When the Big Top was Big Time: Bailey in Bellevue

 For isolated, rural American audiences, the rambling circus brought the entire globe right to their doorsteps, and Bossier Parish was definitely no exception, whether the circus traveled here by flatboat, steamboat, wagons pulled by horses, mules or motorized trucks, or railroad. The circus brought equestrian acts from Europe, acrobats from Asia, and animals from Africa, though the addition of animal “menageries” were an American circus phenomenon.

“Bossier Banner-Progress,” 
23 Nov 1872

The canvas circus tents, set up on the outskirts of a town, were also an American circus innovation, originally an invention to circumvent strict entertainment laws in small towns during the time of the 18th century’s Great Awakening of religious piety in America. The tents reinforced the transient identity of the American circus as well – look for the circus in farmer’s fields, not on the stage in city theaters.

The circuses also countered religious pushback by highlighting the morality of the traveling showmen as evidenced (in the vein of the popular Horatio Alger “rags-to-riches” mythology) by their marked upward mobility. One of the namesakes of the most enduring American circus, James Bailey, of what ultimately became the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus, had been orphaned at age eight and ran away with a circus in 1860 at the age of 13 to escape his abusive older sister. In the early 1870s, James A. Bailey became a partner in a circus of which James E. Cooper was the principal owner. On November 23, 1872 the most eye-catching illustration perhaps ever to be seen until that time in the “Bossier Banner-Progress” newspaper appeared in an almost full-page ad for “A World Fair on Wheels! The Largest Show on Earth! Nothing Like it Ever Seen in Louisiana!!! Will Exhibit in Bellevue on Wednesday, November 27th, Benton, Thursday, November 28th, Jas. E Cooper’s Grand Consolidated Menagerie, Museum and Circus!” The show would be held under “Two separate tents!” and would be preceded by a parade a mile long featuring the entire menagerie in their gilded cages – except for a lion “let loose in the streets!” The illustration depicts that elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, wildebeests, ostriches, and zebra will be included, along with elegant equestrians.

“Bossier Banner-Progress”
Dec 26, 1874

By 1874, the show that came to Benton and Bellevue (and again advertised in the “Bossier Banner-Progress”) was billed as “James A Bailey & Co. Proprietors, the Largest Show on Earth: The Great Overland Show, The Great International Menageries, Museum, Aquarium, Grecian Circus and Grand Roman Hippodrome” with illustrations of various exotic animals. It noted the parade would start from the exhibition grounds and go through the principal streets in town and will be two miles in length. A “Grand Menagerie of 500 Living Wild Animals, A Museum of Mystic Marvels! An Aquarium of Deep Sea Amphibia and the Best Circus Troupe on the American Continent, Fifty Great Performers” would be appearing in two separate rings, thus presenting two grand circus performances simultaneously - for the price of one, of course!

Come visit the History Center, 2206 Beckett St. in Bossier City to find more articles and pictures of 19th and 20th century circuses. Also visit the History Center and other Bossier Parish Library branches for Summer Experience programming on the theme, “Oceans of Possibilities.” Go to www.bossierlibrary.org for Oceans of Possibilities programming. Perhaps you’ll learn that James Bailey’s Aquarium of Deep Sea Amphibia might have been an excellent example of tantalizing advertisement, but not within the oceans of factual information – there are no true marine

amphibians! Here in the History Center, on Thursday, June 23, 2022, at 6 p.m. Dr. Gary Joiner, Professor of History at LSU-Shreveport will present “The Secret Confederate Naval Base in Shreveport.” The Pages Past book club (open to all) will have a special Shark Week meeting on Monday, July 11, 2022 at 6 pm to discuss Michael Capuzzo’s book, “Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916”. Call (318) 344-8040 for more information.

Article by: Pam Carlisle