EARLY 20TH CENTURY TERRELL JACOBS WILD ANIMAL CIRCUS ADVERTISING POSTER
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With our highest compliments we're proud to offer for sale the exceptional CA ~1940 Terrell Jacobs Wild Animal Circus advertising poster. We really enjoy the smaller lesser know circus advertising opposed to the prolific monster that was Barnum & Bailey. Terrell Jacobs was born in Indiana and spent over 4 decades working across the world's best circus shows & carnivals. He spent time with Barnum & Bailey and was a master of wild animal taming. It's said Terrell performed with the largest number of lions, tigers, leopards etc. once boasting a show of 50 wild animals. He is known throughout Indiana & the circus world as "Lion King"
Terrell Jacobs started his own traveling show in 1944 called "Terrell Jacobs Wild Animal Circus" which is the subject of this early advertising poster. We pulled this out of a VFW hall in Tennessee where it sat undisturbed for many many years. The scene is rich with exotic animals (lions, tigers, elephants, seals, horses, a dancing dog, and even a hippo. An ambitious man, the show also featured an art mix and wild west show. This three ring circus was short lived and sadly was dissolved a few years later when he and his wife divorced. This is 75 year old piece of paper that shows slight age wear as you'd expect to see. Many of these were lost to time and all things considered this one is in great condition. We note there are fold marks on the advertising, small areas of paper loss, and a few small areas with white paint on the paper. Not a big issue for something this rare and old but we have to point it out. If it was a deal breaker we simply wouldn't offer it. We travel tens of thousands of miles every year and this is our favorite find in quite some time. The poster is in a pine frame with Masonite backing and a plexiglass cover for protection. The piece is 45 1/2" wide x 31 1/2" tall.
