Johnny J. Jones

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johnny J. Jones, "The Mighty Monarch of the Tented World"
Johnny J. Jones Exposition

Johnny J. Jones (June 8, 1874 – December 25, 1930), billed as "The Mighty Monarch of the Tented World" and "The Midway King”', was a prominent showman in the America's carnival industry. Jones founded and managed the Johnny J. Jones Exposition, one of the largest collective amusements in the United States. The Exposition was a traveling railroad show of midway entertainment stages, rows of concessions and amusement rides. Jones was of the first showmen to purchase steel railroad cars, and his collective amusements in America were the first to reach the 30-car size. During the prosperous 1920s, the Exposition consisted of 50 steel cars carrying 100 wagons. The Johnny J. Jones Exposition traveled to fairgrounds throughout the continental United States and Canada for over 50 years. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was the only show in America that was bigger than the Johnny J. Jones Exposition.

Early life and career

Johnny Jenkins Jones was born in Arnot, Tioga County, Pennsylvania on June 8, 1874. His family soon moved to Du Bois in Clearfield County.[1] His parents, Ebenezer, a coal miner, and Ann (née Harris) Jones, were both born in Wales.

At the age of ten, Jones worked in local coal mines to help support his family. Later as a newsboy he hawked newspapers and soon progressed from newsboy to “news butcher” aboard Pennsylvania Railroad passenger trains selling papers, sandwiches, cigars and sundries. Du Bois, Pennsylvania historian Major Israel McCreight recalled: “After the arrival of the 1 o'clock train Johnny J. Jones could be heard yelling at the top of his voice, "Pittsburgh Gazette; all about the big fire." [2] In 1895, Jones invested in a cane rack booth at a local fairground. By 1899, he added a novel miniature railroad, purchased a railroad car, built his own Ferris wheel and played a regular fair route with his own gilly carnival in Western Pennsylvania, called The Johnny J. Jones Ferris Wheel Company.[3]

Johnny J. Jones, The Billboard, 1917

The Johnny J. Jones Exposition

Johnny J. Jones Midway, Edmonton Exhibition of 1919, Glenbow Museum Archives, Alberta, Canada
"Susie the Graf Zeppelin Gorilla" and Johnny J. Jones "The Midway King", August 4, 1929

In 1906, Jones added a circus attraction to the show title, the "Johnny J. Jones Exposition Shows & Trained Wild Animal Exhibition." Jones traveled throughout the Eastern U.S. and Canada, providing midway amusements at principal fairs including the Canadian National Exposition at Toronto.[4] In 1916, the Johnny J. Jones Exposition traveled west of the Mississippi River with fairs in Iowa, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.[5]

Johnny J. Jones, Jr., "Regina Boy"

Jones was a successful showman and wore a fashionable drooping mustache that became his show business trademark.[6] In 1917, Jones was nationally showcased on the journal covers of Billboard and Optimist.[7]

In 1920, Jones married carnival business veteran Etta Louise “Hody” Hurd.[8] The couple had one child, Johnny J. Jones, Jr., born in 1921. In the tradition of the carnival families, Johnny Jr. became part of the show and his seventh birthday pageant was witnessed by thousands in Regina, Saskatchewan when he was made a member of the Cree Indian tribe.[9] Some 200 Indians in full war paint, beat on tom-toms and chanted war songs as Johnny Jr., his father, mother and Aunt Sue were approached by Chief Red Dog, who addressed the youngster seated on his pony. He was given the name, O-skun-a- kas-as-tay-kee-napasis, meaning in English, "Regina Boy."

"Susie the Graf Zeppelin Gorilla"

Susie the Gorilla earned fame on August 4, 1929, by crossing the Atlantic on an epoch making flight of the Graf Zeppelin. Susie and the Johnny J. Jones Exposition received national publicity about the journey and $2,000 was paid for her passage. At the time, she was the only female gorilla in the United States. Susie, was captured in the Belgian Congo at the age of six months, was first sold to a group of French explorers who sent her to France. She travelled with a variety of traveling shows, including the Johnny J. Jones Exposition, the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. In 1931, Robert J. Sullivan permanently loaned Susie to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. Susie was, in her day, the first and only trained Gorilla in the world. Susie’s trainer, William Dressman, taught her how eat with a knife and fork and orchestrated two performances every day. Susie was so popular that on her birthday on August 7, 1936 more than 16,000 visitors flocked to the zoo. Susie remained one of the most popular animals at the zoo until her death on October 29, 1947. Her body was donated to the University of Cincinnati, where her skeleton remained on display until it was destroyed in a fire in 1974.[10]

Johnny J. Jones and Thomas A. Edison

Jones was a celebrity and attracted famous personalities such as Thomas A. Edison and Henry Ford to shows. In 1927, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Edison celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary at the Ft. Myers Fair where they roamed the Midway. It didn’t take long for the greatest showman of his time to meet and strike up a friendship with the greatest inventor of all time. The Edisons were so enthralled with the midgets that Jones and the little people were invited for a visit to the Edison estate the following evening.[11] Edison continued his friendship with Jones and visited him in Du Bois, Pennsylvania, Johnny’s hometown.

Mighty Monarch of the Tented World

Jones was billed as “The Mighty Monarch of the Tented World” and “The Midway King.” The Exposition had a reputation as a “Sunday School” operation and newspaper editors provided favorable publicity.[12] When the Exposition visited Washington, D.C., billboards posted on street cars read “Johnny’s Coming” and Johnny’s Here”.[13] Jones attributed success to keeping the faith with the public, performers, city officials, newspapers and fair committees.[14] One appreciative Pennsylvania newspaper editor wrote, “A home without a mother is like a fair without Johnny J. Jones.”

Jones was the first showmen to purchase steel railroad cars, and his collective amusements in America the first to reach the 30-car size.[15] In 1928, Jones combined his two traveling carnivals into one long train of 50 steel cars carrying 100 wagons.[5] Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was the only show in America that was bigger than the Johnny J. Jones Exposition.[16]

Tragedy struck when his brother Ebenezer ("Abe") died as a result of injuries from a brutal mugging in a rail yard. Abe traveled with Johnny most of his life and worked in various management roles.[17]

When Jones was at height of success, the American economy collapsed on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, and the Great Depression began.

Jones's final days

Johnny J. Jones Midgets surround "The World's Tallest Man, Clifford Thompson, 8'6" Giant.

Jones consumed alcohol since his teenage days and was hospitalized in the mid-twenties for alcoholism. The Great Depression was a financial disaster for Jones and he was in debt when the season ended in 1930. On Christmas Day, 1930, Jones, bedridden for two days in his private railroad car at DeLand, Florida, died from renal failure at the age of 56.[18] Johnny’s funeral was a show business event in DeLand. Many showmen, fair executives, local officials and out of state dignitaries attended including a delegation from Canada and a police captain representing the District of Colombia.

The JJJ show continues

Hody Hurd Jones continued to manage the Exposition from her private railroad car for another twenty years.[19] Johnny J. Jones, Jr. also continued to manage the Exposition and at the age of 16 was Assistant Director of the show.[20] Graduating from the Hayne Military Academy in 1939 and Stetson University, Johnny J. Jones, Jr. served as a B-24 pilot with the 458th Bombardment Group (H) in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Returning from a mission over Munich, Germany on July 11, 1944 his crew was forced to bail out near the Dutch-Belgian border and was taken prisoner of war and liberated by the Russian Army on May 2, 1945. After the war, he returned to the “JJJ” management until the show closed.[21]

However, the Exposition was never able to regain a full route of events and the IRS seized and sold the equipment for taxes in 1951.[22]

"Du Bois: The Capital of the World"

Jones’ train and circus wagons bore the slogan "Du Bois The Capital of the World" and he often returned during the summer marching his concert band to his mother’s grave at Rumbarger Cemetery. “There he heaped her grave with beautiful flowers, and his band played with such harmony and perfection as to bring tears to the thousands gathered there to see and hear.” Jones was generous to local charities and on one visit donated a children's ward to Du Bois Hospital.[23]

Johnny J. Jones Exposition Concert Band

After Jones’ death, Du Bois, Pennsylvania remained a loyal venue for another twenty years. In 1949, 7,000 visited the midway the first day. In 1950, the Johnny J. Jones Exposition played their last show in Du Bois, the only financially successful show of the season. The sponsor was the Du Bois Volunteer Fire Department. A large crowd turned out to greet the great show train and witness the unloading of the wagons, and there was a big parade with three local bands. It was a special occasion for the Jones family, and Johnny J. Jones Jr. and his oldest daughter Candy did radio promotions on station WCED in Du Bois, and talked about the history of the Jones family. Jones was a lifelong member of Du Bois Garfield Lodge #559, F. & M. and the Jaffa Shrine, Altoona, Pennsylvania[24]

"JJJ" Memorial

The Du Bois historian Major Israel McCreight recorded, "It is sad to think of and humiliating to record, that Johnny J. Jones, who did so much to advertise Du Bois, Pennsylvania, lies buried in an unmarked grave, in the City of Orlando. It is one more evidence of the truth that public memory is short, fickle and unappreciative toward those to whom they owe the most."[25]

Bibliography

  • Bob Goldsack, “A History of the Johnny J. Jones Exposition: ‘The Mighty Monarch of the Tented World’”, Midway Museum Publications, Nashua, NH. (1990)
  • Joe McKennon, “The Pictorial History of the American Carnival, Volume II”, Carnival Publishers of Sarasota, Florida (1972)
  • Fred Dahlinger, Jr., “Show Trains of the 20th Century”, Circus World Museum (2002)

External links

References

  1. ↑ The primary biographers of Johnny J. Jones are historians Bob Goldsack and Joe McKennon. See Bob Goldsack, A History of the Johnny J. Jones Exposition: ‘The Might Monarch of the Tented World’, Midway Publications, Nashua, NH (1990) (hereinafter “Goldsack”) and Joe McKennon, “The Pictorial History of the American Carnival, Volume II”, Carnival Publishers of Sarasota, Florida (1972) (hereinafter “McKennon”); see also Fred Dahlinger, Jr.'s Show Trains of the 20th Century, Circus World Museum (2000).
  2. ↑ M.I. McCreight, Memory Sketches of Du Bois Pennsylvania 1874-1938: A History (1938) at p.7., Goldsack at p.7
  3. ↑ Goldsack, p. 7
  4. ↑ Goldsack at p.49 and The Billboard, “Obituary of Johnny J. Jones”, January 3, 1931.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 McKennon at p. 23.
  6. ↑ McKennon at p. 22, Goldsack at p. 7.
  7. ↑ Billboard, October 1917 and Optimist, September 8, 1917.
  8. ↑ McKennon at p.24 and Goldsack at p. 17. Hurd is recognized as one of the great American "Carnival Women", McKennon at pp. 109-111.
  9. ↑ Goldsack at p.45.
  10. ↑ See http://circusnospin.blogspot.com/2009/10/vintage-cincinnati-zoo-suzie-graf.html.
  11. ↑ Goldsack at p.41, 43.
  12. ↑ McKennon at p. 94, Goldsack at p.33. "'Bring the Sunday School class' was one classic he contributed to the annals of ballyhoo. The reference was to the clean, wholesome amusements the Jones' show boasted." "Pretty Young Widow is Operator of Successful Carnival-Circus", The Atlanta Constitution, Feb. 2, 1933, p. 17.
  13. ↑ McKennon at p.94.
  14. ↑ Goldsack at p.41.
  15. ↑ The Billboard, “Obituary of Johnny J. Jones”, January 3, 1931.
  16. ↑ “Johnny J. Jones Exposition”, Circus Magazine (1930) at p.42-47, and Du Bois Courier, “Obituary of Johnny J. Jones”, December 27, 1930.
  17. ↑ Goldsack at p 29, 41. Also see Du Bois Courier “Obituary of Johnny J. Jones”, December 27, 1930.
  18. ↑ McKennon at p.24.
  19. ↑ Goldsack at p.29.
  20. ↑ Goldsack at p.66.
  21. ↑ See the 458th Bombardment Group (H) at http://www.458bg.com/crewaz02jones.htm.
  22. ↑ The public sale was held on April 10, 1951, at the Bainbridge AFB in Georgia. McKennon at p. 111.
  23. ↑ Du Bois Courier, “Obituary of Johnny J. Jones”, December 27, 1930.
  24. ↑ Johnny Jr.’s daughter Jerry Judiford Jones was born that year and named to carry the “JJJ” initials of her famous grandfather. She was born in St. Petersburg, FL on March 15, 1950. Goldsack at p.83.
  25. ↑ M.I. McCreight, Memory Sketches of Du Bois Pennsylvania 1874-1938: A History (1938) at p.7.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.