Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: trained animals

This is a handbill advertising a vaudeville show that took place at Woodford Farm, a venue in Ogdensburg, New York, from Thursday, July 9, through Saturday, July 11, 1903. The Ogdensburg Journal newspaper, in its issue for Friday, July 10, 1903, p. 4, didn't mention the Williard's Fun Makers or Burt Flower, but it had this to say about Prof. Hamnet's act (it spelled his name with an extra "t"); "Good Show at Woodford. Prof. Hamnett's Trained Animals and Birds Pleased Audience. Prof. Hamnett's trained animal show opened an engagement at Woodford Farm last night, giving a first-rate performance that pleased the 300 or more persons who assembled in the canvas pavilion. Prof. Hamnett's exhibitions are given by finely trained dogs, goats, geese and birds and the show is at all times bright and entertaining. It will be repeated tonight and Saturday night with a special matinee tomorrow afternoon for ladies and children." Almost as interesting as Prof. Hamnet (his full name was Florus Hamnet Frost) are the various typefaces used for this handbill. The typeface for "Woodford Farm" and "Don't Miss It" with its uniquely shaped "O" is particularly distinctive. Something New. Vaudeville Show at Woodford Farm Commencing, Thursday Ev'g, July 9, Three Nights, Saturday Matinee. Prof. Hamnet's Educated Dogs, Goats, Geese & Birds The Williard's Fun Makers Burt Flower in New Songs & Dances Don't Miss It. Doors Open 7 P.M., Performance at 8:15. Admission, 10c.

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A photo of a dock or a pier for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a 1957 snapshot of the Steel Pier , an amusement pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Billed as "The Show Place of the Nation," the pier hosted a variety of shows and acts, including a diving horse and a bicycle-riding bear. When I purchased this photo, however, I didn't realize that it showed a bear and a woman riding bikes on the high platform visible on the left-hand side (mouse over the image to see an enlargement ). After I spotted the bear, I still couldn't imagine that you could train an animal like that to climb a ladder and ride a bicycle. But a YouTube clip of the Bicycle-Riding Bear that's part of The Nieroslavski Family at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, N.J. --filmed during summer 1960--provides a glimpse of how the bear performed its act. Attitudes toward animal acts have changed over the past fifty years, however, and making a bear ride a bicycle seems inhumane and dangerous by today's standards. As far as I've been able to determine, there are no longer any bicycling bears or diving horses in Atlantic City.