Automobile Stunt! Double Forward Somersault!

News, notes, questions on the McHenry invented James Bond Astro Spiral Jump Stunt
MSI
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Automobile Stunt! Double Forward Somersault!

Post by MSI »

Somersault vehicle stunt.jpg
Somersault vehicle stunt.jpg (487.49 KiB) Viewed 5163 times
My sister Trish came across this poster in a thrift shop in Atlanta, Ga!
A vehicle 'double forward somersault'
looking up the stunt show circus i see that was back in early 1900s!
  • The Adam Forepaugh and Sells Brothers Circus was a major American circus that operated from 1896 through 1911. The name of the show was taken in part from Adam Forepaugh (1831-1890) a notable circus proprietor who owned and operated several circus shows from 1865 until his death1890 and was a major competitor of P.T. Barnum and Ringling Brothers. After his death Forepaugh’s circus was purchased by James A. Bailey, and was operated as an independent show for three years. In 1894 Bailey leased the Forepaugh name to two circus proprietors, Joseph T. MacCaddon and James P. Anderson who used the name as the title of a one ring circus but with limited success. The title was temporarily retired in 1895 but in 1896 Bailey entered into partnership with the Sells Brothers, (Ephraim, Lewis and Peter Sells) formed the Adam Forepaugh and Sells Bros. Circus. In 1898 Ephraim Sells, the eldest of the three brothers, died and W.W. Cole (a part owner of the Barnum and Bailey Circus) became the new fourth partner in the show. This partnership lasted until 1904 when Peter Sells died and Lewis Sells and W.W. Cole sold their interest to James Bailey.
  • A combination of financial troubles and internal problems amongst the revolving lineup of owners constantly plagued the show. In 1905 Bailey, by then the sole proprietor of the circus, set up an auction of the show’s equipment but ended up purchasing everything back and sold half of the interest to the Ringling Brothers. A year later after Bailey’s death the Ringling’s acquired complete ownership of the show from Bailey’s widow. For a brief time the circus operated out of the Ringling Brothers winter quarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin but was pulled off the road for the 1908-1909 season. In 1910 the title was revived by the brothers but for a year only. The circus toured for the last time in 1911.
MSI
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Posts: 2296
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Re: Automobile Stunt! Double Forward Somersault!

Post by MSI »

Did some searching and found this information on these stunts from the early 1900s
From this link: Photos from a 1907 Scientific American magazine and found at http://aacalibrary.tumblr.com/
1900s auto somersault pics.png
1900s auto somersault pics.png (3.12 MiB) Viewed 5159 times
Fred D. Pfening, Jr. Bandwagon, Vol. 13, No. 3 (May-Jun), 1969, pp. 20-24 can be summed up with;
  • the "golden days" of loop the loop and leap the gap acts was the period from 1900 to about 1912.
    All of the large circuses of that time used an act of this type as the closing number sensation one or more seasons. Sometimes it was on a bicycle and even on roller skates, but mostly by one or more autos. More frequently than not the passenger in the auto acts at the turn of the century were women, usually being billed as from France.
    But it was the John Robinson's Ten Enormous Shows Combined that introduced to American circus goers the "loop the loop auto", in 1904.
    • The "Great Mephisto" (Horace Mohn) circled the loop in an auto. Mr. Mohn appears to actually be he first person to do this stunt with an American circus, verified after a full search of newspaper ads, heralds, couriers and programs. However the Great Floto show came in second that same season when they presented "Kiro, monster African baboon looping the loop in an auto". Both of these acts used riggings with a barrell loop, and the cars did not somersault in the air.
    Mlle. Octavia Le Tour, according to the New York Evening Post of March 23, 1906, risked her life strapped in an automobile, dashed down a dizzy incline and was hurled after turning a complete somersault in space, upon a padded aid railed gang way twenty feet away from the end of the incline. A four page newspaper size reprint of the various reviews of the 1906 New York date played up "The Limit" as the big act of the show. However the fate of Mile. La Tour and her auto following the New York date is unknown as she is not listed in the road program nor in the 1906 route book.

    For the 1908 season Barnum & Bailey imported yet another auto thrill act, with yet another embellishment. This one presented the "Sisters La Rague" with two cars, using a 90 foot runway.
    • Billed as an aerial auto race, one car painted red dashed down the runway striking an obstruction that tossed it into space for a mid-air somersault, while the other car painted blue followed closely, passing smoothly over the dropped obstruction and jumping under the red car, in a somersaulting position, to a landing ramp, just ahead of the red car that had left the top of the ramp first. These two French gals were back for the 1909 tour, which was the last year that the Greatest Show on Earth used an auto or bicycle thrill act.
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