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Amusement Co. Walter Savidge Advertising Amusement Park Photographer Photo Nebraska Postcard

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Postcards Start Price:40.00 USD Estimated At:NA
Amusement Co. Walter Savidge Advertising Amusement Park Photographer Photo Nebraska Postcard
At winter quarters, Wayne, Nebraska. Advertising postcard showing cabinet photos of amusements parks and rides. Small lower left conrer crease. Walter T. Savidge was born in Deloit, Nebraska in 1886. As a child in Humphrey, Nebraska, he tried to imitate the stunts of the aerialists he saw at the circus (walking a tightrope between the family barn and a shed, for example). When he was 16, Walter left home to perform tricks at fairs and picnics, and by the age of 20 [ca. 1906], he had formed the Savidge Brothers Amusement Company with his brother, Arthur, who performed under the stage name of Elwin Strong. In 1911 he married Mabel Griffith, whom he had met while he was performing at the fair in Wayne, Nebraska a few years previously.

Sometime between the 1914 and 1915 seasons, management disagreements with his brother led Walter to start his own company, the Walter Savidge Amusement Co., using $500.00 as capital. The show grew from a single boxcar load to a 20 car private pullman train carrying 125 employees, concession stands, tents and equipment. The Company traveled a circuit of Nebraska and Midwest towns with the Savidge Players, who performed popular dramatic productions from New York and Chicago in a specially made tent theater, as the main attraction. Outside the big tent were rides, sideshows, and animals. Walter and Mabel Savidge traveled the circuit for 35 seasons, until the Company began to feel the effects of competition from movies and radio. In 1941 they sold the show and retired to Wayne. Walter T. Savidge died in Wayne, Nebraska on September 20, 1949.
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