The Circus Museum

Today I remembered that at age 10 I wanted to be a "flyer". That was the beautiful girl in the skimpy costume that got flung between hunky guys who were "catchers" on the death defying trapeze. Yep, it was a trip to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus that prompted this short lived idea. I also was reminded today as we wandered through the Circus Museum that is was the first place I saw an Elelphant, Lion and a Tiger. Zoos weren't prevalent then and this was my first African animal sighting. I vividly recall the elephants raising on their hind legs and then leaning their front legs on the elephants ahead of them while beautiful women in feathers headdresses and sequins perched on their backs. I was awe struck!

In it's hey day the circus traveled by train and stopped at all the small and large towns along the way. Staying only one day and moving on. It was a spectacular event in every town. The massive event makes today's road shows look puny with a couple of semi trucks. We are talking rail cars filled with circus wagons. 5 wagons per rail car. Filled with exotic animals, costumes, people, tents, horses, blacksmith shops, kitchens in other words an entire city plus hundreds of horses to pull all the wagons and hundreds of people to put up the tents and keep the whole show moving along. The circus was so good and so efficient at logistics that the military studied how they did it!

Where is the art you might ask. The circus wagons were pieces of art filled with hand carved figures and painted with exciting scenes. The circus posters were used to advertise the circus was coming to your town and were papered like wall paper on walls of buildings in each town. Those that survive are worth a in fortune. It was a time when the circus owners lived in luxury, traveled the world and, like the Ringling's, collected everything from Greek artifacts to Peter Paul Rubens paintings. In addition to the Circus Museums there is an art museum housing their collection and their palatial estate all available for your enjoyment here in Sarasota Florida. Don't miss the experience if you are down this way.