Inventing Madness

The Circus

"One of my favorite and earliest memories of Port Huron occurred when I was seven years old. Mother took me to the traveling circus, 'Mabie's Menagerie & Circus.'

"I remember my mother and me walking hand in hand toward a huge tent set up in a field in the northern part of Port Huron. Even from many yards away, I could hear the trumpeting sounds of the elephants from inside the circus tent. I remember seeing men in long fancy red coats standing outside the large tent, shouting to the excited crowd about all the magnificent acts that awaited inside. 'Come one, come all, to see the largest animal in the world. He has traveled all the way from Africa. One tiny step from this giant and he will squash you as flat as a pancake! Ladies and Gentlemen, you need only ten cents to witness the most incredible animal ever to walk the Earth. Come one, come all!'

"Just before we entered the tent, we noticed a large railroad car to our left that had been converted into a giant cage. On the side of the car we read, in large red and yellow letters, 'Mabie's Menagerie & Circus.' There were two huge tigers inside the cage. A man dressed in a white uniform and a tall black hat stood right next to the cage. He held a large whip in his hand, and every few minutes he would raise the whip high in the air. He would then quickly bring down his arm, making the whip snap. The end of the whip would hit the side of the tiger cage, and the tigers would roar with fury. My mother and I stood and watched for a while, but we were careful to keep a good distance away from the cage.

"My mother purchased two tickets, and we entered the main circus tent. We took a few moments to look all around. There were three large circular rings inside the tent. In the center ring, far above our heads, men were swinging from a trapeze. In the left ring beautiful women in bright green costumes rode white horses, and one woman was even standing on the back of her horse.

"The ring on the right was full of clowns––short, tall, fat and skinny, and many with wild red hair. All of the clowns were running around, falling over each other. They would pretend to hit each other with large wooden hammers and then each would fall to the ground. Some of the clowns were covered in sawdust! Many of them were juggling or were throwing small colored pieces of paper at each other. Each clown had their face painted white with big red lips and a red nose. Most of the clowns were wearing costumes with big fluffy collars around their necks.

"A band was located just outside the center ring, and they played their brass musical instruments whenever a new act would enter one of the rings. The bleachers were painted a bright blue, and we found some good seats in front of the middle ring. The clowns, dressed in their bright colors, had left their ring, and now were walking through the bleachers selling bags of candy.

"A man wearing a red suit with long coattails and a black top hat walked into the center ring and stepped up onto a large round bright-yellow platform. Mother told me that he was known as the 'ringmaster.'

"The crowd grew quiet. The ringmaster looked around and then shouted to the audience in a clear deep voice. I remember he said something like, 'The managers of our circus have engaged, at an immense expense, the Great Scotch Giant and Giantess, Mr. and Mrs. Randall. Mr. Randall will perform his gigantic act on two matched Hanoverian cream-colored studs. Mr. Randall, the largest giant in the world and of the finest proportions in symmetry, is 7 feet 6 inches in height and measures 57 inches around his chest. The calf of his leg is 20 inches, while his arm is 18½ inches around, and he can span 13½ inches from the tip of his thumb to the end of his pinkie finger. He weighs 433 pounds. He is accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Randall, who is the most enormous giantess the world ever beheld!'

"A curtain on the side of the tent was pulled aside, and two enormous people then walked slowly into the center ring, followed by a beautiful small woman wearing a dark blue costume who led the two large cream-colored horses into the center ring. The giant and giantess then mounted the horses and rode around the ring waving to the cheering crowd.

"When they made their exit, the ringmaster began to shout to the crowd once again. 'The clowns are now selling bags of candy! In five of the bags there are slips of golden paper with the word "prize" written on it. If you buy a bag of candy that happens to contain the piece of golden paper, you will get to come down to the center ring and claim your prize! The prizes are all spectacular! Just ten cents, Ladies and Gentlemen! You have a chance at winning the prize of a lifetime!'

"I observed the manner of speaking and gesturing by the man in the red suit and top hat in the center ring while he was addressing the crowd. Everyone in the audience was focused on the ringmaster. I remember thinking that I needed to learn and practice those moves and how to project my voice so that it would sound just like his––very powerful.

"Then I turned to my mother and asked her, 'Would you buy me a bag of candy?'

"She said, 'It's just a waste of money. Remember, there are only five bags with prizes, and the chance of your getting a bag with a prize is almost zero!'

"'I really want a bag!' I said.

"'Thomas, you are not getting a bag of candy.'

"I looked around, and the benches were full of people. There must have been close to five hundred people in attendance that day. More performers were entering the three circus rings. I raised my voice loudly and said, 'Mother, I want of bag of candy, now!' She seemed to shrink away from me. I could tell she was embarrassed.

"'All right,' she said in a low whisper, 'but you had better behave after this.' She looked around and waved at a clown making his way through the bleachers selling the bags of candy. She handed the money to the clown, and he gave her a small white bag of candy. Mother shoved the bag toward me with a frown. I opened up the bag of candy, and, to my great surprise, I found a golden ticket in it!

"A clown standing nearby saw that I had discovered the golden ticket and said, 'Come with me, young man, and I'll walk you to the center ring!'

"I was just thrilled. I don't remember hesitating for one minute when the clown took my hand and led me away from my mother. We walked to the center ring, and I saw that other clowns had accompanied the other four lucky recipients of the golden tickets. The man with the red suit and top hat had the five of us stand in a line in front of him and then, one by one, he announced our prize to the audience, then held up the prize for the audience to see and to applaud, and finally handed our prize to us. I was the first in line.

"My prize was a painted wooden soldier sitting on his horse. The audience clapped with much enthusiasm when my toy was held in the air. I was thrilled. I waited for the other children to receive their prizes and, while I was waiting, looked to my left and was shocked to find a huge elephant standing in the next ring. It was the largest animal I had ever seen! I remember being very impressed with its size. I didn't realize at the time that an elephant would, one day, help make me famous.

"Years later, to further my career, I observed and studied the well-rehearsed speeches and presentations of one of the most famous circus showmen of all time, P.T. Barnum."

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