The Wild West Show Notes
Title: The Wild West Show, The Hamburg Show or Larry
Turn The Crank
Below is an email conversation between me and
Ed Cray, a professor who
collects bawdy folksongs, about a song called "The Wild West
Show" (aka "The Hamburg Show") and how it is related to the once popular
song called "The Menagerie" (aka "Van Amburgh is the Man").
And here is
a text of this song pgs. 58-59 of the
National Engineering Book of Song & Verse (n.a.,n.p.,undated. [ca.
1969]. Copies: Ed Cray & John Patrick.)
The earliest printed text for "The Wild West Show" can be found in
Immortalia [1927] pgs.153-154.
~~~~~~~~ BEGIN CONVERSATION ~~~~~~~~~
John Patrick
I just checked the index & thumbed through
The Erotic Muse II and
was unable to find "The Wild West Show". Did I miss it?
ED CRAY
No, you did not miss it. At the time I worked on the second edition, I had three or four versions of it -- as a recitation -- but no tune for
the chorus.
The cante fable is derived from a mid-19th Century popular song "Van Amburgh's Circus," or "Van Amburgh Is the Man."
I have tunes now for the song, but untranscribed and awaiting my
uncertain hand.
John Patrick
Of the "Wild West Show", the only song that I could find in reference to
Van
Amburgh is the once popular song called "The Menagerie" (see below).
The non-bawdy song, "Van Amburgh is the Man", still survives as a folk song
and at least one family still sings the song to their children. See
here.
Did you want me to find sheet music for this song?
THE MENAGERIE
(Retrieved from
here )
Van Amburgh is the man, who goes to all the shows
He goes into the lion's cage, and tells you all he knows;
He sticks his head in the lion's mouth, and keeps it there a-while,
And when he pulls it out again, he greets you with a smile.
Chorus:
The elephant goes around, The band begins to play,
The boys around the monkey's cage had better get out of the way.
First comes the African Polar Bear, oft called the Iceberg's Daughter,
She eats three cakes of ice per day then calls for soda water;
She wades in the water up to her knees, not fearing any harm,
You may growl and grumble as much as you please, and she don't give a
"darn."
(chorus)
That Hyena in the next cage, most terrible to relate,
Got awful hungry the other day, and ate up his female mate;
He's a very ferocious beast, don't go near him little boys,
For when he's angry he shakes his tail, and makes this awful noise.
(imitate growling)
(chorus)
Next comes the Anaconda Boa Constrictor, oft called Anaconda for brevity,
He's known throughout the whole wide world for his age and great longevity;
He can swallow himself, crawl into himself, and crawl out again with facility,
He can tie himself into a double-bow-knot with his tail, and smile
with the greatest facility.
(chorus)
Next comes the Great Vulture, awful bird, from highest mountain's top,
He's been known to eat up little girls, and then to lick his chops;
The performance can't go on, there's too much noise and confusion,
Ladies don't feed those monkeys cakes, you'll ruin their
constitutions.
(chorus)
ED CRAY
Somewhere in my notes I have reference the "original," inspired by an actual British circus.
John Patrick
Here is some information about the American circus headed by Van Amburgh.
Retrieved from
http://www.mail-archive.com/lamoreaux-l@rootsweb.com/msg00243.html
<begin paste>
Isaac Van Amburgh was born in the town of Fishkill, [New York] May 26, 1808,
and attended the small schoolhouse at Johnsville, built in 1794. At 19,
Isaac left home, engaged in several business ventures, then became
connected
with the menagerie of Raymond & Co. This was the largest menagerie which
had
been collected up to that time.
- After performing feats which no man had heretofore attempted
with wild animals, it was announced through the press that
Van Amburgh would enter the den of lions like Daniel of old . . .
Strong appeals were made to the manager from the pulpit and
the press, imploring him to desist from such an undertaking. . .
In the fall of 1833, at the Richmond Hill Theatre, Van Amburgh
performed a feat with the lions and tigers that, with the exception
of the prophet Daniel, had baffled the skill and sagacity of man
in all former ages. He volunteered to drive through Broadway in
a chariot drawn by lions and tigers, but the authorities Interfered.
(Henry DuBois Bailey, Local Tales and Historical Sketches, Fishkill
Landing, N.Y. John W. Spaight, 1874. The author of this memoir was a
boyhood
friend of Van Amburgh.)
Bailey further tells that Van Amburgh's fame rapidly spread throughout the
United States; that many of his old schoolmates, including Bailey, went to
New York to see Isaac Van Amburgh enter the den of lions and tigers. The
spectacle was described as "sub-lime and fearful".
The greatest animal trainer of his day, Van Amburgh soon had a show of his
own with which he toured this country and Europe. He appeared before Queen
Victoria, who was so fascinated with his performances that she went on the
stage to see the animals fed and then issued orders for a command
performance at Drury Lane on Jan. 29, 1839, with full court regalia. A
song
called "The Menagerie" popular years ago had a verse as follows:
- Van Amburgh is the man who goes to all the shows,
He goes into the lions' den, and tells you all he knows,
He sticks his head into the lion's mouth, and keeps it there awhile,
And when he takes it out again he greets you with a smile."
A handbill announcing an exhibit of the Zoological Institute, No. 37
Bowery, pictures a lithe young man, Mr. Van Amburgh, the "unrivalled
Conqueror and Manager of the Whole Brute Creation". The date has been
approximated as 1837. (Museum of Akin Memorial Library, Quaker Hill,
Pawling, N.Y.)
In 1848, Van Amburgh traveled through Fishkill with his menagerie and
nearly all of the residents of the town of Fishkill and East Fishkill
turned
out to see him. Bailey states, "it was said this would be his last visit
to
his native place except as a private citizen. The writer saw him enter the
cages of the lions and tigers for the last time, and with what thrilling
interest did the large audience witness the wonderful control he had over
those ferocious beasts of the forests. In conversation with him my mind
reverted to the scenes of our childhood, when we went to school
together....
I saw at a glance that he had not deviated from the path of virtue, and
had shunned the intoxication bowl. His appearance was noble; his height
rather more than six feet. Age had made no impression on that powerful
frame. I felt myself in the presence of more than an ordinary man . . ."
Isaac Van Amburgh, a great grandson of Thomas Davenport, the Fhilipstown
pioneer, died Nov. 29, 1865, in Philadelphia. He is buried beside his
mother
in St. George's Cemetery at Newburgh, N.Y. (See, Ver Nooy, Amy, The
Animals
Came to Town, published in Year Book, Dutchess County Historical Society,
Vol. 41, 1956)
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