History of circus

This is the history of the circus. 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.

Before the Ancient Rome Circuses

It is known that acrobatics, balancing acts, an juggling were already done since 2500BC in Ancient Egypt. The Greeks, on the other hand, practiced rope-dancing. Some early African civilizations did siricasi, acrobatics and folkloric dances in one. People in Ancient China performed juggling and acrobatics for imperial court members. Different versions of clowns were used in almost al civilizations.^[1]

Ancient Rome

The first circuses already appeared in Ancient Rome. There were horse and chariot races, but also staged battles, gladiator fights, and trained animals. It was the only show where men and women were together.

Circus Maximus

Model of Rome in the 4th century AD, by Paul Bigot.

The first and biggest circus of such a kind was the Circus Maximus (Latin for greatest circus) in Rome. With its 400 meters long and 99 meters wide,it could house around the 250 thousand people. It started as a simple hippodrome for horse races. There were seats for the normal people, which were made of wood that often had to be replaced, but also for the elite. Since 329 BC the circus also had stalls, which could have up to 25 horses at once. In 50 BC Julius Caesar made the circus bigger. At that point the circus is 621 meters long, and 150 meters wide.

The games that were played in the Circus Maximus were sponsored by the Roman State, and were for entertainment purposes. They lasted from half a day to several days.^[2]

Circus Flaminius

Fanciful engraving of the Circus Flaminius by Giacomo Lauro in 1641.

The Circus Flaminius was built in 221 BC. It was a 300 meters long and 120 meters wide circus without permanent seating, and was not used for chariot races like the Circus Maximus. Instead, it was used for horseback racing, that was held to keep the gods of the Underworld happy. Somewhere in the 2nd century BC, the circus was filled with water to kill 36 crocodiles to commemorate the Forum of Augustus. In the 4th century the building got abandoned.^[3]

Circus of Nero

Circus of Nero from a map of Pirro Ligorio from 1561, with the mausoleum of Hadrian.

The Circus of Nero is 161 meters long and 99 meters wide, and was constructed in 40 AD. At first it was used by Caligula and Nero as a training site for racing with four-horse chariots. The fist persecutions on christians happened here in 65 AD. In the 2nd century this Circus got abandoned.^[4]

Circus of Maxentius

The Circus of Maxentius in ancient times.

The Circus of Maxentius is the best preserved Roman circus, was built in 306 AD and was 513 meters long and 91 meters wide. Up to 10,000 people could be here at once. After the son of emperor Maxentius died, the games that were played here were funeral games. Before that, they were intended to be inaugural games.^[5]

Modern Circus

Philip Astley

Philip Astley, an English equestrian, can be seen as the starter of the modern circus. In 1768 he and his wife openend their own riding school, where he taught riding and gave performances. It is said that he did the first clown performance, he acted out on his horse. One of the most famous trucks of Patty, Philips wife, was when she was riding on her horse with bees covering her arms and hands. 1769 he stopped with this school and openend another one named "Astley's Riding House", which did very well. The next year he decided to also introduce other acts like clowns and acrobats. When he was not doing a show in the summer time, he would go around the country and build multiple amphitheatres to perform on. The first was in Dublin and got build in 1773. Astley did his first show in Paris in 1774.

In 1779 he upgraded his theater with a roof, that way he could perform, even when it was raining or snowing. He relaxed it to "Astley's Amphitheater Riding House" and became a ringmaster instead of performing. In 1795 he had to built another one named "Royal Amphitheatre" because this one burned down. The biggest difference between the two circuses is that this new one had a stage, that way more tricks could be performed.

After the building burned down again in 1803 because of lit candles, it was rebuild for the third time in 1804.

Manège Anglais was the first circus he openend in France, in 1782. In 1783 in Versailles his circus performed for Marie Antoinette. This way he could open "Amphithéâtre Anglais des Sieurs Astley, père et fils" on 16 October 1783, his first permanent theater in France. He built another one in Dublin, Ireland in 1789. He died in 1814 at the age of 72.^[6]

Joseph Grimaldi

1807 portrait of Joseph Grimaldi by John Cawse.

Joseph Grimaldi was an English comedian, actor, and one of the most famous clowns ever. He was born in 1778 in a family with a long history in dancing. He began to act in harlequinade at a very young age, and made his stage debut at Sadler's Wells Theatre. He was already a prominent stage performer at the age of 6, according to press. His got his first succes as Clown in "Harlequin and Mother Goose, or the Golden Egg". He was the first clown to have painted his face completely white and wear colorful clothes, while he sang together with the audience. Because of his acrobatic and athletic nature, he found so much work that he even could do two shows in one evening. He performed trough whole England and Europe.

He died in 1837, after having retired in 1823 because of bad health related to his work. Every February, on the first Sunday of that month, clowns from all over the world come together in Holy Trinity Church, Londen, in attire and make-up to remember him.^[7]

John Bill Ricketts

John Bill Ricketts, aka, Breschard, the Circus Rider, by Gilbert Stuart.

John Bill Ricketts was the first person to establish a circus in the United States. At Charles Hughes' "Hughes Royal Circus" (the biggest rival of Philip Astley) he learned how to ride. In 1791 in Edinburgh he started "Circus Royal", which toured Scotland and Ireland, together with John Parker. When he moved to Philadelphia in 1792 he openend a riding school. In 1793 some performers (some of which were: his brother Francis, who was an equestrianand tumbler, Mr. And Mrs. Spinacuta, and Mr. McDonald, a clown and a tumbler) of his former circus moved to Philadelphia to work for him again. Their first performance and also the first circus performance ever in the United States was on April 3, 1793. There was a performance of horsemanship, rope-dancing, tumbling, and clowning. The following successful years Ricketts openend multiple new circuses, some of which in Canada, and even had George Washington as a guest.

After the fire that destroyed one of his buildings and lost almost all of his money in 1799, he went to the West Indies, and somehow got his money back. He sold all of his horses and used that money to go back to England. Sadly enough, his boat sank and John Bill Ricketts drowned, together with all of his money.^[8]

1800 onwards

1800-1900

In 1805 Hachaliah Bailey bought the elephant Old Bet, and he let people visit her for a small price. Because of this, animals became more popular in circuses.

The first time that a tent was used instead of a building was in 1825 by Joshuah Purdy, and the first time it was used in England was in 1838 by Thomas Taplin Cooke. From that point on the buildings were getting replaced by the tents, which were handy because they were easier to move and rebuild.

In 1833, Isaac A. Van Amburgh became world's first lion tamer, and the first one to put his head in the mouth of a lion. It started in New York when he showed of his skill.

Richard Sans was an American circus owner and performe. In 1842 he visited England with 35 horses and 25 equestrians. His most famous act was when he "walked" on the ceiling with rubber suction pads. But when he performed this act in 1861, a part of the plaster came lose, which caused Sans to fall to his death.

The Freak show, an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature", made its first appearance in the 1840s. It started with P.T. Barnum's "Barnum's American Museum" that openend in 1842, which had multiple animals (including the first aquarium in America), and "freaks" like a woman with a beard.

French acrobat Jules Léotard invented the trapeze in 1859.

"Great Circus & Egyptian Caravan" from Dan Costello was the first travelling circus. In 1869 he went with two elephants and two camels in a train from Nebraska to California. In 1871 P. T. Barnum and Dan Costello merged to form “P.T. Barnum’s Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Hippodrome", later called "The Greatest Show on Earth".^[9] The 1880s saw the beginning of medicine shows, a show that sold "wonder medicines". For example, a strongmen would act like he was strong because of a medicine. This bottle of medicine would then be sold to the public.

It wasn't unusual for bigger circuses to do a parade to announce their show. Barnum and Bailey's circus parade along the Prince Of Wales Road, Norwich in 1899, for example, had a military band, 70 horses, and a variety of "living human curiosities".

A Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth poster, 1899

1900-present

In the early 20th century, travelling circuses became very popular. By 1902 there were 17 travelling circuses, 3 years later there were already 46 ones. In 1937 there were about 300 travelling circuses. Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, which toured from 1897 until 1992, was the largest circus of ithe era.

Because of the competition of motion pictures the popularity of the circus began to decline, and some American circuses to switch to permanent buildings instead of the tents.

The circus is not only popular in Europe and America, but also in Asian countries like China, where there were more than 250 circus troupes as of 2000, and Russia, where there were 50 travelling circuses in 1990.^{[10] [11][12][13]}

Contemporary Circus

The contemporary circus began in the 1960s. It is a combination of classical circus and theater. It is mainly focused on aesthetics and the story, with rarely some animals. While traditional circuses perform in tents, contemporary ones happen in theaters and arena's. Another difference is that performers in traditional circuses have a generational history in the Circus industry, and contemporary circuses have trained performers.

The first contemporary circuses existed in France, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The following contemporary circuses were some of the first of its kind: Royal Lichtenstein Circus (founded in 1970, in San Jose, California), SoapBox Circus and New Circus (merged in 1977 into Circus Oz), Pickle Family Circus (founded in 1975, in San Francisco), Ra-Ra Zoo (founded in 1984 in London), Nofit State Circus (founded in 1984 in Wales), Cirque de Soleil (founded in 1984 in Quebec), Cirque Plume (also founded in 1984 in France), and Archaos (founded in 1986 in France).

Because of the rise of the contemporary circus, the interest in circuses, which has gone down in the 1960s, rose again.^[14]

Flea circus

A Flea Circus is a circus sideshow attraction in which fleas are attached (or appear to be attached) to miniature carts and other items, and encouraged to perform circus acts within a small housing. Earlier on, the fleas acted as something to show how small the scale was.

The first known performance done by fleas was in 1578, there was a small golden chain made by Mark Scaliot that was so small and light that even a flea could pull it. In 1742 Mr. Boverick made a tiny golden coach which was pulled by fleas in a harnas. On 29 February, 1764, John Henry Mauclerc saw a four-wheeled ivory chase with a small figurine of a man, which was pulled by a flea. According to Charles Manby Smith in 1857, he paid a penny to see a flea pulling a tiny brass canon on wheels.

The first time that an actual flea circus performed was in 1812, when Johann Heinrich Deggeller from Stuttgart had a performance with his own one. In 1832, the flea circus from Italian Louis Bertolotto was brought to London. He continued to perform with his fleas, which could pull a carriage with two wheels, until the 1870s. By the 1960 there were numerous small flea circuses. Until 1970 there was a flea circus in Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in Manchester, England.^[15]

Clowns

Main article: Circus clown

A clown is a person who tries to be funny and make people laugh. Most of the time a modern clown has white make-up on his face with a red nose, wears colorfull clothes and has big shoes.^[16]

The first clowns appeared in the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt around 2400BC. Ancient Greek clowns were bald and had padded clothing to look bigger. Clowns from Ancient Rome, on the other hand, had pointed hats on the head. The characters Harlequin and Pirouette were introduced in the 16th century in Italy.

The first whiteface clown got created in 1801 by Joseph Grimaldi. It has white paint on its whole face and neck, red paint around the mouth like a smile, and black paint on the eyebrows. A whiteface clown has the highest rank in de clown industry. The first clown in the United States was Matthew Sully.^[17]

Circus Music

Circus music is music that is used in circuses. Traditional circuses use this music to build op tension in the show. Contemporary one's use this as part of the story.

The most famous is arguably "Entrance of the Gladiators", which was composed by Julius Fučík in 1897. Another famous traditional circus music is "Barnum and Bailey's Favorite" by Karl King from 1913. A song that is frequently used during a trapeze act is "Sobre las olas" from 1888 by Juventino Rosas. "The Stars and Stripes Forever", from 1896 and composed by John Philip Sousa, can only be used in an emergency, for example: when there is a fire this song is played.^[18]