Circus

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture by Janet Davis

Long before the advent of film, television, or the Internet, the circus delivered the world to people's doorsteps across America. Arriving in the United States shortly after the birth of the American republic, the growth of the circus chronicled the expansion of the new nation, from an agrarian backwater to an industrial and overseas empire. The number of circuses in America peaked at the turn of the twentieth century, but the circus has cast a long shadow on twentieth century American popular culture. The circus served as subject matter for other popular forms like motion pictures and television, and its celebration of American military might and racial hierarchy percolated into these new forms. From its zenith around 1900, to its decline and subsequent rebirth during the late twentieth century, the circus has been inextricably tied to larger social issues in American culture concerning race, physical disability, and animal rights.

In 1793, English horseman John Bill Ricketts established the first circus in the United States. He brought together a host of familiar European circus elements into a circular arena in Philadelphia: acrobats, clowns, jugglers, trick riders, rope walkers, and horses. By the turn of the twentieth century, the circus had become a huge, tented amusement that traveled across the country by railroad. In an age of monopoly capitalism, American circuses merged together to form giant shows; for example, the Ringling Brothers circus bought Barnum and Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth in 1907. The biggest shows employed over 1,000 people and animals from around the world. These circuses contained a free morning parade, a menagerie and a sideshow. Their canvas big tops could seat 10,000 spectators and treated audiences to three rings and two stages of constant entertainment. Contemporary critics claimed that the circus was "too big to see all at once." In the early 1900s, nearly 100 circuses, the biggest number in American history, rambled across the country.

In 1900, "circus day" was a community celebration. Before dawn, hundreds of spectators from throughout a county gathered to watch the circus train rumble into town. The early morning crowd witnessed scores of disciplined muscular men, horses, and elephants transform an empty field into a temporary tented city. In mid-morning, thousands more lined the streets to experience, up close, the circus parade of marching bands, calliopes, gilded wagons, exotic animals, and people winding noisily through the center of town. In the United States, the circus reached its apex during the rise of American expansion overseas. Circus proprietors successfully marketed their exotic performances (even those featuring seminude women) as "respectable" and "educational," because they showcased people and animals from countries where the United States was consolidating its political and economic authority. With its displays of exotic animals, pageants of racial hierarchy (from least to most "evolved"), and dramatizations of American combat overseas, the circus gave its isolated, small-town audiences an immediate look at faraway cultures. This vision of the world celebrated American military might and white racial supremacy. The tightly-knit community of circus employees, however, also provided a safe haven for people ostracized from society on the basis of race, gender, or physical disability.

In the early twentieth century, the circus overlapped considerably with other popular amusements. Many circus performers worked in vaudeville or at amusement parks during the winter once the circus finished its show season. Vaudeville companies also incorporated circus acts such as juggling, wire-walking, and animal stunts into their programs. In addition, the Wild West Show was closely tied to the circus. Many circuses contained Wild West acts, and several Wild West Shows had circus sideshows. Both also shared the same investors. Circuses occasionally borrowed their subject matter from other contemporary amusements. At the dawning of the American empire, international expositions like the Columbia Exposition in Chicago (1893) profitably displayed ethnological villages; thus, circuses were quick to hire "strange and savage tribes" for sprawling new ethnological congresses of their own. The new film industry also used circus subjects. Thomas Edison's Manufacturing Company produced many circus motion pictures of human acrobatics, trick elephants, and dancing horses, among others. Circuses such as the Ringling Brothers Circus featured early film as part of their novel displays. During the early twentieth century, the circus remained a popular film subject in movies like Charlie Chaplin's Circus (1928) and Tod Browning's Freaks (1932). Several film stars, such as Burt Lancaster, began their show business careers with the circus. Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth won an Oscar for Best Picture in 1952. These popular forms capitalized on the circus' celebration of bodily feats and exotic racial differences.