And speaking of 1899 . . .

I'm assuming this circus poster was tongue-in-cheek, but the Library of Congress has the image posted online, and dates it from 1899. And I'm also assuming those are Helicons being "played" by the elephants (including left-handed versions!), as bell front Sousaphones didn't come along until 1908.

But this reminds me - have you seen this seemingly prophetic book cover from the 1930s? Bobo the Elephant playing a Sousaphone (or is that a bell front tuba)? The famous tuba master Roger Bobo was born in 1938. Hmmm . . . could there have been an influence?!