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Spalding and Rogers' Floating Palace, 1852–1859
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 March 2014
Extract
The expanding American western frontier of the early nineteenth century was followed closely by travelling theatre companies. Since one of the primary modes of transportation was the riverboat, it is not surprising that floating theatres soon dominated theatrical activity in the towns along America's interior waterways. While the floating theatres often competed with land-based attractions, they also faced significant competition from other floating entertainments. One of the most successful of these was Spalding and Rogers' Floating Palace, which at various times operated as a floating circus, floating menagerie, and floating museum.
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References
NOTES
1 For survey accounts of showboat developments see Graham, Philip, Showboats: The History of an American Institution (Austin: Univ. of Texas Press, 1951)Google Scholar and Schick, Joseph S., “Early Showboat and Circus in the Upper Valley,” Mid-America, 32 (October 1950), 211–25.Google Scholar
2 For a detailed treatment of the Floating Palace see Leavitt, Penelope M., “Spalding and Rogers' Floating Palace, 1852–1860,” Diss. Washington State University 1979Google Scholar, and “Entertainments Aboard G.R. Spalding's Circus Showboat, The Floating Palace,” Bandwagon: The Journal of the Circus Historical Society, November-December 1979, pp. 19–24.
3 “Reminiscences of a Veteran Amusement Manager,” St. Louis Republic, 1 February 1880.
4 John A. Dingess MS., p. 735. Both MS. and a subsequent TS. by Dingess on the circus is available at the Harry Herzberg Circus Collection of the San Antonio Public Library, Texas. The original MS. is dated ca. 1890.
5 Memphis Daily Appeal, 15 September 1852, p. 3.
6 Graham in Showboats: The History of an American institution, p. 31, mistakenly lists the width at 35 feet with a 200 foot length. Pettit, Paul B., “Showboat Theatre,” QJS, 32 (April 1945), 169Google Scholar, estimates the width at 100 feet. Leonard, Huber, New Orleans, A Pictorial History (New York: Crown Publishers, 1971), p. 235Google Scholar, states only that it was 200 feet long and offers no width. Even Spalding, in his “Reminiscences of a Veteran Amusement Manager,” St. Louis Republic, 1 February 1880, described the Floating Palace as simply a large barge.
7 Cairo Sun, 18 March 1852, p. 2.
8 Dingess MS., p. 735.
9 New Orleans Daily Picayune, 21 October 1852, p. 2.
10 Dingess MS., pp. 734–37.
11 New Orleans Daily Picayune, 29 October 1852.
12 New Orleans Daily Picayune, 21 October 1852, p. 2.
13 See Figure 1.
14 Wallet, William Frederick, The Public Life of W.F. Wallet (London: Bemrose and Sons, 1884), p. 105.Google Scholar
15 Schick, p. 216; Graham, p. 31; Frost, Hyatt, “Hyatt Frost's Story of the Floating Palace,” News of the Circus Ring, December 1894, 1.Google Scholar
16 Dingess MS., p. 736.
17 Natchez Daily Courier, 28 September 1852, p. 3.
18 Handbill dated 1853 in Theatre Collection of NYPL.
19 Handbill dated 1853 in Harvard Theatre Collection.
20 Dingess MS., p. 737.
21 Memphis Daily Appeal, 21 November 1853, p. 3.
22 ibid.
23 Dingess MS., p. 740.
24 Memphis Daily Appeal, 21 November 1853, p. 3.
25 Cairo City Times, 15 November 1854, p. 3.
26 Memphis Daily Appeal, 6 November 1855.
27 Ibid. It should also be noted here that included among the stuffed animal displays were the preserved remains of some of the animals that had died during the eighteen month residency of the Van Amburgh menagerie.
28 Natchez Daily Courier, 15 February 1856, p. 2; Dingess MS., p. 742.
29 Memphis Daily Appeal, 6 November 1855; Natchez Daily Courier, 15 February 1856, p. 2.
30 Memphis Daily Appeal, 8 April 1856, p. 3.
31 New Orleans Daily Picayune, 8 January 1854, p. 8.