dog and pony show---query

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Today I was asked the origin of  the expression "dog and pony show." Would
>anyone know? (I don't have OED at hand, but I do have HDAS, which gives
>1957 as the first attestation. None of the citations offers insight to the
>origin.)

I think Quinion's piece seems reasonable (i.e., matches my own notions
pretty well):

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dog3.htm

-- Doug Wilson