The Sells Floto Circus was a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the

Sells Brothers Circus Sells Brothers Circus was a circus founded by Ephraim, William, Lewis and Peter Sells in Columbus, Ohio, United States. History The circus, more formally known as the Sells Brothers' Quadruple Alliance, Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus, ran ...

that toured with sideshow acts in the United States during the early 1900s.

History

Frederick Gilmer Bonfils Frederick Gilmer Bonfils (December 21, 1860 – February 2, 1933) was an American publisher who made the ''Denver Post'' into one of the largest newspapers in the United States.Staff report (February 3, 1933). F. G. BONFILS DEAD; VETERAN EDITOR; ...

and Harry Heye Tammen owned the first outfit as well as the

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

, 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 William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years in ...

. The Sells Floto circus absorbed

Buffalo Bill's Wild West William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years in ...

shows, and the Sells Brothers Circus, it was also a "combined" show. It later became the concessions department of

Ringling Brothers Circus Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows is a circus founded in Baraboo, Wisconsin, United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling brothers: Albert, August, Otto, Alfred T., Charles, John, and Henry. The Ringling brothers were sons of a Ge ...

, along with Haggenback Wallace, who made the floats and other equipment. 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 Circus was part of the

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 s ...

which consisted of Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, the

John Robinson Circus John H. Robinson created the John Robinson Circus, whose winter quarters were in Terrace Park, Ohio. Famous elephants Chief "Chief", an elephant from John Robinson's circus, killed his trainer in Charlotte, North Carolina. Tillie Tillie the ...

, the Sparks Circus, and the Al G. Barnes Circus.

John Nicholas Ringling John Nicholas Ringling (May 31, 1866 – December 2, 1936) was an American entrepreneur who is the best known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Bros World's Greatest Shows ...

then bought

for $1.7-million creating a monopoly of traveling circus in America. On April 17, 1908 the Sells-Floto circus appeared in Riverside CA and while the animals were ushered off of the train a vapor flashback explosion occurred at the adjacent oil storage tank which frightened the animals. There was an elephant stampede into downtown Riverside with 1 dead and 6 injured. Feld Entertainment later used the Sells-Floto name for their supply division, located in Laurel, MD, that provided logistical support for all of the Feld shows for supplies and merchandise, including not only the three units of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, but the numerous On Ice shows (Disney On Ice, Ice Follies, etc.). This unit has since been renamed Feld Consumer Products.

Alternate names

* Sells-Floto Circus, Harry Tammen and Fred Bonfils, proprietors * Sells-Floto Circus & Buffalo Bill's Wild West * Sells-Floto Circus, John Ringling, proprietor * Sells-Floto Circus & Buffalo Bill's Wild West * Sells-Floto Circus, American Circus Corp., proprietor

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." * Pasqual Piñón, (1889–1929), known as "The Two-Headed Mexican", was a performer with the Sells-Floto Circus in the early 1900s. * In 1919, professional boxer

Georges Carpentier Georges Carpentier (; 12 January 1894 – 28 October 1975) was a French boxer, actor and World War I pilot. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasting from 1908 to 1926. Nicknamed the "Orchid Man", he stood and ...

exhibited his boxing skills with the Sells Floto Circus for ten weeks at the rate of $2,000 a week.''White Hopes and Other Tigers'', John Lardner, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1951

Gallery

File:Sells Floto Band 1915.jpg, Sells Floto Circus Band in 1915 File:The circus is in town.jpg, Unloading the DT&I train in Springfield, Ohio in 1920 File:Pasqual Pinon portrait.png, Pasqual Piñón in 1917

References

External links

Sells Floto Page
1914–1916 photos from the Karl King Website – includes Sells Floto routes for 1912, 1914–1916--> Circuses Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus 1929 disestablishments in the United States {{US-hist-stub