Ringmaster of Cà d’Zan

James D. Priest

This is the third article in my series on the circus and its performers. This account is published a number of years after our trip to Sarasota.

As I write this, on the desk beside me is a ticket to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Featured prominently on the ticket is Michelangelo’s renowned statue of David.

Museum of Art? Ringling? Might that be the Ringling of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, The Greatest Show On Earth? In fact it is, and in writing this monograph, I am fulfilling a unique request. That I must explain.

My wife Ilka and I recently returned from Sarasota, Florida. It is a fascinating city and the circus capital of the world. In 1927, J...

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