Barnum & Bailey Circus History
Businessman P.T. Barnum got into the circus business at age 61 with P.T Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome. His only serious competition came from James Bailey's Cooper and Bailey Circus.
The 1881 merger of the two shows established an entertainment powerhouse. Sold to the Ringling Bros. in 1906, the dynasty of Barnum & Bailey is still touring as "The Greatest Show on Earth."
P. T Barnum
P.T. Barnum was born July 5, 1810. In his early life, he was a shopkeeper, businessman and publisher. From 1831 to 1834, he edited his own newspaper, the Herald of Freedom; because of his editorials, Barnum was sued several times and served jail time on a libel charge.
Though Barnum didn't become officially involved with a circus until late in his life, he had a career in amusements and oddities before that. For his first touring show, he purchased a slave, Joice Heth, and passed her off as the oldest woman in the world.
In 1842, Barnum bought Scudders American Museum in New York City, which he dubbed Barnum's American Museum, and in 1860, famous Siamese twins Chang and Eng appeared exclusively at Barnum's museum after a lengthy period of retirement.
In 1871, Barnum and William Cameron Coup introduced P.T Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome, which declared itself "the Greatest Show on Earth."
James Bailey
Bailey, born James Anthony McGuinness in 1847, was orphaned at a young age and was a bellhop in Pontiac, Mich., when he was hired as an assistant to Fred Harrison Bailey, a nephew of circus pioneer Hachaliah Bailey, as a teenager. By the 1860s, Bailey was managing the Cooper and Bailey Circus with James E. Cooper.
Bailey's show featured an electric light in 1879, the year before it was patented by Thomas Edison.
Barnum & Bailey
In 1881, Barnum's show took on Bailey and James L. Hutchinson as promotional partners and became known as P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth, and the Great London Circus, Sanger's Royal British Menagerie and the Grand International Allied Shows United. That was soon shortened to the Barnum & London Circus.
Barnum and Bailey went their separate ways in 1885, then reunited in 1888, and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth began to tour the country. It was the first circus to travel by railroad, via Barnum's personal train. Consequently, they could cover more ground and make more money. The circus made $400,000 in its first year.
Ringling Bros.
Barnum died in 1891, making Bailey the sole owner and operator of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. The company toured the U.S. and Europe successfully for about a decade before the fledgling Ringling brothers, hailing from Wisconsin, became serious competitors with their Ringling Bros. United Monster Shows, Great Double Circus, Royal European Menagerie, Museum, Caravan, and Congress of Trained Animals.
Bailey sold part of the company to Ringling in 1906, the year before he died. They purchased the remainder from his widow.
New Management
Ringling Bros. ran the two circuses as separate shows until 1919, when the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus played New York City's Madison Square Garden and brought in $1.7 million.
The Great Depression hindered the circus business for some time, but under new management by Irvin Feld, the show began turning a profit again in the late '60s. Feld founded the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Clown College in 1968.
1944 Hartford Fire
One of the most catastrophic fires in U.S. history was the sudden outbreak in a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus tent in Hartford, Conn., on July 6, 1944. Between 6,000 and 8,000 people were in the tent, and the fire caused a mass panic and more than 160 people were killed. Historians disagree on the exact number of injured.
Several officials with Ringling Bros. were charged with involuntary manslaughter, and the company paid almost $5 million in damages to survivors and their families.
