Animal Stars of the Circus

Since the rebirth of the circus in Great Britain was begun as an equestrian show, it is no surprise than many animal species have long been the stars of the animal world. At first, the horse was supreme. Horse acts continued right through to the modern age.

But, along with clowns and acrobats, animals acts were added to entertain the audience between equestrian feats. And, before the exotic animals became a feature of the circus (the elephant was first brought to the United States in 1794), dogs, pigs and bears were pressed into service as acts. Again, similar to the horse, these animals have continued to mainstays of the circus.

Almost from the first, less common animals were featured. In 1779, Philip Astley (a Serjeant-Major who set up the first circus in Great Britain after a century), put a zebra on display. Other exotics, elephants, camels, monkeys, and eventually the big cats were added to the exhibitions.

With the expansion of the European powers into Africa, the types of animals employed expanded. Wild animals, especially the big cats, became a profitable business. It was not a big jump from exhibiting the animals to including them to performances. To the acrobats, jugglers and ropedancers was now added a menagerie of animals, many of them dangerous. Of course, with the animals, came animal trainers.

Some of these animal performers became big stars. In the 1940’s Jumbo, the elephant became so popular that jumbo, meaning colossal, became part of the language.

A Circle of Dead Girls – Goodreads Giveaway

Although I planned to schedule the giveaway to hit just before the release date – March 3 – the book is available now!

So sign up for you copy on Goodreads.

The circus has come to town. Rees drives in to see a performance but sees his old nemesis, Magistrate Hanson, instead. Returning home, Rees meets up with a group of Shakers who are searching for a missing girl. Rees agrees to help search – and they find the girl’s murdered body in a field.

Pub Day for A Circle of Dead Girls

But the publication day last Friday was in Great Britain. Publication of the new Will Rees in the United States does not occur until the beginning of March.

The circus is coming to town. Although primitive by our standards – the circus would not even have had a canvas big top – in 1800 where entertainment options were few, the circus would have been huge. No trapeze artists, but there would be a high wire act, a clown, maybe a magician and also animal acts. Not lions or even elephants, but the more common animals such as horses, dogs, and pigs.

Who could blame the children from being excited – even the children living with the Shakers. Sadly, only the boys would be allowed inside, and the men, as women were not permitted to view such frivolity.

Circuses also provided a haven for refugees. This was only 7 years after the French Revolution and Napoleon was marching across Europe with his armies.

Of tightrope walkers and more

One of the main characters in A Circle of Dead Girlsis a tightrope walker, Called rope dancers, the tightrope walkers have been a feature of the circuses for centuries. The Romans called them funambulists.

My rope dancer is nicknamed Bambola, a name that I borrowed from a famous Italian tightrope walker. These aerialists have always been popular acts. I imagine the excitement in a small farming community at seeing this act would have been high.

Many of the rope dancers were women but not all. In fact, as the circuses traveled around, dynasties that were known for aerial acts formed and became famous in their own right.

Will Rees and others in the audience of that time would not have seen an act that became arguably the most popular of all: the trapeze artists. The trapeze was developed from the tightrope; more accurately from a slack rope that the artist then hung from. The first tricks were done from a static trapeze; a rope that hung without moving. The flying trapeze was not invented until the mid-1800s by a young aerialist: Jules Leotard. He invented it by practicing over his father’s swimming pool.

For many decades, the flying trapeze was one of these most popular acts ever.

Circus acrobats

Acrobats are another piece of the circus story that has a long history. The first known depictions of acrobats jugglers appeared about 5000 years ago, in Egypt, in the early dynastic period (3000 B.C.). The Egyptians developed a strong tradition of these arts and later taught them to the Greeks. They in turn taught the arts to the Romans.

The Romans spread them throughout their Empire via itinerant troupes of performers.

Acrobatics rose independently in China.

Although the earliest performances had religious overtones, the entertainers soon realized the audiences enjoyed the performances as entertainment. This created tension with the religious powers, culminating in the Middle Ages who accused the performers of being in league with the devil. During the Reformation in England during the 1660s, all such forms of frivolity was forbidden.