barnum and baileys show

ARRANGEMENTS FOR TO-DAY'S VISIT.  Barnum and Bailey, as many forms of announcement have already made known to townspeople and all the countryside, will come to Aberdeen this morning for a stay of three days. The fame of the "Greatest Show on Earth" has preceded it, and it is a topic of conversation on every side. The performances in the great tent will be preceded by a grand street procession, which will start at nine o'clock in the morning.  As the "Greatest Show on Earth" is very generous in its street display, and sends out a pageant so replete with splendid costuming and handsome sights as to be a show in itselfI, worth travelling far to see, everyone will desire to secure an advantageous position from which to see it pass. It is easy to calculate the time for this purpose from the route. Starting from the showfield at nine o'clock. the procession will move at the leisurely pace of three miles an hour by the following route :- Powis Terrace, George Street, Hutcheon Street, Rosemount Place, Beechgrove Terrace, Fountainhall Road, Queen's Cross, Albyn Place, Union Street, Castle Street, King Street, Nelson Street, Causewayend, Powis Place, Powis Terrace. It will pass through Castle Street on its return to the grounds at about 9.45. An early hour this for a great street pageant, but Barnum and Bailey have their work cut out for them to get the great tents in readiness to receive their thousands of visitors. The busy showmen will not have a day in which to prepare the grounds, but will be compelled to do everything this morning. In other words, Aberdonians will see the startling phenomenon, of daily occurrence in the Barnum and Bailey caravansary, of a mushroom city of white tents springing into complete existence with sunrise, for the tents will be put up with surprising rapidity.

The four special trains which carry the show properties - whose surprising length of almost a mile is not one of the least of the astonishing sights in connection with this great show - will run from Dundee over the Caledonian Railway, and will make the Kittybrewster goods yard the the terminus of their trip. They left Dundee after last night's performance, and arrived between the hours of 1 and 4 a.m. The detraining will commence at 5, and at 7 all hands will be served with breakfast in the dining tent on the of the show grounds. The exhibitions will be given at the same hours, and the daily routine is the same here as it was in Edinburgh and Glasgow a year ago. At 12.30 and 6.30 the doors will open, and at those hours the prodigies, the menagerie, and the specialty performers in connection will go upon exhibition. The performances in the ring will commence at two o'clock and eight o'clock. But while the general character of the show remains the same as last year, it will be found by those who saw it then to be new almost throughout.

The prodigies - so called at their own desire, although they were known as freaks when the show was on tour last year - will be found to have some really startling additions to their number, such as Hassan Ali, who is 8 feet tall, and a surprisingly large man in all his proportions, although only 21 years of age; Prince Khusama, a greybeard of 70, who, in all those years has succeeded in growing to be only 22 inches tall; Oguri Kiba, a Japanese maiden without arms, whose accomplishment in the skilled making of ornamental and dainty articles is most astonishing;  Miss Delphi, a mysterious visitor from the Orient, whose head, as round as an orange, is without a bony structure excepting the bones of the face, and Billy Wells, whose bones are so hard that he breaks rocks upon his skull. In the Circus rings also, the performers are all new, and some of the feats they perform are unprecedented, such as the simultaneous appearance upon one horse of the four Lecussons. To enumerate all the new features would impossible without publishing a complete programme; and the official programmes - are they not published by Barnum and Bailey, Limited, and do they not bear upon the first cover page, as a guarantee that they are so published, and are official and accurate, the portraits in vignette medallions of Messrs Barnum and Bailey? Programmes which are not certified as genuine by the presence of these portraits are to be carefully avoided by all who would have official and accurate guides to the procession and the departments of the show.

SCHOOL CHILDREN AND THE SHOW. The Attendance Committee of Aberdeen School Board have had under consideration the probable effect on school attendance of the visit of Barnum and Bailey's show to the city. As the result of correspondence with the head teachers, it has been decided not to open the schools to-day till 10.30, to give the children an opportunity of seeing the procession, and to give a half-holiday in all schools to-morrow.

 HOLIDAY AT KEMNAY QUARRIES. At a meeting of the men at the Kemnay Quarries lately, it was unanimously agreed to hold Saturday as a holiday, in order to give all an opportunity of visiting Barnum and Bailey's show. Mr Fyfe said if the men wished it he was agreeable, and has very kindly offered to pay them to-morrow.

THE STREET PARADE PROGRAMME. The big free street parade will be a wonderful show of men, women, children, horses, elephants, wild beasts, chariots, cars, and floats. Christopher Columbus, as well as scores of other characters famous in his time, are all truthfully represented, costumed in the same rich manner then in vogue in Royal robes of State, on horseback surrounded with their escorts, in costly uniforms, singly, in groups, in picturesque and charming style, and all historically correct, just as they appeared in Barcelona in 1492, when they returned from their first voyage of discovery. Leading the pageant is one of the most magnificent sights imaginable, that of a wondrous team of 40 fine bay horses, driven by one man. Preceding the Columbus portion of the procession are rare displays of open dens of wild beasts and carved golden chariots, containing the splendid zoological collection, followed by the elephants, and allegorical chariots, illustrating nursery rhymes and children's fairy stories.

THE ORDER OF THE PARADE. Platoon of Mounted Police, Mounted Officers, Grand Military Band, Stupendous Forty-Horse United Team, Open den of Tigers and Trainer, Open Den of Lions and Trainer, Open Den of Leopards and Trainer, Open Den of Panthers and Trainer, Open Den of Hyenas and Trainer, Open Den of Bears and Trainer, Open Den of Wolves and Trainer, Novel Melechoir Chimes drawn by Six Horses, Lady Performers and Side-Saddle Experts, Mounted Ladies of the Hippodrome, Gentlemen Hippodrome Riders, Two 2-Horse Roman Chariots with Lady Driver, Two 4-Horse Roman Chariots, Band Chariot "Euterpe," drawn by Ten Horses, Eight Golden Chariots containing Rare Wild Beasts, Triumphal Chariot with Queer Musicians and Comic Heads, Caravan of Camels with Asiatic Riders, Twenty Performing Elephants, Two Elephants with Howdahs and Oriental Beauties, Blue Beard Chariot drawn by Six Zebras, Japanese Dragoon Chariot with Performers, Cinderella's Fairy Coach, Little Red Riding Hood Chariot, Mother Goose Chariot, Blue Band Chariot "America" drawn by Ten Horses, Seven Golden Cages containing Rare Animals, Mammoth Organ Chariot, Grand Triumphal Float

COLUMBUS SECTION Representing the Reception tendered Columbus at Barcelona 400 years ago, Royal Mace Bearers, Squad of Eight Royal Trumpeters, Grand Triumphal Throne Chariot of Ferdinand and Isabella, Mounted Grandees, Nobles, Cavaliers, Knights, Ambassadors, and prominent personages in correct, elegant, and costly historical costumes, The Great Discoverer Christopher Columbus. Emblematic Float, with fruits, plants, and living evidences of the new country, Steam Calliope.

Source : The Aberdeen Journal Thursday September 14th, 1899