The Greatest Bareback Rider of All Time

By Chris Berry

While we certainly can appreciate image of the lovely equestrian in a circus ring, the relationship that humans have had with horses has changed considerably since this lithograph was first created in the early part of the 20th Century. The introduction of automobiles made horses irrelevant to most people, but that wasn't the case a century ago when traveling circuses carried literally dozens of horses. Most of them were use to unload the wagons from trains and transport them to the showgrounds, but there were also quite a few show horses that attracted people to the circus in the same way that fans of classic cars will attend an auto show today.

This classic poster design featuring "The Greatest Bareback Rider of All Time" was used for decades, and by showing examples side-by-side we can see how the artwork evolved from the beautiful stone lithography produced by Strobridge Litho of Cincinnati to an offset version of the same image from 65 years later.

The poster featuring a pretty equestrian and a clown offering her a bouquet of flowers was first seen on Barnum & Bailey in 1913 with a lithograph of young Mae Wirth holding her horse. By 1916 Mae Wirth had moved to the Ringling Bros Circus and the lithograph was changed to include the name, and portrait, of her replacement Olga Bondi.

In 1930 the poster was reworked by Central Litho for the Sells-Floto Circus, now featuring the name and portrait of yet another female equestrian, Rose Millette.

When Jess Adkins and Zack Terrell framed their Cole Bros Circus in 1935 they had Erie Litho quickly turn around literally dozens of new posters. This was one of them. While the design was already a classic by the mid-1930s, a woman named "Jennie O'Brien" never actually existed. This poster appeared as small as a window card (seen here) to much larger "wall work" which would be pasted to the side of a barn or fence.

Over the years a number of circuses issued Route Books. These diaries recount ways happened each day of the circus season. By comparing the dates on posters that have them we can get a tangible description of what happened on the circus on the day of the performance.

Here is what the Cole Bros Route Book of 1937 says about Thursday, June 10.
"Springfield, Mass., Thursday, June 10 --
Over the Boston and Maine for a run of 72 miles (from North Adams on June 9) A beautiful lot here on the banks of the Connecticut River. Rowland (sp) Butler, General Press Agent of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and his wife, visited their daughter Estelle, a performer with the show. Frank Mayhery, brigade manager of the same show, caught the night performance. Opposition here. Two capacity houses."

The poster was used by Cole Bros with slight variations until 1950, the final season of the railroad circus. When Jess Adkins died in 1940 many of the lithographs which carried the jugate of Adkins and Terrell in the upper corner were replaced with "America's Favorite Show" or "Big Railroad Circus". This is one of those where the portraits were removed and replaced with text. In 1947 the Cristiani family of performers joined Cole Bros and the name June Cristiani replaced that of Jennie O'Brien. That version of the poster was used throughout the 1947 season, and possibly later though the Cristianis left the circus at the end of that year.

In 1949 the Hanneford riding act Cole Bros very late in the season. A version of the poster featuring the name "Kay Hanneford" was produced about that time, though I suspect that the "Kay Hanneford" poster was not used in 1949 but rather 1950 when the Hannefords were with the show the entire season.

This classic artwork came back again in 1965 when Acme Litho of Hugo, Oklahoma reworked the poster - now in offset form with the titles of Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros and King Bros. Circus replacing that of "Cole Bros." The same artwork was also used in the 1960s for King Bros with the name Evy Karoly, a real performer of the era, over that of Jennie O'Brien in this example from 1968.

"The Greatest Bareback Rider of All Time" is a bold statement to make, and while each of these lovely equestrians were promoted in that way, it is difficult today to deterine which of them literally "fit the bill." In fact, it is probably no different than comparing a homerun hitter of today against Babe Ruth, nearly a century later.

We may never know which of these women really was "The Greatest" yet because the longevity that we have seen with this poster artwork, the message seen here had its champions on the marketing teams of a handful of circuses proving that the image did its job of attracting a crowd to the Big Top for much of the 20th Century.

Chris Berry
circusposters@gmail.com