Under the Marquee
Under the Marquee is your best source for the latest developments in circus history! Circus history is the focus of our blog and our e-newsletter, the Advance Car. Content is curated and vetted by knowledgeable circus historians.
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Rudy Rudynoff
This poster is one of a handful that were produced in the 1920s and 30s to promote the great liberty horse trainer and performer Rudy Rudynoff (Rudy Gebhardt). Rudy Gebhardt was the son of a German acrobat and circus wardrobe mistress who grew up on various European...
Sells-Floto – 1902
In 1902 the publishers of the Denver Post newspaper, Harry Tamman and Frederick Bonfils, started a circus. They named it “The Floto Dog and Pony Show” after their well-known sportswriter Otto Floto. Four years later the newspapermen hired William Sells to manage the...
Merle Evans and Lou Jacobs – Milwaukee 1986
This photograph was taken on the Milwaukee lakefront July 12, 1986. Greg Parkinson, seen here talking to Lou Jacobs, was executive director of the Circus World Museum at the time, and had just brought 75 circus wagons on a train pulled by a steam engine to Milwaukee...
Sparks Circus – Jessica Martin
Jessica Martin was a young tightrope artist in the 1920s whose skills and beauty were no doubt the reason the Sparks Circus commissioned his gorgeous one sheet about 1928. When Jessica graduated from high school in South Philadelphia in 1923, the "class prophecy"...
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey – 1951
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Setup during filming of The Greatest Show on Earth Philadelphia - May 21, 1951 -Chris Berry
Barnum & Bailey Circus – 1903
Frozen in Time. Frederick Glasier took this terrific photo of the Barnum & Bailey trains unloading, probably in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1903. Note the detail, and this is without a telephoto lens! -Chris Berry (Original negative at The Ringling Museums in...