John and Mabel Ringling Museum
Sarasota, Florida
It’s summertime and this year the living has been more muggy than easy. It seems like a good time to think about the circus, but don’t ask me to explain my logic. As I have written elsewhere on this blog, the circus, professional baseball, and vaudeville were the first forms of American popular culture. People didn’t or couldn’t travel very far from home until well into the 20th century, so the circus came to them.
It was truly “lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!” Imagine rural America, which was most of it until after 1920. There were backwater towns in which the most exciting thing was the sound of a train whistle. Now imagine the circus arriving at a local train station and unloading fancy wagons, some of which contained exotic animals. As roustabouts hurriedly erected tent cities at the fairgrounds, a giant parade as much a mile long snaked through the town. What gawker would not wish to see the animals, acrobats, clowns, and sideshows? As late as the early 1960s the arrival of the circus thrilled kids like me in my medium-sized Pennsylvania town.
My adult self understands how cruel circuses were to animals and “freak show” attractions, but I confess a lifelong fascination with three-ring circuses. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit three of the best repositories of circus memorabilia in America. Baraboo, Wisconsin, used to be the granddaddy of all. From 1884-1918 it was the winter home of the Ringling Brothers circus. For a time it in consolidation with Barnum & Bailey was the “Greatest Show on Earth.” I visited Baraboo back in the 1980s, aka/the age of film photography so I have no digital images to post, but Baraboo’s collection of circus wagons was second to none, as was its poster gallery. Both remain vivid in my memory.
Baraboo is still open but it closed for a time in the 21st century and came back as Circus World Museum. I’ve not been there but I’ve heard it’s not the same, though there is a Bigtop where you can see some live acts. After 1917 the Ringlings briefly wintered in Bridgeport, Connecticut, before decamping to Sarasota, Florida, the subject of this travelogue. So too did other circuses, including Forepaugh, Golmer, and Sells. John Ringling deeded the property to Florida and it’s now overseen by Florida State University.
Sarasota is a huge complex whose main attraction is Ca’ d’Zan, John Ringling’s fanciful and palatial mansion. It also features a large art museum (the subject of a later piece). I wouldn’t say the Circus Museum is forgettable, but it’s certainly not the best collection of circus art in North America. It does have several restored circus wagons and an open-space culling of memorabilia, but we often find out more about the Ringlings and other entrepreneurs than the circuses and performers.
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| John Ringling's private rail car |
The foyer has a wall of colorful posters, but they are under glass and harsh lighting makes many of them hard to see. The most outstanding part of the Circus Museum is, oddly, the memorabilia linked to its star acts. These, though, could have been better interpreted. Information is given but (ironically) this part of the museum suffers from being too dark! You have to be of a certain age to recognize names such Clyde Beatty, Emmett Kelly, the Flying Wallendas, General Tom Thumb, or the Zacchini Brothers. I’d recommend that if you visit you jot down names of objects and people that intrigue you and look them up later.
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| The original clown car |
The centerpiece of the Circus Museum is an entire circus in
miniature created by businessman Howard Tibbals (Hartco Flooring). It’s
a combination of assemblage and handmade objects that swelled to 42,000 pieces
over 30 years–a 20th century circus in ¾ model scale. Tibbals was
handy with tools and fashioned much of the circus in his workshop, a tribute to
his skill and his obsession with the circus. It’s quite impressive, even when
the overall effect is that of a model train project on steroids. Tibbals had an
eye for detail, though, and you will come away with a sense of how awesome the
circus could be. It’s mind-boggling to consider that such a thing in reality
could roll into a town in the morning and be ready to welcome patrons in the
evening.
Stay tuned, though, for my vote for the best capture of circuses available to curious minds and kids seeking wonderment.
Rob Weir
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