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By Rosemary
Dixon-Smith - 2 May 2005
When
I was a child growing up in Durban in the 1950s and 60s, one
of the highlights was the annual visit to the circus, accompanied
by my Grandmother (Maud Alice GADSDEN, nee SWIRES). Looking
back, though she pretended this treat was for my benefit,
I think she enjoyed it even more than I did and suspect that
my Gran was addicted to circuses.
She had
stories galore of circus events and personalities, and especially
about PAGEL'S Circus, which I was too young to remember. With
the bloodthirsty tendencies typical of children, I particularly
liked her tale of Mr Pagel whose lion-training act included
putting his head in the lion's mouth. According to my Grandmother,
on the last occasion he performed this dangerous trick, things
didn't go too well, resulting in the gruesome public death
of Mr Pagel. She also told me that Madam Pagel, a volatile
lady, had been considered far more unpredictable than any
of her husband's wild animals.
But family
anecdote, as we all know, is often unreliable, presenting
a partial rather than the whole truth. It came as no surprise
to me when I later discovered that Mr Pagel, though badly
mauled on several occasions during his long career and bearing
numerous scars, actually died peacefully in his sleep at the
age of 70. I must say I prefer my grandmother's version. She
was right about Mrs Pagel, though, and more of this legendary
character anon.
For most
Natalians born and bred, the circus brings two famous names
to mind: BOSWELL and WILKIE.* However, numerous other circuses
have paid visits to Natal and this form of entertainment goes
a long way back in the history of the province. In the days
when Natal was still a British Colony, Durban and Pietermaritzburg,
as well as other smaller centres, were regularly invaded by
circus folk, bringing fun and excitement and the lingering
smell of sawdust to inhabitants who knew nothing of the canned
delights of radio and television.
Picture
courtesy R Dixon-Smith |
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The
Natal Witness of Tuesday, April 20, 1880, carried an
advertisement for BELL'S Circus (pic), announcing that
its proprietor, Mr Bell, was offering a "Benefit"
performance on Wednesday, April 21, and proposing "to
devote the proceeds … to the Relief of the Distressed
Poor of Ireland". The ad give us an insight into
what it was like to move a circus at that date from
Pietermaritzburg to Durban - 20 tons of accoutrements
by mule or oxen. Bell's Circus had come up to Natal
from the Cape by sea, and was evidently about to take
ship again from the Point.
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Click picture to view enlargement of clipping.
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It also
seems that the "Ladies' Night" concept was not unknown
in 1880: at Bell's "Grand Society Soiree" on Thursday,
April 22, "Every lady accompanied by a gentleman will
be admitted free to first and second class seats." On
the Tuesday evening, a "Grand Fashionable Night"
was to be held under the distinguished patronage of no less
than His Excellency Sir Garnet WOLSELEY, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.,
and Staff. It seems remarkable that, in the aftermath of the
Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 when mopping-up operations were continuing
in Zululand, anyone was thinking about circuses, let alone
the Irish Poor. Perhaps Mr Bell himself was Irish. We shall
hope he wasn't planning to be the recipient of the proceeds.
It's not
certain what act "the Popular Artiste MONS. Edouard "
performed at his own benefit on Friday, April 23, but at the
Saturday matinee and evening show, audiences were promised
an "Oriental Fairy Spectacle" entitled "Cinderella
Or the Little Glass Slipper."
Below
the list of enticing events offered in the daily paper, a
more practical note is struck by: "Wanted: Transport
(Mule or Oxen) on or about May 10, to convey Bell's Circus
Company from Maritzburg to the Point, Durban, about 20 tons.
Apply stating lowest price." One wonders which contractor
took on this mammoth task.
Transport
was only one of the headaches for circus proprietors. Because
of the number and variety of animals - dogs and horses as
well as wilder beasts - travelling from one part of the country
to another involved licence regulations and many restrictions,
as well as checks by government veterinarians to prevent possible
spread of disease. Horse-sickness, for example, was rife,
and in 1911 Madame FILLIS's Circus experienced some difficulty
with the authorities when wanting to bring seven horses from
the Transvaal into Natal. In circuses of the 19th and early
20th centuries, the horse dominated the scene. Frank Fillis
was the founder of a British circus which toured throughout
the western world, and presented sophisticated horse routines.
The Colonial
Secretary's Office records show innumerable memos concerning
permission for performing dogs to be moved around the country
(rabies being a threat). Names which come up are WIRTH Brothers
Circus in 1894, Bert WILLISON's Circus in 1895, and FILLIS's
in 1903. That this matter was regarded in a very serious light
is shown by documents among the Government Veterinary Surgeon's
records concerning a police constable who had taken it upon
himself to allow dogs from FILLIS's Circus to travel without
the proper checks having been conducted or a permit being
issued, for which the constable in question was fined and
threatened with dismissal from his post. (He was later proved
to have been involved in theft of goods from a railway truck
so we can assume that was the end of his career in the police
force.)
WIRTH's
Circus went one better than run-of-the-mill performing dogs,
bringing a couple of wild Australian dingos to delight the
crowds in 1894. They travelled on the SS Methven Castle, and
a licence was granted on the condition that the animals were
kept chained up while in Natal. Not ideal circumstances for
the dingos, but they were a draw-card for Wirth's.
In 1902
BONAMICI's Imperial Circus toured Natal by rail, with 1109
tons of baggage including animals. Since this was the period
immediately following the Anglo-Boer War, there were complaints
that the transport of the circus interfered with the normal
workings of the railway, especially considering "the
large quantity of Military and Repatriation traffic".
The General Manager of the Natal Government Railways wrote
to the Acting Prime Minister to say that the circus had been
conveyed from Ladysmith without any disruption to that station.
Starting out in Durban, Bonamici's had travelled to Pietermaritzburg,
then to Ladysmith, and on to half a dozen large towns.
Living
up to the origins of their owner's name (Good Friends) Bonamici's
Circus didn't forget the less fortunate members of the populace
during their triumphal progress through Natal. Fifty patients
from the Natal Government Asylum were admitted free of charge
to one of the matinee performances.
As a public
relations exercise, circuses would often announce a special
evening with invitations being issued to notable personalities
of the day. In 1894, W A SANDERS, the manager of COOK's Great
Circus, wrote to the Prime Minister of Natal, Sir John ROBINSON,
announcing that they were to celebrate the second week of
their second visit to Pietermaritzburg by holding a "Grand
Parliamentary Night" under the patronage of the Minister
and Members of the Legislative Assembly and the Council. "During
our stay in this country we have been visited once by Sir
Charles and Lady MITCHELL … and 4 times by President
REITZ …we can assure you of a most enjoyable evening
and ample arrangements for your comfort and convenience …."
A bit of name-dropping never did a circus any harm.
The lure
of circus life led one young African, Mhlatikazi, to join
Wirth's company while it was in Natal in 1895. His father,
of the Mapumulo Magistracy, complained, via his chief, to
the Secretary of Native Affairs that his son, then 17 years
old, was about to be spirited out of the Colony by the circus
and requesting that the authorities take steps to prevent
this. In the Times of Natal, May 20 1895, there was a report
that Wirth's had left for "up-country" but would
be returning to Durban in due course. The boy's father was
advised to try and see his son on the circus's return, and
to persuade him to come home, but the anxious parent had no
means of travelling to Durban. Unfortunately, the official
records don't reveal what happened, but it seems likely that
Mhlatikazi took his opportunity to see the world.
Other
such stories ended unhappily. Pagel's Circus in July 1913
left behind at Richmond, presumably by mistake, one Harry
ZWAARTBOY, a native of East London. With his employers gone
and being far from home, the boy was destitute, resorted to
house-breaking and theft and was finally jailed, though the
authorities did make some attempt to restore him to his family.
This gives
us a rather different view of the glamour and excitement surrounding
circuses in Natal, and it is certainly true that not everyone
welcomed their arrival. Any circus was a small travelling
town in itself, and presented many practical problems, not
the least of which was sanitation. Whatever site was allocated
for pitching the tents was bound to cause objections from
people living or conducting business in the vicinity. The
Norfolk Hotel took exception to Pagel's camping on the vacant
lot directly opposite their establishment in Upper Church
Street, Pietermaritzburg in August 1928, saying that the site
was "within 75 yards of the Hotel and in our opinion
will be very harmful to our business, owing to the noise and
probably smell of the animals", not to mention the crowds
who would doubtless congregate around the tents at all hours
of the day and night. Usually, the spot chosen for the circus
to camp in Pietermaritzburg was the Market Square, but this
site, too, gave rise to petitions from the local inhabitants
who felt that the circus "constituted a nuisance."
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Picture
courtesy R Dixon-Smith
A
letterhead from Pagel's Circus dating from 23 July 1928
and addressed to the Town Clerk
of
Pietermaritzburg. We can only speculate what the letter
might have contained; perhaps
a response to the Norfolk Hotel's unreasonable complaints!
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Undeterred,
Pagel's Circus and Menagerie continued to advertise their
regular appearances in Natal, promising "All Star Performers
from the Principal Circuses of Europe and America," and
Natalians of every race, colour and creed flocked to pay their
admittance of 2, 3 or 4 shillings (children to matinees at
one and twopence).
Herr William
Pagel was one of the greatest showmen of his day, and knew
what the public wanted. He was German by birth (born in 1878)
and after an early career at sea settled in Australia where
he worked in a restaurant as dishwasher and bouncer. Extremely
well-built (about 6 foot tall and between 280-300 lbs, with
enormous forearms), he soon joined a circus as strongman and
eventually made enough capital to buy his own tent, holding
200 people. In February 1905 he sailed for Natal, and began
touring South African centres. He developed his own animal
training capabilities, particularly with lions, and carried
the scars to prove it. Pagel was also famous for his tug o'
war acts with four horses or alternatively with two elephants.
He was
renowned for carrying no stick or whip when in the ring, relying,
as he himself said, on "no more formidable instruments
than patience, kindness and love, to gain a high degree of
ascendancy over the minds of the most savage of the beasts
of prey. Many people imagine that when an animal is taught
to perform a feat, it is coerced into doing something foreign
to its instincts and nature. This is not so. Animals possess
aptitudes just as human beings, and they vary almost as greatly.
The trainer observes some peculiar aptitude in an animal and
guides and develops it carefully, encouraging him by every
imaginable means until he is able to perform what is for that
species of animal an unusual feat."
There
was scarcely a type of circus animal which Herr Pagel didn't
train. In 1910, a list of animals he brought into Natal from
Transvaal included 5 horses, 9 ponies, 2 zebras, 1 camel,
4 elephants, 6 tigers, 3 lions, 5 leopards, 3 polar bears
and a kangaroo.
Pagel
married Mary DINGDALE, a Yorkshirewoman some years older than
himself, who kept her eye on the box-office and vied with
her husband for colourful and courageous personality. She
had a pet black-maned lion which travelled with her wherever
she went, ensuring good publicity for the show. Madam Pagel
died aged 74 in 1939. William Pagel had retired in 1933 after
wounds sustained during his animal act had become infected,
and when he died in 1948 at the age of 70, his name had been
synonymous with circus in South Africa for decades.
Picture
courtesy R Dixon-Smith |
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The
picture, which may have been on a postcard, is believed
to be of Madame Pagel communing with a cross lion leopard.
(A Liopard??)
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Click picture to view enlargement.
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*Boswell
Brothers' Circus, run by Stanley Boswell, was famous in South
Africa during the 1950s. When the Boswells sold out to African
Consolidated Theatres, the new owners merged it with Wilkie's
in the early 1960s to form the Boswell-Wilkie Circus, managed
by W H Wilkie. The Boswell family were not connected with
this merged operation. Stanley Boswell's son Brian started
his own circus, Brian's Circus, in South Africa in 1982.
© Rosemary Dixon-Smith 2005
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