RARE "Barnum & Bailey" Clown Irving M Nelson Signed 2X2.75 Card For Sale

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

---

RARE "Barnum & Bailey" Clown Irving M Nelson Signed 2X2.75 Card:
$139.99

Up for sale a RARE! "Barnum & Bailey" Clown Irving M Nelson Signed 2X2.75 Card. Irving Nelson is a relative of singer Harry Nielson who changed his name professionally to seperate himself from his circus family. 

 ES-667A

For almost a century, the Nelson family flew through the air and

walked on stilts. Many years were spent in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and

Bailey Circus. Bethel is well known as the hometown of PT

Barnum, of Barnum and Bailey Circus fame. But long time residents know there

was another circus family in town, and this summer, they will be honored with a

plaque on the PT Barnum statue on Greenwood Avenue.   Patricia Durgy

Barlow grew up on Wooster St in Bethel and is the niece of Harry and John

Nelson, who traveled with the circus as acrobats and stilt walkers almost their

entire lives.   Barlow remembers, "It was wonderful when they

came home. We would drive the wood-sided station wagon into New York City where

we always had special seats in Madison Square Garden." Barlow laughed and

said, "When they came home, they would put on their stilts and clean the

gutters or paint the house. Our dearest neighbor, Hattie Clark, was widowed,

and they would clean her gutters, too. And across the street, the Boyson

sisters, too, though we called them the Boyson girls." (Say it out loud.) The

parents of John and Harry left London in 1844 and took their circus acts to

South America, Brooklyn, and eventually to Bethel. Giving a brief history of

their journey, Barlow explained, "Samuel and Frances Nelson came to

America in the mid 1800s. When the family moved to Brooklyn, which was all

farmland at that time, they owned a three story house. They traveled back and

forth to South America, performing vaudeville acts and acrobatics."  Barlow

is the family keeper of photos, old news clippings, and mementos. In one, it

mentions that some of the family stayed in Peru and started "El Circo

Nelson". Eight of the children started their own acts, The Nelson Brothers

and the Nelson Sisters, all of whom joined the Ringling Brothers Circus in

Bridgeport in the 1920s.  In the 1940s, John developed the original circus

version of Uncle Sam in eight-foot stilts. As acrobats, their acts were

featured and they opened the traveling circus shows for decades.  Harry

and John never married.  They felt they needed to take care of their widowed

sister Victoria and her child. They counted Emmett Kelley and other famous

clowns among their dearest friends. Barlow, who now lives in Bridgewater,

remembers when the best times of all were when the uncles came home to Bethel

from their international circus tours.  Opening a folder filled with

treasured family photos and typed up memories, Barlow said, "My mother

worked so hard to keep all of this. She always wanted to write a book.

 There are so many stories to be told."  In one typed page,

Barlow's Uncle John suffered a debilitating accident.  It read, "The

"Chariot Race" came on. It was a favorite with the children in the

audience. Teams of tiny ponies pulling miniature Roman chariots driven by

little people raced around the perimeter of the three ring area, with the

audience rooting for their favorites. As the chariots entered the ring, all the

clowns had to make a quick exit. As one of the chariot teams entered, something

startled one of the ponies. He bolted and the team panicked. Johnny was knocked

down, and one arm was trampled by the sharp little hooves. He received

excellent care at the Boston General hospital but his arm was was mangled

badly. The bone healed but the forearm was very bowed. This limited motion to a

great extent, and now the act was done forever. It was about time, too, for

"the boys" were both in their sixties."  His brother Harry

suffered a fall when a wooden stilt broke, hurting his back and ending his

acrobatic and stilt career when he was in his '60s. He became a clown, and

worked in the circus until he was 81 years old.

RARE "Barnum & Bailey" Clown Irving M Nelson Signed 2X2.75 Card

$139.99

RARE "The Barnum Festival" Hand Signed FDC (X3) Dated 1963

$139.99

Ringling Bros Barnum and Bailey Rare 2001 11" NWT Bean Stuffed Plush Vintage NWT

$8.99

RARE Barnum's Animals Endangered Collection Crackers "Great Panda" NEW SEALED

$11.99

RARE PHOTOGRAPH CIRCUS. BARNUM & BAILEY, SHOW DINNING TENT 1917. ORIGINAL.

$33.00

Rare PT Barnum Circus Owner Promoter Hand Signed Book Life of PT Barnum 1888

$1200.00

1966 RARE Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey Circus Poster Original Elephant 20X28

$349.99

RARE PT Barnum CIRCUS CDV ADMIRAL DOT 13 Yrs Old Little Person midget photo

$85.00