The Zweifel Circus Collection

Ringling Brothers Circus Street Parade Motorized Diorama. Remarkable and detailed motorized diorama featuring twenty-six carved models of circus wagons, performers, and animals recreated in miniature, all moving on a long snake-like winding track, recreating the grandeur and spectacle of an early twentieth century Ringling Brothers circus street parade. Among many hand-carved miniature wagons represented are some of the most famous including the largest ever carved, the Two Hemispheres, as well as a host of animal cages, “spec” floats, and other seminal wagons used on the Ringling Show and featured in its most famous advertising lithographs. Several elements in need of repair, but the mechanism in working order; the parade has been a functioning exhibit at the MSI for nearly half a century. Includes cardboard streetscape background. Approximately 33 feet in length and including sturdy supporting table and all mechanical accouterments to operate the display. A featured exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry for nearly fifty years. Third party transpiration required. These motorized dioramas were a focal point of the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago’s circus exhibit, which debuted in 1973. Created by Roland J. Weber, a Chicago railroad worker over the span of several decades prior to the museum exhibit, the various tents, many of which are motorized, were created in exacting detail and feature hand-carved animals and human figures, as well as finely-constructed model circus tents, wagons, animal cages, and accouterments that make each diorama both remarkable accomplishments, but also, to a degree, accurate representations of how a circus looked and felt in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The scope of several of the displays made them a natural attraction for “boys and girls of all ages” over the course of the nearly fifty years the elements were on display.