Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

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,[2][3] just 13 years after John Bill Ricketts first brought circus to America from Great Britain.[4][5][6] 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.[2][3] Besides building up the existing exhibits, Barnum brought in animals to add zoo-like elements, and a freak show.[7] During this time, Barnum took the Museum on road tours, named "P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling American Museum".[7] The Museum burned down in July 1865.[8] 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.

In 1871, Dan Castello and William Cameron Coup persuaded Barnum to come out of retirement as 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".[7] 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.[9]

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.[10] The two groups agreed to combine their shows on March 28, 1881.[11] 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".[9] Bailey was instrumental in acquiring Jumbo, advertised as the world's largest elephant, for the show.[10] 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.[10]

Separately, in 1884, five of the seven Ringling brothers had started a small circus in Baraboo, Wisconsin.[12][13] 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 Midwest and the Northeast 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.[7]

Advertisement for the Barnum & Bailey Circus, 1900

Poster from 1898, advertising a "troupe of very remarkable trained pigs"

Stock certificate for Barnum & Bailey, 1903

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, 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.

John Ringling had the circus move its headquarters to Sarasota, Florida in 1927.[14]

In 1929, the American Circus Corporation signed a contract to perform in New York City. John Ringling purchased American Circus, owner of five circuses, for $1.7 million.[15]

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."[16] 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.[17] 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.

North's cousin Robert took over the president of the show in 1943. North resumed the presidency of the circus in 1947.[17][18]

John Ringling North (right) and Frank Buck, who was the circus's featured attraction in 1938

The Hartford circus fire occurred on July 6, 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut, during an afternoon performance that was attended by approximately 7,500 to 8,700 people. It was one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States. Although the Hartford Fire Department responded quickly, the fire was exacerbated by the fact that the canvas circus tent had been waterproofed with a mixture of highly flammable paraffin and gasoline.[19] During the ensuing panic, Emmett Kelly, the tramp clown, threw a bucket of water at the burning canvas tent, and a poignant photograph of his futile attempt was transmitted around the world as news spread of the disaster.[20] At least 167 people were killed in the disaster and hundreds more were injured. One of the dead, Little Miss 1565, was not positively identified until 1991.[21]

Actor and theater director Charles Nelson Reilly, who was thirteen years old at the time, survived the fire and dramatized it in the film on his stage show, "The Life of Reilly". In a 1997 interview, Reilly said that he rarely attended the theater, despite being a director, since the sound of a large audience in a theater reminded him of the large crowd at the circus before the disaster.[22]

In the following investigation, it was discovered that the tent had not been fireproofed. Ringling Bros. had applied to the Army, which had an absolute priority on the material, for enough fireproofing liquid to treat their Big Top, but the Army had refused to release it to them. The circus had instead waterproofed their canvas using an older method of paraffin dissolved in gasoline and painted onto the canvas. The waterproofing worked, but as had been repeatedly shown, it was horribly flammable.[23] 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.[24]

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".[18] 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[25] 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.[26] In 1959, Ringling Bros. started wintering in Venice, Florida.[13]

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.[25][26][27][28] 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 orientated. He got rid of the more routine acts.[29]

Circus Williamss 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.[13][29] 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.[29] The separate tours could also offer differing slates of acts and themes, enabling circus goers to view both tours where possible.. 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.

The company was taken public in 1969.[25] In 1970, Feld's only son Kenneth joined the company and became a co-producer.[30] The circus was sold to the Mattel company in 1971 for $40 million, but the Feld family was retained as management.[29]

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 on April 26, 1973.[29][31] The theme park was expected to become the circus's winter home as well as to have the Clown College located there.[31][32] Mattel placed the circus corporation up for sale by December 1973 despite its profit contributions, as Mattel as a whole showed a $29.9 million loss in 1972. The park's opening was then delayed until February 1974.[31] Venture Out in America, Inc., a Gulf Oil recreational subsidiary, agreed to buy the combined shows in January 1974, and the opening was further pushed back to 1975.[32] While the Circus Showcase for Circus World opened on February 21, 1974,[33] Venture Out placed the purchase deal back into negotiations, and the opening of the whole complex was moved to an early 1976.[34]

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.[29] The Felds bought the circus back in 1982[25] less Circus World. Irvin Feld died in 1984[35] 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.[13] In 1995, the company founded the Center for Elephant Conservation (CEC).[36]

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 Jan Pottker (a journalist who was writing about the Feld family) and of various animal rights groups such as PETA.[37]

After three years in Baraboo, the clown college operated at the Sarasota Opera House in Sarasota until 1998 before the program was suspended.[13] On February 26, 1999, the circus company started previewing Barnum's Kaleidoscape, a one ring, intimate, upscale circus performed under the tent;[38] 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.

Nicole Feld became the first female producer of Ringling Circus in 2004. In 2009, Nicole and Alana Feld co-produced the circus.[26] 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.[39] On March 3, 2015, the circus announced that all elephants would be retired in 2018 to the CEC,[36] but Ringling reversed the decision and retired the elephants in May 2016.[40]

Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth poster, c. 1899

CSX locomotives pulling the circus train out of St. Petersburg, Florida

Circus train rolling through Safety Harbor, Florida

Eight months after it retired the elephants, it was announced on January 14, 2017, that the circus would do 30 more performances, lay off more than 462 employees between March and May 2017 and then close.[41] 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.[41] 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 was its "Out of This World" tour at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on May 21, 2017.[39][42]

While having no operations in December 2017, Ringling Bros. sued American musician Kid Rock over use of the trademarked slogan, "The Greatest Show on Earth", which was his tour name. Kid Rock then decided to change the name to the "American Rock N Roll" tour.[43]