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Auction History Result 3d145 BARNES-CARRUTHERS 1941 ATTRACTION ANNUAL hardcover circus booking manual '41 Burt Lancaster! Date Sold 12/18/2016 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. A Vintage Circus Booking Manual Hardcover Book (measures 10 1/4" x 13 1/4" [26 x 34 cm]; 204 pages) (Learn More) Barnes-Carruthers Fair Booking Association 1941 Attraction Annual, which lists all kinds of acts available for bookings at county fairs, circuses, etc. In those days before TV, traveling circuses and fairs were a major source of entertainment in the U.S., and acts would need help in getting bookings, because there were literally thousands of circuses and fairs traveling the U.S. This book was published by the IAFE (International Association of Fairs & Expositions) on their 50th anniversary, so the association had existed since 1891!. The book is filled with ads from acts that were available for booking and all of the ads are a deluxe 2-page ad. We don't know if the acts paid for the ads, or if the association got a percentage of their bookings (like an agent). What is so wonderful about this book is that one of the 2-page ads is for "The Three Toppers"! You surely have never heard of this act, which was a three-man act with a strongman who balanced the other two men on a long pole, where they would perform acrobatic stunts. The ad says that the two men were also available to be booked as a two-man act called "Lang and Cravat"! This was the act of Burt Lancaster and Nick Cravat, five years before Lancaster made his first movie. It has always been common knowledge that Lancaster was in the circus prior to serving in the military in World War II, and that Lancaster made his first movie, "The Killers", in 1946. But in his official biography, they say that he left the circus in 1939 due to an injury, and then took ordinary jobs like working as a clerk at Marshall Fields. But this wonderful book proves that he actually was still in the circus in 1941! We wonder why the discrepancy of two years (perhaps Lancaster himself altered his past, which was easy to do in this pre-Internet days). If anyone knows more about this, please e-mail us and we will post it here. NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography. Important Added Info: As noted above, this book has a wonderful 2-page ad for Burt Lancaster's circus act. We can't imagine that virtually any examples of this book still survive (and if they do, the owners are probably unaware of this ad, because Lancaster is listed as "Lang", which was his stage name). We have never auctioned this book before! Also note that we have pictured the front cover and four interior 2-page spreads (including the great Lancaster 2-page spread). Condition: very good. The covers of the book have scuffs and smudges in the solid gold areas and some minor wear around the edges. The interior pages are in excellent condition! Learn More about condition grades 
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