Issac Van Amburg

Isaac A. Van Amburgh, was a native of Fishkill, N.Y., and as his name would indicate of German extraction. He made his first appearance as a “Lion King” at the Zoological Institute, nearly opposite the old Bowery Theatre, New York and at once achieved great notoriety, bring the intrepid beast-subduer abundant inducements to go abroad. Throughout Great Britain and France he made a marked triumph and was honored with imperial patronage. In London, Van Amburgh had several melodramas written for him, and he starred with his ferocious pets to remunerative financial results.

The second performance of Van Amburgh before Queen Victoria at the Drury Lane Theatre resulted in receipts amounting to 712 pounds, 17 shillings, 6 d, being the largest amount ever received at that establishment on any one occasion. Returning to America Van Amburgh toured his native country extensively many years. This brief sketch can do but scant justice to one whose adventures and experiences would fill a volume and live in legend and story as one of the foremost and long-to-be-remembered and honored American showmen. I. A. Van Amburgh died November 29, 1865.