The Billboard 1924-03-22: Vol 36 Iss 12 (1924-03-22)

i i ; 4 | i { ws With Illustrations From the Circus Collection of the Author Display of Horsemanship With a Clown to Entertain the Ladies and Gentlemen Between the Feats” on Boston Common in 1786, hand bills and advertising booklets have played an important part in arousing the aura of curiosity and excitement so essential to the success of a circus. While this form of literature has undergone many changes in style in the intervening years, its mission has always been the same—to instill in the reader a curious desire to know more of the wonders of the canvas-canopied arena, Se James Poole first exhibited his “Grand To be true, its early writers sometimes made most bombastic announcements, and during opposition often produced bills supercharged with grandiloquent exaggeration, but this was a form f literary hydrophobia the public enjoyed and somehow it seemed applicable to a circus fight. Capable circus bill writers are today, as in generations past, few and far between. Most of them have been able press agents, but few press agents have been successful bill writers, the two vocations being far from identical. HAS. H. DAY was an out standing figure among the _ bill writers of his time. Between the years 1874 and 1885 his services were in great demand. During this period he Was connected with six different shows as “Director of Publications”, a title that usually avpeared in conjunction with his name on the bills and booklets which he created. Day was noted for his strikine ori¢inality in thought and expression, and had the faculty of putting on paper that “which oft was thoucht, but ne’er so well exvressed.” His advertising booklets (or couriers, as thev were HYATT FROST nnn “4 , called) were alwavs intensely interecting, surpassing in creative power, range of thourht and vividness any published by circuses that time. And his opyosition ils he ealled « spade a spade, and ichingly told of the shortcomings of tae rival attractions, always seeing them thru a powerful magnifying glass. All of his material was wriiten in a most frank and convincing manner. He wrote splendid bills for the John H. Murray Circus in 1874, heading them with the catch line, “Refined gold needs no gilding.” Later, while with the W. C. Coup Circus, his opposition writings against the Van Amburgh Show, which had chanced to cross his path, created considerable commotion. He had thouSands of flyers, decorated with huge red strives thru the center, printed, which read: “The Van Amburgh Show Dissectéd!—Post-Mortem of a Galvanized Corpse”, followed by an inventory of what the show advertised and a much shorter column of what it really exhibited. At the foot of the bill he wrote: “After reading the advertisements of this Van Amburgh Show one must exclaim with Congreve (the writer of those pleas EDWIN P NORWOOD The Billboard By Roland Butler ant fictions lent to romantic literature’: ‘Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of the thou liar of the first magnitude.’ ”’ For a while Day wus associa‘ed with the Van Amburgh Show, which was under the manazement of Hyatt Frost, himself a bill writer of no Snu.all abil'ty. Por years Frost had written @distinctive advertising matter for the show. Ilis bills, or epistles, as he called them, were usually in the form of ‘“‘An open letter to my friends from Neighbor Frost’, and measured about three feet long by six inches wide. He would identify himself as a former resident of most any town in which the show was to erhibit and claim that “Your wandering boy, Hyatt Frost, is coming home—returning as the manager of the finest — RICHARD F.('Tody’) HAMILTON A. D MICHAEL I. O'NE/LL circus in the Solar System, the Great Van AmLurgh & Cnas. Reiche & Lros” New Railroad Shows, which exhib‘ts for the small sum of 25 cents.” In collaboration with Frost, Day produced some most spectacular bills, using red ink recklessly to make them appear sensational. A simple sheet announcing the price of adm‘ssion, which was distributed in times of peace, was emhellished by a great red blotch and headed: “Llood on the face of the moon—war declared against the Van Amburgh Circus because it exhibits for 25 cents.” In 1879 and in the early ’80s, while connected with the Adam Forepaugh Circus, Day was in his glory. He produced miles of copy for the big show in the form of heralds, magazines, newspapers and hand bills, and at that time was generally conceded to be the greatest all-round publicity man to be found. In The Adam Forepaugh oe MARCH 22, 1924 Illustrated Feature Journal, a sixteen-pace nows paper of which he wrote every line, Day disp! his remarkable versatility. In addition to the advertising in a curios'ty-arousing manner Lyed rol each and every attraction with the show, he published feathires of inierest to every member of a household such as helpful hints to housewives poems, cor recipes, remed’es for common ai!n and a children’s department, In the household «1 l ‘ li rv su. ‘ Wiis he sp tied of some of the circus stars, stating that they tried them and found them feasible. The poems were supposéd to have been written by Adam Forepaugh and “Addie” Junior, and the eminent circus doctor Was given credit for the medica] advice. In the children’s corner Day surgested that younssters should never fail to wash the backs of their ears as thoroly as the front of their faces, and emphasized the importance of respect to elders. He explained that parents would likely be much more inclined to take nice, clean, well-mannered children to see -he Great Forepauch Show. The paper aiso contained information for print Ss resarding the eareful handling tna Washing of uts, particularly the Forepaugh ents, and a note to publis} e country reminding thy he sure ; long marked of the iss taining I re ders if Ss ] pass ial note Day in vited evervone to watch Pen Lusbie, perform in Fe lle e. the wagon. CHARLES CHARLES H. DAY the lightning ticket AVIS | pm Me ee Day ws response ible for the famous $10,000 Reauty contest conducted by the Forenauch Show and the prearranged selection of the s‘age beauty, Louise Montacue, as the appear during the eason winner, to with the show. Dav ndvert*sed this feature most extensiveIv and was substantially rewarded by follow ing its great snuecess, Yorepaugh His opposition bills during the famous Forenvaugh Barnum circus war attracted country-wide atten ALF 7. RINGLING tion. In this fight, however, Day met his match in the person of Charles Stow, a most brilkant writer then with the Barnum Show. While connected with the L. B, Lent New York Cireus Day published a series of bills attacking the advertising methods of the Cooper» «& Bailey International Ten Allied Shows, in one of which he declared that “Thirty scoundrels who feared the light of day had in the darkness of night and on the Sabbath day circulated vile, s'anderous and libelous literature stating that the New York circus hod been quarantined on account of a small-pox epidemic and’ would not exhibit as advertised,” The style of b'lls to which Day referred were known as “rat bills”, a title suggestive of their character, lollowing Day’s association with Forepaugh he joined the staff of the Sells Bros.’ Circus. While with this organization he launched al bitter attack against the Coup Show, which had been 4 ’ hi sup ‘ le ] s” , id , n 1] d i would i ise! like m days, | v sa te ime wrote transft venom: and bi wince. Bros.’ num § Sto matter He ma would paracr that hi hada and to develo} a rival person teristic Q lestir ardly, compa cubine his ov the be honor should anothe blot o1 as the: moral main & coops.’ Sto “Jumb heavil: consid cyclon Show, Eleph: artific: Asia” tised Only Elephi Earth. Fre feasic ami Let. noun 20na