Barnum and Bailey's
| Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus | |
|---|---|
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus's logo as of 2017
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| Origin | |
| Country | United States |
| Founder(s) |
The Ringling brothers P.T. Barnum James Anthony Bailey |
| Year founded | April 10, 1871 |
| Defunct | May 21, 2017 |
| Information | |
| Operator(s) | Feld Entertainment |
| Fate | Closed |
| Traveling show? | Yes |
| Winter quarters | Ellenton, Florida, U.S. |
| Website | www |
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor shows ran from 1871 to 2017. Known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, the circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers had purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.
After 1956 the circus no longer exhibited under their own portable "big top" tents, instead using permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas. In 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston Judge Roy Hofheinz bought the circus from the Ringling family. In 1971, the Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus to Mattel, buying it back from the toy company in 1982. Since the death of Irvin Feld in 1984, the circus had been a part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by Kenneth Feld, with its headquarters in Ellenton, Florida.
With weakening attendance and high operating costs, the circus closed on May 21, 2017 after 146 years.
Hachaliah Bailey appears to have established the first circus in the United States after he purchased an African Elephant, which he named "Old Bet", around 1806. With it as his star attraction he formed the Bailey Circus, which also included a trained dog, several pigs, a horse and four wagons. This was the impetus for what in time evolved into the Bailey component of what became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
P. T. Barnum, who as a boy had worked as a ticket seller for Hachaliah Bailey's show, had run the Barnum's American Museum from New York City since 1841 from the former Scudder's American Museum building. Besides building up the existing exhibits, Barnum brought in animals to add zoo-like elements, and a freak show. During this time, Barnum took the Museum on road tours, named "P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling American Museum". The Museum burned down in July 1865. Though Barnum attempted to re-establish the Museum at another location in the city, it too burned down in 1868, and Barnum opted to retire from the museum business.
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