Life in a Three-Ring Circus: Posters and Interviews

From ringmasters to clowns, animal trainers to trapeze artists, Indiana's long association with the circus industry is highlighted in the new Indiana Historical Society publication Life in a Three-Ring Circus: Posters and Interviews. The book features full-color posters from the Society's collection and oral histories from Hoosiers who participated in life under the big top.
The Hoosier State's involvement with the circus springs from the work of two men: William Cameron Coup and Benjamin Wallace. Born in 1837 in Mount Pleasant, Indiana, Coup "perfected the technique of plastering the countryside with gaudy posters," while Wallace founded the Great Wallace Circus in Peru, Indiana, in 1884. The posters in Life in a Three-Ring Circus represent several circuses with and without Indiana ties, including: Clyde Beatty, Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers, Famous George W. Cole, Cole Brothers, Cristiani Brothers, Hagen Brothers, Hagenbeck-Wallace, Al G. Kelly and Miller Brothers, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey, and Russell Brothers.
Among the stories highlighted in the book are these of John Fugate, ringmaster, International Circus Hall of Fame; Tom Dunwoody, president, International Circus Hall of Fame; Mickey King, retired trapeze artist who was famous for her one-armed swings; Mena Ball, retired acrobat who performed in front of Hitler; Pat Kelly, circus clown and son of famous clown Emmett Kelly; Gilbert Taylor, curator of the Crispus Attucks Museum and son of a circus sideshow musician; Ruby Haag Brown, animal trainer and circus performer who was carried about in an elephant's mouth; Joyce Ferguson, retired performer and daughter of Clyde Beatty, animal trainer extraordinaire; G. G. Dawson, owner, manager, and performer in a medicine show; and Lillian Leitzel and Alfredo Codona, aerialists, who shared a tragic circus romance.

Sharon L. Smith, a free-lance writer, conducted interviews with many of the performers and also wrote a brief history of the circus in Indiana.

Stephen J. Fletcher, curator of visual collections at the Society, also contributed an overview of the circus posters.