Mabel Stark with one of her tigers. Circus World, Wisconsin Historical Society.
FROM THE BANDWAGON ARCHIVES
Mabel Stark could command a ring full of tigers, but convincing publishers to tell her remarkable life story was another matter entirely.
Tiger Woman
By Kat Vecchio
Volume 67 • Number 3 • 2023 • Pages 72–83
In December 1932, at her home in El Monte, California, Mabel Stark rolled a piece of paper into her typewriter. “Dear Sir; Know [sic] doubt you will be surprised to hear from me,” began her letter to Earl Chapin May.
At the time, May made his living writing magazine and newspaper articles, but his career began in 1892 in the publicity department of the W.B Reynolds Circus. He also spent time as a circus musician, playing the cornet for the Reynolds Circus and the Ringling Bros. Circus. While he now wrote about a variety of topics, he never quite left the sawdust and canvas behind. He occasionally wrote articles about the circus and had just published the circus history book, From Rome to Ringling.
Stark already knew May, though not well. They had met almost ten years earlier, in 1923, when he had writ ten a profile of her for the sports-focused magazine, Physical Culture. More recently, their paths had crossed again while May was researching an article for Travel magazine about the Al G. Barnes Circus.
The complete article is available on Internet Archive courtesy of the Circus Historical Society.