Early Circus Life
John was born in McGregor, Iowa, the fifth son in a family of seven sons and a daughter born to German immigrants, Marie Salomé Juliar and August Ringling (a farmer and harness maker). The original family name was "Ruengling". Five of those sons worked together to build a circus empire.
The Ringlings started their first show in 1870 as the "The Ringling Brothers United Monster Shows, Great Double Circus, Royal European Menagerie, Museum, Caravan, and Congress of Trained Animals", charging a penny for admission. In 1882, it was known as "The Ringling Brothers Classic and Comic Concert Company".
By 1889, the circus was large enough to travel on railroad cars, rather than animal-drawn wagons. Admission rose to 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children.
In 1905, John married Mable Burton. In 1907, the brothers bought the Barnum & Bailey circus for $400,000 and ran the two circuses as separate entities for a few years. John worked the circus with his brothers, declaring "We divided the work; but stood together." John took the advance position, traveling ahead and booking the appearances and Charles was the operating manager. The Ringling Brothers Circus was renowned for its honesty and fair-dealing
Read more about this topic: John Ringling
Famous quotes containing the words early, circus and/or life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“One key, one solution to the mysteries of the human condition, one solution to the old knots of fate, freedom, and foreknowledge, exists, the propounding, namely, of the double consciousness. A man must ride alternately on the horses of his private and public nature, as the equestrians in the circus throw themselves nimbly from horse to horse, or plant one foot on the back of one, and the other foot on the back of the other.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it, and when he can.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)