James Washington Myers - Revision history

Djando at 18:55, 1 February 2020

2020-02-01T18:55:51Z

Djando: /* J.W. Myers’ Great American Circus */

2020-02-01T18:49:10Z

‎J.W. Myers’ Great American Circus

Djando: /* European Travels */

2020-02-01T18:47:36Z

‎European Travels

Djando: /* European Travels */

2020-02-01T18:46:54Z

‎European Travels

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2020-02-01T18:44:44Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* J.W. Myers’ Great American Circus */

2020-02-01T18:10:32Z

‎J.W. Myers’ Great American Circus

Djando: /* European Travels */

2020-02-01T18:10:02Z

‎European Travels

Djando at 18:09, 1 February 2020

2020-02-01T18:09:39Z

Djando: /* J.W. Myers’ Great American Circus */

2020-01-25T17:10:01Z

‎J.W. Myers’ Great American Circus

Djando at 03:46, 2 March 2017

2017-03-02T03:46:15Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:55, 1 February 2020
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−	[[File:~~Myers_Cirque_Américain_~~(1876).jpeg\|right\|400px]]	+	[[File:Myers'_Great_American_Circus_%26_Hippodrome_(1876).jpeg\|right\|400px]]
	==Equestrian, Acrobat, Clown, Circus Owner==		==Equestrian, Acrobat, Clown, Circus Owner==

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 Jim Myers and his circus traveled extensively in England and France (which he began touring in 1867), and visited Switzerland (1866), made a foray in Egypt (1868) with [[Les Fratellini|Gustave Fratellini]] in his cast, and continued his European tours in Italy (1872), Germany, Austria, Belgium and The Netherlands (1873), and possibly other European countries.  In 1875, Myers leased the courtyard of the Magasins Réunis, a large department store located Place du Château d’Eau in Paris (today Place de la République), where he built a permanent wooden circus construction.(The Magasins Réunis building is extent, and is occupied today by the Crowne Plaza Hotel.)
-[[File:Myers_Circus_(c1875).jpeg|thumb|right|400px|Myers' Cirque Américain in Paris]]Paris’s ''Cirque Américain'' became Jim Myers’s French base, and remained more or less active until 1879. Paris was not an easy territory: Myers had to contend with well-established local competition: The [[Cirque d'Hiver]], which was just a few blocks away; the [[Cirque des Champs Elysées]] (in the summer); the newly built and already popular [[Cirque Fernando]] in Montmartre; and the mighty [[Hippodrome de l'Alma]], which opened its doors in 1877 and was an even bigger threat. Changing programs every two weeks or so, as the competition was doing, was not an easy task for someone who was not very well acquainted with the Parisian show business&mdash;and no doubt, his competitors didn't try to make it easier for him!
+[[File:Myers_Cirque_Américain_(1876).jpeg|thumb|right|400px|Myers' Cirque Américain in Paris (1876)]]Paris’s ''Cirque Américain'' became Jim Myers’s French base, and remained more or less active until 1879. Paris was not an easy territory: Myers had to contend with well-established local competition: The [[Cirque d'Hiver]], which was just a few blocks away; the [[Cirque des Champs Elysées]] (in the summer); the newly built and already popular [[Cirque Fernando]] in Montmartre; and the mighty [[Hippodrome de l'Alma]], which opened its doors in 1877 and was an even bigger threat. Changing programs every two weeks or so, as the competition was doing, was not an easy task for someone who was not very well acquainted with the Parisian show business&mdash;and no doubt, his competitors didn't try to make it easier for him!
 Thus, following the Parisian custom, the programs presented by Myers in his Parisian circus in 1876 changed regularly. Rose Myers rode in haute-école, [[The Madigan Family|Charles Madigan]], Jim’s brother-in-law, presented the circus’s horses "at liberty," and Charles’s brother [[The Madigan Family|James]] was the Equestrian Director: It was indeed a family affair, but Myers also hired a host of well-known artists, among whom the celebrated clowns, the [[Olschansky Family|Olschansky Brothers]]. The performances ended, in good Parisian fashion, with a pantomime&mdash;such as ''Le petit chaperon rouge'' ("Little Red Riding Hood"), the climax of which was the "capture" of a real wolf.

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 ===European Travels===
-[[File:Myers_Circus.png|thumb|left|400px|Myers' American Circus performing under canvas in France (c.1869)]]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&mdash;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]].
+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&mdash;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]].
-In 1858, they had a lucrative run in London at the Alhambra Palace on Leicester Square&mdash;the former Royal Panopticon of Science and Art, which had just been converted into a circus. (The building, which later became a fabled variety theater, is now a multiplex movie-house.) On May 22, Queen Victoria, who couldn’t resist a good circus show, paid a visit with Prince Albert to the Great American Circus at the Alhambra, thus insuring its continuing success. Indeed, the Queen was pleased: In June, the troupe was invited to a repeat performance at Windsor Castle.
+[[File:Myers_Circus.png|thumb|left|400px|Myers' American Circus performing under canvas in France (c.1869)]]In 1858, they had a lucrative run in London at the Alhambra Palace on Leicester Square&mdash;the former Royal Panopticon of Science and Art, which had just been converted into a circus. (The building, which later became a fabled variety theater, is now a multiplex movie-house.) On May 22, Queen Victoria, who couldn’t resist a good circus show, paid a visit with Prince Albert to the Great American Circus at the Alhambra, thus insuring its continuing success. Indeed, the Queen was pleased: In June, the troupe was invited to a repeat performance at Windsor Castle.
 It is while he was in England that Jim Myers is said to have been the first acrobat to turn a double somersault from a "batoude" over a group of horses. Howes and Cushing ended their run at the Alhambra at the end of 1858, but their circus remained in Great Britain until 1864, when it finally returned to America. Jim Myers, however, didn’t stay with Howes & Cushing Circus after the Alhambra engagement, and didn’t return either to the United States. Instead, he formed his own company, ''J.W. Myers’ Great American Circus'', with which he continued to tour Britain and eventually invaded the Old Continent.

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 ===European Travels===
-[[File:Myers_Grosse_Amerikanischer_Circus_(1873).jpeg|thumb|left|200px|Myers' American Circus in Dresden (1873)]]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&mdash;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]].
+[[File:Myers_Circus.png|thumb|left|400px|Myers' American Circus performing under canvas in France (c.1869)]]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&mdash;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]].
 In 1858, they had a lucrative run in London at the Alhambra Palace on Leicester Square&mdash;the former Royal Panopticon of Science and Art, which had just been converted into a circus. (The building, which later became a fabled variety theater, is now a multiplex movie-house.) On May 22, Queen Victoria, who couldn’t resist a good circus show, paid a visit with Prince Albert to the Great American Circus at the Alhambra, thus insuring its continuing success. Indeed, the Queen was pleased: In June, the troupe was invited to a repeat performance at Windsor Castle.

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 <Gallery>
 File:Myers_Cirque_Américain_Tour_1869.jpeg|Poster for Myers' Grand Cirque Américain (1869)
 File:Myers_Grosse_Amerikanischer_Circus_(1873).jpeg|Poster for Myers' Grosser Amerikanischer Circus in Dresden (1873)
 File:Myers_Prince_de_Galles_(1875).jpeg|Pantomime at Myers' Cirque Américain in Paris (1875)

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:09, 1 February 2020
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−	[[File:Myers_Cirque_Américain_(1876).jpeg\|right\|~~300px~~]]	+	[[File:Myers_Cirque_Américain_(1876).jpeg\|right\|400px]]
	==Equestrian, Acrobat, Clown, Circus Owner==		==Equestrian, Acrobat, Clown, Circus Owner==

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 ===J.W. Myers’ Great American Circus===
-Jim Myers and his circus traveled extensively in England and France (which he began touring in 1867), and visited Switzerland (1866), made a foray in Egypt (1868) with [[Les Fratellini|Gustave Fratellini]] in his cast, and continued his European tours in Italy (1872), Germany and Austria (1873), Holland and Belgium (1875), and possibly other European countries.  In 1875, Myers leased the courtyard of the Magasins Réunis, a large department store located Place du Château d’Eau in Paris (today Place de la République), where he built a permanent wooden circus construction.(The Magasins Réunis building is extent, and is occupied today by the Crowne Plaza Hotel.)
+Jim Myers and his circus traveled extensively in England and France (which he began touring in 1867), and visited Switzerland (1866), made a foray in Egypt (1868) with [[Les Fratellini|Gustave Fratellini]] in his cast, and continued his European tours in Italy (1872), Germany, Austria, Belgium and The Netherlands (1873), and possibly other European countries.  In 1875, Myers leased the courtyard of the Magasins Réunis, a large department store located Place du Château d’Eau in Paris (today Place de la République), where he built a permanent wooden circus construction.(The Magasins Réunis building is extent, and is occupied today by the Crowne Plaza Hotel.)
 [[File:Myers_Circus_(c1875).jpeg|thumb|right|350px|Myers' Cirque Américain in Paris]]Paris’s ''Cirque Américain'' became Jim Myers’s French base, and remained more or less active until 1879. Paris was not an easy territory: Myers had to contend with well-established local competition: The [[Cirque d'Hiver]], which was just a few blocks away; the [[Cirque des Champs Elysées]] (in the summer); the newly built and already popular [[Cirque Fernando]] in Montmartre; and the mighty [[Hippodrome de l'Alma]], which opened its doors in 1877 and was an even bigger threat. Changing programs every two weeks or so, as the competition was doing, was not an easy task for someone who was not very well acquainted with the Parisian show business&mdash;and no doubt, his competitors didn't try to make it easier for him!

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:46, 2 March 2017
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	[[File:Myers_Cirque_Américain_(1876).jpeg~~\|thumb~~\|right\|~~210px\|Myers' Cirque Américain (1876)~~]]	+	[[File:Myers_Cirque_Américain_(1876).jpeg\|right\|300px]]
	==Equestrian, Acrobat, Clown, Circus Owner==		==Equestrian, Acrobat, Clown, Circus Owner==