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A ringmaster or ringmistress, or sometimes a ringleader, is a significant performer in many circuses. Most often seen in traditional circuses, the ringmaster is a master of ceremonies that introduces the circus acts to the audience. In smaller circuses, the ringmaster is often the owner and artistic director of the circus.
A ringmaster introduces the various acts in a circus show and guides the audience through the experience, directing their attention to the various areas of the circus arena and helping to link the acts together while equipment is brought into and removed from the circus ring. A ringmaster may interact with some acts, especially the clown acts, to make the various acts part of a seamless circus performance. Ringmasters have become an integral part of the many circus shows and sometimes will be involved in elements of some of the acts performances.
It is traditionally the ringmaster's job to use hyperbole whenever possible while introducing the acts to enhance the expectations of the audience. Declarations of the "biggest", "most dangerous", "amazing", "spectacular" and similar expressions are common.
The traditional ringmaster costume consists of a bright tailcoat, often red with gold trim and with a waistcoat and a black top hat; occasionally with a bow tie, cravat, or stock tie. The outfit is designed to look as an 18th-century gentleman's riding habit, and often includes a whip, a relic of when the ringmaster directed the performance, not as an announcer and host, but as director of the many equestrian acts. It is generally accepted that this costume was first adopted by George Claude Lockhart on the orders of Bertram Mills in 1928, when Lockhart worked as ringmaster for his circus at Olympia, London. [1] A female circus leader is known as a ringmistress, and often wears a black skirt or leggings with knee-high black boots, and either the same style topcoat and tails as a ringmaster or a red blouse. [2]
In non-English speaking countries, the ring master is known by different titles. In France, he is called "Monsieur Loyal" after the Anselme-Pierre Loyal (1753-1826), one of the first renowned circus personalities.
The main function of a ringmaster was to direct the attention of the audience. In the days before modern lighting equipment and amplification, most acts performed mute, accompanied only by the circus' in house brass band. It was the ringmaster's loud voice that was necessary to cut through the noise, get the audiences attention and announce the next act. [3]
Norman Barrett has been noted by Guinness Word Records as holding the Guinness world record for the 'longest career as a ringmaster'. [4]
In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction.
Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object or many objects at the same time, most often using one or two hands but also possible with feet. Jugglers often refer to the objects they juggle as props. The most common props are balls, clubs, or rings. Some jugglers use more dramatic objects such as knives, fire torches or chainsaws. The term juggling can also commonly refer to other prop-based manipulation skills, such as diabolo, plate spinning, devil sticks, poi, cigar boxes, contact juggling, hooping, yo-yo, and hat manipulation.
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, unicyclists, as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term circus also describes the performance which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus. In 1768, Astley, a skilled equestrian, began performing exhibitions of trick horse riding in an open field called Ha'Penny Hatch on the south side of the Thames River. In 1770, he hired acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers and a clown to fill in the pauses between the equestrian demonstrations and thus chanced on the format which was later named a "circus". Performances developed significantly over the next fifty years, with large-scale theatrical battle reenactments becoming a significant feature. The traditional format, in which a ringmaster introduces a variety of choreographed acts set to music, developed in the latter part of the 19th century and remained the dominant format until the 1970s.
Clowns have always been an integral part of the circus, offering a source of amusement for patrons and providing relief from the array of animal acts and performances by acrobats and novelty artistes.
Circus music is any sort of music that is played to accompany a circus, and also music written that emulates its general style. Popular music would also often get arranged for the circus band, as well as waltzes, foxtrots and other dances.
The Ringmaster is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The best known Ringmaster in the Marvel Universe is Maynard Tiboldt who debuted in Hulk #3, and is the leader of the Circus of Crime.
Berserk! is a 1967 British horror-thriller film starring Joan Crawford, Ty Hardin, Diana Dors and Judy Geeson in a macabre mother-daughter tale about a circus plagued with murders. The screenplay was written by Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel, and the film directed by Jim O'Connolly. Berserk! marks Crawford's second-to-last big-screen appearance.
Love is a 2006 theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil which combines the re-produced and re-imagined music of the Beatles with an interpretive, circus-based artistic and athletic stage performance. The show plays at a specially built theatre at the Mirage in Las Vegas.
La Carpa García, known in English as the García Brothers Show, was a Mexican American carpa that was active from 1914 – 1947. Carpa García consisted of performers from several families, including Manuel V. and Teresa García, Manolo and Florinda García, Raymond and Virginia García, Rodolfo García, Consuelo and Pilár García, Esther García Robinson, Esperanza,, and Aida García Castro and husband, Alfredo. Teresa García also had three talented children, Rafael, Juan, and Gilberta, from her previous marriage.
Nouvelle Expérience was Cirque du Soleil's fourth touring circus show, which premiered in 1990.
George William Lockhart was a Victorian era elephant trainer. His original group of three elephants, Boney, Molly and Waddy, toured Great Britain's music hall scene, as well as Europe, and is reported to have appeared "500 times" at Proctor's Pleasure Palace in New York City in 1895. He is also known for his death in an elephant stampede that made two of his new elephants, Salt and Sauce, infamous until their deaths in 1952 and 1960, respectively.
George Claude Lockhart (1885–1979) was the first ringmaster to wear the "pink" hunter tails and top hat, and was referred to in his World's Fair obituary as "The Doyen of Ringmasters". He was best known for being the ringmaster of the International Circus at Belle Vue, Manchester, England, and Blackpool Tower Circus.
The Unifics were an American soul group from Washington, D.C..
"Circus" is a song by American singer Britney Spears. It was released on December 2, 2008, through Jive Records as the second single, following "Womanizer" (2008), from her sixth album, Circus (2008). Written by Dr. Luke, Claude Kelly and Benny Blanco, "Circus" is a metaphor for the public's perception of Spears' life. After she listened to the track for the first time, she felt inspired to create an album and a tour with a circus theme. "Circus" is an uptempo electropop and dance-pop song with elements of pop rock and "half-rapped" vocals. The song's lyrics talk about being an entertainer and putting on shows.
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with intersex variations, those with extraordinary diseases and conditions, and others with performances expected to be shocking to viewers. Heavily tattooed or pierced people have sometimes been seen in freak shows, as have attention-getting physical performers such as fire-eating and sword-swallowing acts.
The Florida State University "Flying High" Circus is an extra-curricular activity under FSU's Division of Student Affairs. Located in Tallahassee, Florida, it is one of two such collegiate circuses in the United States along with Illinois State University's Gamma Phi Circus. All members of the FSU Circus are required to be a degree-seeking student registered at Florida State University.
Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It is to be distinguished from paranormal magic which are effects claimed to be created through supernatural means. It is one of the oldest performing arts in the world.
Caravan is a Canadian children's television series which aired on CBC Television from 1960 to 1962.
Barnum's Kaleidoscape was an American circus staged by Feld Entertainment, the owners of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, at a start-up cost of $10 million. It ran for one season, 1999–2000. Inspired by both European traditions and the contemporary circus movement, it was the first Ringling show to be held under a tent since 1956 and also its first one-ring presentation in more than a century. The tent was carpeted with wood flooring and amenities to create an intimate setting with seating for 1,800 on cushioned seats and sofas and no one further than 50 feet from the circus ring. Besides traditional circus fare like popcorn upscale items such as cappuccino and veggie wraps were offered. The show consisted of 62 performers, 54 crew members, 8 horses and 27 geese, with 50 trucks involved in moving it from site to site.
Contemporary circus is a genre of performing arts developed in the late 20th century in which a story or theme is conveyed through traditional circus skills.
