Have you ever heard of
a “dog and pony show?” These days, the term is used to describe something that
is over-performed and a bit contrived in order to sell something or persuade
someone. It is definitely not a term of endearment. At one time, though, there
really were “dog and pony shows” in the United States, generally small circuses
or animal attractions in small towns. One such show was the Floto Dog & Pony
Show, started by a man with the most curious name of Otto Floto.
Born in Cincinnati
about 1863, Otto Clement Floto (left) was the sports editor of The Denver Post in the early 1900s. He was known to be
loud-mouthed, was prone to drinking heavily and was barely literate (he did not
believe in using punctuation marks in his newspaper columns). Apparently, the Post hired him chiefly because his name
was interesting. In fact, the Post
also funded the “Dog & Pony Show” and borrowed Floto's unique name. Floto
was also a fight promoter, and regularly reported on the fights he arranged.
Among other boxers, the great Jack Dempsey owed some of his success to Floto’s
influence. One person Floto could not best in a fight was Bat Masterson, with
whom he had a long-running feud. When the two came to blows in a well-publicized
confrontation, Masterson was smart enough to bring a cane to a fist fight and put
Floto to flight. Despite his 250-pound frame, Masterson said Floto was “the
best runner I ever saw.” Floto was also involved in a variety of other business
interests, including management of an opera house (he claimed to be the
grandson of German opera composer Friedrich van Flotow) and a saloon owner in
Cripple Creek, Colorado (near Pike’s Peak), where he is supposed to have
married one of the "working girls." In 1896, a massive fire which
started in the Red Light district of Cripple Creek displaced 3,600 people and
caused over a million dollars’ worth of damage. Among the suspects, although
never arrested for starting the fire, was the aforementioned Otto Floto. 
The Floto Dog and Pony
Show, established in 1902, featured not just dogs and ponies, but elephants
too. By 1906, the show became a full-fledged circus and was combined with an
existing circus owned by the Sells brothers of Columbus, Ohio. One of the
brothers, Peter Sells, had a much-publicized and rocky marriage. In 1878, the
32-year old Sells married eighteen year old Mary Luker. After moving to
Columbus where the circus had its headquarters, Peter built an expensive home
designed by architect Frank Packard. His marriage was in trouble, however,
because Mary apparently had her eye on several other men, especially local
businessman Billy Bott. In 1899, based on the work of a private detective,
Peter Sells sued for divorce. During the sensational trial, Florence Sells, the
couple's daughter, took the stand against her mother and Peter was granted the
divorce. A Kentucky newspaper, in reporting the verdict, opined that "When
a woman is a devil she is the whole thing." Sells died in 1905, only a
couple of years after the divorce trial. The house he built, now known as the
Sells Mansion (above), still stands in Columbus. The Sells Circus, meanwhile, merged
with Otto Floto's show to become the Sells Floto Circus. 
Touring
throughout the
1920s, the Sells Floto Circus was one of many such traveling shows of
the
period, including the John Robinson, Sparks and Ringling Brothers
circuses. For
a time, Sells Floto teamed up Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and
with Tom
Mix, the motion picture cowboy star. Mix, who performed various stunts
for the
circus in the late 1920s and 1930s, earned as much as $20,000 a week
during the
tour season. Like most circuses of the day, Sells Floto had a variety of
acts
to attract customers to their shows instead of their competitors'. In
the early
'20s, though, Sells Floto was a circus without any animal acts,
intentionally
focusing on human performers. According to a Pasadena newspaper account,
"one
of the most outstanding features of the Sells Floto program is the total
absence of 'carnival wild animal acts.' No mangy lions, whose claws are
about
to drop out or tigers which have to be fed with 'wet foods' because
their teeth
dropped out through age, or starved elephants which have to be propped
up, were
presented. Nothing but the highest class circus acts and features worth
looking
at were on display and the big audience thoroughly enjoyed itself." By
the
mid-1920s, however, the circus had added all sorts of animal acts, and
had a
herd of about fourteen elephants in the caravan. Sells Floto also had
circus
music, and at one time employed the famed bandmaster Karl King, whose
first
conducting job was with the circus in 1914-1915. Later on, he was
bandmaster
for the Barnum and Bailey Circus. By the end of his career, King had
composed
more than 300 works, including nearly two hundred circus pieces. In the
photo above, Karl King appears with the Sells Floto Circus Band.
Sells Floto's tours
generally began from their headquarters in Peru, Indiana, and then either went
out west or made a huge loop through the mid-west, northeast, and southern
states. Other circuses often followed basically the same schedule and intentionally
set up their shows in the path of their competitors to try and steal the
crowds, even going so far as papering over rival shows' playbills. Curiously,
several of the traveling circuses ended their season in Mississippi. For
example, in 1924, Sells Floto played in Gulfport on November 21 and then ended
their tour with shows in Jackson, Hattiesburg, Laurel and Meridian. The same
year, the John Robinson Circus went to Meridian on October 29 and then closed
its season in Tennessee. Other towns visited by Sells Floto throughout the
1920s include Brookhaven, Natchez, Yazoo City, Kosciusko, Greenwood,
Greenville, Water Valley, Clarksdale, Corinth and Holly Springs. No doubt, the
circuses, in particular the elephants and other wild animal acts, were quite a
treat for folks in small-town Mississippi. In 1929, however, the Sells Floto
Circus found they were no longer welcome in the City of Jackson.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Photo and Image Sources:
(1) Floto: http://baseball-fever.com
(2) Sells: http://www.touring.ohio.com
(3) Circus poster: http://karlking.us
(4) Band: http://karlking.us
(5) Elephant: http://yesterdaystowns.blogspot.com
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