Joseph Giacomo Ferari (January 4, 1868 - May 11, 1953) was a lion tamer and circus owner at Dreamland on Coney Island. [1]
Joseph Giacomo Ferari (January 4, 1868 - May 11, 1953) was a lion tamer and circus owner at Dreamland on Coney Island. [1]
He was born on January 4, or January 14, 1868, in Leeds, England. [2] He had a brother, Francis Ferari (1862–1914), also a lion tamer. [3] Joseph died on May 11, 1953, in Port Richmond, New York, on Staten Island. [1]
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term circus also describes the field of performance, training and community which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Newcastle-under-Lyme born Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus.
Topsy was a female Asian elephant who was electrocuted at Coney Island, New York, in January 1903. Born in Southeast Asia around 1875, Topsy was secretly brought into the United States soon thereafter and added to the herd of performing elephants at the Forepaugh Circus, who fraudulently advertised her as the first elephant born in the United States. During her 25 years at Forepaugh, Topsy gained a reputation as a "bad" elephant and, after killing a spectator in 1902, was sold to Coney Island's Sea Lion Park. Sea Lion was leased out at the end of the 1902 season and during the construction of the park that took its place, Luna Park, Topsy was used in publicity stunts and also involved in several well-publicized incidents, attributed to the actions of either her drunken handler or the park's new publicity-hungry owners, Frederic Thompson and Elmer "Skip" Dundy.
The Newfoundland is a large breed of working dog. They can be black, grey, brown, or black and white. However, in the Dominion of Newfoundland, before it became part of the confederation of Canada, only black and Landseer (white-and-black) coloured dogs were considered to be proper members of the breed. They were originally bred and used as working dogs for fishermen in Newfoundland.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor have run shows from 1871, with a hiatus from 2017 to 2023. They operate as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. in 1907 following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.
Dreamland was an amusement park in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, United States, which operated from 1904 to 1911. It was the last of the three original large parks built on Coney Island, along with Steeplechase Park and Luna Park. The park was between Surf Avenue to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It was arranged roughly as a horseshoe, with a pier facing south toward the Atlantic Ocean. Dreamland contained several attractions that were larger versions of those at Luna Park, and it included a human zoo, several early roller coasters, a Shoot the Chutes ride, and a replica of Venice. Dreamland also hosted entertainment and dramatic spectacles based on morality themes. Several structures, such as the Pompeiian, Electricity, and Submarine Boat buildings, were dedicated to exhibits.
Mabel Stark, whose real name was Mary Ann Haynie, was a renowned tiger trainer of the 1920s. She was referred to as one of the world's first women tiger trainers/tamers. In its belated obituary, The New York Times lauded Stark as "one of the most celebrated animal trainers in a field dominated by men."
Lion taming is the taming and training of lions, either for protection or for use in entertainment, such as the circus. The term often applies to the taming and display of lions and other big cats such as tigers, leopards, jaguars, black panthers, cheetahs, and cougars. People often use lion taming as a metaphor for any dangerous activity. Lion taming occurs in zoos around the world to enable the keepers to carry out medical procedures and feedings.
John Nicholas Ringling was an American entrepreneur who is the best known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows to create a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the modern circus. In addition to owning and managing many of the largest circuses in the United States, he was also a rancher, a real estate developer and art collector. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1987.
Clyde Beatty was a famed animal trainer, zoo owner, and circus mogul. He joined Howe's Great London Circus in 1921 as a cage boy and spent the next four decades rising to fame as one of the most famous circus performers and animal trainers in the world. Through his career, the circus impresario owned several circuses, including his own Clyde Beatty Circus from 1945 to 1956.
Chipperfield's Circus is a British family touring show, continuing a 300-year-old family business.
Al G. Barnes Circus was an American circus run by Alpheus George Barnes Stonehouse that operated from 1898 to 1938.
John Smith Clarke was a British author, newspaper editor, poet, socialist politician, and lion tamer.
Jabez Abel Bostwick was an American businessman who was a founding partner of Standard Oil.
Isaac A. Van Amburgh (1808–1865) was an American animal trainer who developed the first trained wild animal act in modern times. By introducing jungle acts into the circus, Van Amburgh paved the way for combining menageries with circuses. After that, menageries began using equestrian and clown performances in circus rings. Gradually the distinction between circus and menagerie faded.
Martini Maccomo was a lion tamer in Victorian Britain. He performed with William Manders' menagerie from around 1854 and remained the group's key attraction until his death. His act involved pursuing lions and tigers around a cage utilising whips, pistols and knuckledusters. The performances were renowned for their danger, and attacks on Maccomo by the animals were often reported on in newspapers. He was portrayed as a noble savage with stereotypical "African" dress, although he later moved away from this characterization. He was known for his coolness of nerve in the ring and his mild-mannered nature outside it. Maccomo died in Sunderland in 1871.
Ellen Eliza Blight (1833–1850), also known as Helen Bright, was an English lion tamer, known as "The Lion Queen", who was killed by a tiger while working in her uncle George Wombwell's menagerie, aged 17. Her shocking death made her a media sensation.
Mathilde Rupp, known by the stage name Tilly Bébé, was an Austrian circus performer. She was noted for her performances with large predators and is considered a pioneer in the performance aspects of lion taming. In addition to live acts, she participated in making silent films. Rupp was born in Vienna and initially trained to be a typist. Against her father's wishes, she left a position in a law firm to work with snakes in the Vienna Vivarium. She began performing with hyenas around 1897 and her father accepted her career choice, becoming her manager two years later. Bébé made appearances in many European capitals throughout her career with both lions and polar bears. She also toured South America in the 1920s. Performing into her 50s, she died in Vienna in 1932.
Francis Charles Bostock (1866–1912) was an English entrepreneur and animal trainer, who represented the touring section of the Bostock and Wombwell Menagerie. He toured Europe and America and in the latter he was known as "The Animal King". At death he was called "England's Greatest Showman".
Wirth's Circus, also known as Wirth Brothers' Circus, was Australia's largest and most prestigious circus company for eight decades. Billed as Australia's own 'Greatest show on Earth', the travelling circus held an international reputation.
Joseph G. Ferari of 209 Park Avenue, Port Richmond, S.I. a former owner and lion tamer, whose show was a Coney Island attraction thirty-five years ago, ...
He was born in England in 1862 ... Ferari is survived by his widow and a brother, Joseph G. Ferari, an animal trainer.