Greatest Show on Earth. R.I.P. 2017

Greatest Shows Ringling Bros. World's was a circus founded in Baraboo, Wisconsin, United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling brothers: Albert, August, Otto, Alfred T., Charles, John, and Henry). The Ringling brothers were sons of a German immigrant, August Frederick Rungeling, who simplified his name to Ringling once in America. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is a United States traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. The circus, known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, was 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.

On July 16, 1956, at the Heidelberg Race Track in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the circus ended its season early, with President John Ringling North announcing that it would no longer exhibit under their own portable tents (see, Big Top) and starting in 1957 would exhibit in permanent venues, such as sports stadiums and arenas that had the seating already in place. 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 has been a part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by Kenneth Feld, with its headquarters in Ellenton, Florida.

      [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringling_Bros._and_Barnum_%26_Bailey_Circus]

As a child growing up in New York City it was an annual event to go to the circus. I remember it being cold as heck. When I was dating in the 1970’s we sat in the cheap seats and enjoyed the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’. I brought my children when they were growing up. I have brought my grandchildren as well. They walked the animals from [somewhere] to Madison Square Garden. I remember the smells, the hay everywhere, and the people who got their FRESH fertilizer from the ‘Pachyderm supply ‘uncut.

There was a time when there the ‘Side Show’s where people were made spectacles. I’m not sure if it was exploitation or abuse. There was a circus family at one time and they stuck together. There were the deformed, some were cast outs because there were no institutions to help take care of them and they could not take of themselves.

They tried to change with the times. Changing the “Ring-Masters” from white males only to blacks and females. Times have changed, and we know better than to abuse animals out of their natural habitat for our own selfish pleasures.

This circus has been in business for over 130 years and now like all good [or bad] things must come to an end. When you know better, do better.

Europeans have been fascinated with spectators gathering for centuries. Public beheadings have feel out of style since then.

…Pandora