RPPC SIDESHOW Fat Lady LITTLE BABY THELMA AGE 17 619 Lbs. SIGNED CIRCUS DIED 37

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176304106543 RPPC SIDESHOW Fat Lady LITTLE BABY THELMA AGE 17 619 Lbs. SIGNED CIRCUS DIED 37. RPPC SIDESHOW Fat Lady LITTLE BABY THELMA  AGE 17 619 Lbs. SIGNED CIRCUS DIED AT AGE 37-38 YEARS OF AGE Baby Thelma The Sideshow Fat Lady Packing Them In…… The fat lady is perhaps even more of a tradition in the sideshow than the fat man. One such performer, who is shown in this photo taken on the Ringling Bros. Side Show in 1943, was Baby Thelma, who claimed a weight of 619 pounds at the age of 18. Thelma died in Syracuse, New York, on September 2, 1961. She was said to have been only 35 years old Thelma “Baby Thelma” Williams BIRTH c1923 DEATH 1961 (aged 37–38)



Baby Thelma The Sideshow Fat Lady Packing Them In…… The fat lady is perhaps even more of a tradition in the sideshow than the fat man. One such performer, who is shown in this photo taken on the Ringling Bros. Side Show in 1943, was Baby Thelma, who claimed a weight of 619 pounds at the age of 18. By 1940, when she appeared with the famous Baby Ruth Pontico, Thelma was claiming a weight of 655 pounds (probably in order to compete with Pontico’s alleged 800 pounds). Despite her size and ever the flirt, Baby Thelma was quite popular with the guys as many fat ladies were. Her show career of more than 20 years included the Canadian-based Conklin Shows (1939), Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus (1941-1944); Victory Exposition Shows (1948) and a 1959 tour of Jamaica as part of a comedy stage show, “A Funny Business”. When interviewed in 1948, Thelma seemed content with her life, enjoyed traveling, and, when asked what she thought of a fat ladies’ tendency to die young, she shrugged, “Some do, some don’t.” At the time she was courting Frank Amand, a 125-pound concession stand operator who eventually became her husband. She was told by a doctor in 1954 that she needed to slim down to 200 pounds or risk an early death. She complied, but after shedding 73 pounds, her husband became ill with tuberculosis and Thelma had to return to her job as a fat lady. Thelma died in Syracuse, New York, on September 2, 1961. She was said to have been only 35 years old Thelma “Baby Thelma” Williams BIRTH 1923 DEATH 1961 (aged 37–38) Baby Thelma The "fat lady" is perhaps even more of a tradition in sideshow than the fat man. One such performer is depicted here: Baby Thelma, who claimed a weight of 619 pounds at the age of 18. By 1940, when she appeared with the famous Baby Ruth Pontico, Thelma was claiming a weight of 655 pounds (probably in order to compete with Pontico's alleged 800 pounds). Despite her size, Baby Thelma was quite popular with the fellas — as many fat ladies were. Ever the flirt, Baby Thelma The Sideshow Fat Lady Packing Them In…… The fat lady is perhaps even more of a tradition in the sideshow than the fat man. One such performer, who is shown in this photo taken on the Ringling Bros. Side Show in 1943, was Baby Thelma, who claimed a weight of 619 pounds at the age of 18. By 1940, when she appeared with the famous Baby Ruth Pontico, Thelma was claiming a weight of 655 pounds (probably in order to compete with Pontico’s alleged 800 pounds). Despite her size and ever the flirt, Baby Thelma was quite popular with the guys as many fat ladies were. Her show career of more than 20 years included the Canadian-based Conklin Shows (1939), Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey Circus (1941-1944); Victory Exposition Shows (1948) and a 1959 tour of Jamaica as part of a comedy stage show, “A Funny Business”. When interviewed in 1948, Thelma seemed content with her life, enjoyed traveling, and, when asked what she thought of a fat ladies’ tendency to die young, she shrugged, “Some do, some don’t.” At the time she was courting Frank Amand, a 125-pound concession stand operator who eventually became her husband. She was told by a doctor in 1954 that she needed to slim down to 200 pounds or risk an early death. She complied, but after shedding 73 pounds, her husband became ill with tuberculosis and Thelma had to return to her job as a fat lady. Thelma died in Syracuse, New York, on September 2, 1961. She was said to have been only 35 years old The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor have run shows from 1871, with a hiatus from 2017 to 2023. They operate as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. in 1907 following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.[1] After 1957, the circus no longer exhibited under its own portable "big top" tents, instead using permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas. In 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston judge Roy Hofheinz, bought the circus from the Ringling family. In 1971, the Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus to Mattel, buying it back from the toy company in 1981. Since the death of Irvin Feld in 1984, the circus has continued to be a part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by his son Kenneth Feld, with its headquarters in Ellenton, Florida.[2][3] In May 2017, with weakening attendance, many animal rights protests, and high operating costs, the circus performed its final animal show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and closed indefinitely.[4] In May 2022, after a five-year hiatus, Feld Entertainment announced that the circus would resume touring in the fall of 2023, but without animals.[5] History A Bali tiger with its tamer in Ringling Bros (c. 1915). Circus clowns, 1906. Predecessor circuses Hachaliah Bailey appears to have established one of the earliest circuses in the United States after he purchased an African elephant, whom he named "Old Bet", around 1806,[6][7] just 13 years after John Bill Ricketts first brought the circus to the United States from Great Britain.[8][9][10] Barnum, who as a boy had worked as a ticket seller for Hachaliah Bailey's show, had run the Barnum's American Museum from New York City since 1841 from the former Scudder's American Museum building.[6][7] Besides building up the existing exhibits, Barnum brought in animals to add zoo-like elements, and a freak show.[11] During this time, Barnum took the Museum on road tours, named "P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling American Museum".[11] The Museum burned down in July 1865.[12] Though Barnum attempted to re-establish the Museum at another location in the city, it too burned down in 1868, and Barnum opted to retire from the museum business. Duration: 41 seconds.0:41 Circus Waltz A Ringling Bros Circus lion poster, 1935 In 1871, Dan Castello and William Cameron Coup persuaded Barnum to come out of retirement to lend his name, know-how, and financial backing to the circus they had already created in Delavan, Wisconsin. The combined show was named "P.T. Barnum's Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Hippodrome".[11] As described by Barnum, Castello and Coup "had a show that was truly immense, and combined all the elements of museum, menagerie, variety performance, concert hall, and circus", and considered it to potentially be "the Greatest Show on Earth", which subsequently became part of the circus's name.[13] Independently of Castello and Coup, James Anthony Bailey had teamed up with James E. Cooper to create the Cooper and Bailey Circus in the 1860s. The Cooper and Bailey Circus became the chief competitor to Barnum's circus. As Bailey's circus was outperforming his, Barnum sought to merge the circuses.[14] The two groups agreed to combine their shows on March 28, 1881.[15] Initially named "P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show On Earth, And The Great London Circus, Sanger's Royal British Menagerie and The Grand International Allied Shows United", it was eventually shortened to "Barnum and Bailey's Circus".[13] Bailey was instrumental in acquiring Jumbo, advertised as the world's largest elephant, for the show.[14] After Jumbo died, Barnum donated his taxidermied remains to Tufts University on whose Board of Trustees Barnum served as one of Tufts' first trustees. The Barnum Museum of Natural History opened in 1884 on the Tufts campus and Jumbo was a prominent part of the display. To this day the Tufts athletic mascot is Jumbo and its athletic teams are referred to as the "Jumbos". Barnum died in 1891 and Bailey then purchased the circus from his widow. Bailey continued touring the Eastern United States until he took his circus to Europe. That tour started on December 27, 1897, and lasted until 1902.[14] Separately, in 1884, five of the seven Ringling brothers had started a small circus in Baraboo, Wisconsin.[16][17] This was about the same time that Barnum & Bailey were at the peak of their popularity. Similar to dozens of small circuses that toured the Midwestern United States and the Northeastern United States at the time, the brothers moved their circus from town to town in small animal-drawn caravans. Their circus rapidly grew and they were soon able to move their circus by train, which allowed them to have the largest traveling amusement enterprise of that time. Bailey's European tour gave the Ringling brothers an opportunity to move their show from the Midwest to the eastern seaboard. Faced with the new competition, Bailey took his show west of the Rocky Mountains for the first time in 1905. He died the next year, and the circus was sold to the Ringling Brothers.[11] Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus An advertisement for the Barnum & Bailey Circus, 1900 A poster from 1898, advertising a "troupe of very remarkable trained pigs" The Ringlings purchased the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth in 1907 and ran the circuses separately until 1919. By that time, Charles Edward Ringling and John Nicholas Ringling were the only remaining brothers of the five who founded the circus. They decided that it was too difficult to run the two circuses independently because of labour shortages and complications to rail travel brought about by American involvement in World War I, and on March 29, 1919, "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows" debuted in New York City. The posters declared, "The Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth are now combined into one record-breaking giant of all exhibitions." Charles E. Ringling died in 1926, but the circus flourished through the Roaring Twenties.[1] John Ringling had the circus move its headquarters to Sarasota, Florida, in 1927.[18] In 1929, the American Circus Corporation signed a contract to perform in New York City. John Ringling purchased American Circus, the owner of five circuses, for $1.7 million.[19] In 1938, the circus made a lucrative offer to Frank Buck, a well-known adventurer and animal collector, to tour as their star attraction and to enter the show astride an elephant. He refused to join the American Federation of Actors, stating that he was "a scientist, not an actor." Though there was a threat of a strike if he did not join the union, he maintained that he would not compromise his principles, saying, "Don't get me wrong. I'm with the working man. I worked like a dog once myself. And my heart is with the fellow who works. But I don't want some ... union delegate telling me when to get on and off an elephant."[20] Eventually, the union gave Buck a special dispensation to introduce Gargantua the gorilla without registering as an actor. Frank Buck, star attraction, 1938 The circus suffered during the 1930s due to the Great Depression, but managed to stay in business. After John Nicholas Ringling's death, his nephew, John Ringling North, managed the indebted circus twice, the first from 1937 to 1943.[21] Special dispensation was given to the circus by President Roosevelt to use the rails to operate in 1942, in spite of travel restrictions imposed as a result of World War II. Many of the most famous images from the circus that were published in magazine and posters were captured by American Photographer Maxwell Frederic Coplan, who traveled the world with the circus, capturing its beauty as well as its harsh realities.[citation needed] North's cousin Robert took over as president of the show in 1943 with North resuming the presidency of the circus in 1947.[21][22] Hartford circus fire Main article: Hartford circus fire John Ringling North (right) and Frank Buck, who was the circus's featured attraction in 1938 On July 6, 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut, during an afternoon performance attended by some 8000 people, the Big Top tent caught fire.[23] At least 167 people were killed and many hundreds injured.[24] Circus management was found to be negligent and several Ringling executives served sentences in jail. Ringling Brothers' management set aside all profits for the next ten years to pay the claims filed against the show by the City of Hartford and the survivors of the fire.[25] Feld family The post-war prosperity enjoyed by the rest of the nation was not shared by the circus as crowds dwindled and costs increased. Public tastes, influenced by the movies and television, abandoned the circus, which gave its last performance under the big top in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 16, 1956. An article in Life magazine reported that "a magical era had passed forever".[22] In 1956, when John Ringling North and Arthur Concello moved the circus from a tent show to an indoor operation, Irvin Feld was one of several promoters hired[26] to work the advance for select dates. Irvin Feld and his brother, Israel Feld, had already made a name for themselves marketing and promoting D.C. area rock and roll shows.[27] In 1959, Ringling Bros. started wintering in Venice, Florida.[17] In late 1967, Irvin Feld, Israel Feld, and Judge Roy Mark Hofheinz of Texas, together with backing from Richard C. Blum, the founder of Blum Capital, bought the company outright from North and the Ringling family interests for $8 million at a ceremony at Rome's Colosseum.[26][27][28][29] Irving Feld immediately began making other changes to improve the quality and profitability of the show. Irvin got rid of the freak show so as not to capitalize on others' deformations and to become more family oriented. He got rid of the more routine acts.[30] Circus Williams's elephants arriving in Rotterdam, 1961 In 1968, with the craft of clowning seemingly neglected and with many of the clowns in their 50s, he established the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.[17][30] Circus Williams, a circus in Europe was purchased for $2 million just to have its star animal trainer, Gunther Gebel-Williams, for the core of his revamped circus. Soon, he split the show into two touring units, Red and Blue, which could tour the country independently.[30] The separate tours could also offer differing slates of acts and themes, enabling circus goers to view both tours where possible.[citation needed]. Also in 1968, Feld hired The King Charles Troupe, a unicycle club from The Bronx and the first ever African-American circus troupe, to perform unicycle basketball for 18 years with the circus. Performing unicyclists also included Ted Jorgensen.[31] The company was taken public in 1969.[26] In 1970, Feld's only son Kenneth joined the company and became a co-producer.[32] The circus was sold to the Mattel company in 1971 for $40 million, with the Feld family retained as management.[30] After Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, Florida, in 1971, the circus attempted to cash in on the resulting tourism surge by opening Circus World theme park in nearby Haines City, which broke ground in April 1973.[30][33] The theme park was expected to become the circus's winter home as well as to have the Clown College located there.[33][34] Mattel placed the circus corporation up for sale in December 1973 despite its profit contributions, as Mattel as a whole had a $29.9 million loss in 1972. The park's opening was delayed until February 1974.[33] Venture Out in America, Inc., a Gulf Oil recreational subsidiary, bought the combined shows in January 1974, and the opening was further pushed back to 1975.[34] While the Circus Showcase for Circus World opened on February 21, 1974,[35] Venture Out placed the purchase deal back into negotiations, and the opening of the complex was moved to early 1976.[36] In the 1980s, Ringling sued the American Broadcasting Company for airing a Schoolhouse Rock! episode titled "The Greatest Show On Earth", later known as "The Weather Show" due to the circus' slogan being used as a title for that episode.[citation needed] By May 1980, the company expanded to three circuses by adding the one-ring International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo that debuted in Japan and Australia.[30] The Felds bought the circus back in 1982[26] less Circus World. Irvin Feld died in 1984[37] and the company has since been run by Kenneth. In 1990, the Seminole Gulf Railway, who took over the rail line serving the Venice facility in 1987, could no longer support the show's train cars, which led the combined circus to move its winter base to the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. In 1993, the clown college was moved from the Venice Arena to Baraboo, Wisconsin.[17] In 1995, the company founded the Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC).[38] Clair George has testified in court that he worked as a consultant in the early 1990s for Kenneth Feld and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was involved in the surveillance of Janice Pottker, a journalist who was writing about the Feld family, and of various animal rights groups such as PETA.[39] After three years in Baraboo, the clown college operated at the Sarasota Opera House in Sarasota until 1998 before the program was suspended.[17] In February 1999, the circus company started previewing Barnum's Kaleidoscape, a one ring, intimate, upscale circus performed under the tent.[40] Designed to compete with similar upscale circuses such as Cirque du Soleil, Barnum's Kaleidoscape was not successful, and ceased performances after the end of 2000.[citation needed] Nicole Feld became the first female producer of Ringling Circus in 2004. In 2009, Nicole and Alana Feld co-produced the circus.[27] In 2001, a group led by The Humane Society of the United States sued the circus over alleged mistreatment of elephants. The suit and a countersuit ended in 2014 with the circus winning a total of $25.2 million in settlements.[41] In March 2015, the circus announced that all elephants would be retired in 2018 to the CEC,[38] but Ringling accelerated the decision and retired the elephants in May 2016.[42] Eight months after it retired the elephants, it was announced in January 2017, that the circus would do 30 more performances, lay off more than 462 employees between March and May 2017 and then close.[43] The circus cited steeply declining ticket sales associated with the loss of the elephants combined with high operating costs as reasons for the closure, along with animal cruelty concerns.[43] On May 7, 2017, its "Circus Extreme" tour was shown for the last time at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The circus's last performance before the hiatus was its "Out of This World" tour at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on May 21, 2017.[41][44] 2023 relaunch In October 2021, Feld Entertainment Chairman and CEO Kenneth Feld and COO Juliette Feld Grossman announced that the circus would be relaunched in 2023, without animal performances.[45] On September 29, 2023, after a six-year hiatus, the relaunched circus kicked off at Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City, Louisiana[46] A Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth poster, 1899 A Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth poster, 1899   A Stock certificate for Barnum & Bailey, 1903 A Stock certificate for Barnum & Bailey, 1903   A Ringling bros Postage card, 1911 A Ringling bros Postage card, 1911 Circus trains CSX locomotives pulling the circus train out of St. Petersburg, Florida Circus train rolling through Safety Harbor, Florida The circus maintained two circus train-based shows, one each on its Red Unit and Blue Unit trains.[41] Each train was a mile long with roughly 60 cars: 36 passenger cars, 4 stock cars and 20 freight.[47] Rolling stock belonging to the circus displayed the reporting mark "RBBX". The Blue and Red Tours presented a full three-ring production for two years each, taking off the month of December, visiting alternating major cities each year. Each train presented a different "edition" of the show, using a numbering scheme that dates back to circus origins in 1871 – the first year of P.T. Barnum's show. The Blue Tour presented the even-numbered editions on a two-year tour, beginning each even-numbered year, and the Red Tour presented the odd-numbered editions on the same two-year tour, beginning each odd-numbered year.[citation needed] In the 1950s, there was one gigantic train system comprising three separate train loads that brought the main show to the big cities. The first train load consisted of 22 cars and had the tents and the workers to set them up. The second section comprised 28 cars and carried the canvasmen, ushers and sideshow workers. The third section had 19 sleeping cars for the performers.[48] On January 13, 1994, the circus train, en route from St. Petersburg to a three-day stand in Orlando, derailed about four miles south of Lakeland near U.S. Highway 92.[citation needed] Several of the 150 to 200 train passengers were injured, and two were killed, those being clown Ceslee Conkling and elephant trainer Ted Svertesky. Circus animals were shaken up but not injured. The heavier horses and elephants, which could derail the train if carried in the middle, were in the front cars. Lions, tigers, bears and other animals were at the back of the train. From 2003 to 2015, the circus also operated a truck-based Gold Tour presenting a scaled-back, single-ring version of the show designed to serve smaller markets deemed incapable of supporting the three-ring versions.[49] Animal care and criticism Many animal rights groups have criticized the circus for their treatment of animals over the years, saying that using them to perform is cruel and unnecessary.[41] In 2004, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey were investigated following the death of a lion who died from heat and lack of water while the circus train was traveling through the Mojave Desert.[50] In 1998, the United States Department of Agriculture filed charges against Ringling Bros. for forcing a sick elephant to perform.[51] Ringling paid a $20,000 fine.[52] In 2000, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and other animal groups sued the circus, alleging that it violated the Endangered Species Act by its treatment of Asian elephants in its circus.[53] These allegations were based primarily on the testimony of a circus barn worker. After years of litigation and a six-week non-jury trial, the Court dismissed the suit in a written decision in 2009, finding that the barn worker did not have standing to file suit. (ASPCA v. Feld Entm’t, Inc., 677 F. Supp. 2d 55 (D.D.C. 2009)).[54] Meanwhile, the circus learned during the trial that the animal rights groups had paid the barn worker $190,000 to be a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The circus then sued the animal rights groups under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in 2007, accusing the groups of conspiracy to harm its business and other illegal acts.[53][54][55] In December 2012, the ASPCA agreed to pay the circus $9.2 million to settle its part of the lawsuit.[54] The 14-year course of litigation came to an end in May 2014 when The Humane Society of the United States and a number of other animal rights groups paid a $16 million settlement to the circus' parent company, Feld Entertainment.[56] From 2007 to 2011, the United States Department of Agriculture conducted inspections of the circus's animals, facilities, and records, finding non-compliance with the agency's regulations. The allegations, as brought forth by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) included videotapes of the head elephant trainer and the animal superintendent backstage repeatedly hitting elephants with bullhooks just before the animals would enter the arena for performances. A tiger trainer was videotaped beating tigers during dress rehearsals.[57][58] An inspection report alleged that a female Asian elephant, Banko, was forced to perform at a show in Los Angeles despite a diagnosis of sand colic and observations that she appeared to be suffering abdominal discomfort. The inspection reports also cited splintered floors and rusted cages. Following these inspections and complaints filed with the USDA by PETA, the company agreed to pay a $270,000 fine, the largest civil penalty ever assessed against an animal exhibitor under the Animal Welfare Act.[59][60] In March 2015, Feld Entertainment announced it would stop using elephants in its shows by 2018, stating that the 13 elephants that were part of its shows would be sent to the circus's Center for Elephant Conservation, which at that time housed over 40 elephants.[61][62][63] Feld stated that this action was not a result of the allegations by animal rights groups, but rather due to the patchwork of local laws regarding whether elephants could be used in entertainment shows.[64] Some of those local laws referred to were bans against the use of bullhooks.[65] Subsequently, the retirement was moved up to 2016.[66][67] Seven tigers, six lions and one leopard were part of a convoy to temporarily move the animals out of Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma on September 5, 2017. One of them, a 6-year-old Siberian tiger named Suzy who had previously starred in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, escaped from a convoy of trucks transporting her from Florida to Memphis International Airport and was fatally shot by police after attacking a nearby dog.[68] Daniel Raffo and his tigers in "Over the Top" The Torres family performing in "Over the Top" Film In 1952, Paramount Pictures released the Cecil B. DeMille production The Greatest Show on Earth, which traced the traveling show through the setup and breakdown of performances during the 1951 season, the show's 81st edition since 1871. The film starred Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, James Stewart, and Emmett Kelly. After its 1952 release, the film was awarded two Academy Awards, including one for Best Picture. A television series of the same title, was inspired by the film, with Jack Palance in the role of Charlton Heston's character. Produced by Desilu Productions, the program ran on Tuesday evenings for thirty episodes on ABC in 1963–1964. In August 2011, 20th Century Fox announced that a biographical musical drama film entitled The Greatest Showman was in development.[69] Michael Gracey was set to direct, with Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon as writers.[70] Hugh Jackman plays P.T. Barnum, and produced the film,[69] with Michelle Williams portraying Barnum's wife, Charity.[71] Principal photography began in November 2016. The film was released on December 20, 2017.[72] Relaunch In early 2022, the circus began auditioning artists for a retooled circus. More than 1,000 acts applied, and auditions were held in Paris, Las Vegas, Ethiopia, and Mongolia.[73] In May 2022, Feld Entertainment announced that the circus would resume operations in the fall of 2023 with a tour of 50 cities. The circus said the new show would debut as a "multi-platform entertainment franchise".[74] See also Barnum's Kaleidoscape William Washington Cole, a Barnum and Bailey business partner Barnum and Bailey's Favorite John Robinson Circus Conklin Shows was the largest traveling amusement corporation in North America.[1] The 75-year-old company operated traveling carnivals at various summer agricultural shows across North America and is based in Brantford, Ontario, and formerly also in West Palm Beach, Florida. The company has a long history in Canada, providing entertainment for generations of children and adults. The organization used to operate the midway services for some of Canada's largest summer fairs including the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, the Calgary Stampede, and Edmonton's K-Days. In 2004, Conklin Shows International route and equipment were sold to North American Midway Entertainment. Two of the remaining companies, World's Finest Shows and Conklin Super Shows, still are part of the Conklin Group of Carnival Companies. World's Finest Shows' route includes more than 60 fairs, all in Ontario, Canada. They are both based in Ontario, Canada. Conklin Shows, as it was known in Canada and the US, now operates under North American Midway Entertainment (NAME). The carnival provides the midway at fairs and exhibitions, including, Miami, Florida's Miami-Dade County Fair, Edmonton, Alberta's K-Days Calgary, Alberta's Calgary Stampede and Toronto, Ontario's CNE, The Canadian National Exhibition. History Conklin Shows was founded by James Wesley "Patty" Conklin, who was born Joseph Renker in 1892 in Brooklyn, New York, and died in 1970.[2] He was brought up by foster parents. By 1906 he had begun selling peanuts without a permit at Madison Square Gardens whenever a circus was in town, and newspapers on the streets of New York, before becoming a sideshow host at Coney Island.[3] When he was 21 his father dropped dead and ended up landing $3300 CAD ($54,000 2020).[3] By 1915 he was running his own gambling games at various midways across the southern United States. After meeting James Wesley Conklin (1861–1920) around 1916, he adopted his surname, Conklin, as his own.[2] In 1916 Patty and J. W. Conklin established Clark & Conklin Shows. Lasting four seasons playing at various shows around the mid west, the company folded after the death of the father. In 1921 Patty moved the show north to play at the Winnipeg Exhibition. Due to a problem with the fair, their participation was canceled. While returning to the United States with a train car full of prize merchandise, Patty stumbled upon a show just outside Winnipeg. They joined up with the operator of the fair, International Amusement Company and worked all of the remaining Canadian shows that year. War years After working the road hosting small fairs coast to coast for 20 years, Conklin Shows bid on and won the midway contract for the 1937 Toronto Canadian National Exhibition. The fair, one of the largest in the world, was a prized show. By 1941 the company played at 98% of all the major fairs across Canada. To accommodate travel to the various shows they ran a 45-car specialized train cars. Specialized boxcars painted bright orange 80 ft (24 m)long were fitted with custom doors to accommodate speedy loading and unloading of gear. The train carried 15 feature attractions and 21 rides and 700 people including performers and crews. Patty Conklin himself traveled in style with his $65,000 CAD ($1 million 2020) Mexican stylized 5-room 'mansion on wheels' private car.[3] Having the CNE contract helped turn it into a profitable company in the early 1950s Conklin Shows borrowed over half a million dollars and began to build permanent attractions on the CNE fairgrounds of Exhibition Place. In 1953 they constructed the Mighty Flyer, a wooden rollercoaster, that lasted until the early 1990s. The early 1970s saw the company begin to diversify, including establishing Maple Leaf Village (now Casino Niagara) in Niagara Falls, Ontario, along with running a venue at the base of the CN Tower in Toronto. In 1975 Conklin Shows' biggest rival, Royal American Shows, declined to return to fair dates in Canada due to later disproved charges of tax evasion, charges that several Canadian carnivals aided and encouraged. In 1976 Conklin was awarded the contracts previously held by RAS – including the Calgary Stampede and Vancouver Pacific Exhibition, largely due to Conklin being a Canadian business. The 80s and 90s were a time of growth for Conklin as it operated across the prairies with stops in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina and Saskatoon. It also opened up a number of smaller fairs as well as provided a schedule and route for many smaller independent shows such as Lauther Amusements and Billy Truax Amusements. These companies, although bound by contracts to the larger Conklin Shows, operated as separate shows. Conklin also became known for its very large and quite unique collection of rides, many of which were large, European built rides rarely seen in North America, and some never even traveled north of the border. One of the most of famous attractions in Conklin's line up was the "Doppel Looping", North America's first and only traveling double loop roller coaster which was imported in from Germany in the mid 80s. This mammoth coaster, which took 28 trailers to move, only made the trip as far north as Toronto, as even this was not financially feasible after the late 90s. The coaster was eventually sold off in 2008. Some of the other Conklin rides that were one of a kind in an American traveling carnival included the "Drop of Fear" and the "G-Force". As time progressed, Conklin began to show signs of financial strain that was synonymous with the entire traveling carnival industry. Favorites such as the Zipper and the Octopus, as well as The Kamikaze and The Rainbow were phased out and sold as cost-cutting measures. Independents that had long traveled as a part of Conklin Shows were also phased out. Finally other rides such as the Drop of Fear, G-Force, Enterprise, Gravitron, Starship 2000, Flying Bobs, Aladin, Break Dance, Crazy Flip, Hi-Roller, Rotor, Devastator, Swiss Bob, Hully Gully, Tip Top, Flic Flac, Tango, Evolution, Spin Out, 1001 Nacht, Chaos, Inverter, Flipper, Touchdown, Cobra, Scorpion, Double Sky Wheels, Paratrooper, Hurricane and the Mark 1 & Wildcat roller coaster were sold to competing companies and shelved in West Palm Beach. Finally, Conklin Shows joined with the former Farrow Shows from Jackson, Mississippi, Thebault-Blomsness (Astro Amusements and All Star Amusements), and former president and CEO of Ticketmaster Group, Frederic Rosen, to form the newly minted North American Midway Entertainment Co. or N.A.M.E. N.A.M.E. Website. This became official in Columbia South Carolina in 2004. In January 2006, N.A.M.E. also acquired Mid America Shows Press Release, and several contracts and rides from Cumberland Valley Shows. N.A.M.E. provides rides at over 145 fairs and events yearly. Now included are Cinco de Mayo in New Orleans as well as the Dade Co. Fair, The Illinois State Fair, the Kentucky State Fair, the Indiana State Fair, and the Big E Eastern States Exposition. New and more expensive rides have been added to its line-up but at the cost of many of the old favorites. Frank Conklin, while owning part of N.A.M.E., has left the management of the combined company to others. In 1984, Jim Conklin donated many antique midway rides from his collection to Calgary's Heritage Park historical village. These restored rides now make up the majority of the rides at Heritage Park's Conklin Lakeview Amusement Park. https://www.heritagepark.ca/park-information/attractions-and-exhibits/conklin-lakeview-amusement-park.html Current operations The Conklin Midway at Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition Conklin Group is made up of two operating units: World's Finest Shows and Conklin Supershows. This is a list of some of the venues they provided midway services for in the past: Edmonton: K-Days Toronto: Canadian National Exhibition Ottawa: Ottawa SuperEX Regina: Regina Exhibition Association Vancouver: Pacific National Exhibition West Palm Beach: South Florida Fair Miami: Miami-Dade County Fair Calgary: Calgary Stampede Conklin Supershows Conklin Supershows is one of Conklin Shows' smaller sub-companies. It currently owns 7 game trailers, and 10 rides. Current games Duck Pond Basketball Cork Guns Skee-Ball Chicken Ring Toss Punk Rack Water Racer Current rides Chilly Willys Carousel Safari Carousel 911-Fire Brigade Super Tilt-A-Whirl Heavy Haulers The Great Western Train Fire Trucks fun house Dragon castle glass house Former rides Sea Dragon Dragon Castle Maze Super Scooter (Bumper cars) Emergency 911 Victory Lap Slide Super Space Sled Super Silver Streak Super Bumper Cars Jolly Roger The Round Up The Hard Rock and Roll The Himilaya The Super Loop The Gravitron Gee Whiz The Rainbow The Zipper The Holiday Bounce Toboggan the Love Bug Conko Inc Conko Inc still continues various operations today, among them is a traveling show train, permanent show train and carousel in Chinguacousy Park,[citation needed] various games and rides,[citation needed] and ice cream waffle stands at Canadian National Exhibition.[citation needed] World's Finest Shows Main article: World's Finest Shows One of Conklin Shows' more successful sub-companies is the World's Finest Shows, which travels throughout Ontario, Canada. The company owns more than 40 rides and concessions. See also Maple Leaf Village – A now defunct small amusement park in Niagara Falls Ontario. Canadian National Exhibition – former client (now operated by North American Midway Entertainment Exhibition Place – Toronto, site of one of the world's largest fairs Lake Ontario Park- Kingston, Ontario – rides removed after 2005 A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term circus also describes the field of performance, training and community which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Newcastle-under-Lyme born Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus.[1] In 1768, Astley, a skilled equestrian, began performing exhibitions of trick horse riding in an open field called Ha'Penny Hatch on the south side of the Thames River, England.[2] In 1770, he hired acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers and a clown to fill in the pauses between the equestrian demonstrations and thus chanced on the format which was later named a "circus". Performances developed significantly over the next fifty years, with large-scale theatrical battle reenactments becoming a significant feature. The format in which a ringmaster introduces a variety of choreographed acts set to music, often termed 'traditional' or 'classical' circus, developed in the latter part of the 19th century and remained the dominant format until the 1970s. As styles of performance have developed since the time of Astley, so too have the types of venue where these circuses have performed. The earliest modern circuses were performed in open-air structures with limited covered seating. From the late 18th to late 19th century, custom-made circus buildings (often wooden) were built with various types of seating, a centre ring, and sometimes a stage. The traditional large tents commonly known as "big tops" were introduced in the mid-19th century as touring circuses superseded static venues. These tents eventually became the most common venue. Contemporary circus is performed in a variety of venues including tents, theatres, casinos, cruise ships and open-air spaces. Many circus performances are still held in a ring, usually 13 m (43 ft) in diameter. This dimension was adopted by Astley in the late 18th century as the minimum diameter that enabled an acrobatic horse rider to stand upright on a cantering horse to perform their tricks. A shift in form has been credited with a revival of the circus tradition since the late 1970s, when a number of groups began to experiment with new circus formats and aesthetics, typically avoiding the use of animals to focus exclusively on human artistry. Circus companies and artistes within this movement, often termed 'new circus' or 'cirque nouveau', have tended to favour a theatrical approach, combining character-driven circus acts with original music in a broad variety of styles to convey complex themes or stories. Since the 1990s, a more avant garde approach to presenting traditional circus techniques or 'disciplines' in ways that align more closely to performance art, dance or visual arts has been given the name 'contemporary circus'. This labelling can cause confusion based upon the other use of the phrase contemporary circus to mean 'circus of today'. For this reason, some commentators have begun using the term 21st Century Circus to encompass all the various styles available in the present day. 21st Century Circus circus continues to develop new variations on the circus tradition while absorbing new skills, techniques, and stylistic influences from other art forms and technological developments. For aesthetic or economic reasons, 21st Century circus productions may often be staged in theatres rather than in large outdoor tents. Etymology First attested in English 14th century, the word circus derives from Latin circus,[3] which is the romanization of the Greek κίρκος (kirkos), itself a metathesis of the Homeric Greek κρίκος (krikos), meaning "circle" or "ring".[4] In the book De Spectaculis early Christian writer Tertullian claimed that the first circus games were staged by the goddess Circe in honour of her father Helios, the Sun God.[5] History It has been suggested that this section be split out into another article titled History of circus. (Discuss) (November 2023) Sells Brothers Circus with Great Danes Duration: 29 minutes and 31 seconds.29:31 The made-for-television "Super Circus" (1954) The modern and commonly held idea of a circus is of a Big Top with various acts providing entertainment therein; however, the history of circuses is more complex, with historians disagreeing on its origin, as well as revisions being done about the history due to the changing nature of historical research, and the ongoing circus phenomenon. For many, circus history begins with Englishman Philip Astley, while for others its origins go back much further—to Roman Empire times. Origin In Ancient Rome, the circus was a roofless arena[6]: 2  for the exhibition of horse and chariot races, equestrian shows, staged battles, gladiatorial combat, and displays of (and fights with) trained animals. The circuses of Rome were similar to the ancient Greek hippodromes, although circuses served varying purposes and differed in design and construction, and for events that involved re-enactments of naval battles, the circus was flooded with water; however, the Roman circus buildings were not circular but rectangular with semi circular ends. The lower seats were reserved for persons of rank; there were also various state boxes for the giver of the games and his friends. The circus was the only public spectacle at which men and women were not separated.[7] Some circus historians such as George Speaight have stated "these performances may have taken place in the great arenas that were called 'circuses' by the Romans, but it is a mistake to equate these places, or the entertainments presented there, with the modern circus".[8] Others have argued that the lineage of the circus does go back to the Roman circuses and a chronology of circus-related entertainment can be traced to Roman times, continued by the Hippodrome of Constantinople that operated until the 13th century, through medieval and renaissance jesters, minstrels and troubadours to the late 18th century and the time of Astley.[9][10] The first circus in the city of Rome was the Circus Maximus, in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills.[7] It was constructed during the monarchy and, at first, built completely from wood. After being rebuilt several times, the final version of the Circus Maximus could seat 250,000 people; it was built of stone and measured 400m in length and 90m in width.[11] Next in importance were the Circus Flaminius and the Circus Neronis, from the notoriety which it obtained through the Circensian pleasures of Nero. A fourth circus was constructed by Maxentius;[7] its ruins have helped archaeologists reconstruct the Roman circus. For some time after the fall of Rome, large circus buildings fell out of use as centres of mass entertainment. Instead, itinerant performers, animal trainers, and showmen travelled between towns throughout Europe, performing at local fairs such as the Bartholomew Fair in London during the Middle Ages.[6]: 4–6  Modern format This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Circus" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Astley and early British circus Astley's Amphitheatre in London, c. 1808 Circus Ronaldo The origin of the modern circus has been attributed to Philip Astley, who was born 1742 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England. He became a cavalry officer who set up the first modern amphitheatre for the display of horse riding tricks in Lambeth, London, on 4 April 1768.[12][13][14] Astley did not originate trick horse riding, nor was he first to introduce acts such as acrobats and clowns to the English public, but he was the first to create a space where all these acts were brought together to perform a show.[15] Astley rode in a circle rather than a straight line as his rivals did, and thus chanced on the format of performing in a circle.[16] Astley performed stunts in a 42 ft diameter ring, which is the standard size used by circuses ever since.[15] Astley referred to the performance arena as a circle and the building as an amphitheatre; these would later be known as a circus.[17] In 1770, Astley hired acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers, and a clown to fill in the pauses between acts.[15] Elephant trainer (1903) Astley was followed by Andrew Ducrow, whose feats of horsemanship had much to do with establishing the traditions of the circus, which were perpetuated by Hengler's and Sanger's celebrated shows in a later generation. In England circuses were often held in purpose-built buildings in large cities, such as the London Hippodrome, which was built as a combination of the circus, the menagerie, and the variety theatre, where wild animals such as lions and elephants from time to time appeared in the ring, and where convulsions of nature such as floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions were produced with an extraordinary wealth of realistic display.[18] Joseph Grimaldi, the first mainstream clown, had his first major role as Little Clown in the pantomime The Triumph of Mirth; or, Harlequin's Wedding in 1781.[19] The Royal Circus was opened in London on 4 November 1782 by Charles Dibdin (who coined the term "circus"),[20] aided by his partner Charles Hughes, an equestrian performer.[21] In 1782, Astley established the Amphithéâtre Anglais in Paris, the first purpose-built circus in France, followed by 18 other permanent circuses in cities throughout Europe.[22][23] Astley leased his Parisian circus to the Italian Antonio Franconi in 1793.[24] In 1826, the first circus took place under a canvas big top.[25] Trapeze artists, in lithograph by Calvert Litho. Co., 1890 Ricketts and the first American circus The Englishman John Bill Ricketts brought the first modern circus to the United States. He began his theatrical career with Hughes Royal Circus in London in the 1780s, and travelled from England in 1792 to establish his first circus in Philadelphia. The first circus building in the US opened on 3 April 1793 in Philadelphia, where Ricketts gave America's first complete circus performance.[26][27] George Washington attended a performance there later that season.[28] Circus tent, Italy (1951) Expansion of the American format James Anthony Baliey In the Americas during the first two decades of the 19th century, the Circus of Pepin and Breschard toured from Montreal to Havana, building circus theatres in many of the cities it visited. Victor Pépin, a native New Yorker,[29] was the first American to operate a major circus in the United States.[30] Later the establishments of Purdy, Welch & Co., and of van Amburgh gave a wider popularity to the circus in the United States.[18] In 1825, Joshuah Purdy Brown was the first circus owner to use a large canvas tent for the circus performance. Circus pioneer Dan Rice was the most famous pre-Civil War circus clown,[31] popularizing such expressions as "The One-Horse Show" and "Hey, Rube!". The American circus was revolutionized by P. T. Barnum and William Cameron Coup, who launched the travelling P. T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie & Circus, the first freak show, in the 1870s. Coup also introduced the first multiple-ring circuses, and was also the first circus entrepreneur to use circus trains to transport the circus between towns. By the 1830s, sideshows were also being established alongside travelling circuses.[6]: 9  Circus parade around tents, in lithograph by Gibson & Co., 1874 Touring In 1838, the equestrian Thomas Taplin Cooke returned to England from the United States, bringing with him a circus tent.[32] At this time, itinerant circuses that could be fitted-up quickly were becoming popular in Britain. William Batty's circus, for example, between 1838 and 1840, travelled from Newcastle to Edinburgh and then to Portsmouth and Southampton. Pablo Fanque, who is noteworthy as Britain's only black circus proprietor and who operated one of the most celebrated travelling circuses in Victorian England, erected temporary structures for his limited engagements or retrofitted existing structures.[33] One such structure in Leeds, which Fanque assumed from a departing circus, collapsed, resulting in minor injuries to many but the death of Fanque's wife.[34][35] Traveling circus companies also rented the land they set up their structures on sometimes causing damage to the local ecosystems.[36] Three important circus innovators were the Italian Giuseppe Chiarini, and Frenchmen Louis Soullier and Jacques Tourniaire, whose early travelling circuses introduced the circus to Latin America, Australia, Southeast Asia, China, South Africa, and Russia. Soullier was the first circus owner to introduce Chinese acrobatics to the European circus when he returned from his travels in 1866, and Tourniaire was the first to introduce the performing art to Ranga, where it became extremely popular. Lion tamer, in lithograph by Gibson & Co., 1873 After an 1881 merger with James Anthony Bailey and James L. Hutchinson's circus and Barnum's death in 1891, his circus travelled to Europe as the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show On Earth, where it toured from 1897 to 1902, impressing other circus owners with its large scale, its touring techniques (including the tent and circus train), and its combination of circus acts, a zoological exhibition, and a freak show. This format was adopted by European circuses at the turn of the 20th century. The influence of the American circus brought about a considerable change in the character of the modern circus. In arenas too large for speech to be easily audible, the traditional comic dialogue of the clown assumed a less prominent place than formerly, while the vastly increased wealth of stage properties relegated to the background the old-fashioned equestrian feats, which were replaced by more ambitious acrobatic performances, and by exhibitions of skill, strength, and daring, requiring the employment of immense numbers of performers, and often of complicated and expensive machinery.[18] Painting by Venezuelan Arturo Michelena, c. 1891, depicting a backstage area at the circus From the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, travelling circuses were a major form of spectator entertainment in the US and attracted huge attention whenever they arrived in a city. After World War II, the popularity of the circus declined as new forms of entertainment (such as television) arrived and the public's tastes changed. From the 1960s onward, circuses attracted growing criticism from animal rights activists. Many circuses went out of business or were forced to merge with other circus companies. Nonetheless, a good number of travelling circuses are still active in various parts of the world, ranging from small family enterprises to three-ring extravaganzas. Other companies found new ways to draw in the public with innovative new approaches to the circus form itself. Russia In 1919, Lenin, head of Soviet Russia, expressed a wish for the circus to become "the people's art-form", with facilities and status on par with theatre, opera and ballet. The USSR nationalized Russian circuses. In 1927, the State University of Circus and Variety Arts, better known as the Moscow Circus School, was established; performers were trained using methods developed from the Soviet gymnastics program. When the Moscow State Circus company began international tours in the 1950s, its levels of originality and artistic skill were widely applauded. Freak show circus China Circuses from China, drawing on Chinese traditions of acrobatics, like the Chinese State Circus are also popular touring acts. New Circus Main article: New Circus Cirque du Soleil performing Dralion in Vienna, 2004 New Circus (originally known as cirque nouveau) is a performing arts movement that originated in the 1970s in Australia, Canada, France,[37] the West Coast of the United States, and the United Kingdom. New Circus combines traditional circus skills and theatrical techniques to convey a story or theme. Compared with the traditional circus, this genre of circus tends to focus more attention on the overall aesthetic impact, on character and story development, and on the use of lighting design, original music, and costume design to convey thematic or narrative content. Music used in the production is often composed exclusively for that production, and aesthetic influences are drawn as much from contemporary culture as from circus history. Animal acts rarely appear in new circus, in contrast to traditional circus, where animal acts have often been a significant part of the entertainment. Early pioneers of the new circus genre included: Circus Oz, forged in Australia in 1977 from SoapBox Circus (1976) and New Circus (1973);[38] the Pickle Family Circus, founded in San Francisco in 1975; Ra-Ra Zoo in 1984 in London; Nofit State Circus in 1984 from Wales; Cirque du Soleil, founded in Quebec in 1984; Cirque Plume and Archaos from France in 1984 and 1986 respectively. More recent examples include: Cirque Éloize (founded in Quebec in 1993); Sweden's Cirkus Cirkör (1995); Teatro ZinZanni (founded in Seattle in 1998); the West African Circus Baobab (late 1990s);[39] and Montreal's Les 7 doigts de la main (founded in 2002).[40] The genre includes other circus troupes such as the Vermont-based Circus Smirkus (founded in 1987 by Rob Mermin) and Le Cirque Imaginaire (later renamed Le Cirque Invisible, both founded and directed by Victoria Chaplin, daughter of Charlie Chaplin). The most conspicuous success story in the new circus genre has been that of Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian circus company whose estimated annual revenue exceeds US$810 million in 2009,[41] and whose cirque nouveau shows have been seen by nearly 90 million spectators in over 200 cities on five continents.[42] Contemporary Circus Main article: Contemporary Circus The genre of contemporary circus is largely considered to have begun in 1995 with 'Le Cri du Caméléon', an ensemble performance from the graduating class of the French circus school Le Centre Nationale des Artes du Cirque (CNAC), directed by Joseph Nadj. In contrast to New Circus, Contemporary Circus (as a genre) tends to avoid linear narrative in favour of more suggestive, interdisciplinary approaches to abstract concepts. This includes a strong trend for developing new apparatus and movement languages based on the capacities, experience and interests of individual performers, rather than finding new ways to present traditional repertoire. Social Circus Beyond the performance aspect of circus, is the Social Circus field, catalysed by Reg Bolton. Social Circus engages communities through circus practice and activity to provide health and well-being benefits.[43] Performance Ticket Sale of Sirkus Finlandia in Jyväskylä, Finland Fire breathers risk burns, both internal and external, as well as poisoning in the pursuit of their art A traditional circus performance is often led by a ringmaster who has a role similar to a Master of Ceremonies. The ringmaster presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the show moving. The activity of the circus traditionally takes place within a ring; large circuses may have multiple rings, like the six-ringed Moscow State Circus. A circus often travels with its own band, whose instrumentation in the United States has traditionally included brass instruments, drums, glockenspiel, and sometimes the distinctive sound of the calliope. Performers have been traditionally referred to as artistes, although in recent years the term artists has also come into regular use. To some performers from multi-generational circus families, the term artiste is still preferred as it is considered to confer higher status than artist. Conversely, some performers from the circus school training route taken by many of the newer generations prefer the term artist as it is considered to be less pretentious than artiste. The physical and creative skills that circus artist/es perform are known as disciplines, and are often grouped for training purposes into the broad categories of juggling, equilibristics, acrobatics, aerial and clowning. These disciplines can be honed into individual acts, which can be performed independently and marketed to many different prospective circus employers, and also used for devising solo or collaborative work created specifically for a single project. Acts See also: List of circus skills vteWorldwide laws on animal use in circuses[44]    Nationwide ban on all animal use in circuses    Partial ban on animal use in circuses1    Ban on the import/export of animals for circuses    No ban on animal use in circuses    Unknown 1certain animals are excluded or the laws vary internally Common acts include a variety of acrobatics, gymnastics (including tumbling and trampoline), aerial acts (such as trapeze, aerial silk, corde lisse), contortion, stilt-walking, and a variety of other routines. Juggling is one of the most common acts in a circus; the combination of juggling and gymnastics that includes acts like plate spinning and the rolling globe come under the category equilibristics, along with more classical balance disciplines such as tightwire, slackline and unicycle. Acts like these are some of the most common and the most traditional. Clowns are common to most circuses and are typically skilled in many circus acts; "clowns getting into the act" is a very familiar theme in any circus. Famous circus clowns have included Austin Miles, the Fratellini Family, Rusty Russell, Emmett Kelly, Grock, and Bill Irwin. The title clown refers to the role functions and performance skills, not simply to the image of red nose and exaggerated facepaint that was popularised through 20th Century mass media. While many clowns still perform in this styling, there are also many clowns who adopt a more natural look. Daredevil stunt acts, freak shows, and sideshow acts are also parts of some circus acts, these activities may include human cannonball, chapeaugraphy, fire eating, breathing, and dancing, knife throwing, magic shows, sword swallowing, or strongman. Famous sideshow performers include Zip the Pinhead and The Doll Family. A popular sideshow attraction from the early 19th century was the flea circus, where fleas were attached to props and viewed through a Fresnel lens. Animal acts Female lion tamer and leopard Elephants from Cole Brothers Circus parade through downtown Los Angeles, 1953 Circus horse act A variety of animals have historically been used in acts. While the types of animals used vary from circus to circus, big cats (namely lions, tigers, and leopards), foxes, wolves, polecats, minks, weasels, camels, llamas, elephants, zebras, horses, donkeys, birds (like parrots and doves), sea lions, bears, monkeys, and domestic animals such as cats and dogs are the most common. The earliest involvement of animals in circus was just the display of exotic creatures in a menagerie. Going as far back as the early eighteenth century, exotic animals were transported to North America for display, and menageries were a popular form of entertainment.[45] The first true animals acts in the circus were equestrian acts. Soon elephants and big cats were displayed as well. Isaac A. Van Amburgh entered a cage with several big cats in 1833, and is generally considered to be the first wild animal trainer in American circus history.[30] Mabel Stark was a famous female tiger-tamer. Controversy and laws It has been suggested that this section be split out into another article titled Circuses and animal cruelty. (Discuss) (March 2021) Part of a series on Animal rights A paw Overview Movement Animal abuse Ideas Related topics icon Animals portal vte Circus baby elephant training Elephant act at a 2009 circus in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico. In December 2014, as a response to reports of animal mistreatment, the Mexican Congress passed a law banning the use of animals in any circus in the country.[46] The law set fines for violations and required circuses to submit lists of the wildlife they possessed, which would then be made available to zoos interested in taking the animals.[46] Animal rights groups have documented many cases of animal cruelty in the training of performing circus animals.[47][48] The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) contends that animals in circuses are frequently beaten into submission and that physical abuse has always been the method for training circus animals. It is also alleged that the animals are kept in cages that are too small and are given very little opportunity to walk around outside of their enclosure, thereby violating their right to freedom. United States John Ringing North at the White House, 1925 According to PETA, although the US Animal Welfare Act does not permit any sort of punishment that puts the animals in discomfort,[49] trainers will still go against this law and use such things as electric rods and bullhooks.[50] According to PETA, during an undercover investigation of Carson & Barnes Circus, video footage was captured showing animal care director Tim Frisco training endangered Asian elephants with electrical shock prods and instructing other trainers to "beat the elephants with a bullhook as hard as they can and sink the sharp metal hook into the elephant's flesh and twist it until they scream in pain".[50] On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, Wageningen University conducted an investigation into the welfare of circus animals in 2008.[51] The following issues, among others, were found: 71% of the observed animals had medical problems. 33% of tigers and lions did not have access to an outdoor enclosure. Lions spend on average 98% of their time indoors. An average enclosure for tigers is only 5 m2. Elephants are shackled in chains for 17 hours a day on average. Elephants spend on average 10 hours a day showing stereotypic behaviour. Tigers are terrified of fire but are still forced to jump through fire rings. Since 1990 there have been over 123 cases of lion attacks at circuses. Animals are trained through discipline.[clarification needed] Based on these findings, the researchers called for more stringent regulation regarding the welfare of circus animals. In 2012, the Dutch government announced a ban on the use of wild circus animals.[52] In testimony in U.S. District Court in 2009, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus CEO Kenneth Feld acknowledged that circus elephants are struck behind the ears, under the chin and on their legs with metal tipped prods, called bullhooks. Feld stated that these practices are necessary to protect circus workers. Feld also acknowledged that an elephant trainer was reprimanded for using an electric shock device, known as a hot shot or electric prod, on an elephant, which Feld also stated was appropriate practice. Feld denied that any of these practices harm elephants.[53] In its January 2010 verdict on the case, brought against Feld Entertainment International by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals et al., the Court ruled that evidence against the circus company was "not credible with regard to the allegations".[54] In lieu of a USDA hearing, Feld Entertainment Inc. (parent of Ringling Bros.) agreed to pay an unprecedented $270,000 fine for violations of the Animal Welfare Act that allegedly occurred between June 2007 and August 2011.[55] A 14-year litigation against the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to an end in 2014 when The Humane Society of the United States and a number of other animal rights groups paid a $16 million settlement to Feld Entertainment; however, the circus closed in May 2017 after a 146-year run when it experienced a steep decline in ticket sales a year after it discontinued its elephant act and sent its pachyderms to a reserve.[56][57] On 1 February 1992 at the Great American Circus in Palm Bay, Florida, an elephant named Janet (1965 – 1 February 1992) went out of control while giving a ride to a mother, her two children, and three other children. The elephant then stampeded through the circus grounds outside before being shot to death by police.[58] Also, during a Circus International performance in Honolulu, Hawaii, on 20 August 1994, an elephant called Tyke (1974 – 20 August 1994) killed her trainer, Allen Campbell, and severely mauled her groomer, Dallas Beckwith, in front of hundreds of spectators. Tyke then bolted from the arena and ran through the streets of Kakaako for more than thirty minutes. Police fired 86 shots at Tyke, who eventually collapsed from the wounds and died.[59] In December 2018, New Jersey became the first state in the U.S. to ban circuses, carnivals and fairs from featuring elephants, tigers, and other exotic animals.[60] England In 1998 in the United Kingdom, a parliamentary working group chaired by MP Roger Gale studied living conditions and treatment of animals in UK circuses. All members of this group agreed that a change in the law was needed to protect circus animals. Gale told the BBC, "It's undignified and the conditions under which they are kept are woefully inadequate—the cages are too small, the environments they live in are not suitable and many of us believe the time has come for that practice to end." The group reported concerns about boredom and stress, and noted that an independent study by a member of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford University "found no evidence that circuses contribute to education or conservation."; however, in 2007, a different working group under the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, having reviewed information from experts representing both the circus industry and animal welfare, found an absence of "scientific evidence sufficient to demonstrate that travelling circuses are not compatible with meeting the welfare needs of any type of non-domesticated animal presently being used in the United Kingdom.[61]" According to that group's report, published in October 2007, "there appears to be little evidence to demonstrate that the welfare of animals kept in travelling circuses is any better or any worse than that of animals kept in other captive environments."[62] A ban prohibiting the use of wild animals in circuses in England was due to be passed in 2015, but Conservative MP Christopher Chope repeatedly blocked the bill under the reasoning that "The EU Membership Costs and Benefits bill should have been called by the clerk before the circuses bill, so I raised a point of order". He explained that the circus bill was "at the bottom of the list" for discussion.[63] The Animal Defenders International non-profit group dubbed this "a huge embarrassment for Britain that 30 other nations have taken action before us on this simple and popular measure".[64] On 1 May 2019 Environmental Secretary Michael Gove announced a new Bill to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.[65] The Wild Animals in Circuses Act 2019 came into effect on 20 January 2020.[66] Wales A petition from RSPCA Cymru urging the Welsh Government to ensure an outright ban on the use of wild animals in circuses; October 2015 A bill to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses in Wales was introduced in June 2019, and subsequently passed by the Welsh Parliament on 15 July 2020.[67] Over 6,500 responses were made by the people of Wales, to the public consultation on the draft Bill, 97% of which supported the ban. Scotland The use of wild animals in travelling circuses has been banned in Scotland. The Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses (Scotland) Act 2018 came into force on 28 May 2018. Barnum in 1851 Worldwide Tigers in a transport cage in a travelling circus There are nationwide bans on using some if not all animals in circuses in Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey.[68][69][70] Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Canada, and the United States have locally restricted or banned the use of animals in entertainment.[69] In response to a growing popular concern about the use of animals in entertainment, animal-free circuses are becoming more common around the world.[71] In 2009, Bolivia passed legislation banning the use of any animals, wild or domestic, in circuses. The law states that circuses "constitute an act of cruelty." Circus operators had one year from the bill's passage on 1 July 2009 to comply.[72] In 2018 in Germany, an accident with an elephant during a circus performance, prompted calls to ban animal performances in circuses. PETA called the German politicians to outlaw the keeping of animals for circuses.[73] A survey confirmed that on average, wild animals spend around 99 to 91 percent of their time in cages, wagons, or enclosure due to transportation. This causes a huge amount of distress to animals and leads to excessive amounts of drooling.[74] City ordinances banning performances by wild animals have been enacted in San Francisco (2015),[75] Los Angeles (2017),[76] and New York City (2017).[77] Greece became the first European country to ban any animal from performing in any circus in its territory in February 2012, following a campaign by Animal Defenders International and the Greek Animal Welfare Fund (GAWF).[78] On 6 June 2015, the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe adopted a position paper in which it recommends the prohibition of the use of wild animals in travelling circuses.[79][80] Despite the contemporary circus' shift toward more theatrical techniques and its emphasis on human rather than animal performance, traditional circus companies still exist alongside the new movement. Numerous circuses continue to maintain animal performers, including UniverSoul Circus and the Big Apple Circus from the United States, Circus Krone from Munich, Circus Royale and Lennon Bros Circus from Australia, Vazquez Hermanos Circus, Circo Atayde Hermanos, and Hermanos Mayaror Circus[81] from Mexico, and Moira Orfei Circus[82] from Italy, to name just a few. Buildings Circus building Paper postcard of the Old Kharkiv Wood Circus A tent of Sirkus Finlandia In some towns, there are circus buildings where regular performances are held. The best known are: Blackpool Tower Circus Budapest Circus Circus Krone Building in Munich Cirque d'hiver, Paris Cirque Jules Verne in Amiens[83] Hippodrome Circus, Great Yarmouth La Tohu in Montreal Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard in Moscow Ciniselli Circus in Saint Petersburg Shanghai Circus World in Shanghai Turkmen State Circus in Ashgabat Riga Circus in Riga Belarus State Circus in Minsk "Globus" Circus in Bucharest In other countries, purpose-built circus buildings still exist which are no longer used as circuses, or are used for circus only occasionally among a wider programme of events; for example, the Cirkusbygningen (The Circus Building) in Copenhagen, Denmark, Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden, or Carré Theatre in Amsterdam, Netherlands. International awards The International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo[84] has been held in Monaco since 1974 and was the first of many international awards for circus performers. In art, music, films, plays and books See also: Circus music The Circus (1891), by Georges Seurat Circus seals Circus music being played in the Netherlands, 1948 Erich Kästner's children's books Der kleine Mann [de] 1963 (The Little Man) and Der kleine Mann und die kleine Miss [de] 1967 (The Little Man and the Little Miss) are largely set in a circus where the orphaned young protagonist grows up as a ward of the show's magician. The atmosphere of the circus has served as a dramatic setting for many musicians. The most famous circus theme song is called "Entrance of the Gladiators", and was composed in 1904 by Julius Fučík. Other circus music includes "El Caballero", "Quality Plus", "Sunnyland Waltzes", "The Storming of El Caney", "Pahjamah", "Bull Trombone", "Big Time Boogie", "Royal Bridesmaid March", "The Baby Elephant Walk", "Liberty Bell March", "Java", Strauss's "Radetsky March", and "Pageant of Progress". A poster for Pablo Fanque's Circus Royal, one of the most popular circuses of Victorian England, inspired John Lennon to write Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! on The Beatles' album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The song title refers to William Kite, a well-known circus performer in the 19th century. Producer George Martin and EMI engineers created the song's fairground atmosphere by assembling a sound collage of collected recordings of calliopes and fairground organs, which they cut into strips of various lengths, threw into a box, and then mixed up and edited together randomly, creating a long loop which was mixed into the final production.[85] Another traditional circus song is the John Philip Sousa march "Stars and Stripes Forever", which is played only to alert circus performers of an emergency. Plays set in a circus include the 1896 musical The Circus Girl by Lionel Monckton, Polly of the Circus written in 1907 by Margaret Mayo, He Who Gets Slapped written by Russian Leonid Andreyev 1915 and later adapted into one of the first circus films, Katharina Knie written in 1928 by Carl Zuckmayer and adapted for the English stage in 1932 as Caravan by playwright Cecily Hamilton, the revue Big Top written by Herbert Farjeon in 1942, Top of the Ladder written by Tyrone Guthrie in 1950, Stop the World, I Want to Get Off written by Anthony Newley in 1961, and Barnum with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics and book by Mark Bramble, Roustabout: The Great Circus Train Wreck written by Jay Torrence in 2006. Circus Orcastra, c.1903 Music Circus tent front (2007) Following World War I, circus films became popular. In 1924 He Who Gets Slapped was the first film released by MGM; in 1925 Sally of the Sawdust (remade 1930), Variety, and Vaudeville were produced, followed by The Devil's Circus in 1926 and The Circus starring Charlie Chaplin, Circus Rookies, 4 Devils; and Laugh Clown Laugh in 1928. German film Salto Mortale about trapeze artists was released in 1931 and remade in the United States and released as Trapeze starring Burt Lancaster in 1956; in 1932 Freaks was released; Charlie Chan at the Circus, Circus (USSR) and The Three Maxiums were released in 1936 and At the Circus starring the Marx Brothers and You Can't Cheat an Honest Man in 1939. Circus films continued to be popular during the Second World War; films from this era included The Great Profile starring John Barrymore (1940), the animated Disney film Dumbo (1941), Road Show (1941), The Wagons Roll at Night (1941) and Captive Wild Woman (1943). Tromba, a film about a tiger trainer, was released in 1948. In 1952 Cecil B. de Mille's Oscar-winning film The Greatest Show on Earth was first shown. Released in 1953 were Man on a Tightrope and Ingmar Bergman's Gycklarnas afton (released as Sawdust and Tinsel in the United States); these were followed by Life Is a Circus; Ring of Fear; 3 Ring Circus (1954) and La Strada (1954), an Oscar-winning film by Federico Fellini about a girl who is sold to a circus strongman. Fellini made a second film set in the circus called The Clowns in 1970. Films about the circus made since 1959 include Disney's Toby Tyler (1960), the B-movie Circus of Horrors (also in 1960); the musical film Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962); A Tiger Walks, a Disney film about a tiger that escapes from the circus; and Circus World (1964), starring John Wayne. In Hanna-Barbera's first animated film Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! (1964), Cindy Bear is held captive in a circus where she is cruelly forced to perform until Yogi and Boo-Boo rescue her. Mera Naam Joker (1970), a Hindi drama film directed by Raj Kapoor which was about a clown who must make his audience laugh at the cost of his own sorrows. In the anime film Jungle Emperor Leo (1997), Leo's son Lune is captured and placed in a circus, which burns down when a tiger knocks down a ring of fire while jumping through it. The Greatest Showman, a musical film loosely based on the life of P. T. Barnum, was released in 2017. The TV series Circus Humberto, based on the novel by Eduard Bass, follows the history of the circus family Humberto between 1826 and 1924. The setting of the HBO television series Carnivàle, which ran from 2003 to 2005, is also largely set in a travelling circus. The circus has also inspired many writers. Numerous books, both non-fiction and fiction, have been published about circus life. Notable examples of circus-based fiction include Circus Humberto by Eduard Bass, Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan, and Spangle by Gary Jennings. The novel Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen tells the fictional tale of a circus veterinarian and was made into a movie with the same title, starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. Science fiction writer Barry B. Longyear wrote a trilogy about a circus of the future: City of Baraboo; Elephant Song; and Circus World. Circus is the central theme in comic books of Super Commando Dhruva, an Indian comic book superhero. According to this series, Dhruva was born and brought up in a fictional Indian circus called Jupiter Circus. When a rival circus burnt down Jupiter Circus, killing everyone in it, including Dhruva's parents, Dhruva vowed to become a crime fighter. A circus-based television series called Circus was also telecast in India in 1989 on DD National, starring Shahrukh Khan as the lead actor. See also Animal training Chautauqua, tent shows that preceded American circus Circus clown Clown alley Circus skills Cirque du Soleil Clown Contemporary circus Dog and pony show Flea circus History of Indian circus International Circus Festival of Monte-Carlo Traveling carnival Lion taming List of circuses and circus owners
  • Featured Person: BABY THELMA
  • Signed By: BABY THELMA
  • Size: Standard (5.5 x 3.5 in)
  • Signed: Yes
  • Year Manufactured: 1940
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • Subject: Actors
  • Type: Real Photo (RPPC)
  • Era: Real Photo (1900-Now)
  • Theme: Advertising, Fat Lady, Circus
  • Country: United States
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
  • Postage Condition: Unposted

PicClick Insights - RPPC SIDESHOW Fat Lady LITTLE BABY THELMA AGE 17 619 Lbs. SIGNED CIRCUS DIED 37 PicClick Exclusive

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