[CIRCUS HISTORY] “Cleopatra”, snake charmer, crocodile handler and bareback rider with the “Wild Australia” show: signed portrait photograph, c.1911.

A$400 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books · No longer available

Signed

[U.K.] : s.n., [c.1911]. Gelatin silver print photograph on postcard stock, 134 x 83 mm; recto signed in black ink: To Kitty / Cleo ; verso without publisher s imprint or handwritten message; fine condition. Cleopatra , a snake and crocodile handler and bareback rider, and Bonita , a sharpshooter (real names Harriett Drescher and Sylvia G. Drescher) were Surrey-born sisters who had performed in vaudeville in Australia before joining the Wild Australia show which opened in London in 1911. Initially staged to coincide with the coronation of George V, Wild Australia was organised by West Australian stockman Alfred Ernest Neave and backed by mining entrepreneur Dorham Doolette. It enjoyed a lengthy run of performances. The show earlier iterations of which had been directed by the controversial entrepreneur Archibald Meston was essentially a massive rodeo and entertainment spectacle that included over two dozen Australian riders, actors, and Indigenous performers. This signed photograph of Cleopatra (Harriett) is inscribed for Harriett and Sylvia s cousin, Mrs. Kitty Jessop.

• Binding: Hardcover

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