| Sells Floto Circus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Origin | |
| Country | United States |
| Information | |
| Operator(s) | Frederick Gilmer Bonfils |
| Fate | Incorporated into the American Circus Corporation by 1929 |
| Type of acts | Buffalo Bill Cody |
The Sells Floto Circus was a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus that toured with sideshow acts in the United States and Canada during the early 1900s.
Frederick Gilmer Bonfils and Harry Heye Tammen owned the first outfit as well as the Denver Post, and the "Floto" name came from the Post's one-time sportswriter, Otto Floto.[1]
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The Sells Floto circus absorbed Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows, and the Sells Brothers Circus, it was also a "combined" show. It later became the concessions department of Ringling Brothers Circus, along with Haggenback Wallace, who made the floats and other equipment.[citation needed]
The circus had four elephant births, three born to "Alice" and one to "Mama Mary". The sire of all four was "Snyder". None survived longer than five months.[citation needed]
By 1929 the Sells Floto Circus was part of the American Circus Corporation which consisted of Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, the John Robinson Circus, the Sparks Circus, and the Al G. Barnes Circus. John Nicholas Ringling then bought American Circus Corporation for $1.7-million creating a monopoly of traveling circus in America.[2]
On April 17, 1908 the Sells-Floto circus appeared in Riverside CA and while the animals were ushered off of the train a vapor flashback explosion occurred at the adjacent oil storage tank which frightened the animals. There was an elephant stampede into downtown Riverside with 1 dead and 6 injured.[3][4]
Feld Entertainment later used the Sells-Floto name for their supply division, located in Laurel, MD, that provided logistical support for all of the Feld shows for supplies and merchandise, including not only the three units of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, but the numerous On Ice shows (Disney on Ice, Ice Follies, etc.). This unit has since been renamed Feld Consumer Products.[citation needed]
