Advertising matter/flyer from The Adam Forepaugh Circus, featuring the boxing elephant 'John L. Sullivan', 1880s, 150 x 108mm approx, printed by Avil Printing Co. Philadelphia, lettered with title to recto: 'Adam Forepaugh's/ All feature show/ Largest in the world/ 30 trained elephants' and 'Bolivar/ Largest elephant alive/ Adam Forepaugh Jr./ And his boxing elephant, John. L. Sullivan'. Printed to verso is: '" A chip off the old block."/ The most gifted teacher of the/ Brute creation/ That ever lived,/ Adam Forepaugh, Jr./ Whose control over the whole Animal Kingdom is something really marvelous, and probably unexampled in the/ entire history of Brute Culture/ His triumphs are numbered by the score./ His latest achievement is in the training of the/ Fighting elephant, John L. Sullivan,/ To engage in a pugilistic encounter with hard gloves.'
'The Adam Forepaugh Circus, founded by Adam Forepaugh, was a major competitor of P.T. Barnum and Ringling Bros. Recognized for innovation in a highly competitive industry, the Forepaugh Circus initiated a dual roundtop system, dividing the menagerie from the circus performance. Thousands of audience members convened under a half-mile round tent to see spectacles like “The Light of Asia” (a “white” elephant), “Battles of the War for Freedom,” and “ ‘Jack’ the Only Boxing Kangaroo.” While independently successful for twenty-seven years, audiences grew wary of his shows, where grifting, short-changing and pickpockets ran rife. Forepaugh’s unscrupulous business practices created a market niche for “Sunday School Shows” like Ringling Bros. and P.T. Barnum, shows that would eventually outshine and outlast the Forepaugh Circus.' (taken from www.circusinamerica.org)
