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Up for sale a RARE! "Barnum & Bailey" Clown Irving M Nelson Signed 2X2.75 Card. Irving Nelson is a relative of singer Harry Nielson who changed his name professionally to seperate himself from his circus family.
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For almost a century, the Nelson family flew through the air and
walked on stilts. Many years were spent in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and
Bailey Circus. Bethel is well known as the hometown of PT
Barnum, of Barnum and Bailey Circus fame. But long time residents know there
was another circus family in town, and this summer, they will be honored with a
plaque on the PT Barnum statue on Greenwood Avenue. Patricia Durgy
Barlow grew up on Wooster St in Bethel and is the niece of Harry and John
Nelson, who traveled with the circus as acrobats and stilt walkers almost their
entire lives. Barlow remembers, "It was wonderful when they
came home. We would drive the wood-sided station wagon into New York City where
we always had special seats in Madison Square Garden." Barlow laughed and
said, "When they came home, they would put on their stilts and clean the
gutters or paint the house. Our dearest neighbor, Hattie Clark, was widowed,
and they would clean her gutters, too. And across the street, the Boyson
sisters, too, though we called them the Boyson girls." (Say it out loud.) The
parents of John and Harry left London in 1844 and took their circus acts to
South America, Brooklyn, and eventually to Bethel. Giving a brief history of
their journey, Barlow explained, "Samuel and Frances Nelson came to
America in the mid 1800s. When the family moved to Brooklyn, which was all
farmland at that time, they owned a three story house. They traveled back and
forth to South America, performing vaudeville acts and acrobatics." Barlow
is the family keeper of photos, old news clippings, and mementos. In one, it
mentions that some of the family stayed in Peru and started "El Circo
Nelson". Eight of the children started their own acts, The Nelson Brothers
and the Nelson Sisters, all of whom joined the Ringling Brothers Circus in
Bridgeport in the 1920s. In the 1940s, John developed the original circus
version of Uncle Sam in eight-foot stilts. As acrobats, their acts were
featured and they opened the traveling circus shows for decades. Harry
and John never married. They felt they needed to take care of their widowed
sister Victoria and her child. They counted Emmett Kelley and other famous
clowns among their dearest friends. Barlow, who now lives in Bridgewater,
remembers when the best times of all were when the uncles came home to Bethel
from their international circus tours. Opening a folder filled with
treasured family photos and typed up memories, Barlow said, "My mother
worked so hard to keep all of this. She always wanted to write a book.
There are so many stories to be told." In one typed page,
Barlow's Uncle John suffered a debilitating accident. It read, "The
"Chariot Race" came on. It was a favorite with the children in the
audience. Teams of tiny ponies pulling miniature Roman chariots driven by
little people raced around the perimeter of the three ring area, with the
audience rooting for their favorites. As the chariots entered the ring, all the
clowns had to make a quick exit. As one of the chariot teams entered, something
startled one of the ponies. He bolted and the team panicked. Johnny was knocked
down, and one arm was trampled by the sharp little hooves. He received
excellent care at the Boston General hospital but his arm was was mangled
badly. The bone healed but the forearm was very bowed. This limited motion to a
great extent, and now the act was done forever. It was about time, too, for
"the boys" were both in their sixties." His brother Harry
suffered a fall when a wooden stilt broke, hurting his back and ending his
acrobatic and stilt career when he was in his '60s. He became a clown, and
worked in the circus until he was 81 years old.