164 Fun Facts About Circus

Who is regarded as the 'father of the modern circus'?

Philip Astley drew crowds to his riding school with trick-riding displays performed in a ring, then added acrobats, a rope-dancer and a clown to build the first full circus programme.

In what year and city did Astley put on his first public show?

Philip Astley and his wife Patty first performed on Easter Monday, 4 April 1768, at Ha'penny Hatch in Lambeth, London, near today's Waterloo station.

What is the standard diameter of a circus ring, fixed by Astley?

Astley settled on a ring of 42 feet (13 m), the diameter at which a cantering horse's centrifugal pull helps a rider stand on its back; it became the standard circus ring worldwide.

Where does the word 'circus' come from?

'Circus' is Latin for 'circle' or 'ring', borrowed from Greek kirkos; Romans applied it to their chariot-racing arenas, and 18th-century London showmen revived it for shows built around a ring.

Who coined the term 'circus' when he opened the Royal Circus in London in 1782?

Charles Dibdin, a songwriter and writer of pantomimes, opened the Royal Circus in Lambeth with the equestrian Charles Hughes in 1782 and chose the name himself.

What was Astley's job before he became a showman?

Philip Astley served in the 15th Light Dragoons, a cavalry regiment, and left the army in 1766 as a cavalry sergeant major before opening his riding school in Lambeth.

Who brought the first modern circus to the United States, opening in Philadelphia in 1793?

John Bill Ricketts, a rider trained at Hughes's Royal Circus in London, opened his Philadelphia circus on 3 April 1793; George Washington attended a performance that month.

In circus slang, a cry of 'Hey, Rube!' summoned help for what?

'Hey, Rube!' summoned every circus hand to a brawl with townspeople, the rallying cry when hostile locals started a fight; 'rube' was the show people's word for a country townsman.

In what decade was the first circus held under a canvas big top?

Joshuah Purdy Brown used a large canvas tent in 1825; touring tents overtook wooden circus buildings by the mid-19th century.

Who is generally considered the first mainstream clown, so dominant that clowns became known as 'Joeys'?

Joseph Grimaldi starred in Regency pantomime at Drury Lane and Sadler's Wells, turning the clown into the star of the show, and 'Joey' entered the language for any clown.

Which American clown popularised the phrases 'the one-horse show' and 'Hey, Rube!'?

Dan Rice, the most famous American clown of the 1850s, toured with a trained pig and a single horse; his 'one-horse show' and the 'Hey, Rube!' cry passed into circus slang.

Who performed the first flying trapeze routine, at the Cirque Napoléon in Paris in 1859?

Jules Léotard, son of a Toulouse gymnasium owner, flew between trapezes at the Cirque Napoléon on 12 November 1859; safety nets came later, so he worked over a row of mattresses.

Who directed Disney's 2019 live-action remake of Dumbo?

Tim Burton directed the 2019 Dumbo, casting Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton and Danny DeVito in a story set in a struggling travelling circus just after the First World War.

Which tightrope walker crossed the Niagara Gorge in 1859, later blindfolded, on stilts and cooking an omelette?

Charles Blondin, born Jean François Gravelet, first crossed the gorge on a 1,100-foot rope on 30 June 1859 and later carried his manager Harry Colcord across on his back.

What was the name of the elephant Barnum bought from London Zoo in 1882 for £2,000?

Jumbo, an African bush elephant, had carried children on rides at the zoo for years; his £2,000 sale to Barnum in 1882 caused a national outcry in Britain.

What lasting effect did Barnum's famous elephant have on the English language?

A new word for anything very large: 'jumbo' passed from the elephant's name into everyday English, from jumbo jets to jumbo shrimp; Barnum had billed him as the biggest elephant in the world.

How did Jumbo die in 1885?

Jumbo was hit by a freight locomotive in the railway yard at St. Thomas, Ontario, on 15 September 1885; Barnum claimed he died shielding the smaller elephant Tom Thumb.

Which university's sports teams are nicknamed the Jumbos, after Barnum's elephant?

Barnum, an early Tufts trustee, gave Jumbo's stuffed hide to the university's Barnum Hall; it burned in a 1975 fire, but Tufts teams kept the Jumbos name.

Who persuaded P. T. Barnum out of retirement in 1871 to lend his name to their circus?

William Cameron Coup and Dan Castello talked the semi-retired showman into backing their show, which opened in Brooklyn in April 1871; Coup later pioneered the circus train and the second ring.

Where and when did five of the seven Ringling brothers start their circus?

Al, Otto, Alf T., Charles and John Ringling opened their first show in Baraboo, Wisconsin, on 19 May 1884; the town later became home to the Circus World museum.

In what year were the Ringling and Barnum & Bailey circuses combined into one show?

The combined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey show first played Madison Square Garden in March 1919, after wartime labour shortages and rail restrictions made running two circuses impractical.

Which US city became Ringling's winter headquarters in 1927?

John Ringling moved the winter quarters from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Sarasota, Florida, in 1927; the circus shifted to nearby Venice in 1960.

What was the billing slogan of Barnum's, and later Ringling's, circus?

Barnum used it for the show Castello and Coup built in Delavan, Wisconsin.

On what date did fire sweep a Ringling big top in Hartford, in one of the worst fire disasters in US history?

July 6, 1944: at least 167 people died in a Ringling big top attended by 6,000 to 8,000, with more than 700 injured.

Why did the Hartford big top burn so fast?

Melting wax rained down on the crowd, and big-cat chutes blocked two exits.

A photo of which sad-faced tramp clown with a water bucket named the Hartford fire 'the day the clowns cried'?

Emmett Kelly, in his sad-faced tramp make-up, was photographed carrying a water bucket toward the blaze; a 13-year-old Charles Nelson Reilly was among the survivors.

Which family bought Ringling from the Ringlings in 1967?

Irvin Feld sold it to Mattel in 1971 and bought it back a decade later; his son Kenneth later took over Feld Entertainment.

What did Irvin Feld found in 1968 to revive a neglected craft?

Irvin Feld opened the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in Venice, Florida, in 1968 to train a new generation of clowns; it ran until 1997 and graduated about 1,400 students.

When did Ringling retire its elephants?

Ringling's elephants gave their last performance on 1 May 2016, eighteen months ahead of the 2018 date first announced; the circus itself gave its last show in May 2017.

Where did Ringling give its final show before its six-year hiatus, on May 21, 2017?

The last performance was at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, on 21 May 2017; falling attendance, animal-rights pressure and high costs were blamed.

How did Ringling return in September 2023?

Ringling relaunched in Bossier City, Louisiana, on 29 September 2023 as an animal-free touring circus built around human acrobatics; Feld Entertainment had announced the comeback in 2022.

Where and when was Cirque du Soleil founded?

Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix, former street performers, launched it in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, in 1984 with a provincial grant tied to Quebec's 450th-anniversary celebrations that year.

What was the name of the street-performing troupe that became Cirque du Soleil?

Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul, a troupe of stilt-walkers, jugglers and fire-eaters founded by Gilles Ste-Croix in 1980, won a government grant for Quebec's 1984 anniversary celebrations and became Cirque du Soleil.

Which feature helps define Cirque du Soleil as 'nouveau cirque'?

It uses no performing animals, and its character-driven shows made it profitable by 1990 under director Franco Dragone.

What happened to Cirque du Soleil in 2020?

Cirque du Soleil filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2020 after COVID-19 shut down all 44 of its shows; that November it was sold to a creditor group led by Catalyst Capital.

The Moscow Circus School, whose methods came from Soviet gymnastics, was founded in what year?

The Moscow Circus School, the State College of Circus and Variety Arts, opened in 1927 and trained acrobats with gymnastics-based methods; its graduates fed the Moscow State Circus's international tours from the 1950s.

Which high-wire family's seven-person pyramid collapsed in Detroit in 1962, killing two?

The Flying Wallendas' seven-person chair pyramid collapsed at Detroit's State Fair Coliseum on 30 January 1962, killing Richard Faughnan and Dieter Schepp and paralysing Mario Wallenda.

Where did patriarch Karl Wallenda fall to his death in 1978?

Karl Wallenda, 73, fell from a cable strung between the towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 22 March 1978; his great-grandson Nik completed the same walk in 2011.

What did Nik Wallenda become the first person to do on June 15, 2012?

It took a two-year legal battle on both sides of the border; the Grand Canyon crossing followed a year later.

Piccadilly Circus in London is a 'circus' in what sense?

It was built in 1819 to link Regent Street with Piccadilly; the famous statue is actually Anteros, not Eros.

Who plays P. T. Barnum in the 2017 musical film The Greatest Showman?

Hugh Jackman plays Barnum in The Greatest Showman (2017); its song 'This Is Me' won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was Oscar-nominated.

Who wrote the nine original songs in The Greatest Showman?

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, fresh from La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen, wrote the songs; the soundtrack won the 2019 Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.

Which instrument gives the traditional American circus band its distinctive steam-whistle sound?

The calliope sounds steam or compressed air through tuned whistles; its piercing tone, audible for miles, announced the circus's arrival in every town.

Who is considered the first wild-animal trainer in American circus history, entering a big-cat cage in 1833?

Isaac Van Amburgh stepped into a cage of lions, tigers and leopards in New York in 1833; famous for putting his head in a lion's mouth, he was painted by Landseer for Queen Victoria.

Minoan art from around 2000 BC depicts acrobatic feats on the backs of which animals?

Bulls: Minoan frescoes and seals from Crete, including the Bull-Leaping Fresco at Knossos, show acrobats vaulting over charging bulls, a feat later echoed in circus vaulting acts.

What is another name for the aerial hoop used by circus aerialists?

The lyra, also called the aerial ring or cerceau, is a steel hoop hung from a single point; performers pose, spin and drop inside and around it.

What do some aerial silks performers put on their hands and feet to improve grip?

Rosin, a sticky pine resin, is rubbed on hands and feet so the performer's skin bites into the fabric; silks artists climb, wrap and drop without safety lines.

The Cirque du Soleil show Alegria takes its name from the Spanish word for what?

'Alegría' is Spanish for joy; Franco Dragone directed the show, which premiered in Montreal in April 1994 and toured for 19 years.

Which trapeze star married Lillian Leitzel in 1928?

Alfredo Codona, born in Hermosillo, Mexico, and star of the Flying Codonas, married Leitzel in 1928, uniting the two biggest aerial stars of the Ringling show.

Where in London did Astley's Amphitheatre stand?

Astley's Amphitheatre stood on Westminster Bridge Road in Lambeth, near the south end of Westminster Bridge; it burned down in 1794, 1803 and 1841 and was rebuilt each time.

Who wrote the music for the Broadway musical Barnum?

Cy Coleman composed the score for Barnum (1980), with lyrics by Michael Stewart and book by Mark Bramble; Jim Dale won the Tony for playing the showman.

Barnum created his famous New York attraction in 1841 by buying which existing collection?

Barnum bought Scudder's American Museum on Broadway at Ann Street in December 1841 and reopened it as Barnum's American Museum on 1 January 1842; it burned down in 1865.

Which condition, restricted to females, most commonly explains a 'bearded lady'?

Hirsutism, by definition male-pattern hair growth in women, is usually driven by excess androgens from polycystic ovary syndrome; hypertrichosis, by contrast, can affect either sex.

Bertram Mills Circus was famous for Christmas shows at which London venue?

Bertram Mills' Christmas circus ran at Olympia in Kensington from 1920 until the mid-1960s; the BBC televised it in 1938 and again in 1946 and 1947.

In which year did the Big Apple Circus open in New York?

Paul Binder and Michael Christensen opened the Big Apple Circus in 1977 on a Battery Park landfill in Lower Manhattan as a one-ring, European-style nonprofit circus.

What was the name of the Big Apple Circus's hospital-clown outreach programme?

Clown Care, started by co-founder Michael Christensen in 1986, sent 'clown doctors' on rounds in children's hospitals; it was spun off as the independent charity Healthy Humor in 2016.

In which year did the Blackpool Tower Circus open?

Blackpool Tower Circus opened on 14 May 1894 in the space between the tower's four legs, the same day the tower itself opened; Frank Matcham redesigned its interior in 1900.

What special feature lets Blackpool Tower Circus stage a 'water finale'?

The floor drops 1.37 metres and fills with 42,000 gallons in under a minute.

Which record label used Bozo the Clown as its mascot?

Capitol Records created Bozo in 1946 for its children's record-and-readalong albums, with Pinto Colvig as the voice; the character was later licensed to local TV stations.

Who bought the Bozo the Clown rights in the 1950s and franchised him to local TV?

Larry Harmon bought the Bozo rights from Capitol with partners, trained local TV Bozos and licensed the character city by city; Bob Bell played Chicago's WGN Bozo for over 20 years.

In which year did Buffalo Bill found his Wild West show?

Buffalo Bill's Wild West opened in Omaha, Nebraska, in May 1883; it toured Europe from 1887, playing for Queen Victoria in her Golden Jubilee year.

In which year did Philippe Petit walk a wire between the Twin Towers?

On 7 August 1974 Petit spent about 45 minutes on a cable strung 1,350 feet up between the towers, crossing eight times before police arrested him.

Where did the calliope traditionally appear in a circus parade?

The steam calliope traditionally came last, bringing up the rear of the street parade with whistles that carried for miles; a traction engine often supplied its steam and towed it.

Who created the Cardiff Giant hoax, which P. T. Barnum then copied?

George Hull, a tobacconist and atheist, had the 10-foot gypsum figure carved in Chicago and buried on his cousin William Newell's farm near Cardiff, New York, where it was 'discovered' in October 1869.

Chang and Eng Bunker, the original 'Siamese twins', settled in which US state in 1839?

Chang and Eng bought a farm in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in 1839, married the sisters Adelaide and Sarah Yates and fathered 21 children between them.

During an 1860 Blondin event in which city did the rope break, killing two workers?

At Dublin's Portobello Gardens in 1860 the rope broke during Blondin's set-up and the scaffolding fell, killing two workmen; Blondin himself was unhurt.

What did clown Charlie Cairoli throw into the Irish Sea when war broke out in 1939?

Cairoli threw the gold watch Hitler had given him after a Circus Krone performance into the Irish Sea at Blackpool, where he had just begun his 40-year run at the Tower Circus.

Cirque du Soleil's Mystère opened in 1993 at which Las Vegas resort?

Mystère opened at Treasure Island on 25 December 1993 as Cirque du Soleil's first permanent Las Vegas show, in a theatre built for it by Steve Wynn.

What is the most famous vertical-pole trick, where the artist hangs straight out horizontally?

In the flag the artist grips the pole with both hands and holds the whole body out horizontally, like a flag on its pole, a hold that demands enormous shoulder and core strength.

Circus Circus in Las Vegas opened in October 1968 without what?

Jay Sarno opened Circus Circus on 18 October 1968 as a casino with circus acts but no hotel rooms; the first hotel tower followed in 1972.

The Las Vegas resort Circus Circus claims to house the world's largest what?

It also includes the Adventuredome indoor amusement park.

The Circus Krone Building in Munich was infamously used by whom for rallies?

The building was destroyed by bombing in 1944 and rebuilt in 1950.

Between which two hills does the Circus Maximus lie?

The Circus Maximus filled the Murcia valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills; the track measured about 621 metres long and 118 metres wide.

Circus Oz was founded in which Australian city in 1978?

Circus Oz formed in Melbourne in 1978 when the Soapbox Circus, an offshoot of the Australian Performing Group, merged with the New Circus ensemble; it pioneered animal-free, rock-and-roll circus.

Circus Smirkus, an international youth circus, is based in which US state?

Rob Mermin founded Circus Smirkus in 1987 on his farm in Greensboro, Vermont, as a summer touring troupe for performers aged 10 to 18.

The Baraboo museum devoted to big-top history was the major participant in which event held from 1963 to 2009?

Circus World supplied its restored antique wagons for the Great Circus Parade through downtown Milwaukee, first held in 1963 and last staged in 2009.

Which is the oldest of the three traditional circus clown archetypes?

The whiteface, descended from Pierrot and from Grimaldi's 'Joey', is the oldest type; the auguste only appeared in the 1860s, and the whiteface usually leads when clowns work together.

The most familiar circus peanut candy is orange-colored with what artificial flavor?

They became available year-round in the 1940s thanks to cellophane.

Which cereal originally used circus peanuts in an early version of its marshmallows?

Lucky Charms began in 1963 when General Mills developer John Holahan chopped circus peanuts into Cheerios; the cereal's marshmallow 'marbits' grew out of that experiment.

In 1869 Dan Castello's circus became the first to cross the United States how?

By train: weeks after the transcontinental railroad was joined at Promontory Summit in May 1869, Castello's circus rode it from Omaha to California, the first circus to cross the continent by rail.

In what year did Philip Astley add acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers and a clown to his horse show?

In 1770 Astley added acrobats, rope-dancers, jugglers and a clown to fill the gaps between his riding displays, stumbling on the format that became the circus.

Whose 450th anniversary celebrations gave Cirque du Soleil's founders a crucial government grant?

Jacques Cartier's voyage: 1984 marked 450 years since Cartier's 1534 landing at Gaspé, and the Quebec government funded a touring show for the celebrations, which became Cirque du Soleil's first season.

In which Montreal neighbourhood is Cirque du Soleil headquartered?

Cirque du Soleil's international headquarters opened in 1997 in the Saint-Michel district of Montreal, beside the former Miron quarry, with training studios and costume workshops.

Who directed the 2012 3D film Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away?

Andrew Adamson, the Shrek director, wrote and directed Worlds Away, with James Cameron as producer; it weaves together Las Vegas shows including O, KÀ and Mystère.

What does 'Eloize', in the name of the Montreal company Cirque Eloize, mean in Acadian French?

'Éloize' is the Acadian word for heat lightning, the flashes that light the summer sky over the Magdalen Islands, where the company's founders grew up.

Clyde Beatty's 'fighting act' had him enter the cage with a whip, a chair and what?

Clyde Beatty faced lions and tigers with a whip, a chair and a blank-firing pistol in his 'fighting act'; he worked 42 uninterrupted circus seasons before his death in 1965.

What is the name for a well-known scripted joke or routine in commedia dell'arte?

A lazzo (plural lazzi) is a rehearsed comic bit, such as Arlecchino's fly-catching, that actors could drop into any improvised scenario; the canovaccio was the plot outline.

How many balls are in the basic juggling pattern called the cascade?

Three: in the cascade each ball is thrown from one hand to the other in an arc, so the balls trace a figure-eight; even numbers are usually juggled in separate 'fountain' columns.

Which DC Comics villain popularized the modern 'evil clown' archetype from 1940?

The Joker debuted in Batman #1 in spring 1940 as a grinning, white-faced killer, the template for the evil clown that Stephen King's Pennywise revived in It (1986).

Unlike the German wheel, the modern Cyr wheel has how many rings?

The Cyr wheel is one steel ring, about 1.5 to 2 metres across, with no handles or foot straps; the German wheel is two parallel rings joined by rungs.

Clown Dan Rice ran for which office in 1868?

Dan Rice announced a run for President of the United States in 1868 after earlier bids for the Pennsylvania Senate and Congress; the campaign faded before the conventions.

Devil sticks are believed to have originated as simple wooden juggling sticks in which country?

Devil sticks are thought to descend from simple wooden stick-juggling games in China; the diabolo, another Chinese prop once called 'the devil on two sticks', is a different toy.

The diabolo derives from which East Asian toy?

The diabolo grew out of the Chinese yo-yo (kongzhu, 'empty bamboo'), a hollow spool spun on a string between two sticks; French engineer Gustave Philippart reworked and renamed it around 1906.

Disney's Dumbo was produced to recoup the losses of which two films?

Dumbo (1941) was made cheaply to recover the losses of Pinocchio and Fantasia, both 1940 releases that lost money; at 64 minutes it is one of Disney's shortest features.

What is the name of Dumbo's mouse friend?

Timothy and Dumbo's friendship parodies the stereotypical animosity between mice and elephants.

Which surgeon befriended Joseph Merrick, the 'Elephant Man', and brought him to the London Hospital?

Frederick Treves, a surgeon at the London Hospital, first examined Merrick in 1884 and in 1886 secured him permanent rooms there; Treves later operated on Edward VII.

What was the name of Emmett Kelly's famous hobo clown character?

Weary Willie, a down-at-heel hobo in tattered clothes, began as a cartoon Kelly drew in the early 1920s and became his ring character in 1933, forever failing to sweep up a spotlight.

Who composed 'Entry of the Gladiators', the march now synonymous with circuses?

He originally titled it 'Grande Marche Chromatique'.

In which city was 'Entry of the Gladiators' written on October 17, 1897?

Fucik was stationed there as a military bandmaster.

The Feejee mermaid was made from a fish's back half and the torso of what?

The Feejee mermaid was a juvenile monkey's head and torso sewn to the tail of a fish, probably by Japanese fishermen; Barnum borrowed it from Moses Kimball and showed it in 1842.

For how much did the Feld group buy Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in 1967?

$8 million: Irvin and Israel Feld and Roy Hofheinz paid that to John Ringling North in November 1967, signing the deal in a ceremony at the Colosseum in Rome.

Which toy company bought Ringling from the Felds in 1971?

Mattel bought the circus from the Felds in 1971 in a stock deal, hoping to pair it with its toy lines; Irvin Feld bought it back in 1982 for $22.8 million.

Irvin Feld, later head of Ringling, is credited with discovering which singer?

Paul Anka: Feld, a Washington record-shop owner turned concert promoter, took on the Ottawa teenager in the late 1950s and managed his early career; Feld also promoted Beatles concerts.

The juggling troupe the Flying Karamazov Brothers took their name from a novel by which Russian author?

Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov supplied the name, the troupe drawing parallels with the novel's characters; none of the 'brothers' are actually related.

Where did Jules Leotard first rig a trapeze bar to practice?

His father ran a gymnasium in Toulouse.

In flying trapeze, what is the manoeuvre called when the flyer is thrust back toward the fly bar?

An 'angel' return has the catcher hold the flyer by the feet and one arm.

The Fratellini brothers became the darlings of intellectuals in which city in the 1920s?

Paris: from 1915 the Fratellinis were the stars of the Cirque Medrano in Montmartre, and in the 1920s Cocteau and the Paris avant-garde made them a fashionable cult.

Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) was originally intended as a vehicle for which star?

Lon Chaney, Browning's frequent star, was the intended lead before his death in 1930; the film, based on Tod Robbins's story 'Spurs', was banned in Britain for 30 years.

What was General Tom Thumb's real name?

Charles Sherwood Stratton, born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on 4 January 1838, was signed by Barnum at age four and billed as 'General Tom Thumb'.

Swiss clown Grock was once Europe's most highly paid entertainer; what was his real name?

Grock was born Charles Adrien Wettach in Loveresse, Switzerland, in 1880; his musical-clown act with a tiny violin and a collapsing piano stool earned him the title 'king of clowns'.

Gunther Gebel-Williams trained animals for Ringling from 1968 until which year?

Gunther Gebel-Williams gave his farewell performance in 1990 after more than 12,000 shows without missing one; he was famous for riding an elephant with a leopard draped over his shoulders.

Which instrument did Guy Laliberte play while busking around Europe at 18?

Guy Laliberté busked across Europe at 18 playing the accordion, and picked up stilt-walking and fire-eating along the way before returning to Quebec.

Harlequin is a comic servant from commedia dell'arte associated with which Italian city?

Arlecchino was one of the zanni, the comic servants traditionally cast as peasants from Bergamo; his patched rags evolved into the diamond-patterned suit.

Which family founded Switzerland's national circus in 1919?

Knie: the Knie family, rope-dancers since 1803, put up their first big top in 1919, and Circus Knie became the Swiss National Circus, based in Rapperswil.

Who patented the human cannonball launching device in 1871?

William Leonard Hunt, 'The Great Farini', patented a spring-loaded launching device in 1871 and later used it to fire performers from a mock cannon at London's Royal Aquarium.

Under what stage name did Rossa Matilda Richter become the first billed 'human cannonball' in 1877?

Zazel was fired from Farini's spring cannon at London's Royal Aquarium on 2 April 1877, aged 14, and later toured America with P. T. Barnum's circus.

James Anthony Bailey, Barnum's partner, was born with what surname?

He adopted the surname of circus advance man F.H. Bailey.

How many concerts did Jenny Lind give for P. T. Barnum on her 1850 US tour?

Jenny Lind sang 93 concerts under Barnum before buying out the rest of her 150-show contract in 1851; the first, at New York's Castle Garden, drew about 5,000 people.

What catchphrase did Joseph Grimaldi originate for his clown's entrance?

'Here we are again!' was Grimaldi's cry as he tumbled onto the stage in Regency pantomime; it passed into pantomime tradition as the clown's standard greeting.

The words juggling and juggler derive from a Middle English word meaning what?

Middle English jogelen meant to entertain by performing tricks; it comes via Old French jogler from Latin joculari, 'to jest', the same root as 'joke'.

Which 1867 song was inspired by Jules Leotard?

George Leybourne's 1867 music-hall song 'The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze', with music by Gaston Lyle, celebrated Léotard's act; it was revived in the 1934 film It Happened One Night.

What profession did Jules Leotard qualify for before turning to the trapeze?

He passed his law exams before experimenting over the pool at 18.

In which country was Jumbo the elephant born?

Jumbo was captured as a calf in what is now Sudan in 1861, sold to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and transferred to London Zoo in 1865.

What was Jumbo's estimated shoulder height at his death?

Measurements of his skeleton put Jumbo at about 3.23 metres (10 ft 7 in) at the shoulder when he died, though Barnum had billed him as 4 metres tall.

Which truck-racing series does Kenneth Feld's Feld Entertainment also operate?

Feld Entertainment took over Monster Jam, the monster-truck competition, when it bought Live Nation's motor-sports division in 2008; the company also produces Disney on Ice.

Cirque du Soleil's KÀ opened in 2005 at which Las Vegas resort?

KÀ opened at the MGM Grand in 2005 in a purpose-built theatre with a moving, rotating stage deck; it was billed as the first Cirque show with a cohesive storyline.

Who created and directed Cirque du Soleil's Ka?

Robert Lepage, the Quebec theatre and opera director, wrote and directed KÀ; its title comes from the ancient Egyptian 'ka', the spiritual double that lives on after death.

Ringling star Lillian Leitzel specialized in performing on what apparatus?

Lillian Leitzel performed on the Roman rings and a rope loop, cranking out one-arm 'planges' high above the ring; a swivel snapped during a show in Copenhagen in February 1931 and she died two days later.

Ringling's Lou Jacobs is credited with popularizing which staple of big-top comedy?

Lou Jacobs popularised the clown car, folding himself out of a tiny motorised car at Ringling in the 1950s; he is also cited as the originator of the red rubber-ball nose.

Mabel Stark was renowned in the 1920s as one of the world's first women trainers of what?

Mabel Stark, a former nurse from Princeton, Kentucky, worked a cage of up to 18 tigers for the Al G. Barnes and Ringling circuses in the 1920s and wrestled a tiger as part of her act.

Australian star May Wirth was famous for doing what on a running horse?

She was billed as the 'greatest bareback riding star'.

Con Colleano, the 'Wizard of the Wire', came from which country?

Australia: Cornelius Sullivan, born in Lismore, New South Wales, in 1899, performed as Con Colleano and was the first to land a forward somersault on the tightwire.

Nik Wallenda's televised March 2020 wire walk crossed which active volcano?

Masaya: Wallenda walked 1,800 feet across the crater of Nicaragua's Masaya volcano on 4 March 2020, wearing a gas mask and goggles against the sulphur fumes, live on ABC.

Which Beatles song was written from an 1843 poster for Pablo Fanque's circus?

John Lennon lifted 'Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!' almost line by line from an 1843 Rochdale playbill for Pablo Fanque's Circus Royal that he bought in an antique shop in 1967.

Cirque du Soleil's water show O opened in 1998 at which Las Vegas hotel?

O opened at the Bellagio in October 1998, the same month as the resort itself; its name is a pun on 'eau', French for water.

How much water fills the pool in Cirque du Soleil's O?

The O pool holds 1.5 million US gallons (5.7 million litres), is 25 feet deep and uses hydraulic lifts to raise sections of floor to stage level in seconds.

Soviet clown Oleg Popov worked as an apprentice typographer at which newspaper as a boy?

Oleg Popov worked as an apprentice at the Pravda printing plant in Moscow from age 12 before entering the circus school; he was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1969.

How much per night did Barnum pay Jenny Lind for her 1850 tour?

$1,000: Barnum guaranteed Lind $1,000 a night for up to 150 concerts, an unheard-of fee, and had to borrow to deposit $187,500 in advance before she would sail.

Which adage is often attributed to Barnum although no evidence shows he coined it?

He called himself 'a showman by profession'.

In circus slang, what is a 'First of May'?

A 'First of May' is a performer in their first season; tented circuses traditionally opened their tours around 1 May, so that was when new hands joined.

Which Cirque du Soleil show is built around the music of the Beatles?

LOVE opened at The Mirage in Las Vegas in 2006, with George Martin and his son Giles remixing the Beatles' master tapes into a 90-minute score.

Pierrot, the sad clown of pantomime, pines for which character?

Columbine, the clever servant girl, is the object of Pierrot's hopeless devotion; in the classic pantomime plot she usually leaves him for Harlequin.

Which season was Ringling's first in arenas after abandoning its big top tent?

1957: after John Ringling North declared 'the tented circus is a thing of the past' in Pittsburgh on 16 July 1956, the show reopened in arenas and stadiums the following spring.

Where did Feld Entertainment, Ringling's parent company, move its headquarters in 2012?

Feld Entertainment moved its headquarters from Vienna, Virginia, to a former Siemens plant in Ellenton, Florida, near Sarasota, in 2012; Kenneth Feld had taken over on his father's death in 1984.

Ringling College of Art and Design is located in which Florida city?

John Ringling founded the School of Fine and Applied Art in Sarasota in 1931, next to his art museum; it became the Ringling College of Art and Design.

What was the Ringling family's original German surname?

Rüngeling: the brothers' father, August Rüngeling, a harness-maker from Hanover, anglicised the name to Ringling after emigrating; four of the boys were born in McGregor, Iowa.

What headwear is part of the traditional ringmaster costume?

The black top hat, worn with a red tailcoat, white breeches and boots, copies the riding-master dress of Astley's day; the ringmaster's whip comes from the same equestrian origin.

Sara Gruen wrote Water for Elephants as part of what?

Sara Gruen drafted Water for Elephants during National Novel Writing Month; her previous publisher turned it down and Algonquin Books published it in 2006.

In which city was the Shrine Circus founded in 1906?

Detroit's Moslem Shrine staged the first Shrine Circus in 1906 as a fundraiser, and the idea spread to Shrine temples across North America; seasons traditionally opened in Flint, Michigan, each January.

What is the sideshow stunt called in which a performer hammers a nail into their nasal cavity?

The human blockhead, popularised by sideshow star Melvin Burkhart in the 1930s, drives a nail or spike along the floor of the nasal cavity; it looks agonising but exploits an open passage.

What is the motorcycle sideshow act performed inside a spherical cage called?

The Globe of Death sends riders looping inside a steel-mesh sphere about 4 to 5 metres across, sometimes three or more at once; the Wall of Death is its cylindrical cousin.

The Big Circus (1959) was produced and co-written by which filmmaker?

Irwin Allen, who later made The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, produced and co-wrote The Big Circus, with Victor Mature as a struggling circus owner.

Charlie Chaplin's The Circus (1928) entered the public domain on which date?

January 1, 2024: US copyright on 1928 works expired after 95 years, so The Circus entered the public domain alongside Steamboat Willie; its shoot was plagued by a studio fire and Chaplin's divorce.

The Great Wallendas debuted at Madison Square Garden in 1928 without a net because what?

Their safety net had been lost in transit, so the Wallendas performed without one and drew a standing ovation; Karl decided they would never use a net again.

Where did The Greatest Showman premiere in December 2017?

The world premiere was held aboard the Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary 2, docked in Brooklyn, on 8 December 2017, with Hugh Jackman and the cast performing songs on deck.

Who directed The Greatest Showman?

Michael Gracey, an Australian commercials director, made The Greatest Showman his feature debut; Zac Efron, Michelle Williams and Zendaya co-star.

What is the technical name for tightrope walking?

Funambulism, from Latin funis (rope) and ambulare (to walk), covers all tightrope and wire walking; a wire more than about 20 feet up is regarded as highwire.

Circus Roncalli, which replaced its animals with holograms in 2018, is based in which country?

Germany: Bernhard Paul founded Circus Roncalli in 1976 and based it in Cologne; in 2018 it swapped live animals for 3D holographic horses and elephants projected into the ring.

What is a tall unicycle nicknamed?

A giraffe unicycle, typically 5 feet or taller, drives the wheel through a chain from a raised crank; a seatless unicycle is called an 'ultimate wheel'.

The UniverSoul Circus, founded in 1994 by Cedric Walker, is headquartered in which city?

Its first show was in the parking lot of Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.

Which actress plays Marlena in the 2011 film Water for Elephants?

Reese Witherspoon plays Marlena, the star performer married to the ringmaster; Robert Pattinson is Jacob and Christoph Waltz the volatile August.

At which university is Jacob a veterinary student in Water for Elephants?

Jacob Jankowski is about to sit his final exams at Cornell's veterinary school when his parents are killed, and he walks out and jumps a Benzini Brothers train.

Zip the Pinhead was billed by Barnum as what?

Barnum exhibited William Henry Johnson as 'What Is It?', a supposed missing link found in Africa; he was most likely born in Bound Brook, New Jersey, and performed for over 60 years.

Which show staged the first clown-car routine, in the 1950s?

Cole Bros. Circus is credited with the first clown-car gag in the 1950s; stripped of seats, engine and panels, a car can hold an estimated 14 to 21 clowns and their props.