HINTON W.Va. (Hinton News) – I have not been able to dig up much about this piece. When my Grandmother, Bea Thompson, passed away in 1999 it was uncovered in her attic along with several other local pieces of local ephemera in Tornado, West Virginia and I, of course, had to keep it to add to my collection.
My mother can remember her parents taking her, she would have been 14 years old at the time. It must have been quite the show because $5 for an adult and $3 for a child was quite the haul then. The cost is the equivalent of $37.75 and $22.65 retrospectively. It was called the James Hetzer’s Intercontinental Circus and was held at the Hinton High School in Hinton.
Again, I have uncovered very little about this subject matter, but it is such an interesting piece I couldn’t help but show and tell about it. I have found posters for this same circus when it was held in Clarksburg, West Virginia; Elkins, West Virginia; and Fairmont, West Virginia in addition to this one held in Hinton. It must have been just a standard poster with the circus theme on the upper half, and then the show location, date and time were stenciled on it for the various towns where the show was held. I have found references for the “James Hetzer’s Japanese Circus” and the “James Hetzer’s European Circus,” as well.
The company was based out of Huntington, West Virginia. In doing extensive research I have seen an ad on one of these posters “Hetzer’s Theatrical Productions Huntington, WV.” James Thomas Hetzer (October 9, 1915-June 19, 1987). He was a theater producer, dancer, musician and songwriter. The James Hetzer Intercontinental Circus ended in April 1987. I have only found one newspaper article about the show in Hinton. It was an article about a circus this company did in Lewisburg around the same time and casually mentions this show in Hinton.
He was a graduate of “HHS” and Marshall. When I first saw this reference to Hetzer’s education, I assumed it was “Hinton High School.” Because I had never seen that abbreviation for anything but Hinton High School. But after learning it was a company based out of Huntington, we can further assume it meant “Huntington High School.”
My grandparents kept anything like this piece because they could see the future historical value of things of this nature. Most people would have tossed posters from events like this in the garbage after it was over. Just as calendars, flyers, newspapers and local advertisements were most likely discarded as trash.
But thankfully, they saw the significance in things like this and instilled it in my mother, who then raised the “local and family historian” as I like to call myself. It might be as most of my friends and family call me, “pac rat.” Either way, I am glad they did it because someone has to save these things for future generations.
If you have a story or item from the area’s history to share, send an email to news@hintonnews.com.
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