Ostrich
by Judith Lile and Jim Sneed
| The Schoenhut Ostrich | |
| The ostrich was introduced to the Humpty Dumpty circus in 1906. It is a pretty good circus animal. We have photographed six distinct designs. Five are regular size and one is reduced size. | |
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Glass eyes, open mouth The ostrich's head, neck, legs, and body are separate parts. The
early bodies were smooth. Sometimes feathers were painted on the rear
white tail area. The feet were painted to suggest two toes.
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Glass eyes, closed mouth This design is similar to the previous except that the mouth is closed. Keller Style II - Very Scarce
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Painted circular eyes, early legs, 2-toed feet This design shows a complete make-over of the ostrich. The eyes are now painted, the body more realistic, and the feet now have two toes. The leg is the same as the glass eyes styles. The next version suggests that this may be a transitional version that use up the previous version's legs. Keller Style III - Very Scarce
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Painted circular eyes, new legs This design is the same as the previous except that the legs are now
straight and ribbed.
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Painted elongated eyes, new legs The eyes of this design were changed to be elongated. The head shape was made higher and the bill shorter.
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Reduced size The reduced ostrich is hard to distinguish from the ostrich at left except for its smaller size. (see photo below)
The reduced size ostrich on the left with a regular size.
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 Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Sneed
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 Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner |
