Step Right This Way: The Photographs of Edward J. Kelty

For the Circus lovers, this will make such a great gift! The book is out-of-print and whoever will open these covers will enter a strange, pleasant, gone world. See some other rare circus products! Vintage Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circus Decal Set 1950 Vintage Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circus Decal 1950 Vintage Ringling Bros Barnum & Bailey Circus Decal Set 1950

As the son of a former circus (Ringling Brothers, Al G. Barnes, et al) employee who has a Kelty photograph of his father in a circus from 1936, who himself took photos during his time in the circus, I found the Kelty photographs captured much of the same ambience as in my father's pictures. In other words, authenticity and poignancy.

If you wish you could go back in time to golden age of the circus (as I do), this book will at least make you feel a little closer. Kelty's photos are awesome considering the technology of the day and the prints look amazing!

Though this is a large book, you will probably finish reading it in one evening. The only text is a breezy 34 page introduction, with accompanying pictures. The rest of the book is mostly full-page pictures with very minimal captions. At least half the time, the captions are no more than what is already written on the original picture - it makes me think that the authors (presumably Barth & Siegel, though there is no text by them, the introduction was written by Edward Hoagland) were told that a published book has to caption the pictures, so they did the minimum amount of work necessary. For the pictures without information written on them, the captions consist of a year and a location, circus or performance house...very minimal!Though the introduction is a very nice read, it has no depth and skips all over the place, to wherever Mr. Hoagland thought to go next. It talks a little about some of the pictures, a little about Mr. Kelty, the circuses, the times and the challenges faced. This leaves the reader to look at the pictures and take them for face value, just like the people who came to the circus in the 30's. We have no background information, no introduction, and no inside information - all we can do is "stare at the freaks". I believe that is really the point of the book. Though I have no first-person reference, as the advertisement in the Introduction says:"We have the fattest women in the world, and the tallest man, and a girl who has no arms or legs, and midgets who are married! Have you ever seen a camel spit, or seals play catch, or elephants stand on their heads? A man with reptile scales who was once just like you! And the Good Lord made him. Can you finish your ice cream after you have looked at him?"...Good question!Looking at these pictures, I get an appreciation for the time and people. Cameras are new, and each picture is clearly an "Event". There are people who are very disturbing, some who are merely trying to disturb you, and others who just don't give a damn. Some of the people are no more weird than what you would find in any large city, others seem clearly different. Through the pictures, I get an appreciation for the packaging of weirdness.Though you could peruse the pictures quickly, and laugh like the people who originally went to the circus; I was left with questions about what these pictures say about these people, and about the people who watched them. What do these pictures say about America, back then and today? This book has provided food for thought for me. I am divided on whether I wanted more of the back-story, or if the pictures tell their own story. No book can be everything so, since I am still thinking about these pictures, for me the book was a success. For people who want to know more, this book would make a good accompaniment to a more scholarly work.