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Photographic Archive Covering The Career Of Circus Performers Jim And Renee, "The Darings" (aka Edith & Joseph Gieringer) -

Photographic Archive Covering The Career Of Circus Performers Jim And Renee, "The Darings" (aka Edith & Joseph Gieringer) -

Photographic Archive Covering the Career of Circus Performers Jim and Renee, "The Darings" (aka Edith & Joseph Gieringer)

  • Used
Collection of original photographs and related ephemera chronicling the vaudeville and circus career of "The Darings" and, later, "Jim Daring's Chimps", comprised of 77 original photographs, 8 photo postcards, and 6 additional pieces of assorted ephemera including flyers for the RKO Palace in New York and the former Rocky Point Park in Rhode Island; with approximately half of the photographs being mostly professional 8"x10" photographs and half smaller-format (5"x7" or smaller), a number being amateur and candid snapshots of circus scenes and performers, including a handful signed by Renee and/or Jim Daring, and several inscribed to the Darings from fellow performers. About half of the photographs are captioned to verso in pencil, with notes providing further information and context. Uniformly well-preserved, images generally fresh and unfaded, some with mild edge-creasing, minor rubbing to corners, or slight soiling. Housed in two modern photograph albums. N.p., n.d. (circa 1940-1955). "The Darings" (aka Edith and Joseph Gieringer) began as a daredevil act in the late 1930s, and by the mid-1940s had switched their act to running a successful troupe of performing chimpanzees, following the death of several of their high-wire colleagues. With their new act, "Jim Daring's Chimps", they appeared on nationally-televised broadcasts such as The Arthur Godfrey and Gary Moore Shows. The majority of this collection chronicles the Darings' career in vaudeville and then later with the chimpanzees, while a number of photographs and postcards document other contemporary vaudeville and circus performers who operated within the Darings' circle. Many of these are professional promotional photographs, with several signed to the Darings. Some of the other performers depicted include Miss Luxem, the Stratosphere Girl; Texas Tommy and Baby Doll; the Billetti Troupe; Burt Northrup & Bess; Lillie Greenwood; La Flottes 'Rhapsody on Wheels'; the circus clown Polidor; Aquarena; and others. A fascinating and delightful archive from the worlds of vaudeville and the circus.