$300
Bolton: Robt. Whewell & Son Ltd., 1936. Letterpress broadside in three colors advertising Carmo at the top of a variety bill featured alongside trick cyclists, comedians, dancers, and acrobats. Carmo's act featured the production of a living lion, and his rendition of the Noah's Ark illusion, in which a cavalcade of animals was produced from a small ark first shown empty to the audience. 10 5/8 x 34 1/8". A. Starting out in show business as a stage magician who featured animals prominently in his act, Carmo was later lured into the world of the circus. He began his career under the big top partnering with Bertram Mills, the famous English circus owner, but the two parted ways nearly as quickly as they joined together. Carmo went on to build and operate his own circus, but two disasters kept him from the successful career he had hoped for. During a wintertime tour of England, his low-pitched tent could not be struck in time to avoid a storm. The weight of the snow on the canvas crushed the structure, resulting in a total loss of the tent. After rebuilding, Carmo once more went back on the road, but again disaster struck, this time in the form of a fire. Carmo played his last shows as part of a smaller circus owned by Raymond Toole-Stott, the man who went on to chronicle the great books of the circus in a monumental five-volume bibliography.
Auctioneer:
Potter & Potter
Date:
2017-02-04
