35 Photos of What Circus Life Looked Like During the Golden Age of Big Tops (2025)

35 Photos of What Circus Life Looked Like During the Golden Age of Big Tops 1 Lou Dufour Circus Elephant Show 2 A clown acts out a routine with another circus performer dressed in a lion suit 3 Trainer Walter McClain works with his elephants at the Ringling Circus 4 An elephant is hoisted with pulleys off a ship and onto the dock below 5 Portrait of Circus Performers 6 A trainer works with a camel at a circus 7 Clown Felix Adler 8 Clown Emmett Kelly Tramp 9 Alzanas Highwire performers 10 Strongman circus performer Alexander Marshal lifts two women holding onto a steel pull gripped in his teeth 11 Coles Bros. Circus Circa 12 Johnny J. Jones Oriental and European Circus 13 Lou Dufour Circus Lion and Tiger Show 14 High wire artistes The Wallendas performing death defying feats for crowds 15 Circus artist Fred Lony of Latvia balancing 22 chairs, each weighing nine pounds, between his teeth 16 The Ghezzis, a comedy acrobatic team, perform at the Bertram Mills Circus at Olympia, London 17 An elephant from Earl's Court Circus with a man in its mouth 18 Under the spotlight in a circus ring two elephants balance on their hind legs 19 The Flying Wallendas perfect their tightrope walking routine 20 A female lion tamer works with a group of lions from the Bertram Mills Touring Circus 21 The area directly behind the circus tent where performers prepared for and staged their entrances through the “back door” came to be known as the “backyard" 22 Three women brave enough to be part of the show work with Trainer Walter McClain and his elephants 23 The crew of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus works to raise the big tent for the final show of the season 24 Children gather around to look at a circus lion housed in its cage before the start of the show 25 A trainer works with a leopard to perform tricks for circus audiences 26 Clowns Albert "Flo" White, left, and Gene Lewis from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus pose for the camera 27 The Ringling Bros ringmaster preparing the tent 28 A woman brushes the teeth of a circus hippo while on a break 29 Olga the lion tamer 30 A brave daredevil in the spotlight walks the tightrope for an audience of circus attendees 31 Family members of the Otaris aerial troupe balance upside down on a high-wire 32 Ringling Brothers Parade, New York City 33 Contortionist Salm the "elastic wonder of the world" sits atop a flower vase 34 Two of Barnum & Bailey's most popular performers, circus giant George Anger and Pygmie Klik-Ko 35 A clown from Hanneford's Canadian Circus shows off his "big pants." References