the history of the circus

The History of the Circus

         In this essay I would like to tell the story of the first circus and its leaders and growth overtime.The first circus was created by Philip Astley, who is now known as “The Father of the Modern Circus”. Astley was a horse-breaker and trainer in the war so his knowledge with animals came to be very useful with his new show. The building he used for his performances was a circular arena that he titled “The Circle”, which later was called the ring. “The circle” in latin is the circus, foreshadowing the name of his show.(source 1).   On January 9, 1768 Astley staged the first modern circus in London. He drew up a ring and invited the public to see him wave his sword in the air while he rode with one foot on the saddle and one on the horse’s head. His trick riding received such a favorable response that he  hired acrobats, rope-dancers, jugglers, and later added clowns. In 1770 Astley built a roof over his ring and called the structure Astley’s Amphitheatre.(source 3). Astley then went on to open Paris’s first circus, the Amphitheatre Anglois, in 1782.(source 1).  

Astley’s Amphitheatre

While this was happening John Bill Ricketts opened the first American circus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and along with that every major European city so held at least one permanent circus. The rings that held the circus were put in the new world’s largest cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Montreal, Mexico City, and others. In 1825, Joshuah Purdy Brown replaced the usual wooden construction and replaced it with a full canvas tent, and he was the first circus entrepreneur to do so. In 1871 Phineas Taylor Barnum launched the “P.T. Barnum’s Museum, Menagerie, and Circus”, a traveling show whose “museum” part was an exhibition of animal and human oddities, soon to become an integral part of the animal circus. James Anthony Bailey entered partnership with barnum in 1881 and after his death, Bailey took “The Greatest Show on Earth” on an extensive European tour from 1897-1902. When Bailey returned to the US in 1902, he found his old market under the control of serious competition; the giant circus conglomerate created by the Ringling brothers Al, Otta, Alf T. Charles, and John. One year after Bailey’s death in 1906, the Ringlings acquired Barnum and Bailey, which they combined with their own circus in 1919 under the title “Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows”. (source 1).

Barnum and Bailey Circus Poster

In 1871, William Cameron coup and showman P.T. Barnum opened an enormous circus in Brooklyn they they dubbed “The Greatest Show on Earth”. Ten years later, Barnum went into business with James Anthony Bailey; the “Barnum and Bailey” circuses were so large they required simultaneous performance in 3 rings.(source 3).  On November 27, 1882, the 5 Ringling brothers staged their first circus and 2 years later expanded their show by adding a horse and a bear. In 1907 the Ringlings bought the Barnum operations and the two circuses endured independently for a few years. When logistics and finances became too difficult, efforts were combined. And on March 29, “Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey combined shows” debuted in New York City. (source 4).

A poster for the Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth.

On April 19, 1919 “The New York Times” posted an article titled “Circus For The Shut-Ins”. In this article the writer explains how “The sick and maimed in Bellevue Hospital were entertained by the circus yesterday morning.” This author then goes on to share some specific details of the audience members. The author wrote, “More than 200 of those present were convalescents from other hospitals who were brought to Bellevue in ambulances.” The writer also tells us that, “Yesterday’s show was witnessed by more than 500 patients, in addition to most of the members of the medical and nursing staffs of the institution.” (source 8)

Palmyre Annato, circus star of the 19th century (1840)

Phineas Taylor Barnum was a “six foot two man with curly, receding hair, blue eyes, a cleft,chin a bulbous nose, and a high voice was pitchman par excellence and might almost be said to have invented the art of mass publicity.” (source 9). “Known as America’s greatest showman, Barnum made popular entertainment promoted through aggressive publicity, and changed the way americans viewed leisure time and cultural pursuits”. About 1880, Barnum started to worry that his “Greatest Show on Earth” might not be the greatest after all. For the first time, he had a serious challenger, the international allied shows, owned by James A. Cooper, James Anthony Bailey, and James L. Hutchinson. (source 2). “In 1881, as young men began to compete with him, Barnum joined forces with his biggest competitor, James A. Bailey and formed the Barnum & Bailey Circus, which quickly dwarfed other competitors.”  “In 1882, be bought Jumbo, whom he advertised as the world’s largest elephant for $10,000 from England’s Royal Zoological Gardens”(source 7). “Barnum’s London zoo purchase of Jumbo the elephant (who had given rides to some 5 million british children, including Winston Churchill) became one of his most famous and most disputed purchases.” (source 9). When Barnum and Bailey’s “Greatest Show on Earth” rolled into american towns in the 1880s, daily life abruptly stopped. Months before the show arrived, and advance team saturated the surrounding region with brilliantly colored lithographs of the extraordinary: elephants, bearded ladies, clowns, tigers, acrobats, and trick riders. (source 6).

Phineas Taylor Barnum

Feld Entertainment, owner of “The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus” said in a statement that the show will end its 146 year run in May of 2017. The iconic circus declined in recent years due to high operating costs and long, costly battles with animal rights groups, such as the one to eliminate elephant performances. Ticket sales had already fallen, but they dropped more significantly than anticipated after the elephants were retired May of 2016 according to the statement. At its prime “The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus” was considered a family friendly outgoing. But the shows lost their appeal toward the end of the 20th century, CEO Kenneth Feld told the AP. He believes it grew outdated and difficult for the audiences with shorter attention spans. (source 5)

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will retire all of its elephants in May 2016.

        The reason that all of this is important to our study of urbanization is because it tells the story of how America was able to build off of a creation made in London and keep it going until 2016. The circus was also important because it was one of the first ways Americans spent leisure time. 

sources:

1. http://www.circopedia.org/SHORT_HISTORY_OF_THE_CIRCUS: this source helped me the most because it gave me information about the circus all over the world.
2. http://www.history-magazine.com/circuses.html : this source helped me by staring my research on PT Barnum and by backing up the information from the previous source so I knew it was true. 
3. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-modern-circus-is-staged : this source helped me by telling me what was happening on the exact first day the circus began performing.
4. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/01/15/how-circus-got-its-start/96613462/ : this source helped me by telling me specifically how "the greatest show on earth" started.
5. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/01/14/ringling-bros-circus-close-after-146-years/96606820/ : this source helped me by telling me why the circus ended.
6. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/americas-big-circus-spectacular-has-long-and-cherished-history-180962621/ : this source helped me by telling me about the crowds that went to these shows.
7. (scholarly source) https://americanhistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/245483?terms=circus&sType=quick : this source helped me by giving me a backstory to the life of PT Barnum and telling me why and how he got his start as a showman.
8. (scholarly source/newspaper) https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/04/19/118145783.pdf : this source helps me telling me a story of how the circus would brighten up the patients at local hospitals.
9. (scholarly source) https://online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?bookId=270&articleName=GL19_3651003511&searchText=circus&searchOperators=exact&category=History : this source helped me by backing up everything the PT Barnum biography told me, letting me know that my notes are accurate.