100th Birth Anniversary of John Ringling 2.5.1966

This stamp was released on 2.5.1966 at Delavan, WI to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of John Ringling and to honor the American Circus industry. John Nicholas Ringling (May 31, 1866 – December 2, 1936) is the most well-known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Brothers Circus to create a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the circus into what it is today. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1987. Let me give you a brief about the Ringling Brothers. The Ringling Brothers Circus was a circus founded in the United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling Brothers: Albert (1852–1916), August (1854–1907), Otto (1858–1911), Alfred T. (1862–1919), Charles (1863–1926), John (1866–1936), and Henry (1869–1918). In 1907 it acquired the Barnum & Bailey Circus, merging them in 1919 to become Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, promoted as The Greatest Show on Earth.

We all know that children love to watch fun shows like magic shows, trick shows, and other entertaining shows that we have in our local place. These places could be a movie theatre, Disney Land, giant aquariums, and other entertaining parks. But one thing that is not common to many places is the circus show.  But, what is a circus? A circus is actually known to be a traveling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals (both pet and wild), musicians, trapeze acts, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists, and other stunts oriented artists that are included in the show. 

Let me share with you my personal experiences in watching live circus shows. It was many decades ago when I was a kid, that one of the circus companies The Great Rayman Circus visited Delhi. My parents decided to buy tickets for all of us so we could watch and experience a circus. The circus company stayed in our place for a week and we watched second to the last day. The entire experience is still fresh in my mind up to now. I can still remember every detail. If I have one memory of my childhood that I can’t forget, it’s my experience of watching circus show live. It was my first time to see real lions, tigers, bears, elephants, and monkeys. Seeing those animals at my age was really a great experience for me. I love animals and that was my first time to see real wild animals, but of course they were caged for the safety of everybody. As we went inside this giant tent where the show was to be performed, my heart was really beating fast.

What I can remember circus’ are the different kind of tricks, and some of them are still being performed today like the sword swallowing tricks, fire breathing, juggling, unicyclists, tightrope walking, acrobats. My favorite used to be the trained animals. I’ve seen lions and tigers in one cage together and the trainer was giving them commands that they need to follow.  I could go on and on about the circus!

Thank you Dear Merja for this lovely cover.