In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake, 1794
Historical Reminiscing with Robert B. Hitchings
When the Circus Came to Norfolk, Virginia
Tiger, Tiger burning bright,
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake, 1794
Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and see the greatest show on earth. For 5 cents see the flying trapeze artist and other amazing feats! From those ticket hawkers, there was no doubt when they arrived in the Borough of Norfolk and they had arrived to a very welcoming fan club.What is a circus? A circus is a company of performers who are noted for their entertainment: clowns, magicians, trapeze artists musicians, dancers, tightrope performers, acrobats, and wild trained animals from the darkest part of Africa & Asia. They were side shows, a bearded lady, the tallest man and shortest woman, not to mention the snakes from Asia and Africa.
But who actually started the circus? Philip Astley is credited with being the "Father of the Circus". He opened his first circus in England in 1768, and this amusement caught on and spread to the United States after our revolutionary war. It was a Scotsman named John Bill Ricketts who brought the first circus to the United States on April 3, 1793, to an excited crowd in Philadelphia. It would be in Philadelphia that Ricketts would give his first circus performance. The people loved it. And in Richmond, Virginia, the Examiner newspaper of July 16, 1803, reported Monsieur Durieux would be performing a great Fire Works display, and surprisingly showing his Flying Pigeon with something unusual in its bill or beak.
During the 19thth century, the circus became the most popular attraction to stir up excitement everywhere in the USA. In the background, one could hear men yelling about popcorn, peanuts, cotton candy, crackers, apples and soda pop. And you had folks selling programs describing the different attractions. In the early years, 1830 sideshows were open all day. And, in addition to the elephants, horses, and bears, one could see a collection of paintings depicting our country’s past and our early leaders in famous battles. The circus environment had something for everybody. To a rural country, the circus brought excitement to a town but also the news of the day.
My curiosity about the circus started when I came across an advertisement promoting the circus here in Norfolk in 1837. The end of the advertisement talked about the reptile exhibit. I am not a reptile person but wondered how the circus manager Joseph E. W. Hobby in 1837 could transport his reptile exhibit in a horse drawn wagon. It was probably no easy task. They must have had wet burlap bags to keep those snakes wet and alive.
The two interesting newspaper articles in the American Beacon dated July 18, 1833, and Norfolk & Portsmouth Herald dated September 4, 1833, had advertisements featuring not only WILD BEASTS but SERPENTS from India, Africa, and New Zealand, and also large reptiles including a large rattlesnake from the United States of America. But it would be the Public Ledger of Norfolk & Portsmouth that ran an illustration of a TIGER & TIGRESS of Asia on January 12, 1810, a cold day here in Norfolk. Their location would be on Norfolk’s Church Street, at a dry-goods store owned by a Frenchman from Santo Domingo named Joseph C. Maigne. He housed the circus near Maine Street & Church St. Today that street is called St. Paul’s Blvd.
The advertisement for these tigers reads, "These curious animals were imported from Surat in Asia. When full grown, their bulk is tremendous, much superior in size to a lion. They are blood thirsty, preferring human fresh. They lurk among the bushes and pounce on their pray. They are the most powerful animal in the world. Below the advertisement reads, "The cage in which the tigers are confined is very strong. So no danger may be apprehended from this." I guess people were afraid to approach these two tigers in the winter of a dull January day in 1813.
Newspaper advertisement Images:
1. & 2. American Beacon, July 18, 1836
3. Norfolk Gazette, January 18, 1810
4. Norfolk & Portsmouth Herald, September 4, 1833
(Click images to enlarge)
As I began to write this article, I remembered the Walt Disney movie called "Toby Tyler" about a boy eight years old running away in the 1860s to join the circus. Grandma Hitchings took me to the Melrose Theatre on Colley Avenue to see this delightful movie in 1960.
As a small boy I did not like the circus! Some of the circus performers were scary. I remember going to Forman Field on Hampton Blvd when the circus came to town around 1954. I was about 4 or 5 years old and my grandfather, being a Mason and a Shriner, got free tickets. Grandma Hitching took me and we sat not far from the March of Dimes children who had afflictions, especially polio. They were all in wheel chairs. I remember the nurses in their blue capes near the wheelchairs with the white rubber handles. The kids were all dressed up in their Sunday’s best for this event.
But it was my grandmother that recalled the stories of the circus coming to Norfolk in the 1880s. The circus was a big thing for people of her generation. In the 1880s the circus brought entertainment. The circus and their menagerie of exotic animals and wagons would march down Main Street in downtown Norfolk. Everyone, young and old, was on the sidelines to cheer the performers. In those days there was not much entertainment.
Grandma Hitchings always had a story to tell about Norfolk’s entertainment in the olden days. According to her, when the circus came to Norfolk, she and her girl friends found a way to skip class to see the circus parade. They had their plans, each would write a note to be excused for the day and they forged their parent’s signature. It always worked. Once free from school, they went to the circus to see all the clowns and the side shows. The show was exciting with all the costumes and performers. It was here she saw her first contortionist and the medicine man selling his tonic called Whizzer Oil. His tonic would cure everything from insomnia to rheumatism. She described this man saying, "Step right up, get your bottle of a miracle cure. It cures everything." While the medicine man was drumming up business, another performer was on the stage lying on a flat board 12 inches from the floor and he was continuously stretching out and moving his head until his head was on the floor. After the applause and within seconds he would rewind his head back to his normal neck where it belonged. Then I heard all about the knife thrower and the sword swallowers that had their acts. What a show this must have been. And grandmother said as a child she would be careful of the gypsies that always followed the circus, reading one's palms and predicting their future. One had to be careful for the gypsies were noted for stealing small children. This was a rumor, gossip of the day, which over years had caused many hurt feelings among the Roman people.
The end of the Circus came in January 2017. The animal activist groups finally had their way. They put the circus out to pasture. Over the years they brought out the cruelty that these animals had suffered under the Big Top.
We all have opinions as to the demise of the circus. But I truly believe television helped kill the circus. On television one could see circuses all over the world. Ed Sullivan (1901-1974), the TV host and impresario, brought the famous Moscow Circus from Russia to the TV screen. Declining ticket sales was another factor that times were changing for the circus. And we cannot forget the animal rights activist groups that brought out horror stories of how animals were being treated. I remembered in the 1970s Ringling Brothers had a rare unicorn in the show. It turned out to be a goat with a horn sewn into its skull. This did not help the image of the circus. The Virginian-Pilot reported on this story. And as times change, audiences increasingly preferred other forms of entertainment.I remember the blizzard of February 1980 under the Big Top in downtown Scope when Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus was here in town. I remember excitement in the air and many residents of Tidewater had purchased tickets in advance to see the shows. When the circus arrived in Norfolk, snow was on the ground and temperatures were dropping, but the show went on.
Under the Big Top at Scope, the circus performers played to a small crowd that night. Later during the performance an announcement came on the intercom system, "The snow is heavy and the roads of Norfolk are closed." Soon the lights dimmed and the temperatures dropped. That night many people of Norfolk felt the warmth and the hand of comfort from the circus performers. Many performers went back to their dressing rooms and brought out coats and blankets for the audience. It was a night so many would remember. Many watched the second half and did not worry about the snow or going home.
Gone are the days when the only entertainment in America was the Circus. Gone are the big beautiful elephants, horses, clowns, the laughter, and the dressed up performers in their sequined sparkling clothes. And who cannot forget the human being shot out of a large cannon. That was sensational.
In May 2017 the last big circus company, Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey, folded their circus tents forever. It was an end of an era. But the circus lives in the memory of old folks like me, who remember all the sights, sounds and the excitement under the Big Top when these circuses came to town, my home town called Norfolk, Virginia.
* * * * * *
Robert B. Hitchings is a seventh generation Norfolk resident, graduating with an Associate's Degree in Biology from Old Dominion University and BA in history from Virginia Wesleyan University. During his studies he was awarded a scholarship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, England, and he was an exchange student at Brooks-Westminster College, Oxford, England. From 1999-2014 he worked as head of the Sargeant Memorial History Room at Norfolk Public Library, and since then has headed the Wallace History Room at Chesapeake Public Library. He is also the President of the Norfolk County Historical Society, and for six years was a columnist for The Virginian-Pilot. Robert may be reached at nchs.wallaceroom@gmail.com
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