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<div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατε!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!</div><br/>
 
<div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατε!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!</div><div style="font-size:165%; border:none; margin:0; padding:.1em; color:#996666;">Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!</div><br/>
<div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:110%;"> Circopedia was originally created with the support of the [http://www.bigapplecircus.com/ Big Apple Circus],<br />and has been inspired and funded by the [http://www.sdrubin.org/ Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation].</div>
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<div style="top:+0.2em; font-size:90%;"> Circopedia was originally created with the support of the [http://www.bigapplecircus.com/ Big Apple Circus]<br />and inspired and funded by the [http://www.sdrubin.org/ Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation].</div>
 
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==In The Spotlight==
 
==In The Spotlight==
  
===GIA ERADZE===
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===JAMES WASHINGTON MYERS===
[[File:Gia_Eradze_and_Horse.jpeg|right|300px]]
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In his early youth, Gia Eradze fell in love with the circus and decided he would become an animal trainer. From then on, nothing stopped him. Not only did he become a successful animal trainer, but his rich, extravagant visual imagination led him to create extremely successful shows that helped revive the creative image of the Russian circus at home and abroad, and eventually propelled him to new heights in the Russian circus artistic hierarchy.
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Gia Giulevich Eradze was born October 3, 1979 in Tbilisi, Georgia&mdash;which was then part of the Soviet Union. His father managed a supermarket, and his mother was Rector of Economics at the Tbilisi State University. His was a well-to-do family with no connection whatsoever with the performing arts in general, and the circus in particular.  
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Jim Myers (1823-1892) was an American equestrian and circus entrepreneur who began his career in the United States, went on to perform in Great Britain and subsequently became a very successful circus impresario in Europe—where the Great American Circus he created there toured extensively, and where he even established a resident circus in Paris.
  
Yet, then as now, Tbilisi was a circus town: In 1888, the Nikitin Brothers had built a wooden circus on Golovinsky Prospect (today Rustaveli Prospect), and what was then Tiflis became their home base. From there, they created a touring circuit for which they used circus buildings they erected over the years in several other cities, including Moscow.  
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[[File:Myers_Circus.png|right|400px]]Born James Washington Myers in Providence, Rhode Island in 1823, he was apprenticed at the tender age of nine to the equestrian and showman Aaron Turner (1790-1854). Like many young performers of that period, he adopted his teacher’s name when he debuted in the ring, and was billed for a time as a bareback rider and acrobat under the name of James Turner. By 1845, however, he had reverted to his own identity and, as Jim Myers, presented equestrian scenes in the manner of Andrew Ducrow in his mentor’s circus.
  
The original Circus Nikitin’s structure was destroyed by a fire in 1911, and Tbilisi’s new circus was housed for a long time in a former factory before being rebuilt in 1939 in its present location, on a hill on the left bank of the Kura river. It is there that a young Gia Eradze fell in love with the circus&mdash;and especially with animal acts. There and then, he decided he would be an animal trainer.
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But Myers was an ambitious and enterprising young man, and in 1854, he entered a partnership with Henry P. Madigan (1815-1862), a fellow equestrian who had worked with him for Aaron Turner, and together they created the Myers & Madigan’s Railroad Circus. Myers worked as a clown in their show; he would later marry his partner’s daughter, Rose Madigan (1839-1907), a talented equestrienne in her own right, who was sixteen years his junior.
  
He enrolled in the local Amateur Circus (Youth Circus) and began training in various circus disciplines, but he quickly discovered that Amateur Circuses (and circus schools for that matter) did not teach animal training. Working with animals is something you learn hands on, working with other animal trainers in a circus.
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The Myers & Madigan Railroad Circus, which was one of the earliest circuses traveling by rail, became Howes Menagerie and Myers & Madigan Circus in 1855, when the partners entered an association with Seth B. Howes (1815-1901)—himself a pioneer of the American traveling circus and a former associate of Aaron Turner. This combine was short-lived however, and the following year, Myers went on the road without partners, with his own Jim Myers’ Circus.
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European Travels.
  
Gia was a precocious and strong-willed kid, and his determination eventually led him to truancy: when his father’s car took him to school in the morning, Gia waited until the chauffeur had left and changed trajectory, landing inevitably at the circus. In 1990, at age eleven, he managed to get a job as an assistant (or as a groom) with Nana Milkatze’s ''Horsemen of Georgia'' troupe of Cossack riders... ([[Gia Eradze|more...]])
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This experience may not have been as successful as intended: In 1857, Jim rejoined Seth B. Howes as a performer, and went with Howes & Cushing Circus (owned by Seth B. Howes and Joseph Cushing) on to a tour of Great Britain, along with thirteen-year-old Rose Madigan—whom Myers would later marry in England. Advertised either as Great United-States Circus or Great American Circus, Howes & Cushing Circus was extremely successful in England and Scotland, fending off profitably a fierce competition with the English circus king, "Lord" John Sanger.... ([[James Washington Myers|more...]])
  
 
==New Biographies==
 
==New Biographies==
  
* [[Gia Eradze]], Circus Director, Animal Trainer
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* [[William Vos]], Animal Trainer
* [[Rob Torres]], Clown
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* [[Jürg Jenny]], Animal Trainer
* [[Tianjin Acrobatic Troupe]], History
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* [[Kio]], Magician
* [[Nino Frediani]], Juggler
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* [[Dimitri]], Clown
* [[Henrik Henricksen]], Animal Trainer
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* [[Oleg Popov]], Clown
  
 
==New Videos==
 
==New Videos==
  
* [[Pukhov_Troupe_Video_(1987)|The Pukhov Troupe]], Porté-Lancé (1987)
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* [[Stetsenko_Video_(1981)|Stetsenko Troupe]], Perch-Pole Balancing (1981)
* [[Gevorg_Khachatryan_Video_(2000)|Gevorg Khachatryan]], High Wire (2000)
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* [[Sasha_Pivaral_Video_(2014)|Sasha Pivaral]], Hand Balancer (2014)
* [[Priscilla_Errani_Video_(2015)|Priscilla Errani]], Hula-Hoops (2015)
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* [[Boris_Vorobiev_Video_(1981)|Lyubov & Boris Vorobiev]], Equestrian Pas-de-Deux (1981)
* [[Puzanova_Video_(1987)|Tamara Puzanova]], Foot Juggler (1987)
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* [[Afanasiev_Video_(1983)|Afanasiev Troupe]], juggling Act(1983)
* [[Biryukov_Video_(1953)|Yury Biryukov]], Juggler (1953)
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* [[Segway_Video_(2019)|Duo Segway]], Hoverboard Balancing (2019)
  
 
==New Oral Histories==
 
==New Oral Histories==
  
 +
* [[Durov_Documentary_Video_(c.2000)|Vladimir Durov Documentary]] on Russian Television (c.2000)
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* [[Dolly_Jacobs_Interview_Video_(2018)|Dolly Jacobs Interview]] at The Ringling (2018)
 
* [[Pinito_del_Oro_RTE_Video_(1970)|Pinito del Oro's Interview]] on Spanish Television (1970)
 
* [[Pinito_del_Oro_RTE_Video_(1970)|Pinito del Oro's Interview]] on Spanish Television (1970)
 
* [[Eradze_Video_(2015)|Gia Eradze]]'s Interview on SSU TV (2015)
 
* [[Eradze_Video_(2015)|Gia Eradze]]'s Interview on SSU TV (2015)
 
* [[Rosa_Bouglione_Video_(2012)|Rosa Bouglione]]'s interview on Franch Television (2012)
 
* [[Rosa_Bouglione_Video_(2012)|Rosa Bouglione]]'s interview on Franch Television (2012)
* [[Circo_Price_Video_(2017)|A Short History of Madrid's Old Circo Price]], Documentary (1970)
 
* [[Anastasia_Dementieva_Video_(2017)|Anastasia Dementieva-Kornilova]] – Vadim Vernik Interview (2017)
 
  
 
==Circopedia Books==
 
==Circopedia Books==

Revision as of 23:13, 23 February 2020

Welcome! ✫ Bienvenue! ✫ Willkommen! ✫ Добро Пожаловать!
Bienvenida! ✫ Benvenuto! ✫ 歡迎 ! ✫ Vítejte! ✫ Καλώς ήρθατε!
Üdvözöljük! ✫ Добре Дошли! ✫ Welkom! ✫ Ласкаво Просимо!
Velkommen! ✫ Tervetuloa! ✫ Дабро Запрашаем! ✫ Välkommen!

Circopedia was originally created with the support of the Big Apple Circus
and inspired and funded by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.

In The Spotlight

JAMES WASHINGTON MYERS

Jim Myers (1823-1892) was an American equestrian and circus entrepreneur who began his career in the United States, went on to perform in Great Britain and subsequently became a very successful circus impresario in Europe—where the Great American Circus he created there toured extensively, and where he even established a resident circus in Paris.

Myers Circus.png
Born James Washington Myers in Providence, Rhode Island in 1823, he was apprenticed at the tender age of nine to the equestrian and showman Aaron Turner (1790-1854). Like many young performers of that period, he adopted his teacher’s name when he debuted in the ring, and was billed for a time as a bareback rider and acrobat under the name of James Turner. By 1845, however, he had reverted to his own identity and, as Jim Myers, presented equestrian scenes in the manner of Andrew Ducrow in his mentor’s circus.

But Myers was an ambitious and enterprising young man, and in 1854, he entered a partnership with Henry P. Madigan (1815-1862), a fellow equestrian who had worked with him for Aaron Turner, and together they created the Myers & Madigan’s Railroad Circus. Myers worked as a clown in their show; he would later marry his partner’s daughter, Rose Madigan (1839-1907), a talented equestrienneA female equestrian, or horse trainer, horse presenter, or acrobat on horseback. in her own right, who was sixteen years his junior.

The Myers & Madigan Railroad Circus, which was one of the earliest circuses traveling by rail, became Howes Menagerie and Myers & Madigan Circus in 1855, when the partners entered an association with Seth B. Howes (1815-1901)—himself a pioneer of the American traveling circus and a former associate of Aaron Turner. This combine was short-lived however, and the following year, Myers went on the road without partners, with his own Jim Myers’ Circus. European Travels.

This experience may not have been as successful as intended: In 1857, Jim rejoined Seth B. Howes as a performer, and went with Howes & Cushing Circus (owned by Seth B. Howes and Joseph Cushing) on to a tour of Great Britain, along with thirteen-year-old Rose Madigan—whom Myers would later marry in England. Advertised either as Great United-States Circus or Great American Circus, Howes & Cushing Circus was extremely successful in England and Scotland, fending off profitably a fierce competition with the English circus king, "Lord" John Sanger.... (more...)

New Biographies

New Videos

New Oral Histories

Circopedia Books

A Message from the Editor

CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding archive of the international circus. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly—and sometimes daily—basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow! And if you are a serious circus scholar and spot a factual or historical inaccuracy, do not hesitate to contact us: we will definitely consider your remarks and suggestions.

Dominique Jando
Founder and Curator