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Finding aid of the Ralph Rodgers and Percy Turner Circus collection
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0388
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Title: Ralph Rodgers and Percy Turner Circus collection
Collection number: 0388
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
76.0 Linear feet
71 boxes, 2 metal trunks
Date: 1930s-1980s
Abstract: The Ralph Rodgers and Percy Turner Circus Collection documents the collective interests of a circus model builder/ miniature
circus owner and a real circus owner who became friends and whose circus memorabilia ended up with a mutual friend who donated
them to USC. The collection contains ephemera, correspondence, photographs, books, records, costumes, and a large amount of
circus model plans and drawings kept by Ralph Rodgers. A portion of the collection represents the history of the Percy Turner
Circus, one of the first circuses owned by an African-American based in the southern California area.
creator:
Rodgers, Ralph
creator:
Turner, Percy, 1907-1984
Biographical Note: Percy Turner
The Turner Brothers Circus (aka Turner Brothers Dog and Pony show) was created by Percy Turner in 1958. (There are Articles
of Incorporation for the Turner Bros. Dog and Pony Show showing a date of June 5, 1959.)
Percy Turner was, by trade, a sign painter in the area of San Diego, California. He and his family had always wanted to have
their own circus, so in 1959 they formed their own. They found a local "angel" who was willing to bankroll them. They leased
the animals through some contact Turner had in the Paul Eagles Circus Luncheon Club up in Los Angeles. They had a lion, a
tiger, two ocelots, an elephant, and several camels. There were clowns, acrobats, a high-wire artist, a dog act and horses,
but the Turner family were the only Black members of the troupe. Percy and his wife Joy said that they had never had any Black
applicants for jobs in their circus.
The Turners left their successful sign-painting business in Pacific Beach to tour the California coast and were widely successful
with audiences. Unfortunately, they had no circus experience and the show was forced to close after they discovered their
advance agent was skimming the profits. (Source:
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 24 Feb 1998.) Percy Turner went back to sign painting and later lettered some trucks for Circus Vargas when they were in
Southern California. Percy Turner kept hoping to find someone else who could provide the financial means to allow him to take
out another circus, but his failing health and increased costs prevented him from ever touring again. And though the Turner
Bros. Circus officially closed for good on July 4, 1959, Percy and Joy Turner continued to entertain their friends "circus-style"--erecting
the cookhouse tent in the backyard for all their local fans, surrounded by the remnants of the dog and pony show that were
in various states of repair around the sign shop. Percy Turner died in 1984.
The collection is comprised chiefly of Ralph Rodgers' circus memorabilia and materials related to circus model building. In
addition to articles, newsletters, instructions, and photos on model building, Rodgers' own drawings, notes, and photographs
are included in the papers. His correspondence with well-known circus performers such as Diamond Jim Parker and John Strong
document his close ties to the circus world where he formed many long-lasting friendships. A small portion of the collection
relates to Percy Turner, a friend of Ralph Rodgers who had his own circus for a brief time in the 1950s. Rodgers and Turner
presumably met through John Strong, a well-known circus performer who had his own circus and is well-represented in this collection's
ephemera.
As described in the biographical note on Ralph Rodgers, the large circus artifacts--the actual circuses-- were dismantled
and divided up among Rodgers' sons and their families after his death. Fortunately, there are many photographs in this collection
which document Rodgers' own miniature circuses as well as the circuses he worked with during the months that he "ran away
to join the circus" in his fifties.
Biographical Note: Ralph Rodgers
Ralph Rodgers, whose "day job" was as a gas service man for San Diego Gas & Electric, was an avid circus model builder and
lifelong circus devotee. He spent his lifetime learning about the circus, following all the circuses--figuratively and later
literally-- and becoming friends with many of the well-known circus performers and clowns of the day, many of whom were also
model-builders.
Ralph Rodgers' wife, Mary Ann, was supportive of her husband's hobby and also worked with him and attended conventions with
him. They had four sons: Patrick, Kevin, Michael, and John-- all of whom had model circuses named after them. The circuses
were created in the Rodgers' backyard in El Cajon and reflected Ralph's desire to preserve the form and spirit of the circus
during its heyday of the 1920s and 30s.
When Ralph Rodgers passed on in 2006, his sons tried for about a year to place the main Rodgers Bros. circus in a museum.
They contacted all of the circus museums in the United States in addition to a couple of circus model museums, but could not
generate any interest in their father's circuses. They speculate that one of the reasons may be the sheer number of circus
model builders that existed at one time, although the numbers have dwindled like most hobby crafts have.
Michael Rodgers also mentioned that when he and his brothers were growing up, they visited many circus model builders conventions
and saw many of the model circuses of their father's friends such as Jim Parker. Many of the models and circuses they saw
were "picture perfect" and looked more factory manufactured than the circuses that Ralph Rodgers built out of chiefly "found"
materials. Since he was a serviceman for the San Diego Gas and Electric Company, his job afforded him many opportunities to
enter vacated homes to check the gas lines and also salvage materials that could be used to build his circuses. For example,
the majority of the older circus wagons were constructed from wooden Venetian blinds. Rodgers built all his wagons and train
cars from found wood; he also carved all his own circus people and most of the animals. He fashioned the wagon hardware and
other parts from tin coffee cans. He would paint toothpaste tube caps, put wire handles on them, and--voila--water buckets.
Every year for two weeks in the spring (rain or shine), Rodgers and his sons would set up the circus in the backyard for all
the neighborhood kids, dogs, cats, etc. to enjoy and so, over time, the circus took on the look of a working circus. Though
some model builders looked down on Rodgers' creations, the model builders who were also "real" circus people admired and appreciated
how realistic the Rodgers circuses were.
When the Rodgers sons failed to find an appropriate museum or host for their father's circus, they chose to honor their father's
wish-- which was to take it to the desert and burn it if no one wanted it as one complete circus. The circus filled a 10'
x 24' storage unit and, while the family did not actually take it out to the desert and burn it, they met at the home of Michael
Rodgers along with their nieces and nephews and divided up what they wanted to keep. Then they burned the rest of the stuff
while toasting their father through the night, thus folding up the Big Top for the last time.
Images of Rodgers' circus can be viewed online at: http://dreamingincircus.com/media/rr-circus/rr-circus.htm
Donated to USC by Duncan Smith in 2010. Duncan Smith was a friend of both Ralph Rodgers and Percy Turner.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
[Box/folder# or item name], Ralph Rodgers and Percy Turner Circus collection, Collection no. 0388, Regional History Collection,
Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
Six boxes of books were included in the donation of this collection. They have been separated from the archival materials
to be catalogued individually, but kept together as a donor-based collection. They include both adult and children's books
on circuses and circus-related topics.
This collection was processed with the assistance of Tiffany Chu.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Big Apple Circus. -- Archives
Circus Model Builders International. -- Archives
Circus World Museum (Baraboo, Wis.). -- Archives
Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus. -- Archives
Cole Bros. Circus. -- Archives
Evans, Merle -- Correspondence
Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. -- Archives
Hayden, Robert, Dr. -- Archives
Jacobs , Lou, 1903-1992 -- Correspondence
Kreischer, Lou -- Correspondence
MacDougall, Robert -- Correspondence
Parker, Jim, 1938-2003 -- Archives
Posey, Jake, b. 1863 -- Correspondence
Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Combined Shows. -- Archives
Rodgers, Ralph -- Archives
Sells-Floto Circus. -- Archives
Strong, John, d. 1992 -- Correspondence
Turner, Percy, 1907-1984 -- Archives
Wallenda, Karl -- Archives
Wenatchee Youth Circus. -- Archives
African American business enterprises--California--San Diego--Archival resources
Amusements--California--History--Archival resources
Audiotapes
Circus wagons--Archival resources
Circus--California--La Jolla--20th century--Archival resources
Circus--California--Lakeside--20th century--Archival resources
Circus--California--Los Angeles--20th century--Archival resources
Circus--Florida--Sarasota--20th century--Archival resources
Clippings
Clowns--Archival resources
Correspondence
Costumes (character dress)
Drawings
Ephemera
La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.)--History--Archival resources
Magazines (periodicals)
Phonograph records
Photographs
Popular culture--California, Southern--History--20th century--Archival resources
Postcards
Posters
Slides (photographs)
Videotapes