#i love you county fairs and graduation rings from 1932

[alongwaytostar]

anyways (I say this as someone who is deeply critical of the united states government, military, unchecked capitalism, police, etc) I am SICK of people treating america as if it has no cultural value or positives so….. I love u 85 million acres (bigger than italy) of national parks. I love u harlem renaissance. I love u groundhogs day. I love u sweet tea and fried chicken and jambalaya. I love u apple cider donuts and maizes on crisp autumn days. I love u 95k miles of coastlines and new england fisherman and hand knitted sweaters. I love u halloween where millions of people dress up and give candy to strangers and carve jack o’lanterns. I love u small talk and small towns and potlucks and bringing over casseroles to your struggling neighbors. I love u cowboys and ranch hands and arizonian cactus. I love u appalachian trail and dirtbikes and divebars. I love u sparklers and fireflies. I love u mark twain and toni morrison and emily dickinson and henry david thoreau. I love u rock n roll i love u bluegrass and hippies i love u jimi hendrix and nirvana and CCR and janis joplin. I love u victorian houses and jonny appleseed and john henry and mothman and bigfoot. I love u foggy days in the pacific northwest and neon signs and roadside attractions. I love u baseball and 1950s diners and soft serve. I love u native american art and pop art and poptarts. I love u blue jeans and barbecues and jazz musicians 

[yatescountyhistorycenter]

When life is literally a three-ring circus

By Jonathan Monfiletto

In early March, Billy Martin’s Cole All-Star Circus rolled into town. Unfortunately, so did a late winter snowstorm, so the circus’ return to its hometown had to be postponed until late April.

Indeed, despite a heavy rainstorm that night, the Cole All-Star Circus’ performance in the Penn Yan Academy gymnasium took on an old-home-days feel. Billy Martin – who succeeded Penn Yan native James M. “Jimmy” Cole in 1988 as the circus’ leader – paid tribute to the circus’ founder in its 85th season, with Cole’s granddaughters and other relatives on hand to witness the homecoming. Martin stated there would be a local celebration later in the year, but I haven’t heard anything more about it.

I attended the circus with my 5-year-old daughter, and it was a surreal moment for both of us. For me, a local history buff and (I like to think) aficionado, despite my lack of Yates County roots, it was incredible to witness a Cole All-Star Circus performance in the town where the circus began. For my daughter, well, she just loves circuses and marveled at all of the performers and their talents.

Gone were Jimmy Cole’s famous elephants – in an age when society has rightfully decided such acts are cruel despite their mystique – and in fact there were no animals whatsoever. What we saw instead were dazzling displays of feats of strength and agility as well as excitement and comedy. It really and truly was a wonderful experience, and at 85 years old, the Cole All-Star Circus is still a thrill.

Of course, the story of the Cole Circus goes back much farther than its 85 seasons and even farther than Jimmy Cole’s 86 years of life. As an undated and untitled newspaper article in our research files seems to indicate, you could say the circus was literally in Jimmy Cole’s blood. According to this article, Cole was a direct descendant of William Washington Cole, who founded the Famous American Cole Circus in the 1850s.

Long before that Thomas Cooke toured markets and fairs in northern England and Scotland in the 18th century with a small company of tent shows. His son, Thomas Taplin Cooke, known for feats of strength and skills on a tightrope, bought a troupe and chartered a ship to entertain in America. With him were 12 of his 19 children, and by 1846 the troupe had ponies, horses, clowns, and a Russian reindeer. When Cooke returned to Scotland, his daughter Mary Ann remained and married William Cole. Their son, William Washington Cole, established his circus that traveled by trains far into the 20th century.

In spite of, or because of, his ancestry, Cole first took interest in the circus at age 3 when he received for Christmas a box of blocks decorated with pictures of birds and other animals. By age 11, he was handing out programs and assisting backstage at the Sampson Theater; at age 14, the theater manager promoted him to treasurer. During the winter, many circus people performed at the theater and whetted Cole’s appetite for the circus.

During the summer of 1925, Cole spent his school vacation with Floyd King’s Walter L. Main circus. Following his graduation from Penn Yan Academy the next year, he joined the Main show as assistant manager in the office and ticket wagon. He worked for the King’s Gentry Bros. Circus in 1928 and then Sells-Floto in 1929. He served as the time keeper and commissary manager for Sells-Floto in 1930 and then superintendent of the commissary in 1932.

In 1936, at age 30, Cole became the youngest circus owner in America when he opened the James M. Cole Wild Animal Circus. However, the show closed after just four days due to weather and a lack of capital. He then spent two seasons as time keeper and paymaster – with his wife, Dorothy, as “the first woman in circus history ever to be an assistant paymaster,” Cole said in a 1938 newspaper article – for the Hagenbeck-Wallace circus.

It was for the 1939 season that Cole established his famous indoor circus – a format that was designed to bring the circus to schoolchildren who had never seen such a show. Its first performance took place in October 1939 in Cole’s hometown in the Penn Yan Junior High School auditorium. With an adjoining stage and gymnasium, the 15-act show included a variety of acrobats and artists and clowns. That show included the Behees, labeled as the world’s greatest flying trapeze artists.

Later seasons and shows featured Jumbo – an 8,500-pound elephant who joined the Cole circus during the 1940 season and then opened the new season in Penn Yan the following year. The elephant was quartered at the Yates County Fairgrounds Penn Yan and, according to Cole, would have no difficulty entering the Junior High School building. However, at an appearance in Lyons, Jumbo reportedly had to enter through a big window in the school library since all of the school doors were single and thus too small for an elephant. Penn Yan school buildings apparently had double doors.

By 1942, Cole planned to make his indoor circus a year-round show, rather than beginning the season in September with the start of the school year. This time, the circus would host shows starting in May. Uncle Sam came calling in November 1943, though, and Cole packed away his circus equipment and entered the U.S. Army for service during World War II. Sgt. Cole was attached to Transportation Corps at Camp Plauche, Louisiana.

When Cole received his discharge two years later, the circus was ready to reopen, with some of Cole’s fellow war veterans among his returning workers. Together, they began assembling the tent and related pieces and gathering the necessary equipment; shows started again in April 1946. The new tour included the Cole circus’ first performances in schools for the first time in eight years, according to one newspaper article.

Subsequent articles feature the antics of Cole’s elephants, such as getting loose and taking a stroll down Main Street in Penn Yan or around the Canandaigua Golf Club and refusing to enter the Penn Yan school auditorium. They also highlight 9-year-old Jimmy Cole Jr. joining his father’s circus in 1950, its 12th season, billed as the youngest elephant trainer ever.

In May 1957, Cole – then just past 50 years old – opened Circus-Land, a 25-acre circus-themed amusement park three miles east of Penn Yan in the hamlet of Mays Mills, in the town of Milo. The attraction featured a 500,000-piece hand-carved model circus, Cole’s famous performing elephants, wild animals, a fairyland zoo, authentic railroad circus wagons, circus museum pieces, baby animals, a Native American gift shop, clowns, free acts, and more. There were long-range plans to expand the property and items over time. Just two or three years later, though, Cole and his wife sold their Penn Yan property, which apparently included the Circus-Land site, as they moved to the southwest to work with other circuses.

In 1977, at age 71, Cole celebrated his 60th year in the circus business – dating back to his work at the Sampson Theater at age 11 – during a show in Geneva, with several dignitaries heaping their thanks and praise upon the performer and businessman. The following year, the Cole All-Star TV Circus celebrated its 40th season – with “balancing wizard” Billy Martin among the acts. On Saturday, March 3, 1984, Penn Yan and Yates County commemorated “Jimmie Cole Day” with a variety of festivities throughout the day at different locations. The slate included a presentation during the intermission of an evening circus performance – the circus’ biannual appearance in its hometown.

In 1988, at age 81, Cole completed his final circus at the helm, handing the show off to Martin, who continues to head the circus today. Cole died in 1992 at age 86, leaving behind his second wife, his son, and a plethora of memories.