Bailey’s publicity men countered with some hyperbole of their own. Richard Reynolds: I heard it, you know, on the radio. Having started his circus during the Civil War, Adam Forepaugh became P.T. With lyrics written by the team of Pasek and Paul (La La Land), this means that musical lovers are in for lyrical treats. National Endowment for The Humanities. “Most people spend their lives trying to dodge trouble,” he said, “The best fun in the world is dodging trouble you’ve made for yourself.”. Alexander W. Morgan Narration: Desperate to make a comeback in 1904, Bailey hired Ugo Ancillotti and his daring loop-the-loop act. The wages couldn’t be the same. Narration: The first season, the Ringlings played 114 towns, mostly one-night stands, in four states. His first job was to clean up after elephants. The circus star died within minutes. Susana Fernandes, Audience Engagement Editor Would that describe him in one word? Gretchen Stone Cook Charitable Foundation Directed by Rob Walker. John Ringling North felt like this circus was not the circus that his family was meant to present. Fred Dahlinger Jr.: After Bailey decided he needed to leave home, to escape the clutches of his sister, he decided the way to do it was to go swimming with a bunch of his buddies down in the river. Yes. Fred Dahlinger Jr. Roger Smith: This young blond comes busting through a rickety old gate, asking to be a tiger trainer and everybody was ready to throw her out. The circus has become big business. She had this wonderful charisma and charm. Narration: I think he was crying about two things, not only the loss of his favorite brother, but also the loss of the camaraderie that the five Ringling brothers had held together. It took him two years to feel strong enough to come back. He countered with his own enormous pachyderm, Bolivar, claiming he was the most gigantic beast on earth. Narration: The female performers met with leaders of the suffrage movement before setting out on tour. She got everything that he knew and she took it from there as a tiger trainer. Narration: The circus had arrived in America in the nation’s earliest days, small and insignificant. “She was a storm center every day she lived,” one aerialist remembered. An even larger crowd cheered them from windows and sidewalks all the way from Washington Square to Carnegie Hall. Dominique Jando, Circus Historian: You saw extraordinary animals that you sometimes had never seen. They showed up to see how the operation worked. He remembered practicing as many as seven hours a day, determined to perform a feat on the wire no one else had ever accomplished: a front somersault. Published by Schott Music Gmbh & Co. Kg (Ascap) Narration: His show included a ropewalker, clowns, acrobats, as well as Helena Spinacuta, an equestrian who galloped on two horses at once. Tino Wallenda, High Wire Artist: They developed these incredible feats on the tightrope. And I went over to the silver wagon and told John North that there would be a strike. And they were both ambitious, young show guys, particularly Coup, and they realized the value of the Barnum name. Danbury Museum & Historical Society The spectacle became the focus of the Ringlings’ advertising. There’s a certain kind of exhaustion that overtakes the industry. It was the place where women can show their legs. Even though the city was still picking up after the storm, crowds swarmed to see the show. He had a tent for the menagerie and then one for the performance. I don’t think people really thought about the backstory. And so, it’s an act that took real skill. Narration: Like many circus spectacles of the time, Jerusalem and the Crusades was a full-scale drama. No one on James Bailey’s staff had ever seen anything quite like the throngs of people who turned up in Manchester on April, 9, 1898. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign I mean, the animal was big, but it’s Barnum’s publicity made him seem even bigger. They’re sort of the perfect embodiment of the circus in the late 19th century. Fred Pfening Iii: Their circus was always on the up and up. The Circus La Norma Fox: Your whole body is like you are welded into the circus. It was an adult form of entertainment. You can just imagine the, you know, to go to some little town in Arkansas or some place and to be able to see that. I mean it was over in seconds almost. A seven-part series focusing on the many ways in which the Second World War impacted the lives of American families. Free Library of Philadelphia/Bridgeman Images Hundreds of thousands of words spent trying to make sense and trying to understand what it was to think about P. T. Barnum’s significance and legacy for American culture. The Connecticut Historical Society For a space it enables us to lose ourselves, to dissolve in wonder and bliss, to be transported by mystery. Narration: With profits from the two largest circuses in the nation pouring in—a reported million dollars in 1909 alone —the Ringlings began spending lavishly on their families. WPA Film Library And performers in their skimpy costumes violated every notion of decency. “You earn salaries,” equestrian Josie De Mott had told the gathering. Narration: To many of the visitors, the immensity of the operation confirmed their belief that the Ringlings’ domination of the entertainment world was unshakeable. “You want to establish clearly in your husband’s mind that you are his equal.”. But larger tents meant greater profits so the three rings became a permanent fixture. When the first flickering fingers of flame, they called it, went shooting up and everybody realized there was a fire in the big top. You have to have six. Matthew Wittmann: They name it Columbia. Henninger Media Services Consumer Cellular Movies about the circus List of the best circus movies selected by visitors to our site: Dumbo, The Great Mystical Circus, Chocolat, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Water for Elephants, The Clown, The Butterfly Circus In the top there are new films of 2019, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released. Linda Simon State Archives of Florida The women of the Barnum & Bailey circus had already signed up. Michael Lancaster: Mable said it was love at first sight. Joshua Abraham Kopin, Archival Materials Courtesy of When the intrepid showman arrived back in New York, he was worldly, daring, and ready to take on the toughest competition. There was no tent that big in Australia. See the fabulous presenters and gracious winners at this year's Oscars. Janet M. Davis, Historian: It looked like an invasion because there would elephants, there would be cages of wild animals, there would be teams of horses, there would be a band, and there would be hundreds of people lining the streets. “If you want to… use my name,” he wrote Coup, “…it may be used by allowing me [a] small percentage.”. And he really became such a important person, putting the performance together. The scene in Manchester was repeated in towns across England. And so they put on Jerusalem and the Crusades, a real large-scale spectacle. Narration: It was clear to all who took note that P.T. Narration: The show frequently received rave reviews. Bailey ended his self-imposed ban on hiring African Americans to keep the show on the road. New-York Historical Society All the railroad companies provided were the locomotives, cabooses, crews, and track. None was as spectacular. Lowery, famed early twentieth century bandleader, spread African - American music with an all-black band in circus performances. Johnathan Lee Iverson: What makes America great is our daring. The elephant’s name became a way to say enormous. Janet M. Davis: Imagine a big top that seats over ten thousand people with hurtling automobiles inside of it. It’s life sweating blood in Gethsemane. It transformed the town in a way I don’t think any entertainment form has done since. John M. Nee Matthew Wittmann: Ann Leek was an armless woman and her quote-unquote “act” was basically to sew and do different domestic tasks on this elevated stage in the sideshow tent. Voices Casting Some one hundred circuses were traveling the country that year, including ambitious young rivals eager, in Bailey’s absence, to challenge his dominance. Sakina Hughes, Historian: P.G. As the Greatest Show on Earth took to the road in the spring of 1928, movie star Charlie Chaplin was drawing visitors by the millions to his off-kilter vision of life under the big top. A charming valentine to women born with a space between their teeth. Two years later, they bought a pair of elephants. Sarasota County Historical Resources Narration: And then finally when the evening show was over, Al Ringling supervised the circus’s departure. And then when day broke, the miracle had vanished. Roger Smith, Wild Animal Trainer: I was four years old. Eric Gulliver Narration: Practically every firefighter in Cleveland, Ohio raced to work on the night of May 25th, 1914 after sparks ignited timber in the city’s lumberyards. There were twenty-eight tents on the lot, including three stable tents, and a massive sideshow pavilion, as well as canvas to cover the blacksmith shop, the barber’s, the dressing rooms, the wardrobe department, and the dining area. Okay, what’s going to happen now? Barnum is remembered and debated on the front page of literally hundreds of newspapers around the world, every major western capital, small towns across the United States. He was aware of the towns in which money was flowing freely, and those in which it was tight.”. The Circus explores the colorful history of this popular, influential and distinctly American form of entertainment, from the first one-ring show at the end of the 18th century to 1956, when the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey big top was pulled down for the last time. Jennifer Lemmer Posey: A lot of people would watch this wonderful show roll into town, a magical world filled of people doing extraordinary things and see that as a chance to jump out of their everyday, and follow that. Nigel Rothfels: Jumbo was a very, very big elephant. And yet, you are. Over time, with Mable’s help, he would remake himself. They allow you to look the absurdity of your humanity and they allow you to laugh at yourself. Lindsey Denault, Narration Recording Narration: 168 people had been killed. Burton D. And Gloria Rose Michael Lancaster: They had rules for everything. Narration: Al, the eldest, never gave up hope of creating his own circus. With just a handful of large cities and very few exhibition halls, showmen struggled to attract audiences. The State Art Museum of Florida, Florida State University Though elated by the success of their first combined season, the Ringlings were struggling with sad news on the home front. For me, that is the essence of circus. Narration: It had taken nerves of steel and months of meticulous planning to pull off. The following year, Ancillotti was joined by the sensational Mauricia de Tiers and her dip of death. Alexander Graham Bell had just invented the telephone; Thomas Edison the phonograph. Colorlab So what he would do is he would charge them a quarter if they wanted to just go through the menagerie and see the animals, which a lot of people did because there’s an unquestioned educational value to that. Laing & Co./Museum of The City of New York No one did that better than Emmett Kelly, a former cartoonist, who first drew his hobo character Weary Willie in 1920. Everyone on the train knew that after decades of expansion, the unthinkable was about to happen. My grandfather and his brothers never had a partnership agreement, nothing in writing. The Oxford Circus ( 2018) The Oxford Circus. Boston Public Library, Richard Dale Mcmullan Collection A documentary about Tommy Jarrell, a fiddler from North Carolina. Some seventy thousand people visited that first winter alone. Narration: Young Phineas tried just about everything to avoid a life of manual labor. You know, today, we talk about big oil and big pharma. Everywhere he went audiences showered his circus with accolades. “Everything was perfect.” He had every reason to say so. Though they boasted of her strength, the Ringling brothers were keen to present Sandwina as demure and ladylike, particularly to the men in their audiences. Narration: Through hard work and ingenuity, the Ringlings had grown from an inconsequential twelve-wagon show into one of the most prominent circuses in the country. The first broadcast of the World Series in 1921 had helped launch a surging interest in sports. When she wiggled her toes that got people’s attention. Myra Boutros “It is large,” wrote one reporter, “excellent in character and eminently calculated to impress the sight-seeing mind. White. Ann Marie Costain Bailey in particular was a striver. When they didn’t get it, they went on strike. James W. Cook: There’s no question that there’s a large dimension of exploitation. Gretchen Stone Cook Charitable Foundation It garnered interest even from the Prussian military that was of course involved in moving large groups of men from one place to another in different contexts. The more applause you get, the happier you are, and walking out of there makes you feel so good. In early 1908, John Ringling toured Europe to scout circus talent. Narration: In the winter of 1882, P. T. Barnum made the most rewarding purchase of his career. Bailey was taking his circus to the place where it began, back in the 18th century, and taking a version of the circus that was virtually unrecognizable and now distinctly American in its ostentatiousness. It premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was selected as the Brazilian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. Dominique Jando: The elements of the circus have been there forever. The ship didn’t see land for more than fifty days. Stephen Mccarthy, Archival Researchers Janet M. Davis: John Ringling had never been all that fond of cage acts involving big cats. As the crowds thronged the midway past the sideshow tent towards the menagerie, they could hear the talker who ballyhooed the talent inside. This is a trademark Barnum strategy, to draw attention to the possibility of criminal fraud and to invite viewers to make up their own minds. “Circus Polka” Narration: A third pavilion housed a zoo, or what was called a menagerie. Georgia Archives, Vanishing Georgia Collection After the circus arrived in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a pro-labor town, union leaders called a meeting of workers. The spirit that brought people over from the Old World to the New, the spirit that rejected the established culture of Europe, was the same spirit that got people to leave a small town and join the circus. Dominique Jando: That was the great impossible feat of the time. You could not get white working men to work alongside black working men. Dominique Jando: Ricketts was by all accounts, even while he was still in England, quite an extraordinary equestrian. In just three years, they had completely transformed the circus business. The Circus ( 2018) The Circus. That night, the circus began the long trip to winter quarters in Sarasota, Florida. Narration: The show went on no matter the weather. By the mid-1920s, a small group of animal welfare activists began calling for a boycott. Working people across the country now demanded the kinds of protections that they deserved. In a decade when America was booming, the Ringling Brothers big top was the place to be. That was a bad and sad time. In 1863, Forepaugh sold horses to a shady circus manager who proved unable to pay his bill. Composer, Igor Stravinsky, wrote the music. It was a defining part of my life, yes. Narration: Barnum exploited the innovation in his advertising. Over the course of the 1860s, the nation’s network of railroads had almost doubled to more than fifty thousand miles. Filmmakers Collaborative, Inc. That winter, Barnum housed his circus on 14, There was a double horned black rhinoceros from Abyssinia, four large African lions, six Bengal tigers, a pair of leopards, and, according to, Though audiences found the big top performances thrilling, it was. That ever-expanding network was fueling an unrivaled period of industrialization and innovation. By Brian D. Renner Mar. They were all mad and upset and wanted their money back. Illinois State University Special Collections, Milner Library You get brighter, more fluorescent colors. It was transgressional. The distance between most of those poles was sixty feet. Everything about the man leapt into the back seat on the back row. The town came to see you. Though audiences found the big top performances thrilling, it was the sideshow tent that most distinguished Barnum’s circus. In the early 19th century, the country was experiencing a religious revival. Stadtmuseum Berlin G.R.O.W. The black newspapers say, “Yeah. Narration: There was never anything easy about life with the circus. We’re coming for the transcendent. Northeast Historic Film, Walter C. Clark Collection By the early fall the epidemic had spread across the country. After quarantines shuttered performances several days in a row, they packed up the Ringling show two weeks early. John Polacsek Collection His widow Ruth Louisa Bailey inherited her husband’s entire fortune, valued at somewhere between five and eight million dollars. It was the focal point of his advertising. Documentary about holocaust in Lithuania and the story of Lithuanian holocaust survivors of an escape tunnel they dug. Holder Printworks Conejo Valley Historical Society “Eclipse Galop” Jackie Leclaire, Clown, Aerialist: It's a glory there. Nurnberg Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Deutsches Kunstarchiv On May 4th, 1912, an estimated fifteen thousand people, women and their male supporters, brought New York City to a standstill. When is payday? After touring New Zealand, Bailey charted a sailing vessel to take the circus back across the Pacific for a tour of South America. In between he does a little bit of everything. Barnum by the London Zoological Society caused an uproar in England. They worked in buildings in which they had time to prepare an act and to rehearse in the morning in nice conditions. For nine months out of the year, moving every day, it was a hard life for sure. While Al grew to be loved on the lot, his younger brother John came to be feared. Watch it Now: http://bit.ly/MagnoliaChannel1937, Spain is in the midst of the brutal Spanish Civil War. Adam Forepaugh wasn’t around to see how the Ringlings fared with his railroad cars. They remind everybody of their mortality with a laugh. The show was mobbed everywhere it went. It’s just peaceful. Whereas the English circus was a very modest affair, the American circus did not allow life to go on as we knew it. The Documentary Investment Group: They were cumbersome to carry. Richard Reynolds: My father had an aunt who worked in a downtown Atlanta department store and she had a space on the second floor, so that when the circus parade came, he was right there to watch the whole procession.
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