PBS did a four-hour television history of the circus (and they weren’t clowning around) …
In 2017, Hollywood released a movie that reminded people of a much earlier form of entertainment than its own movies. The movie was “The Greatest Showman,” starring Hugh Jackman as P. T. Barnum – the owner of a circus. The circus was popular in many areas of the Western world, but it seems to have been founded in England, and reached its greatest heights in the fledgling United States. The word comes from the Latin “circus,” associated with the Roman circus – a somewhat barbaric predecessor. The Roman circus saw vicious chariot races that could be violent and brutal, dramatized in movies like “Ben-Hur.” The American circus saw some risks of its own, although it seems safe to say that it was far less hazardous than its Roman counterpart. Entire towns could be shut down on the days when the circus pulled into town, because people wanted to spend their hard-earned money to attend it. People would even take their children, although they were often concerned that their children would “run away to the circus” – a metaphor for getting involved with seedy and unsavory company, and sometimes a literal statement.