The Circus World Museum

"The circus is the only ageless delight you can buy for money."
-Ernest Hemingway

Northwest of Madison, in Baraboo, is the Circus World Museum. It was highly recommended by some Wisconsians we met in Dubuque, Iowa a few months ago. The museum is a huge collection of circus paraphernalia, and does an excellent job of educating visitors on the history of the circus. There was so much to learn (like the fact that the first circus in America was performed in Philadelphia in 1793), it would be impossible to convey it all here. So here are some highlights...

The museum is on the grounds of the old winter quarters for the Ringling Brothers Circus, founded in 1884. During the summer, the museum holds outdoor activities and performances. Unfortunately we arrived after the season was over, but there was still lots to see - with about 30 permanent structures, original wagons (from American, English, and Irish circuses), posters, costumes, hand bills, and more.

A group of character-topped garbage cans stowed away for the season.

One of the thousands of posters in the museum.

The museum housed hundreds of elaborate costumes and sets. I sometimes thought we were in Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World!

Former Baggage Horse Barn

Former Animal House

Circus Stock Car #349

• Traveled with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for 30+ years.
• 72 feet long; carried 30 performing horses.

Circuses often brought elaborately decorated horse-drawn carriages with them to use in the lavish street parades used to bring business to their show. The Circus World Museum has the world's largest collection of these show vehicles (over 200), and a workshop to carefully research and restore the carriages to their original condition.

The hodgepodge of train cars and elaborate parade carts were tucked in every nook and cranny of the building. Some carts were restored to their original beauty, while others were awaiting their makeovers. It was an endless discovery of history on wheels!

The two photographs below are of the Band Organ. It was built in Paris, France in 1905 and brought to the U.S. in 1910 for a Kansas carnival company. For over 40 years, the organ was stored in a Kansas barn, waiting to be found. Luckily, it was found and restored for the 1956 Royal American Shows.

It weighs 6 tons and can produce the sound of an 80 piece band with its 367 wooden and metal pipes, two drums, a cymbal and a 17 bar glockenspiel. To read about what the heck a glockenspiel is, read here.

Norris & Rowe Circus was based out of California, and began as a dog and pony show. It grew to a 23 car railroad circus, but couldn't afford the street parades of their competitors, and it closed in 1910. The Circus World Museum has the Norris & Rowe Bandwagon #22, known as Tally-Ho #22.

It is 11 feet, 7 inches long; 6 feet, 2 inches wide; 7 feet high; and weighs 1200 pounds.

A model train displaying the numerous cars needed to transport the circus.

Another fascinating part of the museum was this model of the circus. (Please pardon the unusual quality of the photos. The model is behind glass and the lighting is poor.)

The model's plaque reads:

The purpose of this display is to show the railroad circus of recent decades. They are now gone from the American scene, replaced by truck circuses, although smaller in size, are presenting wonderful performances.

As you look at this miniature circus it is difficult to comprehend that shows of this size moved from town to town on daily schedules, made up of 1000 or more people, hundreds of horses, elephants and wild animals, traveling 12-15,000 miles all over the country in one season.

It was designed and built by John Zweifel of Evanston, Illinois. He has been building circus models since he was 6 years old. This model took over 8 years to build and has over 30,000 pieces. While the animated parts were not operable during our visit, there are over 40 electric motors and a system of gear reduction. By the way, the exhibit is valued at over a quarter of a million dollars.

Read more fun facts about the model here.

Did you know that there are 3 types of clowns?

1. CHARACTER - grew out of the carpet clown now often seen as the tramp or hobo clown, which might be the only indigenous American clown. The character clown makes fun of different features of the human face such as beards, whiskers, warts, large noses, bald heads and strange haircuts. The tramp clown owes much of his inspiration to Charlie Chaplin's "Little Tramp."
   
2. WHITEFACE - the oldest clown. All white, including the neck and ears, the facial features (eyebrows, nose and mouth) are painted on in black, red or blue. If their painted features are of a natural size, they are called "neat" whiteface. If their features are oversized or exaggerated, the clowns are called "grotesque" whiteface.
3. AUGUSTE - stumbles, performs pratfalls, slaps and gets slapped and is the butt of all jokes and is known as the comic of comics. Pronounced "oh Goost" they are recognized by their oversized shoes, bulbous red nose, wigs of bright colors, and mismatched, oversized clothing. The Auguste may leave most of his natural skin color showing or use a pink or red base instead of white. Their features are painted on in black and red. His lower lip and eyes may be outlined in white to exaggerate facial expressions.

James Coffey - The Skinniest Man
He was of average height, but never weighed more than 70 lbs.

Jane Campbell - The World's Fattest Lady
Also called "the Connecticut Giantess."
She weighed 628 pounds when she was 18, and got paid weekly at 50 cents per pound.

We had a great time!