Sells Floto Circus
Encyclopedia
The Sells Floto Circus was a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus
that toured with sideshow acts in the United States during the early 1900s.
and Harry Heye Tammen owned the first outfit as well as the Denver Post, and the "Floto" name came from the Post's one-time sportswriter, Otto Floto. During the 1914-1915 seasons the circus featured Buffalo Bill Cody.
The circus had four elephant births, three born to "Alice" and one to "Mama Mary". The sire of all four was "Snyder". None survived longer than five months.
By 1929 the Sells Floto was part of the American Circus Corporation
, along with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus
, the John Robinson Circus, the Sparks Circus, and the Al G. Barnes Circus
. John Nicholas Ringling bought the conglomerate organization outright for $1.7-million. With that acquisition, Ringling owned virtually every traveling circus in America.
Sells Brothers Circus
-History:It ran from 1862 to 1863 and again from 1871 to 1895. It merged with the circus operated by Adam Forepaugh to form the Forepaugh-Sells Brothers' Circus in 1900. It later merged with the Floto Dog & Pony Show into Sells Floto Circus.-External links:...
that toured with sideshow acts in the United States during the early 1900s.
History
Frederick Gilmer BonfilsFrederick Gilmer Bonfils
Frederick Gilmer Bonfils , U.S. publisher who made the Denver Post into one of the largest newspapers in the United States....
and Harry Heye Tammen owned the first outfit as well as the Denver Post, and the "Floto" name came from the Post's one-time sportswriter, Otto Floto. During the 1914-1915 seasons the circus featured Buffalo Bill Cody.
The circus had four elephant births, three born to "Alice" and one to "Mama Mary". The sire of all four was "Snyder". None survived longer than five months.
By 1929 the Sells Floto was part of the American Circus Corporation
American Circus Corporation
The American Circus Corporation, consisted of the Sells-Floto Circus, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, the John Robinson Circus, the Sparks Circus, and the Al G. Barnes Circus. It was owned by Jerry Mugivan, Bert Bowers and Ed Ballard. They sold the company in 1929 to John Nicholas Ringling for $1.7...
, along with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus
Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus was a circus that traveled across America in the early part of the 20th century. At its peak, it was the second-largest circus in America next to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. It was based in Peru, Indiana....
, the John Robinson Circus, the Sparks Circus, and the Al G. Barnes Circus
Al G. Barnes Circus
-History:Stonehouse started the show in 1895 with a pony, a phonograph, a stereopticon. His circus was purchased by the American Circus Corporation in 1929 and was merged with the Sells-Floto Circus, John Robinson Shows, and Sparks Circus. That same year John Nicholas Ringling bought out the...
. John Nicholas Ringling bought the conglomerate organization outright for $1.7-million. With that acquisition, Ringling owned virtually every traveling circus in America.
Members
- Novelist and cookbook author Isabel Moore's "first career" was as a trapeze artist with Sells Floto ca. 1928. She took the job because she had "courage, but no brains."
External links
- Sells Floto Page 1914-1916 photos from the Karl King Website - includes Sells Floto routes for 1912, 1914-1916