It Was a Circus, I Tell Ya! Memories of When Touring Companies Brought the Big Top to Town
Obviously, times have changed from Hemingway’s days. But there was a time when the circus coming to town was met with much excitement and great anticipation. It managed to bring smiles to lots of faces.
“It was a very big deal,” reminisces Mike Monichetti, the owner of Mike’s Seafood in Sea Isle City. “We’d close early the day of the circus so that everyone who worked for us could attend.”
“It was always fun and exciting,” remembers Lynn Schwartz, who grew up in Avalon. “Of course it was always a little hokey, too.”
For at least four decades the circus made an annual visit to Avalon, Stone Harbor, and/or Sea Isle City. Once a summer a traveling circus would make its way through the southern New Jersey circuit. The Cole Bros. and Hoxie Bros. were two of the last outfits to make local stops that folks may remember.
The circus trucks would often arrive in the middle of the night, usually following an appearance in a neighboring town. Most smaller towns, like those in Cape May County, were simply one-day appearances. The highlight of the afternoon was the “tent pull” when locals would join in with circus workers to set up the tent. Suffice to say that no one would confuse these for the “big tops” that you read about as a child. It’s more likely “small top” or “medium top” was probably a more accurate description. While the tent pull was taking place, other workers would set up the side shows and games of chance. The circus had something for everyone – young or old. It was not unusual to see circus workers hanging their wash out to dry on a warm summer afternoon on clothes lines strung between trucks.
Here in America, the circus always was in a state of evolution. Imported from England in the 1790s, the first circus in the colonies landed in Philadelphia, where George Washington was among the first to enjoy the European exhibition. The circus industry continued to evolve with “traveling circuses” being established to serve smaller towns and cities without large arenas. The Hoxie Bros. Circus that performed on the Seven Mile Beach and Sea Isle City in the late 1970s and ’80s is a perfect example.
The Hoxie Bros. Circus was founded in November 1943 by Hoxie Tucker – there was no brother. He just liked the name. The circus initially targeted mountainous towns of the South and smaller communities of the Northeast. Tucker once joked that they were so poor that they had to stay out on the road for 72 weeks a year because, “We needed to feed our families.”
The small traveling company is best illustrated by a memory of Avalon’s Schwartz. “We’d always laugh because the circus performers would often come back minutes later in different costumes and with different names,” she says with a laugh. “It was obvious to everyone that these were all the same people, but they tried to make it seem like a larger cast of performers.”
A trademark of the Hoxie Bros. Circus was that it traveled from town to town in four brightly colored trucks including a signature purple truck. An advance team would often arrive a day or two in advance of the touring company. It was estimated that the Hoxie Bros. Circus needed 200 attendees to break even on any given day.
The advance team would affix red cardboard arrows to telephone poles. The arrows would direct the trucks, which often arrived in the middle of the night when no one was available for directions, to the circus grounds. The circus “grounds” varied from town to town.
In Avalon, the circus began in 1947 at 28th Street and Avalon Avenue. An area adjacent to the Avalon Pier, today it is a municipal parking lot. The circus would then move to the 10th Street recreation field and finally to the area at 39th Street – where the tennis courts are today – after the 10th Street fields had irrigation installed.
In Stone Harbor, the circus was staged at what today is the 82nd Street recreation field. Circuses usually performed in either Avalon or Stone Harbor, never making two Seven Mile Beach appearances in the same year. Across Townsends Inlet in Sea Isle, the circus was situated at the foot of the bridge first, and then at Dealy Field. The circuit would often make the Sea Isle City stop before moving to Avalon or Stone Harbor.
Aside from excitement generated when the circus came to town, the circus typically partnered with a local civic organization. In Sea Isle City it was the Rotary Club, while in Avalon and Stone Harbor it was the Volunteer Fire Company. In Avalon, the firefighters would take one of their trucks up and down streets with sirens and lights, selling tickets door to door. That caused as much excitement as the circus itself. The normal civic organization’s share was usually about 15% of the gate. On several occasions, the Avalon Volunteer Fire Company would arrange a “buy out” of the show – where they would pay the circus a flat fee and then keep all ticket proceeds. Regardless of the arrangement, the civic share was normally several hundred dollars.
In Sea Isle City, the Rotary Club was the sponsoring civic organization. According to Jim Terruso, a former president of the club, “We were involved with the circus for many years.” Terruso says the funds were earmarked for the St. Joseph’s House, a facility for orphaned children at 52nd Street and the beach. “That’s why we became involved with bringing the circus to town,” he notes.
Although the circus was only in town for a single day, there was never a shortage of memories – even now, a half-century later, memories and smiles are plentiful when discussing the circus. Just some of the memories include in Avalon, in the early 1970s, a storm blew up unexpectedly. The fierce winds managed to lift the tent from its moorings and sent 200-plus spectators scurrying for safety.
“I can still remember the smell whenever the circus came to town,” adds Monichetti. You could smell it for several blocks after they arrived. And Monichetti shares a fond memory of camels that came with the circus with Schwartz. That’s right, not elephants. “No, I distinctly remember them having camels,” he says.
“My grandfather got to ride a camel,” says Schwartz.
And who could ever forget another time when an elephant, not a camel, wandered away in Avalon? They eventually found him in an empty lot at 7th and Avalon Avenue later in the night.
“I remember driving into town and passing him,” says former Avalon Mayor Marty Pagliughi. “I passed him and thought to myself, ‘Hey, what’s an elephant doing walking down the street?’”
Or the time that the Avalon fire siren went off during a performance, requiring all the firefighters who were serving as volunteers for the circus to quickly leave and take control of their fire engines. Sorry, false alarm.
There were also some incredibly special memories created for the children visiting the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for the Blind the week that the circus came to the island. Without fail, a civic-minded company would purchase tickets for the children each year beginning in 1972. And then there was Phil Matalucci. That is Phil as in Phil’s Rock Room, Bongo Room, Disco, and Banjo Room. Phil made sure that any of the sisters visiting or on retreat at Villa Maria in Stone Harbor attended as his guest. It was always a spectacle to see the stands inside the tent filled with families, and at least three or four rows filled with nuns, in their habits – having a blast.
Circuses continued to evolve. Today, there are no animal circuses remaining. The circus has evolved into mostly aerialists and dangerous high-wire acts. There are few small companies visiting small towns any longer. Times have changed, as have our tastes in entertainment. But for many years, circuses fascinated children while entertaining adults.
“And for us at the Avalon Volunteer Fire Company,” Pagliughi notes, “it was as much about camaraderie among our members as it was about raising funds.” Camaraderie, excitement, entertainment and yes, a little bit hokey – however you remember it – but mention the circus to anyone who might have attended a show more than a half-century ago and you’ll still get a smile. Even after so many years. The circus is from another time, but the memories transcend the years and even the decades.