...The circus is in town, and I’m thinking of running away with it again. Not that I ever really ran away with the circus before, but I’ve certainly thought about it. I love the circus! I’m one of those “children of all ages” the ring-master is always shouting about. I love the animals, the clowns, the spangles, the glitter, the smell of popcorn, and I’ve almost forgiven the circus for moving indoors.
...It’s genetic, I think. The circus is in our blood. It’s been part of our national tradition since colonial days. Some great names are part of American circus history, names like Brother “Buffalo” Bill Cody with his Wild West Show and P. T. Barnum, “the Prince of Humbugs,” with his human oddities and spectacular shows. The circus in America didn’t really come into its own, however, until it attracted the attention of one of the most remarkable Masonic families --- the Ringlings of Baraboo, Wisconsin.
...Brother August Ringling, Sr., and his seven sons were all Master Masons in Baraboo Lodge No. 34. The stories of the family and their wonderful show fill many books. One biographer said this of the seven sons: “Their father’s character must have left its imprint --- thoroughness of execution, honesty of purpose, and devotion to an ideal --- which resulted eventually in The Greatest Show on Earth.” Sounds about right to me.
...The devoted sons were Brothers Al, Gus, Otto, Alf T., Charley, John, and Henry, and, for nearly 80 years, they carried shows by wagon, truck, and rail to the far corners of North America. It was their circus I first wanted to run away with. I was about five or so at the time. Our family home was located on a hill overlooking a small valley. Down the valley ran the tracks of the Omaha Belt Line Railroad. One day, as I stood watching from the front porch, three or four long, gaudy trains were spotted unloading on the tracks below the house. Before the morning sun was halfway to meridian, an entire city of canvas had blossomed in the little valley. It was the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Greatest Show on Earth! When you were five, life didn’t get any better!
...By the time I was 11, I had read a book called Toby Tyler. It was all about a kid who ran away and joined the circus. It was high adventure, and I decided the next time the circus came to town, I’d follow Toby’s example. Except I’d get a better name. I knew I couldn’t use my own, of course. They’d find me. So, after much thought, I settled on either Dirk Daring or Marvo the Magnificent. I didn’t have an act but, hey, this was still pretty complex thinking for an 11-year-old.
...My family loves the circus. We were never a circus family, you understand, but we had friends. One friend was a clown with Ringling. Another married a sister of a friend of the great clown, Emmett Kelly. That sort of thing. I’m not really sure what it is that attracts us to the circus today. You get better special effects in any Lethal Weapon movie, funnier comedians on the evening news, and more animals on the Animal Planet or Discovery channels. But it’s not the same.
...Not long ago, the Ringling people put a circus back under the Big Top. They hadn’t trouped under canvas since July 16, 1956. The new circus is only one ring --- called Barnum’s Kalideoscape --- but it is a real circus. If it comes to your town, do not miss it. More than 200 years of circus history are treated with respect and love in that big tent. It’s simply wonderful.
So, the next time the circus, any circus, is in your town, remember its strong Masonic tradition through the Ringling Brothers and keep an eye out for me as Brother Dirk Daring or Marvo the Magnificent. I’ll be performing some to-be-determined act of desperate, incredible, impossible-to-describe daring. I may even autograph your program and say, as the ringmaster does, “May all your days be circus days!”