Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
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After Bailey's death in 1906, his widow had a British organization manage the circus, but she was unhappy with their management and a year later sold the show to the Ringling Bros. In 1907, the Ringling Bros circus bought "its largest competitor" (1), the Barnum and Bailey circus; combining the two largest circuses into “practically a monopoly” for $410,000. (2)
Barnum and Bailey and the Ringling Bros officially combined their two shows (as opposed to running separate shows under one name) in 1919, launching with their first "merged show" at Madison Square Garden in New York (3). The merged show was the largest circus America had seen thus far: the main tent held 10,000 people and the show offered jobs to 1,200 employees and required 100 railroad cars to transport it. (4) In all, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey traveling circus carried "forty elephants, 600 horses, and 150 animals...housed in one-third this number of cages". (5) (6)
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Barnum and Bailey's circus purchased Ringling's shows after his death for $83,943 with the giraffes being the most expensive animal, valued at $3,000 each. (7)
1. New York Times (New York City, NY). "Ringlings Buy out Barnum and Bailey." October 23, 1907, 1. http://search.proquest.com/docview/96748981/F3EC14ED2FD84576PQ/5?accountid=6603. (January 26, 2017).
2. New York Times (New York City, NY). "The Greatest Show." March 11, 1888, 2. http://hn.bigchalk.com/hnweb/hn/do/document. (January 23, 2017).
3. Ibid, "Ringlings Buys out Barnum and Bailey."
4. Legreid, Ann M. "Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus" The 1950s in America. Hackensack: Salem, 2005. http://online.salempress.com. (January 4, 2017).
5. New York Times (New York City, NY). "The Circus Has Started" [The Circus Has Started]. March 14, 1909, 11. http://hn.bigchalk.com/hnweb/hn/do/document. (January 30, 2017).
6. New York Times (New York City, NY). "Circus Is In Town With New Wonders." March 21, 1920, 18. http://hn.bigchalk.com/hnweb/hn/do/document. (February 2, 2017).
7. Ibid, "Ringling Buys out Barnum and Bailey."
8. Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey GIF. Photograph. GIPHY. 2016. Accessed April 18, 2017. https://giphy.com/gifs/ringlingbros-elephants-ringling-bros-barnum-bailey-TZQNhQtWfRdDi.
9. E. Verdiguel. Vintage Circus. Photograph. Pinterest. 2015. https://www.pinterest.com/ericaverdiguel/vintage-black-and-white-circus/. (April 4, 2017).
10. Poster from the 1920s promoting the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. 1920. Photograph. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Barnum-and-Bailey-Circus. (February 1, 2017).
11. Elephants in a three-ring performance at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, 1970. 1970. Photograph. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ringling-Brothers. (February 1, 2017).
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