Authors: Janet Davis, Tiny Kline, Janet M. Davis
ISBN-13: 9780252033124, ISBN-10: 0252033124
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Date Published: June 2008
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Janet M. Davis is an associate professor of American studies and history at the University of Texas, Austin, and the author of The Circus Age: Culture and Society under the American Big Top
A glimpse of day-to-day life under the big top, from one of the circus's most remarkable performers.
1 The bend in the road 41
2 As Mrs. Private Citizen, viewing the parade 57
3 A flight on gossamer wings 62
4 In pursuit of a mirage to yesterday 75
5 A tour behind the platforms of those strange people 86
6 Destiny smiles, but not on Shmoontsie 99
7 A new leaf, a new life 105
8 Where caste is observed, according to rank and rating 117
9 Equestrian director par excellence 143
10 The awe-inspiring Mr. John 147
11 Calibrating for a career 150
12 Bareback : the aristocrat of circus acts 155
13 A backdoor glimpse of supermen and superwomen 161
14 Elephants are like people 172
15 Engineering the white city 177
16 Finding the lot - a daily headache 187
17 On the sunny side 189
18 Life under the big top : private, social, competitive 193
19 Finale of the season 196
20 Circus experience pays off 198
21 An annual season's opening 203
22 Leitzel, Queen of the Air - of the ground as well 208
23 Progress, trends, and customs typical of circus folks 214
24 On a magic carpet to a land fantastic 221
25 Back to the material world 229
26 An act is born 234
27 Circus history is made : merging "The Greatest Show on Earth" and "The World's Greatest Show," thereafter to be known as "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows" 237
28 Pride versus virtue 246
29 Misery - like death - knows no class distinction 255
30 Fate follows her course - strange, mysterious, terrifying 258
31 Sarasota - last stop 271
32 An elucidating interlude 288
33 The circus, to date (1948) 293
Epilogue The show - the public - unto the end 311
App. A Superstitions 313
Notes 315
Index 353