Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus announced Saturday it will host its final show in May, ending “The Greatest Show on Earth” after 146 years.
Company executives cited high operating costs and declining ticket sales after the traveling American circus retired its popular elephants as reasons for drawing the curtain on a celebrated spectacle that traces its origins to politician and showman P.T. Barnum’s first show in 1871.
Animal rights groups cheered the move as a success story following decades of activism against the use of animals in the circus.
Kenneth Feld, chairman and CEO of show producer Feld Entertainment, said he and his family came to the “difficult” decision to end the circus “after much evaluation and deliberation.”
“Nearly 50 years ago, my father founded our company with the acquisition of Ringling Bros.,” he said in a statement on the group’s website.”
“The circus and its people have continually been a source of inspiration and joy to my family and me, which is why this was such a tough business decision to make.”
The group has a total of 30 stops scheduled on its 2017 tour.
The final “Circus XTREME” show will take place at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island on May 7, while the group’s “Out Of This World” tour will take place May 21 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
Although Barnum’s first show took place decades before, it was not until 1919 that a group started by five Wisconsin brothers, Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows, merged with Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth.
While the Ringling brothers had been better known for traditional circus fare, Barnum was dubbed the “Prince of Humbugs,” known as a shameless promoter of incredible hoaxes, freak shows and zoological curiosities.
One such object was the Fiji mermaid, or Feejee mermaid, which was in fact no less than the head and torso of a monkey sewn to the body and tail of a fish.
Barnum launched his traveling circus after fires destroyed his Barnum’s American Museum. Two whales were boiled alive in their tanks during one of the fires.
In 1881, Barnum teamed up with James Bailey to run their “Greatest Show on Earth,” making a fortune along the way.
