Cirque Bureau - Revision history

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‎Image Gallery

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‎The Tagg Family

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‎From Cirque Bordelais to Grand Cirque Bureau

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‎Le Cirque Bureau Frères

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‎From Cirque Bordelais to Grand Cirque Bureau

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‎Cirque Bureau Frères

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‎Image Gallery

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‎Image Gallery

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‎Image Gallery

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‎Image Gallery

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 File:Bureau_Big_Top.jpg|Cirque Bureau (1946)
 File:Jules_Glasner_1946.jpg|Jules Glasner (1946)
 File:Troupe_Moustier_copy_2.png|The Moustier Family (1947)
 File:Bureau_Program_Cover.jpg|Program Cover (1948)

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 In 1853, a small traveling equestrian circus came to Villeréal. It was a modest affair owned by William Tagg (1822-1884), and his wife Elizabeth, née Woodley, a couple of British traveling performers who had long settled in France. The Taggs needed a blacksmith to reshoe their horses, and his boss sent seventeen-year-old Jean Bureau, a horse lover, to do the job. Jean was immediately fascinated by these people whose horizon seemed limitless; he asked William Tagg if he could join the company as a groom&mdash;and the Taggs, whose human resources were probably wanting, left Villeréal with Jean in tow.
-Thus, Jean Bureau had started his circus career. Young, athletic, and interested in horsemanship, he trained in trick-riding and quickly became a proficient bareback rider. Having become a full-fledged performer in the company, he began to pay attention to the young Anna Tagg (1840-1913), the director's daughter, who was born in Paris and was four years his junior. Apparently, the feeling was mutual&mdash;to the extent that, in 1862, Anna gave birth to their first child, Françoise Elizabeth (known as Elizabeth, b.1862). It was time indeed to legalize their union: The young couple was married on March 6, 1863, in Cenon, in the outskirts of Bordeaux. By then, Jean was twenty-seven and Anna, twenty-three.
+Thus, Jean Bureau had started his circus career. Young, athletic, and interested in horsemanship, he trained in trick-riding and quickly became a proficient bareback rider. Having become a full-fledged performer in the company, he began to pay attention to the young Anna Tagg (1840-1913), the director's daughter, who was born in Paris and was four years his junior. Apparently, the feeling was mutual&mdash;to the extent that, on November 18, 1862, Anna gave birth to their first child, Françoise Elizabeth (known as Elizabeth) in Bergerac (Dordogne). It was time indeed to legalize their union: The young couple was married on March 6, 1863, in Cenon, in the outskirts of Bordeaux. By then, Jean was twenty-seven and Anna, twenty-three.
 This sequence of events begs a question: When was Jean Bureau's own circus really created? According to a later tradition, the Cirque Bureau was "founded in 1854 by Jean and Anna Bureau," but at that date, if Jean was eighteen, Anna Tagg was only fourteen. However, Jean's usefulness as a groom-blacksmith-cum-performer was precious in this small family circus: It is possible indeed that the Taggs considered him as the son and heir they didn't have and accepting him in the family was akin to give him a co-ownership.
 According to records, Jean Bureau began to operate under the title "Cirque Bureau" around 1884, having used several different names prior to that year. Jean and Anna did not marry until 1863, following the birth of their first child in 1862, which means they were not yet a legitimate couple in 1854—not to mention Anna’s age at the time. Given these details, it is reasonable to interpret the year 1854 as marking Jean Bureau’s debut as a circus performer and, possibly, as a co-director of the Taggs’ circus enterprise.
 ===From Cirque Bordelais to Grand Cirque Bureau===

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 Be as it may, at some point Jean and Anna Bureau created their own circus. It was probably with the equipment of the Taggs, who may have left it to the young couple&mdash;which would further explain the date of 1854 as the Cirque Bureau's creation: Jean and Anna's first circus may have been a mere continuation of the Taggs' circus. However, the Bureaus' circus was still a modest traveling enterprise that needed to grow, and Jean asked his brother Cosme to come and help him run and develop it.
-At first, their company worked under various names&mdash;as it generally happened with traveling circuses whose owners' name was not well established enough to attract an audience&mdash;or when the owners didn't want their name to be associated with some challenging situations that might turn to their disadvantage. The first mention of a circus managed by the Bureaus was in 1876: It was the ''Cirque Bordelais'', which suggests that the Bureaus had remained in the region originally visited by the Taggs, and where Jean came from (i.e. the Bordelais, which is the region of Bordeaux and its environs).
+At first, their company worked under various names, as it generally happened with traveling circuses whose owners' name was not well established enough to attract an audience&mdash;or when the owners didn't want their name to be associated with some challenging situations that might turn to their disadvantage. The first mention of a circus managed by the Bureaus was in 1876: It was the ''Cirque Bordelais'', which suggests that the Bureaus had remained in the region originally visited by the Taggs, and where Jean came from (i.e. the Bordelais, which is the region of Bordeaux and its environs).
 The Cirque Bordelais was not hiding its identity anymore: it was clearly advertised under the management of the brothers Bureau and "Joanny Fils ainé" (Joanny, Jr. the elder). Joanny was the pseudonym used by an old Italian family of traveling entertainers, the Magrinis; as an experienced professional, Joanny Fils must have helped the Bureaus to develop their enterprise. They now performed in a "construction," a wooden circus that was built, dismantled, and rebuilt in the towns they visited (usually for extended periods, such as a local fair), as was the custom for many traveling companies in the 19th century.

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 Thus, within a few decades, the Bureaus had already left a visible footprint in the circus world! Their large tribe formed the backbone of the Cirque Bureau's shows for several years. In a typical program, audiences could see Achille Conche juggling and doing a musical entrée with his brothers; Ferroni performing a double jockey act with Joseph Bureau, while Paul Bureau, as a clown under the name of Popol, presented a bullfight parody; Ninie Bureau was a bareback rider; Marguerite Bureau, a ballerina on horseback&mdash;to whom where added other family members and contracted acts. The entire company would appear in a classic pantomime in the second part of the show.
-==Le Cirque Bureau Frères==
+===Le Cirque Bureau Frères===
 On December 27,1898, Marguerite's husband, Fortuné Ferroni, died from a bad fall in Brive-la-Gaillarde (in Auvergne) after trying to turn a somersault on horseback with his two feet attached in a basket&mdash;an old equestrian classic, albeit neither easy nor safe! Marguerite and Fortuné had had four children: Louis Georges (1887-1974), Annetta (Known as Anna, 1891-1958), César (1893-1894), and Robert Joseph (1896-1922). The Ferroni lineage holds a great importance in the Cirque Bureau's history, as it will ultimately be Annetta’s responsibility, several decades later, to maintain its continuity and keep it in the family.

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:35, 17 June 2026
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	Thus, within a few decades, the Bureaus had already left a visible footprint in the circus world! Their large tribe formed the backbone of the Cirque Bureau's shows for several years. In a typical program, audiences could see Achille Conche juggling and doing a musical entrée with his brothers; Ferroni performing a double jockey act with Joseph Bureau, while Paul Bureau, as a clown under the name of Popol, presented a bullfight parody; Ninie Bureau was a bareback rider; Marguerite Bureau, a ballerina on horseback—to whom where added other family members and contracted acts. The entire company would appear in a classic pantomime in the second part of the show.		Thus, within a few decades, the Bureaus had already left a visible footprint in the circus world! Their large tribe formed the backbone of the Cirque Bureau's shows for several years. In a typical program, audiences could see Achille Conche juggling and doing a musical entrée with his brothers; Ferroni performing a double jockey act with Joseph Bureau, while Paul Bureau, as a clown under the name of Popol, presented a bullfight parody; Ninie Bureau was a bareback rider; Marguerite Bureau, a ballerina on horseback—to whom where added other family members and contracted acts. The entire company would appear in a classic pantomime in the second part of the show.
		+
		+	==Le Cirque Bureau Frères==

	On December 27,1898, Marguerite's husband, Fortuné Ferroni, died from a bad fall in Brive-la-Gaillarde (in Auvergne) after trying to turn a somersault on horseback with his two feet attached in a basket—an old equestrian classic, albeit neither easy nor safe! Marguerite and Fortuné had had four children: Louis Georges (1887-1974), Annetta (Known as Anna, 1891-1958), César (1893-1894), and Robert Joseph (1896-1922). The Ferroni lineage holds a great importance in the Cirque Bureau's history, as it will ultimately be Annetta’s responsibility, several decades later, to maintain its continuity and keep it in the family.		On December 27,1898, Marguerite's husband, Fortuné Ferroni, died from a bad fall in Brive-la-Gaillarde (in Auvergne) after trying to turn a somersault on horseback with his two feet attached in a basket—an old equestrian classic, albeit neither easy nor safe! Marguerite and Fortuné had had four children: Louis Georges (1887-1974), Annetta (Known as Anna, 1891-1958), César (1893-1894), and Robert Joseph (1896-1922). The Ferroni lineage holds a great importance in the Cirque Bureau's history, as it will ultimately be Annetta’s responsibility, several decades later, to maintain its continuity and keep it in the family.

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:33, 17 June 2026
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	On December 27,1898, Marguerite's husband, Fortuné Ferroni, died from a bad fall in Brive-la-Gaillarde (in Auvergne) after trying to turn a somersault on horseback with his two feet attached in a basket—an old equestrian classic, albeit neither easy nor safe! Marguerite and Fortuné had had four children: Louis Georges (1887-1974), Annetta (Known as Anna, 1891-1958), César (1893-1894), and Robert Joseph (1896-1922). The Ferroni lineage holds a great importance in the Cirque Bureau's history, as it will ultimately be Annetta’s responsibility, several decades later, to maintain its continuity and keep it in the family.		On December 27,1898, Marguerite's husband, Fortuné Ferroni, died from a bad fall in Brive-la-Gaillarde (in Auvergne) after trying to turn a somersault on horseback with his two feet attached in a basket—an old equestrian classic, albeit neither easy nor safe! Marguerite and Fortuné had had four children: Louis Georges (1887-1974), Annetta (Known as Anna, 1891-1958), César (1893-1894), and Robert Joseph (1896-1922). The Ferroni lineage holds a great importance in the Cirque Bureau's history, as it will ultimately be Annetta’s responsibility, several decades later, to maintain its continuity and keep it in the family.
−
−	~~===Cirque Bureau Frères===~~

	Jean Bureau retired in 1896 and left the management of his circus to his sons Joseph and Paul. He passed away three years later, on October 31, 1899, in Saint-Amand-Montrond, a small town in the Centre department of France (where the circus was probably playing). Jean Bureau was sixty-three. By 1909, the Cirque Bureau traveled by horsepower with a two-pole big top—although it still used its ''construction'' for the big fairs it visited each year. It had also adopted electric lighting: The ''Cirque Bureau Frères'' had entered a new era.		Jean Bureau retired in 1896 and left the management of his circus to his sons Joseph and Paul. He passed away three years later, on October 31, 1899, in Saint-Amand-Montrond, a small town in the Centre department of France (where the circus was probably playing). Jean Bureau was sixty-three. By 1909, the Cirque Bureau traveled by horsepower with a two-pole big top—although it still used its ''construction'' for the big fairs it visited each year. It had also adopted electric lighting: The ''Cirque Bureau Frères'' had entered a new era.

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 File:Jules_Glasner_-_dogs.jpg|Jules Glasner (c.1910)
 File:Popaul_Bureau_poster.jpg|Poster featuring Paul Bureau (c.1910)
 File:Bureau_Program_30.jpg|Program Cover (1930)
 File:Bureau_-_Kimris.png|Poster featuring Les Kimris (1930)

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 File:Cirque_Bureau_53.jpg|Cirque Bureau setup (1953)
 File:Bureau_-_Elsane.png|Poster featuring Elsane (1953)
 File:Les_Branquignols.jpg|Les Branquignols (1958)
 File:Vasserot_-_Cirque_d'Hiver.png|André Vasserot (c.1970)

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 File:Bureau_Poster_-_Chevaux_Pompiers.jpg|Poster advertising ''Les Chavaux Pompiers'' (1951)
 File:Bureau_Program_1952.jpg|Program Cover for the RTF tour (1952)
 File:Bureau_-_Elsane.png|Poster featuring Elsane (1953)
 File:Les_Branquignols.jpg|Les Branquignols (1958)

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 File:Jules-Anna_Glasner.jpg|Jules and Anna Glasner (1948)
 File:Bureau_Poster_-_Road_tour.jpg|Poster announcing the road transportation (1951)
 File:Bureau_Program_1952.jpg|Program Cover for the RTF tour (1952)
 File:Bureau_-_Elsane.png|Poster featuring Elsane (1953)