Calliope

A Calliope is an automatic music machine mostly made and used in America before the advent of electricity used to play recorded music. These steam powered machines originally played music through train whistles. 

A true American Treasure and we have one at our tour.
Calliopes could be extremely loud and made mainly for outdoor use.  Our tour is SO HUGE, we have
one INSIDE.  Come hear it play!

Today's Treasure: Circus Sideshow Paintings

Inspired by vintage advertisements for circus side-show acts, Pennsylvania artist Joan Fay painted nearly 100 original canvas paintings in the manner of circus advertisements from the early19th century. 

 Some of the acts from circus of a bygone era were of talented performers who trained themselves to do things like breathe fire (see below) while others were the result of imagination and inventive costuming like the above act for a half man, half alligator....yikes!

S

Influential American: P.T. Barnum

Phineas Taylor Barnum is best known for his part in Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. 

An entreprenuer from the start, Barnum owned a newspaper in his Connecticut hometown before moving to New York where he quickly founded "Barnum's Grand Scientific and Musical Theater." He purchased a museum which he used as a platform for performances from his variety act and for other human curiosities and oddities. Eventually, his museum housed America's first aquarium. 

       While ever adding to his list of attractions and oddities, Barnum was also a very productive politician, serving two terms in the Connecticut legislature, and eventually becoming mayor of Bridgeport, CT. 

      Barnum did not enter the travelling circus business until he was in his sixties. He started "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome," a traveling circus, menagerie and museum. He later partnered with Bailey, creating Barnum and Bailey's "Greatest Show on Earth." 

    At the American Treasure Tour there is a wonderland of circus memorabilia, artifacts from the circus and vintage advertisements from the show's heyday. 

Influential American: Samuel Goldwyn

Famed for his relentless ambition, bad temper and genius for publicity, Samuel Goldwyn became Hollywood's leading "independent" producer. Goldwyn was an American emigrant from Warsaw who found his way from New York's Garment district to Hollywood California. 

He produced 193 films, and was best known for his films, Guys and Dolls, Wurthering Heights, and The Best Years of Our Lives. Here is the full list of titles. 

Goldwyn died in 1974 at the age of 94.

Today's Treasure; Circus Posters

These treasures are canvas paintings depicting actual circus posters of the early 20th century. 

 The advertisements often bragged of freaky sideshow acts like these. 

Pennsylvania artist Joan Fay created these one of a kind paintings for the American Treasure Tour

Today's Treasure; Music Box Roll

Take a look inside some of our antique music boxes. 

make sure to look very close at the little things when you visit the American Treasure Tour

Notice the tiny bronze men sitting in the box to "play the music"

for more information about antique music boxes, see the Music Box Society International 

American Treasure: John Wayne

photo courtesy of JohnWayne.com

John Wayne's birth name was Marion Michael Morrison. His family moved to southern California when he was just a kid. He was a good student and very athletic, attending college at the University of Southern California. A body surfing accident cut short his promising athletic career, so he turned to some work in the Hollywood studios to pay the bills. 

After his first movie, "The Big Trail," Morrison was known as John Wayne, and continued to act in more than 175 movies. He won an Oscar in 1979 for his performance in "True Grit." 

Bravo, John Wayne.

American Treasure: Ray Kroc

Ray Kroc (1902-1984) has an inspiring story. He worked as a paper cup salesman for restaurants. He then began selling special milkshake machines across the US. He had an idea about how to streamline food production in a restaurant inspired by one of the restaurants he did business with-- it was owned by the McDonald brothers.

Ray convinced the brothers to franchise their business through him. Ray opened his first McDonalds in 1955. The rest is history. From selling paper cups, through his innovative thinking, Ray's business was worth 500 million dollars by the time of his death in 1984!

Today's Treasure: The Coke Phone

Does this make you reminisce of a time before cell phones? This one pre-dates the cordless home phone! 

American Treasure: Larry Bird

photo courtesy of roundballdaily.com

Larry Bird (born 1956) joined the Boston Celtics in 1979 with the largest contract in basketball history at that time. He won the NBA's rookie of the year award and later won three consecutive most valuable player awards. 

After he ended his career as a basketball player, Bird coached the Indiana Pacers, and later became the President of Basketball Relations for the NBA. 

The American Treasure Tour salutes you, Larry Bird!

Thanks to http://www.usa-hero.com for great info on American Heros.

Treasure Find: Miniature Circus

        Much in the same way that many folks all over the country build tiny villages for their model train sets, building a miniature circus is a fond American past-time for many. The American Treasure Tour houses a few miniature circuses like the one pictured below. 

Many of these models were made with each item painstakingly to scale (1/2 inch equals 1 foot in many cases). Some very dedicated families pass down the tradition, through a few generations, so some circuses have been added to for 50 + years! Just like a model train, these models have working, moving parts!

For more information about this fascinating American past-time, check out the Circus Model Builders, Inc. website

We sure hope that people continue to make really cool models like this one! What other kinds of models do you enjoy making? Send us links to view your excellent model trains, planes, and automobiles! (and circuses)