Under the big top…

Ahh…the circus.  Actually, I don’t do the circus.  But the intrigue of the weird and taboo associated with the early circuses is right up my alley.  The whole don’t-dare-peek-around-the-curtain-conjoined-humans-fierce-animal circus is no more.  There is no place for it today.  That’s why I find these images so amazing, and why the idea of the circus today so wrong and downright offensive.  But I would have loved to have lived back in the day and seen some of the following scenes up close and personal…

I honestly have no idea where this image came from.  The source link I have is no good.  Please let me know if you know where this image is from!

Roswell, New Mexico. Sneaking under the circus tent (Arthur Rothstein, Farm Security Administration: 1936)

“Iron Jaw Kimball Twins, 1920s” by Frederick W. Glasier (John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art & Eakins Press Foundation)

Snake Charmer.  (Image courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Images via Flickr.)

Erma Ward, a circus trapeze artist, dangles by one hand from a ring high in a circus tent. (Image courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Images.)

A group of 20+ circus clowns in ‘Clown Alley’ posing informally while preparing for the ring. (Image courtesy of Wisconsin Historical Images.)

“Wow,” you say, “I sure would like some vintage circus photos of my own, say from the 1950’s..”  Well, ask and you shall receive…