CIRCUS

Elephants in three-ring performance from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, 1970. an entertainment or spectacle usually consisting of animal acts and human feats of daring, usually presented in a circular performance area called the ring, and frequently including other attractions such as parades, menageries, pantomimes, and sideshows. The circus (in the modern sense) was founded in 1768, when an English trick rider named Philip Astley discovered that, because of centrifugal force, it was fairly easy to stand on his horse's back while it galloped in circles around a ring. He exploited his discovery, building seating stands and a roof for his performance ring, in order to attract audiences. One of his riders, Charles Hughes, established his own ring nearby in 1782 and called it the Royal Circus, the first modern use of the name. Astley traveled widely in Europe, spreading the idea of the circus and building many himself. In France he influenced a Venetian expatriate, Antonio Franconi, who with his sons, Laurent and Henri, established the circus in France and set what became the standard diameter for the circus ring at about 42 feet (13 m). Circuses were opened in Philadelphia and New York City by John Bill Ricketts in 1793, about the same time that Hughes was introducing them in Russia. During the first 80 years of its history, the circus was dominated by equestrian acts, including trick riding, exhibitions by riderless horses (called liberty horses), and scenic riding, or the performance of a pantomime while on horseback. Acts such as these remain a staple of the circus today. The first use of the circus tent seems to have been in the United States in 1825, when it was employed by the American showman J. Purdy Brown. The first circus tents were rather small, but they grew in size as circuses began to perform simultaneously in two or three rings. In the early part of the 19th century, Isaac A. Van Amburgh established wild-animal acts as a part of the circus and is believed to have been the first man to put his head in a lion's mouth. In the United States, animal acts tended to present beasts en ferocit, as untamed and dangerous, which entailed much pistol shooting and whip cracking. Europeans preferred presentation en douceur, showing the beasts as obedient and docile, with only a sign of ferocity now and then. Lions, tigers, bears, and elephants have traditionally been the most popular circus animals. The Bubnovs, aerial gymnasts from the Moscow Circus. Jules Lotard invented the familiar flying trapeze in 1859, and Charles Blondin revived public interest in rope walkingwhich dates back to ancient Greecewith his famous tightrope walk over Niagara Falls. Aerial acts, performed on the high wire, trapeze, or as aerial ballet, became one of the most thrilling entertainments of the circus repertoire and produced such famous performers as the Wallenda family in the 20th century. The sizes of circuses have varied. Europeans tended to favour the single-ring format, but, in the United States, spectacle and size were primary, giving rise to the three-ring circus. In North America the archetypal circus is perhaps the train circus. With the use of railroads in the 1870s, traveling circuses were able to expand dramatically. At its peak, in 1941, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Circus traveled on four separate trains with as many as 107 70-foot (21-metre) cars. The traditional circus event began with the advance agents who made arrangements and started promotional campaigns. Before circus day, trains would arrive first with a cookhouse, animal facilities, and calliope; then came the canvas and lumber for the tents and, finally, the show itself. On circus day the traditional parade would proceed down the main thoroughfare to attract townspeople for the night's performance. At the circus grounds, customers first wandered through the sideshows (P.T. Barnum's idea), which contained such exotics as sword swallowers, bearded ladies, giants, and midgets. The main attraction consisted of spectacles, feats of skill, and pageants, interspersed with the comic relief of clowns, all to the accompaniment of music. The contemporary circus preserves much of this tradition. The chief difference is in size and mobility. Many smaller troupes have had to combine to make fewer but larger circuses. Traveling is often by truck and has been highly curtailed. It is more profitable for circuses to visit large population centres for longer stays than to move between smaller communities. As a result, permanent buildingssuch as New York City's Madison Square Garden or the Moscow Circus building in the Russian capitalare frequently used. One advantage to this regimen is that circuses can be active during inclement seasons of the year, whereas they were previously forced to retire to winter quarters. an entertainment or spectacle usually consisting of trained animal acts and exhibitions of human skill and daring. The word has the same root as circle and circumference and therefore also recalls the distinctive environment in which such entertainment is presentedthe ring, a circular performance area usually bounded by a short fence (or curb) and surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators, which may itself be enclosed in a circular building or tent. Variations exist, however, and any attempt at a strict, all-inclusive definition reduces the term's application to a particular nationality, generation, or proprietorship. Some circuses dispense with trained animals, for example; others, particularly in the United States, exhibit simultaneously in three or more rings, with the building or tent then taking on a rectangular or elliptical shape. At various times circuses have offered supplementary attractions such as street parades, menageries, sideshows or museum departments, and pantomimes and theatrical presentations. A number of circuses, especially in Europe, have been stationary, occupying permanent, often elegant buildings in the larger cities. Others have traveled extensivelyoriginally by horse and wagon, then by railroad, boat, motor vehicle, or even airplaneexhibiting in tents or, occasionally, theatres and, more recently, in huge enclosed sports arenas. A few organizations, such as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, can point to a history extending back a century or more; other circuses, such as those sponsored by fraternal organizations (e.g., the Shriners), may exist for less than a single season. Some shows have traditionally emphasized spectacular elements such as gorgeous costumes, floats and pageant wagons, numbers set on water or ice, or perhaps a theme running through part or all of the program. Others have been built around the talents of outstanding individual artists such as the 19th-century American clown Dan Rice or the sensational German animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams. Through all the above, however, there runs a common thread: the ring, by which spectators readily recognize the entertainment known as circus. Additional reading Comprehensive works include Monica J. Renevey (ed.),Le Grand livre du cirque, 2 vol. (1977); and Henry Thtard, La Merveilleuse histoire du cirque, new ed., rev. and enl. by L.-R. Dauven (1978). For studies of the circus in the United States, see Stuart Thayer, Annals of the American Circus, 2 vol. (197686); Charles Philip Fox and Tom Parkinson, The Circus in America (1969); David Lewis Hammarstrom, Behind the Big Top (1980); John Burke, Buffalo Bill: The Noblest Whiteskin (1973); and Don Russell, The Wild West: or, A History of the Wild West Shows (1970). Other countries are discussed in David Lewis Hammarstrom, Circus Rings Around Russia (1983); and A.H. Saxon, The Life and Art of Andrew Ducrow & the Romantic Age of the English Circus (1978). Individual acts and attractions are described in Antony Hippisley Coxe, A Seat in the Circus, rev. ed. (1980); A.H. Saxon, Enter Foot and Horse: A History of Hippodrama in England and France (1968); and Bill Ballantine, Clown Alley (1982), on the history of the Clown College and its personalities. The activities of famous impresarios are presented in George Sanger, Seventy Years a Showman (1910, reissued 1966); George Sanger Coleman and John Lukens, The Sanger Story: The Story of His Life with His Grandfather Lord George Sanger (1956, reissued 1974); Cyril Bertram Mills, Bertram Mills Circus: Its Story (1967, reissued 1983); Henry Ringling North and Alden Hatch, The Circus Kings: Our Ringling Family Story (1960); P.T. Barnum, Struggles and Triumphs: or, The Life of P.T. Barnum Written by Himself, ed. by George S. Bryan, 2 vol. (1927), the best edition of the famous autobiography; and Neil Harris, Humbug: The Art of P. T. Barnum (1973, reprinted 1981). For further research on the subject, see Raymond Toole-Stott, Circus and Allied Arts: A World Bibliography, 15001970, 4 vol. (195871). A.H. Saxon