In the city of Normal, Illinois State University's Milner Library has a special collection on its sixth floor. The place is brimming with over 35,000 timeless and thought-provoking artifacts of rare and fine stories, circus history, children's literature, and Abraham Lincoln's life. With this blog, our hope is to give you a preview of the same and tempt you to dive into these historical masterpieces.
Circus and Allied Arts - Art Concello and Clyde Beatty
Friday, September 28, 2018
Illinois State University and Bloomington-Normal have a long and storied history with the circus. Bloomington, IL, was a center of excellence for training circus performers in the late 1800s and early twentieth century. ISU’s Gamma Phi Circus, the oldest collegiate circus in America, dates back to the 1920s. One of circus’ biggest star performers from the 1920s-1930s was Art Concello, a flying trapeze artist who grew up in Bloomington. He and his wife, Antoniette, electrified crowds throughout the United States and Europe with their “Flying Concellos” act which included the difficult two-and-a-half and even triple somersaults. The following video shows a brief glimpse of the Concellos, but unfortunately not of their somersaulting.
The Concellos became part of the famous Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Baily Circus in the 1930s. Art Concello also became a successful trainer of circus performers. However, by the early 1940s Concello was looking to break out as a businessman in the circus. Art reached out to another famous circus performer, the famed animal tamer Clyde Beatty, about the possibility of working together after having purchased the Russell Brothers Circus in 1943. Clyde Beatty struck an iconic image, dressed in white with a whip in one hand and a chair held up like a shield in the other, as he faced off against ferocious looking lions and tigers. Beatty became famous for his live animal shows and also a series of low budget cinema films. Illinois State University happily received a donation of Clyde Beatty's materials from Dave and Mary Jane Price in 2015.
Concello rebranded the outfit as the Clyde Beatty-Russell Bros Combined Circus and took the show on the road on the U.S. West Coast. This partnership lasted for a handful of years before Art Concello sold the act to Clyde Beatty so he could move on to take an active role in managing the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Clyde Beatty Featured in Title of Concello's Revamped Circus
Art Concello would successfully manage and run circuses for many years. Where his history interacts with the Special Collections at Illinois State University is in Milner Library’s collection of personal correspondence between Concello, Beatty, and others that gives insight into some of the business details and conversations that shaped the early stages of those two circus men’s partnership in running the Russell Bros Circus.
Western Union Telegraph
Clyde Beatty Sets Deadline for Agreement with Art Concello
Closing in on The Deal
Milner Library also has some other interesting pieces of information related to Concello’s circus business history, such as a postcard asking for donations of reading materials to help support Americans stuck in Europe during the “dark days” of September 1939, the month when World War Two started with Germany’s invasion of Poland.
Bert Ross Reaches out to Art Concello about Reading Materials Donation for Americans Trapped in Europe
The Special Collections department also has rare documents and prints of pictures of the Flying Concellos.
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