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Barretie
‘SPECIAL EDITION SERIES 1
1897
“P.T. BARNUM: SHOWMAN SUPREME”
P. T. Barnum and W. C. Coup founded one of the most spectacular
American circuses in 1871. The show opened in Brooklyn New York and
rreatest Show on Earth." Ten years later Barnum
formed a partnership with James A. Bailey's circus. Beginning in 1881, it
operated under the name of Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth.
‘The show was so huge it needed three rings. Barnum cashed in on the
popularity of circus animals and exhibited unusual and unique creatures
such as the world's largest elephant, Jumbo, for which he reputedly paid
the London Zoological Gardens $30,000. Barnum and Bailey's circus also
included a side-show, which was a smaller, separate show near the big
top. Presenting side-show oddities had made Barnum famous and his
circus offered a range of freak show exhibits. The 'Greatest Show on
Earth’ visited the United Kingdom in 1889 & 1897 and was the ultimate
in showmanship and spectacle with an average crowd of 10,000 people
per performance. The United States led the way and European shows,
though still tending towards a single ring, began to follow with their
own more extravagant productions.
was billed as the
Great showmanship, effective pre-
publicity and elaborate parade became
the means by which the circus
advertised its tour and the performers
became household names on both
sides of the Atlantic.
University of Sheffeild
Vintage Oddities:
The Outlandish
Attractions
The American Museum,
Barnum’s grand entertainment
attraction, drew millions of visitors
to the intersection of Broadway and
Ann Streets in New York City (near
the modern World Trade Plaza).
Among the Museum's many
wondrous attractions was America’s
first aquarium. Water was pumped
from the East River into massive
whale tanks in the basement. The
Barnum’s American Museum was
the light and that was the public's
point of entry to the world of the
bizarre and extraordinary.
Gothamist Sponsor
Ringling Bros. and Barnum
& Bailey Circus had its roots in
Dan Castello’s Great Circus
& Egyptian Caravan, which
was founded in Delavan,
Wisconsin, in 1867 by two
veteran circus men, Dan Castello
and William Cameron Coup.
Featuring eight camels that had
belonged to the US. Army's
experimental Camel Corps,
Castello and Coup’s circus
toured the Upper Midwest,
both overland and by boat. It
also traveled west by train
shortly after the completion of
the transcontinental railroad in
1869. In 1870 Castello and
Coup persuaded renowned
impresario P.T. Barnum to join
their venture, which reemerged
in Brooklyn, New York, on
April 10, 1871, as P-T.
Barnum’s Grand Traveling
Museum, Menagerie, Caravan
and Hippodrome. Barnum, then
age 60 and one of the most
famous people in the United
fo) so)
nD Ns |
Barnum and Bailey Cireus, Official Programme
‘on tour in Great Britain 1890
Beginnings: Castello, Coup, And Barnum
States, had already earned a
considerable reputation by
satisfying, the public’s hunger
for spectacle with _his
American Museum in New
York City, mixing exoticized
reality with fantastic
fabrications.Coup contributed
to the growth of their circus
in general by designing a
railcar and method of end-
loading that increased the
efficiency of _ transporting
circuses by railroad. By 1872
the Barnum circus, branded
the “The Greatest Show on
Earth,” had been redesigned to
travel by train. It also
introduced the use of specially
chartered “excursion trains”
that brought people from small
towns in the area to the sites of
the circus on performance days.
Coup and Castello parted ways
with Barnum in 1875 and
started a new entrancement,
the Centennial Circus, in 1876,
