The Show Must Go On (Until It Doesn’t)

February CARLI Member Archives Collection Highlight: Illinois State University

Special Collections at Illinois State University is home to the Circus & Allied Arts Collection, which includes photographs, letters, and a pro-management petition scroll related to the 1938 strike of workers on the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. 
 
Headlines in June 1938 broadcast the news that the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was closing down in the face of a 1600-strong worker strike. This shuttering of the show came after two months of picketing organized by Ralph Whitehead of the AFL union. The main issue was that Ringling president John Ringling North had asked the workers to take a 25% pay cut for the season—most of the workers were asking for a salary of $60 per month with a $10 monthly bonus. In an address to the entire Ringling staff, Ringling North noted that the depression had cut into profits while operating costs had skyrocketed. 

The issue of opening up to union negotiations was complicated by the fact that circuses had long presented themselves as a closed community—after all, everyone on the show lived, moved, ate, and worked together—presenting at least the illusion of a common experience, even if that was not quite the reality.

Many of the circus performers had seen the labor issues differently than other workers and had publicly agreed to Ringling North’s proposed 25% pay cut (albeit to their much larger salaries). Nearly all of the performers signed a pro-management scroll (actually, they signed eight copies after the first scroll “disappeared”). This scroll has signatures of many of the greatest stars of the 1930s, including Helen Wallenda, who wrote an impassioned letter to circus fan and collector Sverre Braathen describing the strike and a meeting with union representatives. The insider-outsider dynamics of the circus are evident in Wallenda’s letter describing this meeting, held by Ralph Whitehead and other union representatives, trying to gain widespread support for the worker strike. In a portion of her letter, Wallenda recounts, "He lets men speak to us who have not the smallest idea about our beautiful profession.”

The letter shows the rift between many performers—she talks highly of management and John Ringling North—and the striking workers. She notes that most performers signed a petition (the previously referenced scroll) to take the proposed 25% wage reduction, which she felt must have been necessary to keep the Ringling Bros. Circus afloat.

Wallenda went on to tell Braathen which acts had moved on to other circuses with the shutdown of the 1938 Ringling season. Both Braathen and Wallenda shared the feeling that the men striking were ruining the circus that they loved so much, though neither indicated a particular understanding of living wages for workers. A response letter from Braathen makes it evident that he and other members of the Circus Fans Association were firmly in support of the circus management. It’s worth noting that Braathen saved carbon copies of all the letters he sent so we have both sides of the exchange—that of a top performer and a tireless fan.

Selected Images

Caption: Performer Bob Fisher (on the ground) and Alex Neuberger hold a long petition signed at Scranton, Pennsylvania, by many circus performers requesting Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to continue on the road. The petition begins with an expression of "undivided loyalty to the said Circus, our employer, above any other organization." Photograph by Sverre O. Braathen, August 6, 1938. Braathen’s photos can be viewed in the Passion for Circus digital collection.

Caption: One of the eight petitions signed in 1938 by performers on the Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Part of the Sverre O. Braathen Collection.