotamus, zebra
and sea lion.
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| Vintage Circus |
Over
the years, the Schoenhut company made many other wooden toys
including wooden dollhouses and doll furniture, musical instruments
such as xylophones and banjos, push and pull toys, and many others.
Tin-plate survivors
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| Vintage Circus |
As the
toy industry began to use lead and later a diecast method of
production, circus figures became cheaper, with one of the well known
model soldier manufacturer W Britain's Ltd adding circus items to
their range in the early 1900's. One of their major sets issued in
1910 containing lead horses plus riders and card carousel canopy,
which if found compete today has a value of around £3,000.
Later in
the 1930's when diecast toys became popular various manufacturers
introduced Circus models in their range but very few produced a full
range of models similar to a real circus.
Much
later Corgi Toys produced a limited range of 'Chipperfields' lorries
and vans, the first of which was the Crane Truck which was released
in 1960.
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| Vintage Circus |
Vintage Circus toy facts
The Schoenhut company introduced their reduced size circus in 1923 but failed to survive the depression and went out of business by 1935
The Schoenhut name is alive today, owned now by Renee and „en
Trinca, producing toy and miniature pianos. Their address is
Schoenhut Piano Company, Inc. 6480- BUS1 North St. Augustine, FL32095
USA tel: 001 904 810 1945 www.toypiano.com
A range of inexpensive tin circus toys can be bought on the internet
at www.metaltoys.com for
around £10 each
- Corgi Toys, whose range of 'Chipperfields' Circus models are now very collectable are still producing Circus models under their Lledo 'Days Gone' range. They feature vehicles connected with British Billy Smart's Circus, tel: 0238 024 8844 www.corgi.co.uk
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