

"That wonderful show that you can see in Madison Square Garden crisscrossed the country and ended up in San Francisco. And every place in between saw the same thing," she said.



"In the 1880s, especially, here you had this huge colossal canvas city that tracked across the country. It brought the wonders of the world to your door. You didn't have to go to Africa or Asia to see the animals."



The circus also heralded societal changes, she said. Women became performers around the turn of the 20th century (although there would be no African-American or female ringmasters until 2016).



When the circus came to town, kids dreamed of running away to join it and its ever-changing roster of stars: the sad-faced clown, Emmitt Kelly; the daredevil trapeze act, the Flying Wallendas; Gunther Gabel-Williams, blond-maned and fearless in the ring with the big cats.



The circus was so important to home-front morale that President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave Ringling Bros. special permission to use the rails during World War II.



"The circus is the only ageless delight that you can buy for money," Ernest Hemingway wrote in a three-page essay for the Ringling Bros. program in 1953. "It is the only spectacle I know, that, while you watch it, gives the quality of a truly happy dream."