“The circus is the only ageless delight that you can buy for money. Everything else is supposed to be bad for you. But the circus is good for you. It's the only spectacle I know that, while you watch it, gives the quality of a truly happy dream." Ernest Hemingway.1

As a child, I would have wholeheartedly agreed with Hemingway’s description of the circus. I well remember the excitement of sitting up high in the ‘Big Top’, full of anticipation, waiting for the noise to die down as the ringmaster appeared in his imposing military style costume, complete with gold braided epaulettes, rows of gilded buttons and of course – the elegant top hat.

How we clung to his words as he introduced each of the artists and gave his spiel on what magnificent feats we were about to witness. The death-defying ‘Flying Fearless’ Brothers (or some such name) swinging gracefully through the air, catching each other just at the last moment as the spellbound audience let out a collective sigh of relief. The bareback horse riders so dainty in their satin and tulle tutus, as graceful as any ballerina.

The chimpanzees, ridiculously dressed in smocks, successfully mastering the art of riding small bicycles around the sawdust arena. The antics of the clowns, tripping over their oversize shoes as they fooled around squirting each other with water pistols. Then just to show that it was not all slapstick, showing off their balancing skills as they rode around on unicycles while simultaneously juggling balls and clubs in the air. Then there were the elephants, not cumbersome beasts as their size would suggest, but capable of performing intricate manoeuvres at the commands of their trainers.

But it was the big cats that I came to see, even though my heart was in my mouth throughout the whole act, praying that nothing would go wrong and that the trainer would emerge unscathed at the end of the performance.

Probably the most famous wild animal trainer* of his time was the American, Clyde Beatty. We have all heard the old saying “running away from home to join a circus” …well that is exactly what Clyde did when in 1918 at the tender age of 15, he ‘unceremoniously’ left his home in Bainbridge, Ohio, leaving a note for his no-doubt totally flabbergasted mother, explaining that he was motivated by a love of wild animals to seek his career in the circus world.2 I guess this explanation did little to alleviate his mother’s concerns for her errant son hell-bent on this reckless ambition.

Beatty began his circus career as a cage boy but by the age of 17 he was working with bears before ‘graduating’ to the big cats.3 Over a career that spanned almost 40 years, he gave over 30,000 performances and travelled more than 1 million miles.4

His fame was such that he performed with his big cats in Hollywood movies from the 1930’s to the 1950’s and also appeared on television until the 1960’s,5 on Jack Paar’s Tonight Show,6 and also on the Ed Sullivan show.7

_____________________________________________________________________

* There is no such a thing as a wild animal ‘tamer’ - wild animals can be trained to obey commands but can never be tamed – they will always be ‘wild’ as nature intended them to be without the interference of man.

Beatty had a great number of celebrity admirers, among whom was Ernest Hemingway who, as the opening quote suggests, was a big fan of the circus. Beatty relates that it was Hemingway who pointed out the similarity between the use of the chair in big cat performances to the cape used by matadors in bullfighting.8 Also among his acquaintances were the world heavyweight champion prize fighters Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney who were impressed by Beatty’s fast footwork, evidently as important an attribute when operating in a restricted space against agile lions and tigers as it is in the boxing ring.9

Over the years however I have to confess that my earlier opinion of circuses has decreased as my love of animals has grown. As much as I can admire the patience, skill and enormous courage of wild animal trainers, I now believe that it is cruel to make animals perform for the sake of entertainment and the monetary gain of the circus promoters.

Another concern for me is the unsuitable conditions in which some circuses keep their animals when they are not performing. The sight of elephants fettered by huge chains around their ankles swaying backwards and forwards in obvious distress is enough to break the heart of any animal lover. I have seen big cats kept in inadequate cages with not much room to do anything except lie down and wait for their next rehearsal or performance, the only exercise they can expect to get, and that at the end of a whip and chair. Then there is the discomfort of being loaded into railway wagons and transported all over the country, or even worse to be packed into the dark holds of ships to be buffeted about on the high seas to yet another country for yet another season.

There are those that would argue that in a circus, animals are assured of their three square meals a day and are free from the danger of being killed by trophy hunters and poachers, a possible threat in the wild. To me this is scant reward for what they suffer in captivity? It has also been suggested that because some of the animals being used in these acts have been born in captivity, they don’t know any other life. But I would argue that wouldn’t the natural instinct instilled in all of us, human or animal, trigger some primitive stirring in the brains of the higher thinking animals such as elephants and the big cats. Some sense of belonging elsewhere – of hunting in the dry, hot savannahs of Africa or of stalking their prey through the steamy jungles of Asia. A far different life than being confined behind bars or at the end of steel chains restricting their freedom and movement. Surely, they have the right to roam freely in their own habitat, hunting and breeding and left undisturbed to live out their lives as nature intended.

Nevertheless, despite my aversion to the exploitation of animals, I was curious to find out how past civilisations developed the concept of using wild animals as a form of amusement for the masses. Of course in this matter “All roads lead to Rome” and it would appear that in 55 B.C. the Emperor Pompey, in order to provide ‘entertainment’ for the Roman People, organized his Games, which included an unprecedented show of animals with many elephants, and hundreds of lions and leopards, and strange beasts never before seen in Rome.10

The Romans appear to have been obsessed with the bloodthirsty spectacle of pitting man (be it gladiator, criminal or hapless Christian) against dangerous beasts, or in other bizarre cases, one wild animal species against another. There were even schools in Ancient Rome, in which young men known as ‘bestiarii’ 11 were trained to fight wild beasts. While some of these men used this training to hone their weapon skills for future use during warfare in the service of the all-conquering Roman armies, to some it was a way to show their courage and dexterity. Then there were those who made a trade of it and fought for money as a form of entertainment,12 similar perhaps to modern day professional boxing champions competing against each other, albeit in a much smaller ring!

The Ancient Greeks, I was pleased to read, did not have the Roman thirst for blood as a form of amusement for the masses, although bull-fighting was a Thessalian sport and cockfighting and quail-fighting were popular in the Greek world. Wild beasts were used however in their religious processions, a chief form of public entertainment, which pre-dated by several centuries the Roman extravaganzas. 13

Alexander the Great, (356BC to 323BC)14, during his conquests throughout the then-known world, gathered a very notable collection of ‘exotic’ animals from Ethiopia, North Africa, Syria and Northern Arabia. Many of these animals ended up in Alexandria, Egypt, which was then part of the Greek empire united by Alexander. The Egyptians under the Ptolemy Dynasty followed the Greek tradition of using wild animals in processions. 15

According to some research done by Clyde Beatty, Ptolemy IV, son of that femme fatale, Cleopatra, organised a parade in Alexandria in which 24 conveyances were drawn by elephants, 60 by oxen and 12 by lions. Cleopatra and her son were said to have played a role in the ‘taming’ of these beasts. Beatty, who worked with lions for many years, is sceptical about this,16 and I doubt that any sane minded person could imagine lions, or any ‘big cat’ for that matter, being docile enough to voluntarily take part in an organized parade - or indeed anyone being brave enough to undertake their harnessing!! (I have the scratches to prove the struggle I have putting the collar on my feisty 9 month old kitten if she doesn’t feel like wearing it!). The beguiling Cleopatra may have been able to charm and tame Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, but I doubt if this talent would have extended to wild beasts.

While researching some data on Ancient China, I came across a print entitled ‘Teaching an elephant to dance’ from a Han dynasty tomb brick. (206BC-AD23). It would seem that wild beasts have been a target for enforced subjugation to entertain by different civilizations down through the ages.17

People have always been fascinated by exotic beasts but it wasn’t until 1847 that the world’s first public zoo, the Regent’s Park London Zoo, was opened.18 Before this the only way for the general public to see foreign beasts was at the travelling menageries which became very popular in England and North America in the 1700’s. The first exotic animal known to have been exhibited in America was a lion, in Boston in 1710, 19 and in 1834, James and William Howes’ New York Menagerie toured New England with an elephant, a rhinoceros, a camel, zebra, gnu (wildebeest), two tigers, a polar bear and several parrots and monkeys.20 Quite a line up!

In 1810 George Wombwell, formerly a shoemaker in London, founded Wombwell's Travelling Menagerie which consisted of exotic animals from Africa, Australia and South America which he purchased from ships at the London docks. He began to tour the fairs of Britain and by 1839 his entourage totalled fifteen wagons and was accompanied by a brass band.21 I wonder how these bewildered animals coming straight from their natural habitat would have reacted to this strange cacophony of sound!

Wombwell then began to breed and raise animals himself, including the first lion to be bred in captivity in Britain. He was invited to the royal court on five occasions to exhibit his animals, three times before Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.22

The origin of the modern circus has been attributed to Englishman, Philip Astley, a cavalry officer, who set up the first modern amphitheatre for the display of horse riding tricks in London in April 1768. Although not the first to introduce acts such as acrobats and clowns to the English public, he was the first to create a space where all these acts were brought together to perform a show under the same roof. He created the 42 ft diameter ring, which is still the standard size for the circus ‘big top’ today. 23

But it wasn’t just animals that the curious public wanted to see. In the 19th century, both in England and the United States ‘freak shows’ (as they were so blatantly called) became highly successful commercially run enterprises.24

In the United States, Phineas T. Barnum was a major figure in popularizing this entertainment. During the 1840's Barnum began his museum in New York, which drew in about 400,000 visitors a year, all eager to stare and gape at The Fat Lady, midgets, giants, and other people deemed as freaks.25 Later, some of these unfortunate examples of ‘nature gone wrong’ travelled with the Barnum and Bailey circus and were exhibited in its ‘side show alley’.

I am inclined to think that although being the object of warped public curiosity would have been very humiliating for these poor misfits of society, at least they had a permanent home, job and supportive circus family. In fact they probably had a much happier existence in the circus than they would have had living among the general population, where they would no doubt have been open to constant ridicule. Some individuals even found fame and fortune because of their disability!!!

I’m referring to the amazing career of perhaps the most famous ‘little person’ in circus history. Charles Sherwood Stratton, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A. on 4 January, 1838 weighing 9lb 8oz which is quite a large baby. He continued to grow normally until he was six months old, when he stopped developing having reached 2’1 (25 inches) in height and weighing 15 pounds.26

When Little Charles was 4 years old, P.T. Barnum approached his father, Sherwood Stratton, with an offer of $3/week for his permission to exhibit Charles at Barnum’s New York Museum. Stratton agreed and Barnum immediately began to groom his new protégé, christening him General Tom Thumb, dressing him up to impersonate famous people and teaching him to sing and dance. Due to his charm and showmanship, Tom’s popularity was phenomenal not just with the American public but also in Europe where he toured twice with Barnum.27 He was presented to Queen Victoria on two occasions and was said to be a favourite of Edward, The Duke of Windsor when he was a boy.28

But the fairy tale does not end there. A romance developed between Tom and one of his fellow circus performers, Lavinia Warren, who at 2’8” was slightly taller than him. Their wedding, which took place on the 10th February, 1863, was a media - well - ’circus’, generating a huge amount of public interest! The bride and groom stood atop a grand piano at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York to greet the guests at their reception, after which the newly-weds were received by President Lincoln at the White House.29

Under Barnum's management, Stratton became a wealthy man. He owned a house in the fashionable part of New York and a steam yacht, and he had a wardrobe of fine clothes. He also owned a specially adapted home on one of Connecticut's Thimble Islands. When Barnum got into financial difficulty, Stratton bailed him out. Later, they became business partners. also.30

Charles Sherwood Stratton, alias Little Charles, alias General Tom Thumb died of a stroke at the age of 45 in 1883. His funeral was attended by 20,000 mourners. Phineas T. Barnum had a life sized statue of Tom placed over his grave at the Mountain Grove Cemetery in his hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Lavinia died 35 years later and was buried there also.31

Thankfully towards the end of the 19th century attitudes towards physical differences led to the decline of the freak show as a form of entertainment as genetic mutations were scientifically explained. People with abnormalities became the objects of sympathy rather than fear or disdain and laws were passed making it illegal to profit from people’s disabilities.32

However, the welfare of the animals in some circuses still seems to be a matter for concern but hopefully, thanks to the intervention of diligent animal rights groups who investigate claims of cruelty, the living conditions are improving. Indeed the use of wild animals at all in circus acts seems to be decreasing.

In their place modern day companies such as Cirque du Soleil, have become enormously popular with the circus-going public, who are treated to a different kind of entertainment, concentrating on the spectacular performances of humans rather than animals trained by humans.

Perhaps in the near future animal acts will be abolished altogether.

I fervently hope so.

REFERENCES

1Hemingway, writing in the "Circus Magazine and Program" for

the 83rd edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.

2Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 5,136.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

3Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 10,236.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

4Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 1,1.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

5Photoplay, March, 1933.

6Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 3,75.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

7Beatty, Clyde and Earl Wilson: Jungle Performers, Pub:Robert Hale, 1946

Photoplay, March, 1933.

8Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats, plate nos.

21&22 by Dick Simpson. Chapter 4 between pages 116 and 117. William

Heinemann Ltd, London.

9Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 1,14.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

10 Jennison, George (1937). Animals for show and pleasure in Ancient Rome.

Introd. p.4. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

11 Entry on Bestiarii at Chambers, Ephraim, Cyclopedia, or a Universal Dictionary of Arts and Science, c. 1680-1740.

12Tertullian’s Apologeticus, Chapter 36: cited in Smith 1875.

13 Jennison, George (1937). Animals for show and pleasure in Ancient Rome.

Chapter 1,10. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

14The Macquarie Dictionary of People and Places (1965). p.15. Gen. Ed. J.R.L.

Bernard, Macquarie Library Pty. Ltd., N.S.W., Australia.

15 Jennison, George (1937). Animals for show and pleasure in Ancient Rome.

Introd. p.2. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

16Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 9,213-214.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

17 Wood, Frances (2007). China’s First Emperor and his Terracotta Warriors. Introd. p.8, plate 2. St. Martin’s Press, New York.

18 ZSL’s History. ZSL. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 5th March, 2008.

19Kisling, Vernon N., "Zoological Gardens of the United States", in Zoo and Aquarium History: Ancient Collections to Zoological Gardens, Vernon N. Kisling (ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2001, pp.147-150. ISBN 0-8493-2100-X.

20Flint, Richard W., "American Showmen and European Dealers: Commerce in

Wild Animals in Nineteeth Century", in New World, New Animals: From

Menagerie to Zoological Park in the Nineteenth Century, Hoage, Robert J. and

Deiss, William A. (ed.), Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1996, p.98.

ISBN 0-8018-5110-6.

21 http://www.american-bulldog.com/how_a_lion.htm.

22Everett, Shaun, George Wombwell (1777 - 1850) Volume One: Events at

Warwick (Wombwell Collection 2016).

23Kwint, Marius, ‘Astley, Philip (1742–1814)’, Oxford Dictionary of National

Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn. Jan 2008 accessed 7 Jan

2014

24"Strange and Bizarre: The History of Freak Shows". Retrieved 2012-12-17.

25Zachary Crockett, "The Rise and Fall of Circus Freakshows", "Priceonomics", June 28, 2016.

26Thumb, Tom (1874). Sketch of the life: personal appearance, character and

manners of Charles S. Stratton, the man in miniature, known as General Tom

Thumb, and his wife, Lavinia Warren Stratton, including the history of their

courtship and marriage….Also songs given at their public levees. S. Booth p. 4.

Retrieved March 5, 2011.

27P.T. Barnum’s passport application for his European Tour -1844.

28 Palliser,John. 1853. Solitary Rambles and Adventures of a Hunter in the Prairies,

John Murray, London, 326p.

29 Thumb, Tom (1874). Sketch of the life: personal appearance, character and

manners of Charles S. Stratton, the man in miniature, known as General Tom

Thumb, and his wife, Lavinia Warren Stratton, including the history of their

courtship and marriage….Also songs given at their public levees. S. Booth p. 4.

Retrieved March 5, 2011.

30P.T. Barnum: America’s Greatest Showman, Kunhardt, Philip B., Jr., Kunhardt,

Philip B., III and Kunhardt, Peter W., Alfred A. Knopf.1995.ISBN 0-679-43574-3.

31Charles Sherwood “General Tom Thumb” Stratton”. Find a Grave. Retrieved

November 1, 2010.

32Zachary Crockett, "The Rise and Fall of Circus Freakshows", "Priceonomics", June

28, 2016.

“The circus is the only ageless delight that you can buy for money. Everything else is supposed to be bad for you. But the circus is good for you. It's the only spectacle I know that, while you watch it, gives the quality of a truly happy dream." Ernest Hemingway.(1)

As a child, I would have wholeheartedly agreed with Hemingway’s description of the circus. I well remember the excitement of sitting up high in the ‘Big Top’, full of anticipation, waiting for the noise to die down as the ringmaster appeared in his imposing military style costume, complete with gold braided epaulettes, rows of gilded buttons and of course – the elegant top hat.

How we clung to his words as he introduced each of the artists and gave his spiel on what magnificent feats we were about to witness. The death-defying ‘Flying Fearless’ Brothers (or some such name) swinging gracefully through the air, catching each other just at the last moment as the spellbound audience let out a collective sigh of relief. The bareback horse riders so dainty in their satin and tulle tutus, as graceful as any ballerina.

The chimpanzees, ridiculously dressed in smocks, successfully mastering the art of riding small bicycles around the sawdust arena. The antics of the clowns, tripping over their oversize shoes as they fooled around squirting each other with water pistols. Then just to show that it was not all slapstick, showing off their balancing skills as they rode around on unicycles while simultaneously juggling balls and clubs in the air. Then there were the elephants, not cumbersome beasts as their size would suggest, but capable of performing intricate manoeuvres at the commands of their trainers.

But it was the big cats that I came to see, even though my heart was in my mouth throughout the whole act, praying that nothing would go wrong and that the trainer would emerge unscathed at the end of the performance.

Probably the most famous wild animal trainer* of his time was the American, Clyde Beatty. We have all heard the old saying “running away from home to join a circus” …well that is exactly what Clyde did when in 1918 at the tender age of 15, he ‘unceremoniously’ left his home in Bainbridge, Ohio, leaving a note for his no-doubt totally flabbergasted mother, explaining that he was motivated by a love of wild animals to seek his career in the circus world.(2)     I guess this explanation did little to alleviate his mother’s concerns for her errant son hell-bent on this reckless ambition.

Beatty began his circus career as a cage boy but by the age of 17 he was working with bears before ‘graduating’ to the big cats.(3)   Over a career that spanned almost 40 years, he gave over 30,000 performances and travelled more than 1 million miles.(4)

His fame was such that he performed with his big cats in Hollywood movies from the 1930’s to the 1950’s and also appeared on television until the 1960’s,(5) on Jack Paar’s Tonight Show,(6) and also on the Ed Sullivan show.(7)

____________________________________________________________________

* There is no such a thing as a wild animal ‘tamer’ - wild animals can be trained to obey commands but can never be tamed – they will always be ‘wild’ as nature intended them to be without the interference of man.

Beatty had a great number of celebrity admirers, among whom was Ernest Hemingway who, as the opening quote suggests, was a big fan of the circus. Beatty relates that it was Hemingway who pointed out the similarity between the use of the chair in big cat performances to the cape used by matadors in bullfighting.(8)  Also among his acquaintances were the world heavyweight champion prize fighters Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney who were impressed by Beatty’s fast footwork, evidently as important an attribute when operating in a restricted space against agile lions and tigers as it is in the boxing ring.(9)

Over the years however I have to confess that my earlier opinion of circuses has decreased as my love of animals has grown. As much as I can admire the patience, skill and enormous courage of wild animal trainers, I now believe that it is cruel to make animals perform for the sake of entertainment and the monetary gain of the circus promoters.

Another concern for me is the unsuitable conditions in which some circuses keep their animals when they are not performing. The sight of elephants fettered by huge chains around their ankles swaying backwards and forwards in obvious distress is enough to break the heart of any animal lover. I have seen big cats kept in inadequate cages with not much room to do anything except lie down and wait for their next rehearsal or performance, the only exercise they can expect to get, and that at the end of a whip and chair. Then there is the discomfort of being loaded into railway wagons and transported all over the country, or even worse to be packed into the dark holds of ships to be buffeted about on the high seas to yet another country for yet another season.

There are those that would argue that in a circus, animals are assured of their three square meals a day and are free from the danger of being killed by trophy hunters and poachers, a possible threat in the wild. To me this is scant reward for what they suffer in captivity? It has also been suggested that because some of the animals being used in these acts have been born in captivity, they don’t know any other life. But I would argue that wouldn’t the natural instinct instilled in all of us, human or animal, trigger some primitive stirring in the brains of the higher thinking animals such as elephants and the big cats. Some sense of belonging elsewhere – of hunting in the dry, hot savannahs of Africa or of stalking their prey through the steamy jungles of Asia. A far different life than being confined behind bars or at the end of steel chains restricting their freedom and movement. Surely, they have the right to roam freely in their own habitat, hunting and breeding and left undisturbed to live out their lives as nature intended.

Nevertheless, despite my aversion to the exploitation of animals, I was curious to find out how past civilisations developed the concept of using wild animals as a form of amusement for the masses. Of course in this matter “All roads lead to Rome” and it would appear that in 55 B.C. the Emperor Pompey, in order to provide ‘entertainment’ for the Roman People, organized his Games, which included an unprecedented show of animals with many elephants, and hundreds of lions and leopards, and strange beasts never before seen in Rome.(10)

The Romans appear to have been obsessed with the bloodthirsty spectacle of pitting man (be it gladiator, criminal or hapless Christian) against dangerous beasts, or in other bizarre cases, one wild animal species against another. There were even schools in Ancient Rome, in which young men known as ‘bestiarii’(11) were trained to fight wild beasts. While some of these men used this training to hone their weapon skills for future use during warfare in the service of the all-conquering Roman armies, to some it was a way to show their courage and dexterity. Then there were those who made a trade of it and fought for money as a form of entertainment,(12) similar perhaps to modern day professional boxing champions competing against each other, albeit in a much smaller ring!

The Ancient Greeks, I was pleased to read, did not have the Roman thirst for blood as a form of amusement for the masses, although bull-fighting was a Thessalian sport and cockfighting and quail-fighting were popular in the Greek world. Wild beasts were used however in their religious processions, a chief form of public entertainment, which pre-dated by several centuries the Roman extravaganzas.(13)

Alexander the Great, (356BC to 323BC)(14), during his conquests throughout the then-known world, gathered a very notable collection of ‘exotic’ animals from Ethiopia, North Africa, Syria and Northern Arabia. Many of these animals ended up in Alexandria, Egypt, which was then part of the Greek empire united by Alexander. The Egyptians under the Ptolemy Dynasty followed the Greek tradition of using wild animals in processions.(15)

According to some research done by Clyde Beatty, Ptolemy IV, son of that femme fatale, Cleopatra, organised a parade in Alexandria in which 24 conveyances were drawn by elephants, 60 by oxen and 12 by lions. Cleopatra and her son were said to have played a role in the ‘taming’ of these beasts. Beatty, who worked with lions for many years, is sceptical about this,(16) and I doubt that any sane minded person could imagine lions, or any ‘big cat’ for that matter, being docile enough to voluntarily take part in an organized parade - or indeed anyone being brave enough to undertake their harnessing!! (I have the scratches to prove the struggle I have putting the collar on my feisty 9 month old kitten if she doesn’t feel like wearing it!). The beguiling Cleopatra may have been able to charm and tame Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, but I very much doubt if this talent would have extended to wild beasts.

While researching some data on Ancient China, I came across a print entitled ‘Teaching an elephant to dance’ from a Han dynasty tomb brick. (206BC-AD23). It would seem that wild beasts have been a target for enforced subjugation to entertain by different civilizations down through the ages.(17)

People have always been fascinated by exotic beasts but it wasn’t until 1847 that the world’s first public zoo, the Regent’s Park London Zoo, was opened.(18) Before this the only way for the general public to see foreign beasts was at the travelling menageries which became very popular in England and North America in the 1700’s. The first exotic animal known to have been exhibited in America was a lion, in Boston in 1710,(19) and in 1834, James and William Howes’ New York Menagerie toured New England with an elephant, a rhinoceros, a camel, zebra, gnu (wildebeest), two tigers, a polar bear and several parrots and monkeys.(20)   Quite a line up!

In 1810 George Wombwell, formerly a shoemaker in London, founded Wombwell's Travelling Menagerie which consisted of exotic animals from Africa, Australia and South America which he purchased from ships at the London docks. He began to tour the fairs of Britain and by 1839 his entourage totalled fifteen wagons and was accompanied by a brass band.(21)   I wonder how these bewildered animals coming straight from their natural habitat would have reacted to this strange cacophony of sound!

Wombwell then began to breed and raise animals himself, including the first lion to be bred in captivity in Britain. He was invited to the royal court on five occasions to exhibit his animals, three times before Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.(22)

The origin of the modern circus has been attributed to Englishman, Philip Astley, a cavalry officer, who set up the first modern amphitheatre for the display of horse riding tricks in London in April 1768. Although not the first to introduce acts such as acrobats and clowns to the English public, he was the first to create a space where all these acts were brought together to perform a show under the same roof. He created the 42 ft diameter ring, which is still the standard size for the circus ‘big top’ today.(23)

But it wasn’t just animals that the curious public wanted to see. In the 19th century, both in England and the United States ‘freak shows’ (as they were so blatantly called) became highly successful commercially run enterprises.(24)

In the United States, Phineas T. Barnum was a major figure in popularizing this entertainment. During the 1840's Barnum began his museum in New York, which drew in about 400,000 visitors a year, all eager to stare and gape at The Fat Lady, midgets, giants, and other people deemed as freaks.(25)  Later, some of these unfortunate examples of ‘nature gone wrong’ travelled with the Barnum and Bailey circus and were exhibited in its ‘side show alley’.

I am inclined to think that although being the object of warped public curiosity would have been very humiliating for these poor misfits of society, at least they had a permanent home, job and supportive circus family. In fact they probably had a much happier existence in the circus than they would have had living among the general population, where they would no doubt have been open to constant ridicule. Some individuals even found fame and fortune because of their disability!!!

I’m referring to the amazing career of perhaps the most famous ‘little person’ in circus history. Charles Sherwood Stratton, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.A. on 4 January, 1838 weighing 9lb 8oz which is quite a large baby. He continued to grow normally until he was six months old, when he stopped developing having reached 2’1 (25 inches) in height and weighing 15 pounds.(26)

When Little Charles was 4 years old, P.T. Barnum approached his father, Sherwood Stratton, with an offer of $3/week for his permission to exhibit Charles at Barnum’s New York Museum. Stratton agreed and Barnum immediately began to groom his new protégé, christening him General Tom Thumb, dressing him up to impersonate famous people and teaching him to sing and dance. Due to his charm and showmanship, Tom’s popularity was phenomenal not just with the American public but also in Europe where he toured twice with Barnum.(27)  He was presented to Queen Victoria on two occasions and was said to be a favourite of Edward, The Duke of Windsor when he was a boy.(28)

But the fairy tale does not end there. A romance developed between Tom and one of his fellow circus performers, Lavinia Warren, who at 2’8” was slightly taller than him. Their wedding, which took place on the 10th February, 1863, was a media - well - ’circus’, generating a huge amount of public interest! The bride and groom stood atop a grand piano at the Metropolitan Hotel in New York to greet the guests at their reception, after which the newly-weds were received by President Lincoln at the White House.(29)

Under Barnum's management, Stratton became a wealthy man. He owned a house in the fashionable part of New York and a steam yacht, and he had a wardrobe of fine clothes. He also owned a specially adapted home on one of Connecticut's Thimble Islands. When Barnum got into financial difficulty, Stratton bailed him out. Later, they became business partners. also.( 30 )

Charles Sherwood Stratton, alias Little Charles, alias General Tom Thumb died of a stroke at the age of 45 in 1883. His funeral was attended by 20,000 mourners. Phineas T. Barnum had a life sized statue of Tom placed over his grave at the Mountain Grove Cemetery in his hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Lavinia died 35 years later and was buried there also.(31)

Thankfully towards the end of the 19th century attitudes towards physical differences led to the decline of the freak show as a form of entertainment as genetic mutations were scientifically explained. People with abnormalities became the objects of sympathy rather than fear or disdain and laws were passed making it illegal to profit from people’s disabilities.(32)

However, the welfare of the animals in some circuses still seems to be a matter for concern but hopefully, thanks to the intervention of diligent animal rights groups who investigate claims of cruelty, the living conditions are improving. Indeed the use of wild animals at all in circus acts seems to be decreasing.

In their place modern day companies such as Cirque du Soleil, have become enormously popular with the circus-going public, who are treated to a different kind of entertainment, concentrating on the spectacular performances of humans rather than animals trained by humans.

Perhaps in the near future animal acts will be abolished altogether.

I fervently hope so.

REFERENCES

1Hemingway, writing in the "Circus Magazine and Program" for

the 83rd edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.

2Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 5,136.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

3Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 10,236.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

4Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 1,1.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

5Photoplay, March, 1933.

6Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 3,75.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

7Beatty, Clyde and Earl Wilson: Jungle Performers, Pub:Robert Hale, 1946

Photoplay, March, 1933.

8Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats, plate nos.

21&22 by Dick Simpson. Chapter 4 between pages 116 and 117. William

Heinemann Ltd, London.

9Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 1,14.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

10 Jennison, George (1937). Animals for show and pleasure in Ancient Rome.

Introd. p.4. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

11 Entry on Bestiarii at Chambers, Ephraim, Cyclopedia, or a Universal Dictionary of Arts and Science, c. 1680-1740.

12Tertullian’s Apologeticus, Chapter 36: cited in Smith 1875.

13 Jennison, George (1937). Animals for show and pleasure in Ancient Rome.

Chapter 1,10. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

14The Macquarie Dictionary of People and Places (1965). p.15. Gen. Ed. J.R.L.

Bernard, Macquarie Library Pty. Ltd., N.S.W., Australia.

15 Jennison, George (1937). Animals for show and pleasure in Ancient Rome.

Introd. p.2. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

16Beatty, Clyde with Edward Anthony (1964). Facing the Big Cats 9,213-214.

William Heinemann Ltd, London.

17 Wood, Frances (2007). China’s First Emperor and his Terracotta Warriors. Introd. p.8, plate 2. St. Martin’s Press, New York.

18 ZSL’s History. ZSL. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 5th March, 2008.

19Kisling, Vernon N., "Zoological Gardens of the United States", in Zoo and Aquarium History: Ancient Collections to Zoological Gardens, Vernon N. Kisling (ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2001, pp.147-150. ISBN 0-8493-2100-X.

20Flint, Richard W., "American Showmen and European Dealers: Commerce in

Wild Animals in Nineteeth Century", in New World, New Animals: From

Menagerie to Zoological Park in the Nineteenth Century, Hoage, Robert J. and

Deiss, William A. (ed.), Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1996, p.98.

ISBN 0-8018-5110-6.

21 http://www.american-bulldog.com/how_a_lion.htm.

22Everett, Shaun, George Wombwell (1777 - 1850) Volume One: Events at

Warwick (Wombwell Collection 2016).

23Kwint, Marius, ‘Astley, Philip (1742–1814)’, Oxford Dictionary of National

Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn. Jan 2008 accessed 7 Jan

2014

24"Strange and Bizarre: The History of Freak Shows". Retrieved 2012-12-17.

25Zachary Crockett, "The Rise and Fall of Circus Freakshows", "Priceonomics", June 28, 2016.

26Thumb, Tom (1874). Sketch of the life: personal appearance, character and

manners of Charles S. Stratton, the man in miniature, known as General Tom

Thumb, and his wife, Lavinia Warren Stratton, including the history of their

courtship and marriage….Also songs given at their public levees. S. Booth p. 4.

Retrieved March 5, 2011.

27P.T. Barnum’s passport application for his European Tour -1844.

28 Palliser,John. 1853. Solitary Rambles and Adventures of a Hunter in the Prairies,

John Murray, London, 326p.

29 Thumb, Tom (1874). Sketch of the life: personal appearance, character and

manners of Charles S. Stratton, the man in miniature, known as General Tom

Thumb, and his wife, Lavinia Warren Stratton, including the history of their

courtship and marriage….Also songs given at their public levees. S. Booth p. 4.

Retrieved March 5, 2011.

30P.T. Barnum: America’s Greatest Showman, Kunhardt, Philip B., Jr., Kunhardt,

Philip B., III and Kunhardt, Peter W., Alfred A. Knopf.1995.ISBN 0-679-43574-3.

31Charles Sherwood “General Tom Thumb” Stratton”. Find a Grave. Retrieved

November 1, 2010.

32Zachary Crockett, "The Rise and Fall of Circus Freakshows", "Priceonomics", June

28, 2016.

Pumpkin lanterns shed their light

Among the copper leaves,

And spooky spiders hang from boughs

Cavorting in the breeze.

Tonight the hounds of hell are loose

While witches o’er their potions croon.

Black bats fly high – their shadows pass

Before the blood red moon.

Lupine howls pervade the night

A sound to chill the bone.

The legend of the werewolf curse

Has through the centuries grown.

Vampires in their swirling capes

Are lurking everywhere,

While zombies with their stumbling gait

Transfix us with their stare.

Skeletons shake their hollow ribs

In a grotesque dance

Their grinning mouths and hollow eyes

Dare us to advance …..

Towards the graveyard from wherein

Pale ghostly forms arise

From their dank and crumbling tombs

With hoarse, spine-chilling cries.

But never fear – it’s just a prank -

The children having fun,

As dressed up in their ghoulish gear

From house to house they run.

But yet I feel a dreadful chill

And goosebumps up my back,

As glancing round I thought I saw

A silhouette in black …

That seemed to pass straight through the wall

Behind the local morgue,

It’s coming straight toward me

It beckons – help me Lord!!

I turn to flee but cannot move

I feel I’m being hexed.

The creature whispers in my ear

“You can’t escape – you’re next.”

Fingers – bony, blanched and cold

Hold me in their grasp,

And drag me to an open grave

This poem will be my last.

AMEN