Circus is coming to town…..

Sanger’s Circus Late 19th Century

We all know the names of The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.  They have been one of the biggest Circus troupes of all time.  They truly have an amazing history, particularly if you have a chance to read it in detail. From Wikipedia:

“Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. The company was started in 1919 when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses separately until they were finally merged in 1919.”

There were many circus acts before them, some quite spectacular in their own rights.  I have put together a collection of phots I have pulled from various sources. I hope you will enjoy!

As a side note, what circus is complete without freaks, I included some of them here.   It was hard for me to include these because of the obvious exploitation of these people.  On the other hand, their notoriety brought them a type of respect and fellowship which otherwise would they would not have had.

I included a lot of photos in this post, please enjoy each of them and let me know your favorites!

Walt Disney Circus

The Escalante Circus – founded 1909

Society Circus Horses. It was made between 1910 and 1917

1894 St. Petersburg Russia

a one-of-a-kind photograph of Jack Barrett with Barnum Circus

Henry Bros. Wagon early 1900’s

Circus in Salem 1898

Clowns and Horse. It was made between 1915 and 1917

Clowns On a Horse. It was taken between 1915 and 1917

Gainesville TX Circus 1923

Ruth Davis, the penguin girl had seal limbs a disease called phocomelia. It is what gave her the penguin appearance.

Prince Randian He was known as the living torso, human caterpillar, pillow man, and the human cigar. He was born in 1871 and died in December 1934.

Mademoiselle Gabrielle was born in Switzerland in 1884. She was a perfect lady until you got to her torso, and then she just ended

Born as Simon Metz was born in the Bronx in 1901. He was born with microlephaly a disorder that gave him a small brain and the IQ of a 3yr He was beloved to all and died in 1971

Prince Randian and the Half Man

Prince Randian was actually a pretty interesting man!  He was married and had five children, his amazing story can be found in more detail here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Randian

 

 

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Wild Men Of Borneo

It is an interesting story, thought I would share it!

Waino and Plutanor were actually Hiram and Barney Davis, two mentally disabled brothers from a Mount Vernon, Ohio farm, born in 1825 and 1827 respectively. They were each 40 inches tall and weighed about 45 pounds, yet could perform feats of great strength such as lifting heavy weights and wrestling with audience members on stage. Discovered and subsequently promoted by a traveling showman in 1850, Hiram and Barney were given new names, Waino and Plutanor, and a sensational back story – they were said to be from the island of Borneo, where they had been captured after a great struggle with armed sailors.

In 1880, Waino and Plutanor became involved with P. T. Barnum and his traveling exhibitions. With Barnum’s fabled promotional skill, the careers of the Wild Men of Borneo took off and over the course of the next 25 years, the pair earned approximately $200,000, which was an enormous sum in that era. Their exhibitions primarily consisted of performing acts of great strength, such as lifting adult audience members and wrestling with both audience members and each other. They were said to be able to lift up to 300 lbs each.

Barney stopped working when Hiram died in 1905. Barney died seven years later in 1912. The two are buried together in Mount Vernon, Ohio, under a gravestone marked “Little Men.”