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New article American circus owner, film producer (~1866–1928)
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Revision as of 05:14, 16 February 2023

Big Otto Shows advertisement in Georgia's Valdosta Times, 1910

Otto F. Breitkreutz (about 1866 – December 25, 1928) known as Big Otto, was an American circus man of the late 19th and early 20th century. He was called Big Otto because he was said to weigh somewhere between 350–480 lb (160–220 kg).[1][2]

Breitkruetz ran Big Otto's Trained Wild Animals, which exhibited around the country, including at Eau Clair's Annual Agricultural Street Fair and Carnival in 1904,[3] Chicago's White City Amusement Park in 1906[4] and the Appalachian Exposition in 1910.[5] There was a Little Otto, a man named Gust Breitkreutz, working with Big Otto in 1908.[6] The circus' winter quarters for 1908 were in Chicago.[7] Big Otto's Animals eventually became the Big Otto Shows, wherein the 100-odd Wild Animals in 20 cages were but one part of a larger traveling carnival, along a Ferris wheel, Turner's World Wonder, Mets the Scientific Wonder, and Millie Christine the Carolina Twin, a "double woman" with four arms and four legs.[8] Due to his failure to pay a debt, Breitkruetz's animal collection was transferred to ownership of film producer William Selig and became the core of the Selig Zoo.[9] In 1913, Breitkreutz directed a films Selig Polyscope called The Artist and the Brute,[10] and The Wise Old Elephant starring Kathlyn Williams.[11] Big Otto is credited with the scenario for Selig's Alone in the Jungle.[12] Breitkreutz managed Selig's Wild Animal Farm for a time[13] (a new zoo director was installed in 1915 when the operation moved to the Lincoln Park, Los Angeles location). In 1914 Big Otto Pictures released The Mysterious Man of the Jungle, a four-reel feature.[14]

Big Otto Pictures 1914 The Mysterious Man of the Jungle

In 1918 he was indicted for mail fraud due to his involvement in a shady plan to sell horse meat to the U.S. government to feed prisoners of war.[2][15] The charges were dropped for insufficient evidence.[16] Breitkreutz was also involved in some kind of gold mining syndicate or scheme that was called, naturally, Big Otto Mines.[17][18]

In May 1928, Tom Mix mentioned Breitkreutz in Photoplay, "Big Otto, I may say, is still a-livin' an' still got an animal show. His good lookin' daughter is married to a young feller named Furness, one of the owners of the Continental an' a lot of other hotels 'round Los Angeles an' San Francisco." Breitkreutz died in Los Angeles in 1928.[19]

REFS

  1. ^ "Los Angeles Evening Post-Record 14 Jun 1918, page 3". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  2. ^ a b "Forest City Press 05 Sep 1918, page 5". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  3. ^ "The Weekly Telegram 16 Sep 1904, page Page 5". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  4. ^ "Muscatine News-Tribune 04 May 1906, page 7". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  5. ^ "Photo Copy Project 2011-012-097 [Princess Bonita, Queen of the leopards. "Big Otto's" Trained Wild Animals]. Appalachian Exposition, Sept. 12-Oct. 12, 1910. No. 254. Stereo by C.A. Wayland, So. Knoxville, Tenn". C.M. McClung Historical Collection, Knox County Public Library. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  6. ^ "Show World (August 15, 1908) - Lantern". lantern.mediahist.org. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  7. ^ "The Billboard 1908-12-05: Vol 20 Iss 49 - Lantern". lantern.mediahist.org. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  8. ^ "The Clarksburg Telegram 02 Jun 1910, page 3". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  9. ^ Haenni, Sabine (2016). "Animal Empire: Thrill and Legitimation at William Selig's Zoo and Jungle Pictures". In Lawrence, Michael; Lury, Karen (eds.). The Zoo and Screen Media. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 87–110. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-53561-0_5. ISBN 978-1-137-54342-4. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  10. ^ Stoddart, Helen (2015). "The Circus and Early Cinema: Gravity, Narrative, and Machines". Studies in Popular Culture. 38 (1): 1–17. ISSN 0888-5753.
  11. ^ "Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1913) - Lantern". lantern.mediahist.org. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  12. ^ "Motography (Jan-Jun 1913) - Lantern". lantern.mediahist.org. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  13. ^ "Motography (Jan-Dec 1912) - Lantern". lantern.mediahist.org. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  14. ^ "Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1914) - Lantern". lantern.mediahist.org. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  15. ^ "Capper's Weekly 29 Dec 1917, page 8". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  16. ^ "Los Angeles Evening Express 14 Jun 1918, page 16". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  17. ^ "The Commercial Appeal 09 Sep 1917, page 46". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  18. ^ "The Los Angeles Times 25 Nov 1916, page 19". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2023-02-16.
  19. ^ Otto F Breitkreutz in California, U.S., Death Index, 1905-1939, Ancestry.com.

EXT LINKS

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