July 31 was the birthday of the pioneering showman Hachaliah Bailey (1775-1845). We’re guilty of having been neglectful of this important show biz founder. By rights, he should have been one of the first figures ever entered into our annals, and you’ll see why. To date, we’ve given him passing mention, but here’s a more complete treatment.

Bailey was a farmer and entrepreneur in Somers, New York, located in Westchester County, east of the Hudson River town of Peekskill. He also was part owner of a sloop and was one of the directors of the Croton Turnpike Company. Thus he very intelligently had some control over the two methods of bringing cattle and other livestock down to sell in New York City. It was there, in 1808, at the Bull’s Head Tavern on the Bowery that he encountered the second elephant ever brought to North America (the first was the Crowninshield Elephant). Bailey purchased the creature for $1000, initially intending to use it to plow his fields, but the exotic sight attracted so many gawkers that he began to charge admission. He named her “Old Bet” (because his daughter Elizabeth was Young Bet). Once everyone in the Somers area had seen Old Bet he began to take her on the road. That’s how young P.T. Barnum saw her in his hometown of Bethel, Connecticut, due east of Somers. (In history, geography is everything.) Not only did this incident inspire Barnum to his own future endeavors as a exhibitor and impresario, Barnum also later famously emulated Bailey’s scheme of using elephants to plow his fields. Barnum refers to this early life event in his autobiography Struggles and Triumphs.

Sadly, Old Bet was later murdered by some old kook in Alfred, Maine who decided that it was sinful for the local farmers to be so idle as to go look at rare animals. By then, however, Bailey had acquired other animals and even other elephants. His was one of the first American menageries, and in time, such menageries combined with circuses. Several of Bailey’s relatives got into Hachaliah’s line of work. His son Lewis is said to have introduced canvas tents to the circus business. His nephew Frederic was the adopted father of James A. Bailey, who later merged his show with Barnum’s, forming the Barnum and Bailey Circus, which later merged with that of the Ringling Brothers, and the combined concern later swallowed up most of the other major American circuses.

In addition to RBBB Circus, Hachaliah left a couple of other lasting legacies. One is the town of Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia, which became the winter quarters for Bailey’s outfit. The other is the Elephant Hotel in Somers, New York, which still stands and has become the town center. Unlike the Elephant Hotels we wrote about here, it does not resemble an elephant itself, but it does have an elephant statue out front, which was also erected by Bailey.

For more on show biz history, including much about the circus, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever colorful books are sold.