Greatest Show on Earth

- Greatest Show on Earth

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. The Ringling Brothers advertised their circus as the Ringling Brothers World's Greatest Shows; Barnum and Bailey had The Greatest Show on Earth.

On this date in 1919, the two entities combined to form the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, aka The Greatest Show on Earth.

The show debuted at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Five Ringling brothers had started a circus 35 years earlier; it became so popular that they were able to buy out Barnum and Bailey's circus in 1907. They ran the two shows separately until it became clear that merging the two would make both more successful.

Quote: "If I shoot at the sun I may hit a star." — P.T. Barnum

If you're in the Sarasota, Florida area be sure to see the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Plan on spending the day. In addition to the Museum of Art you can tour John & Mable's Palatial home (Ca d'Zan Mansion),
the Circus Museums, and tour the Grounds and Gardens. For more info see
http://www.ringling.org/


Richard

Been There

Been their, done that, got the t-shirt.

MULTIZ321 said:

If you're in the Sarasota, Florida area be sure to see the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Plan on spending the day. In addition to the Museum of Art you can tour John & Mable's Palatial home (Ca d'Zan Mansion), the Circus Museums, and tour the Grounds and Gardens. For more info see http://www.ringling.org/

Click to expand...

Wow, what a coincidence! I was there this past week and just now finished uploading a few pics for the POTD thread! The miniature circus that Howard Tibbals has built is honestly one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. We toured the display for over an hour and still didn't see everything, and I could have easily taken 500 pictures more. This one is the center ring:

detail of Ca d'Zan Mansion: