Ringling Brothers

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth.

The company was started in 1919 when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses separately until they were finally merged in 1919. In 1957 John Ringling North changed the circus from using their own portable tents to using venues, such as sports stadiums that had the seating already in place. In 1967 Irvin Feld bought the circus, but in 1971 he sold it to Mattel. He bought it back in 1982.

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College (originally located in Venice, Florida, then relocated to Baraboo, Wisconsin and finally Sarasota, Florida) trained around 1,400 clowns in the Ringling style from 1968 to 1997.