Avery Loves History: November 2011

The arrival of the circus is the one thing I’ve always looked forward to no matter what my age. This same excitement that I feel towards the circus has been present in the hearts of children, adults and elders living back in the years of late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Nothing in the show business could match the excitement of a circus rolling into a town. Shops closed their doors, schools cancelled classes and factories shut down all in the excitement of the circus. Families would travel in horse-drawn wagons long distances on dirt roads to reach a town where it was being held. The circus was a time in which families of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s could escape from reality, take a day off from their stress filled lives, leave behind any sort of worry they might have, spend time with loved ones and simply be entertained by the circus.

During this time period there were two major circuses, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s. These two circuses were very different from each other but equally popular in the U.S. Ringling Brothers was known for it’s 61 horse show, performers, clowns and gymnasts while Barnum & Bailey’s was known for it’s wide range of exotic animals all trained to perfect obedience which was once called an “unexcelled congress of wild beasts”. These two show businesses were in wild competition, trying to outdo the other whether that was through performances, the amount of advertisements sent out or the actual size of the show. Although these two circuses tried there hardest to be different from the other and achieved that in many ways, they still functioned the exact same way.

The circus was once described as a city within a show. The amount of labor and work it takes to set up, perform and take down a circus is incredible. The average amount of employees working for the circus was around 1,000, which consisted of average 800 men and 200 women. The nickname “the army” was given to the employees because there were so many of them. Then there were the animals. In 1893 Barnum and Bailey’s had a total of 407 horses and ponies, 2 mules, 1 giant and 1 hairless horse, 12 elephants, 4 camels and 8 dromedaries. These numbers varied from year to year depending on the income the circus made each year. They might sell some animals in order to pay the employees or buy a few exotic rarities if they had extra money. Having more and a wider variety of animals increased the popularity of the circus. Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s had the largest group and most variety of animals in the world.

Another similarity that these two circuses had between each other was the labor preformed to make the show happen. The “roustabouts” were manual laborers who every working day in Barnum and Bailey’s circus erected a total of 68,000 yards of canvas using 173,397 ft. of rope to hold it all together. In Ringling Brothers there was the cook tent in which 75 cooks cooked 3,200 meals a day for the employees using 4,000 lbs. of meat. For breakfast alone 3,600 eggs and 800lbs of mutton were used. Each circus had their own way of making their city run but in the end the similarities between them were always much greater.

The social structure in these two circuses was built upon an occupational hierarchy. Performers would sleep, eat and spend time with other performers; same with laborers, musicians and every other occupation within the circus that you could think of. It was very similar to a caste system. Workers and performers spent a great deal of their time carrying out their jobs with people in their occupation, therefore they created friendships within that occupation which only further enforced the division of labor in the circus. People of the same occupation ate together, owners, managers and performers sat on the left side of the tent while the laborers sat on the right. Sleeping arrangements indicated occupational hierarchy, the closer you were to the end of the train the higher your position it the caste system. Laborers usually slept in tightly packed bunks while owners usually had their own private bathroom and living quarters. Also laborers slept close to the occupation that they performed such as the horsemen, which slept in a narrow space above or beside the horses. Worker wages also reinforced their position in the hierarchy; the more you were paid the higher your position. The least paid workers were the laborers, which slept in the tightly packed train cars. Between the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s wages were pretty much the same, just like the majority of things between these two circuses.

The circus, known for its big top tent, exotic animals and long train cars was used as an escape from every day life for the workers of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Today I get super excited to see all the beautiful animals that the circus brings, the amazing performers with their incredibly muscular bodies and the gigantic tent that the shows are held within. I know that the people living back in the day had the same exact feeling that I have today. The circus will always be a symbol for excitement, entertainment and escape for people living in America.