The Big Attraction: The Circus Elephant and American Culture

Abstract

A little over two centuries ago, when first elephant was brought to America, it was received with awe and excitement. The public quickly developed admiration for beast, which prompted men of means to import more. The reason for such keen human interest in elephant has been ascribed by Richard Carrington to the size, strength and freakish appearance of beast. In 1951, British circus historian Anthony Hippisley Coxe wrote of American circus history, Americans, with their inherent desire to possess biggest of everything, were showing an almost idolatrous respect for elephant. They even went so far as to judge importance of a circus by number of these animals instead of number of horses in (29). Hippisley Coxe's incredulity that Americans would so crudely discount importance of horse led him to conclude American desire to own and see elephants was based in an obsession with size. This is an overly simplistic view of both elephant and American culture. It is irrefutable that elephants in eighteenth and nineteenth century were promoted on premise that each menagerie and circus owned the largest elephant in world, but elephant has always had both a greater significance and deeper meaning in American culture than mere bulk could engender. It was because of its unique combination of size, unusual appearance, and intelligence that elephant contributed to development of American circus; without elephants in circus history, American circus would look quite different today. Even though elephant is not indigenous to American soil, it has been in America serving as an entertainment, an educational exhibit, and a patriotic symbol for nearly as long as America has been an independent nation. The American circus is a direct descendant of British circus of mid-eighteenth century. Because British circus grew out of military equestrian tradition, horse was its defining animal; in beginning, it was American circus's as well. In order to understand shift in focus from horse to elephant, we must first examine roots of American circus. British Precursors to American Circus During Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, French observed that British soldiers were forever jumping, prancing, and making showy moves that at most entertained tactically superior French forces: Your horses, said a French cavalry commander, General Excelmann, to a British officer, are finest in world and your men ride better than any continental soldier. With such material English cavalry ought to have done more.... The great deficiency is in your officers who seem to be impressed by conviction that they can dash or ride over everything, as if art of war were precisely same as art of foxhunting. (Trench 159-60) The British were also noted for their fondness for speed and their ability to ride at potentially breakneck pace. It seems that British riding style was, ultimately, more suited to performing ring of equestrian show than to demands of battle. In 1768, Philip Astley, a British ex-cavalry man and bona fide war hero (he had once leapt on horseback to capture French colors in battle) began to work with two horses in a field near Lambeth, along with two fifers for musical accompaniment and his wife, whose duty it was to beat drum and pass hat. There he performed acts of voltige and trick riding in a ring, centrifugal force of circle aiding him in keeping his balance. In 1770, he opened new British Riding School, where the seats around ring were all covered with a pent roof, while toward road, a twostory wooden structure served as an entrance. By 1780, Astley identified his entertainment business as a circus. Astley's New Circus, on outskirts of London near Westminster Bridge and Sadler's Wells, was entirely roofed over and contained tumbling, rope dancing, Chinese shadows, clowns, and freaks. …