Grubby little secrets behind ‘good, clean family circus fun’

DESPITE 146 years of promising only good, clean family fun in the greatest show on earth, doubts over animal treatment behind the scenes have folded the big top on Ringling Bros Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Albinos George and Willie Muse were frequently exhibited as Eko and Iko, dubbed the Sheep-Headed Men in the Great American Shows circus.

DESPITE 146 years of promising only good, clean family fun in the greatest show on earth, doubts over animal treatment behind the scenes have folded the big top on Ringling Bros Barnum and Bailey Circus.

The demise of the travelling show founded in May 1884 by five sons of a German-born harness-maker and his French-German wife dates to video footage of elephant handling filmed by circus staff from 1992.

Although Ringling was awarded $25 million in two court judgments that found against US animal rights groups alleging elephant mistreatment, continued protests by animal rights activists forced Feld Entertainment, owners since 1967, to retire their elephants last year. As rail transport costs rose while crowds dwindled, boss Kenneth Feld announced the circus would close forever after a final show at Uniondale, New York, on May 21.

Ringling Bros’ promise of “good, clean fun” has been questioned before, when the mother of a double act billed as “Darwin’s Missing Links” or “Nature’s Greatest Mistakes” staged a daring rescue at Roanoke, Virginia. In October 1927, the circus rolled in with four locomotives, 100 railcars, five rings, six stages, elephants, highwire acts and 1600 performers, including brothers George and Willie Muse, famed as “Eko and Iko, sheepheaded cannibals from Ecuador”. Ringling brother John, then listed as the fifth wealthiest man in the US, told newspapers he had found them floating off the Madagascar coast.

The Ringling Brother, who founded Ringling Bros Circus

The Ringlings, who acquired Barnum Circus in 1907, opened their small circus on May 19, 1884 in their hometown, Baraboo. Charles, born in 1863, played musical accompaniments and did acrobatic stunts for the event.

Older brothers Albert (1852), Otto (1858) and Alfred (1861) performed juggling and acrobatic stunts and managed finances. Younger brother John (1866) played the clown, while Henry (1869) joined in 1886, and Gus (1854) in 1889. Alf wrote in 1900 that five brothers had been on Mississippi docks in about 1870 as a circus was unloaded from a side-wheel steamboat, inspiring Al to practise as a juggler and balancer. As their father’s business floundered, in 1873 Al performed as a juggler and tightrope walker with smaller circuses.

Alf and Charles helped in the family harness shop while learning coronet, trombone and violin. John learned althorn. Alf and Charles joined Al and four other performers in the Ringling Brothers Classic and Comic Concert Company debut before 50 people at Mazomanie, Wisconsin, on November 27, 1882. Competitor Phineas Taylor Barnum, who opened in 1871, in April had introduced Jumbo, bought from London’s Regent’s Park Zoo for $10,000. Aged 20, the African elephant weighed about 6.5 tonnes and stood almost 4m. The purchase aggravated Queen Victoria and her subjects, who considered Jumbo a national treasure.

Jumbo, the elephant from London’s Regent’s Park Zoo, was sold to US showman Phineas Taylor Barnum for his circus in 1871.

Aborigines Prince Roland Bonaparte Billy, Little Toby, and Jenny, three of nine stolen from Palm Island, Queensland were sold to Barnum for use as freak exhibits in his circus in 1883.

Free publicity from the outcry made Jumbo the big draw for 20 million visitors to Barnum’s circus over three years. A train struck and killed Jumbo in September 1885. Barnum had him stuffed so he could continue touring, and in 1889 donated Jumbo to a university. Barnum’s stuffed exhibits also included the mummified body of Tambo, one of nine Palm Islanders shipped to Chicago for his circus in 1883. The “Australian cannibals” performed alongside Jumbo, tossing boomerangs for a crowd of 30,000 on their first day. Only three, Jenny, Toby and Billy, survived by 1885.

The first trained elephant, Kioumi, appeared with French Franconi family’s Cirque Olympique in Paris in 1812. The first circus elephant in the US, Old Bet, met a sad end in 1816, possibly shot by a boy who heard her hide was bulletproof.

Great American Shows partner Robert Stokes discovered the Muse brothers in 1899 in a tobacco field at Truevine, Virginia. Family legend says he kidnapped the impoverished boys. Sceptics suggest their mother Harriett volunteered the albino boys, then six and nine, to a freak show because she could not afford to feed them. In late 1914 Harriett advertised to find her sons when they again vanished, likely kidnapped by James “Candy” Shelton.

With pale blue eyes and wearing wild, blond dreadlocks, the Muses appeared in “‘odditoriums” with a woman with a huge Last Supper tattoo on her back, and Mr and Mrs Tiny Mite, the Smallest Married Couple. Although black people could not wander showgrounds at Roanoke, 50km from Truevine, without risk of arrest, Harriett waited at the back of the crowd. But the brothers spotted her. “Look! There’s our dear old mother,” George cried. “She’s not dead.” They rushed down into Harriett’s arms. Confronted by Shelton, she insisted “They are my children. Can’t no white man birth two coloured children.”

Eight police converged on them, along with Ringling executives who reminded Harriett the Ringlings were powerful and “had the ear of presidents”. Police told Shelton the Muses were free to leave with their mother. Harriet then sued Ringling Bros Circus, winning her sons backpay and a fair share of future earnings.

Originally published as Grubby little secrets behind ‘good, clean family circus fun’