[Pagel's Circus, South Africa]

[Circus] [South Africa] Two Photo / Postcard Albums of Pagel's Circus, 1920s-30s [incl. portraits signed and inscribed by William Pagel, Claudia Alba, et al]

1922-1938. Very Good. Item #14389

[South Africa]:[ca. 1922-1938]. Two photo albums in pronged, clear-fronted folders (11.5” x 9.75”), with 96 items in 23 pages and 131 in 22. Photo-album featuring a mix of portraits and headshots (personal and promotional), postcards, pitch ephemera, and personal tour/vacation photos of Pagel’s Circus – a South African traveling performance troupe and menagerie managed by German-born strongman Fredrich Wilhelm August “William” Pagel (1878-1948) and his Yorkshire-born wife Mary Dinsdale [Pagel] (1865-1939). Photos and postcards occasionally and variously inscribed, dedicated, and captioned, the latter in either German or English, with some if not all photos having belonged to Mrs. Pagel herself – a portrait of William Pagel is signed “To my dearly beloved wife & chum / from Willy / [?] 18/3/30,” and the woman in a portrait captioned “Mrs. Pagel” on verso is the same as appears in many photos with German captions beginning with the likes of “Dies bin ich mit der…” She also appears to appear in one captioned in English “Ruth with a leopard cub,” and many of the photos and postcards are inscribed to Ruth, leading us to wonder unconfirmed if this was a name Mrs. Pagel went by (though a couple others addressed to Ruth and Jack(ie) complicate this notion). Dates on photos range from 1922-1938, with the largest photo being Claudia Alba's signed 8" x 10" and smallest a stamp-sized shot of Pagel, with the majority in the 5.5" x 3.5" to 3.25" x 2.25" range.

Highlights include the above portrait of William Pagel signed to his wife and another unsigned of him nuzzling a tiger; a signed portrait of strongwoman juggler Claudia Alba “Zum freunde erinnerung an Claudia Alba / 1933-1934 Pagel’s Circus”; a group portrait of 37 performers including the usual mix of problematic characters of assumed nationality including one performer in blackface, a few in Asian and Arab dress, one Klansman, and a smiling Jesus; promotional postcard of heavyweight juggler “Capt. Henry Smith der Kraftjongleur und seine partnerin” (Captain Henry Smith the Power Juggler and his partner) with intact costume-change flap; inscribed photo of juggling gymnast Paul Pedrini with a baboon; clown Phil Joey Williams, Claudia Alba’s photographic business card with (it appears) her manager (and husband?) Otto Alba’s inscribed birthday greetings; promotional cards of other performers including a Slovak trapeze troupe, burlesque dancers, strongmen, clowns, etc.; and numerous small behind-the-scenes shots of performances, practices, various candids and vacation-style photos including a few at Victoria Falls (on the Zambezi) and others captioned on tour in Southern Rhodesia (c. 1925).

William Pagel was born in Pomerania in 1878, joined a ship's crew at 17, met and married Mary Dinsdale in Tasmania in 1899, and worked as a strongman for the Worth Brothers Circus in Australia until buying his own two-hundred person tent in 1904 and sailing for Natal in 1905, at which point his own circus began to tour South Africa, becoming somewhat of a national institution. He died in 1948 at age 70, with some sources suggesting he went peacefully in his sleep, another proclaiming a heart attack after an attempt to lift two horses, and yet another saying the old head-in-a-lion’s-mouth trick finally went wrong. A more colorful portrait of Mrs. Pagel was painted by BBC military commentator Major Lewis Hastings in his autobiography Dragons are Extra. He writes, “Madame Pagel, the dominant partner in the concern, was an unforgettable character. She had at one time been one of those fairy-like creatures who hop lightly through hoops on the back of a prancing skewbald. But when I knew her this little Lancashire woman had the curves of an outsize Juno, a coruscating temperament, and a flow of basic English that would have broken the heart of an old-time sergeant-major…I had once the honour of driving round Bulawayo with Madame Pagel in a large rickety saloon car, while she distributed her various orders and lowered the town's level of Guinness’ stout at various houses of call. While we travelled, the admired of all beholders, I sat in the back seat, Madame Pagel drove, and on the front seat sat a small, melancholy, black-maned lion, which Madame Pagel fed from time to time with chocolate creams.”

Photos all lightly edgeworn, a few with abrasions to back and only one or two with creasing. The albums in their present state appear to have been compiled by an earlier seller, with 8 pages of their 2003 web research printouts also tucked in.

Price: $1,250.00