This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/2/2017
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Per the encyclopedia of Milwaukee:
“Perhaps it is no surprise that in a city made famous by beer, Schlitz Brewing brought the circus to the streets of Milwaukee by sponsoring the first Great Circus Parade in 1963. As a fundraiser for the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin, the Great Circus Parade featured animals, circus wagons, marching bands, wagons, clowns, and circus performers. The parade, held twenty-nine times in Milwaukee, attracted tens of thousands of spectators each year, making it one of the largest spectator events in the state.
The Great Circus Parade honored the many circuses that had originated in Wisconsin. The most prominent circus in the state was founded by the Ringling Brothers, whose family had moved from Iowa to Baraboo when the boys were young. In 1884, five of the brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in their home town. In 1907, the brothers bought out their largest competitor, the Barnum & Bailey Circus, to create one of the largest circuses in the United States. The Ringling Brothers Circus normally went into winter quarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, now the site of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Circus World Museum.
The Great Circus Parade was born of the collaboration of C.P. “Chappie” Fox and Ben Barkin. Fox, a self-taught circus historian, was director of the Circus World Museum in Baraboo from 1960 to 1972. He focused on finding and restoring antique circus wagons from all over the United States, eventually accumulating over 120 wagons and other circus vehicles. This trademark of the museum was expensive, and Fox turned to Ben Barkin, a Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company public relations specialist in Milwaukee to raise interest and funds for the expansion of the Circus World Museum. They convinced the company to finance a parade.
The parade format represented a period in American history, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when circuses traveled by rail from town to town. They held parades in each city to attract publicity and paying customers, with bands, “wild” animals, and elaborately ornamented wagons. The Great Circus Parade featured its own train, which traveled the 200-plus miles from Baraboo to Milwaukee by way of northern Chicago suburbs like Arlington Heights, Barrington, and Palatine. Once the parade train arrived in Milwaukee, the public was invited to Veterans Park on the lakefront to get close looks at the animals, circus performers, and wagons. In 2009, the last time the parade was held, the Great Circus Parade Festival ran for four days prior to the parade.
The first parade was held in Milwaukee in 1963. A few years later, after renowned actor Ernest Borgnine revealed to Tonight Show host Johnny Carson his dream to play a clown, Barkin proposed that the actor appear in the parade. The Oscar-winning actor appeared as the “Grand Clown” in every parade held over the next three decades. Even a hiatus from 1973 to 1985 could not permanently derail the parade. After its return in 1985, the Great Circus Parade continued to attract thousands of spectators and various celebrities. In 1988, Spuds MacKenzie, the bull terrier who famously represented Budweiser Brewing rode in a carriage in the parade. In the same year, the parade featured the world’s oldest circus carriage. The 2009 parade featured over 50 carriages, along with clowns, bands, and exotic animals (in 1989, there were a total of 750 horses in the parade). One of the most dynamic attractions of the parade for a number of years was Iowa farmer Elmer Sparrow’s 40 Horse Hitch. The feat had not been attempted since 1904, when horses were still used to move circuses into town, but Sparrow brought his team to the parade a number of times in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.”
The entire contents of this lot were part of the Ben Barkin collection which many items related to circus clown Ernest Borgnine. Included in the lot are (250+ Circus Poster), 50+ Awards and certificate mostly recognizing Ben Barkin for his work with the Circus Parade, an album of photos, posters, 1989 Distinguished Community Service Award, plaque, Bozo phone, framed photos, 8x10 photos, circus train, pins, patches, ribbons, 2 circus tins, Pepsi cup, clown candle, brochures. 1990s magazines: Circus World Program, Rail Fan, Home & Away, Celebrate Midwest, Vacation, Prime Times, Voyager, and more.
(04F0326)
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