Circopedia - New pages [en]

Engibarov Video (1963)

2026-06-12T22:41:23Z

Djando: Created page with "Leonid Engibarov, boxing entrée, at Moscow's Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard (1963) {{#ev:vimeo|1200902219|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Leonid Eng..."

Leonid Engibarov, boxing entrée, at Moscow's [[Circus Nikulin|Old Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard]] (1963)

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Leonid Engibarov]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Engibarov, Leonid]]

Angie McIlroy-Wagar

2026-06-11T20:01:16Z

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==Aerialist==

* Video: [[Angie_McIlroy_Video_(2026)|Angie McIlroy-Wagar, aerial hoop]], at the Festival International des Artistes de Cirque (2026)

[[Category:Aerialists|McIlroy-Wagar, Angie]][[Category:Artists and Acts|McIlroy-Wagar, Angie]][[Category:Cerceau (Aerial Hoop)|McIlroy-Wagar, Angie]]

Angie McIlroy Video (2026)

2026-06-11T19:57:39Z

Djando: Created page with "Angie McIlroy-Wager, aerial hoop, at the 25th Festival International des Artistes de Cirque of Saint-Paul-lès-Dax (2026) — ''Document: Festival International des Ar..."

Angie McIlroy-Wager, aerial hoop, at the 25th [[Festival International des Artistes de Cirque]] of Saint-Paul-lès-Dax (2026) — ''Document: Festival International des Artistes de Cirque''

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Angie McIlroy-Wagar]]

[[Category:Video Archive|McIlroy, Angie]]

Rosemarie Dorning Elephant Video (1978)

2026-06-09T23:39:09Z

Djando: Created page with "Rosemarie Dorning, with Seetah and Tennis, elephant and dog act, at Zirkus Aeros (1978) {{#ev:vimeo|1199871567|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Günter Dorning C..."

Rosemarie Dorning, with Seetah and Tennis, elephant and dog act, at [[Zirkus Aeros]] (1978)

{{#ev:vimeo|1199871567|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Günter Dorning]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Dorning, Günter]]

Americano Video (1968)

2026-06-09T20:06:43Z

Djando: Created page with "RTVE documentary featuring Arturo Castilla's original ''Circo Americano'' in Madrid (1968) — ''Document: Filmoteca Españnola'' {{#ev:vimeo|1199877095|740}} ==See Also..."

RTVE documentary featuring Arturo Castilla's original ''Circo Americano'' in Madrid (1968) — ''Document: Filmoteca Españnola''

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==See Also==

* History: [[Circo Americano]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Circo Americano]][[Category:Oral History|Circo Americano]]

Pepin León

2026-06-08T19:09:47Z

Djando: Created page with "==Clown== * Video: Pepin León Trio, clown entrée, at the Grand Cirque de France (1982) Pepin LeonCategory:Clown..."

==Clown==

* Video: [[Pepin_Leon_Video_(1982)|Pepin León Trio, clown entrée]], at the Grand Cirque de France (1982)

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Pepin Leon]][[Category:Clowns|Pepin Leon]]

Pepin Leon Video (1982)

2026-06-08T19:06:25Z

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Pepin León Trio, clown entrée, at the Grand Cirque de France (no relation with the [[Cirque Gruss-Jeannet]]) (2021) ''Document: [https://www.circusnews.it CircusNews TV]''

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Pepin León]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Pepin Leon]]

Kathy Donnert Video (2021)

2026-06-06T20:25:53Z

Djando: Created page with "Kathy Donnert, foot juggling, at Het Witte Pad in Blankenberge, Belgium (2021) {{#ev:vimeo|1199067287|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Kathy Donnert Category:Video Ar..."

Kathy Donnert, foot juggling, at Het Witte Pad in Blankenberge, Belgium (2021)

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Kathy Donnert]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Donnert Kathy]]

Bobby Roberts Video (1985)

2026-05-27T20:04:50Z

Djando: Created page with "Bobby Roberts, elephant act, in ''Artisten-Tiere Attraktionen'' at Vienna's Stadthalle (1985) {{#ev:vimeo|1195844591|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Bobby Roberts, Jr...."

Bobby Roberts, elephant act, in ''Artisten-Tiere Attraktionen'' at Vienna's Stadthalle (1985)

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Bobby Roberts, Jr.]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Roberts, Bobby]]

Gunther Gebel Tiger Video (1985)

2026-05-26T02:00:22Z

Djando: Created page with "Gunther Gebel-Williams, tiger act, at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (1985) {{#ev:vimeo|1195457621|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Gunther Gebel-Williams..."

Gunther Gebel-Williams, tiger act, at [[Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey]] Circus (1985)

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Gunther Gebel-Williams]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Gebel-Williams, Gunther]]

Flying Girls Video (2009)

2026-05-14T23:33:16Z

Djando:

The New Flying Girls, flying act, from the Pyongyang State Circus in North Korea (the title "Moranbong" refer to the a district of Pyongyang), at the 33rd [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo. (The ringmaster is [[Petit Gougou]]) (2009) — ''Document: France Television''

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Pyongyang State Circus]]

[[Category:Video Archive|New Flying Girls]]

Zapashny Video (1965)

2026-05-11T22:30:04Z

Djando:

Zapashny Family Troupe, jockey, acrobatic and aerial act (with Mstislav, Anna, and Sergei Zapashny, and Sergei, Jr.) at the [[Circus Nikulin|Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard]] in Moscow. The aerial part is performed by Mstislav Zapashny and his sister Anna. (1965)

{{#ev:vimeo|1191331495|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[The Zapashny Dynasty]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Zapashny, Mstislav]]

Caballeros Video (2025)

2026-05-10T20:01:31Z

Djando:

The Flying Caballeros, flying trapeze (excerpts), at the 47th [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]], featuring the triple somersault of Judita Caballero, and the quadruple somersaults of Ruben, Jr., Andru, and Gunther Caballero, caught by Marco Antonio Caballero. (The Ringmaster is [[Petit Gougou]]) (2025) — ''Document: France Television''

{{#ev:vimeo|1190970090|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Flying Caballeros]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Caballero, flying]]

Scandinavian Boards Video (2025)

2026-05-09T20:04:15Z

Djando: Created page with "The Scandinavian Boards, Korean teeterboard, at the 47th International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (2025) — ''Document: France Television'' {{#ev:vimeo|119080211..."

The Scandinavian Boards, Korean teeterboard, at the 47th [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]] (2025) — ''Document: France Television''

{{#ev:vimeo|1190802116|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Scandinavian Teeterboard]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Scandinavian Teeterboard]]

Xing Yunwei Video (2019)

2026-04-29T19:24:04Z

Djando: Created page with "Xing Yuwei, hand balancing, at the 43rd International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (2019) {{#ev:vimeo|1187570364|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Xing Yunwei C..."

Xing Yuwei, hand balancing, at the 43rd [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]] (2019)

{{#ev:vimeo|1187570364|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Xing Yunwei]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Xing Yunwei]]

Émilien Bouglione/fr

2026-04-28T00:34:45Z

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

{{Languages|Emilien Bouglione}}

[[File:Emilien_Bouglione Portrait.jpg|right|300px]]
==Écuyer, Directeur de Cirque==

''Par Raffaele De Ritis''

Émilien Bouglione (1934-2026) était le quatrième des sept enfants de [[The Bouglione Family|Joseph et Rosa Bouglione]] (Odette, 1929-2025 – Josette, 1930-? – Firmin, 1933-2022 – Émilien – Sandrine, 1936-2012 – Sampion III, 1938-2019 – Joseph, né en 1942). Des quatre frères, il était de loin le plus artiste ; il succéda à son oncle Sampion II à la tête du département équestre du Cirque Bouglione et présenta, avec un goût infini et un allant remarquable, des tableaux équestres souvent préparés avec l’aide de son mentor, le Maître écuyer [[André Vasserot]] (1911-1991).

===La famille Bouglione===

Il naquit Jules Émilien Buffalo-Bill Bouglione le 20 juillet 1934, à Coulommiers (ville célèbre pour son fromage, à l’est de Paris), où le cirque familial était en représentation. Son père, le légendaire directeur de cirque Joseph Bouglione (1904-1987), et sa mère belge, Rosalie Van Been (1910-2018), étaient tous deux d’ascendance rom et venaient du monde des ménageries foraines, qui, entre les deux guerres, se restructuraient pour devenir le cirque itinérant moderne.

[[File:Joseph_-_Rosa_Bouglione.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Joseph et Rosa Bouglione (1963)]]Le père et les oncles de « Julot » (le diminutif sous lequel Émilien était connu de ses proches et de sa famille) avaient déjà défilé sous une succession d’enseignes pittoresques—dont l’une contribua à faire leur fortune : ''Stade Bufalo-Bill''—avant de s’établir sous le fier titre de ''Cirque des 4 Frères Bouglione''. On dit que le lendemain de l’arrivée du nouveau-né, Jules Émilien, ils signèrent le contrat qui fit d’eux les locataires du [[Cirque d'Hiver]] à Paris, le plus ancien bâtiment de cirque au monde, qui allait devenir leur propriété.

Les Bouglione formaient une grande famille dont l’école était la piste. Émilien y entra à l’âge de deux ans et était déjà en selle deux ans plus tard. Comme dans tout cirque, la piste des Bouglione était une école de la vie, dont le programme s’écrivait dans l’odeur âcre du crottin, des fauves, du cuir et de la sciure. Leur approche de l’art équestre ne devait rien au style académique classique (déjà en déclin) : la leur était plus farouche et plus romantique ; c’était un monde de chevaux mythiques qui galopent à travers le folklore et les romans populaires, montés par une famille dont le sang rom lui donnait un sceau d’éblouissante merveille.

Émilien fit ses débuts officiels en 1943, annoncé comme « Le plus jeune cavalier de France », sous la tutelle de [[Achille Zavatta]], clown célèbre et l’une des figures les plus protéiformes que le monde du cirque ait produites. Le jeune Émilien avait toutefois déjà été employé dans de petits rôles dans la pantomime ''Blanche-Neige'' ("Snow White")—l’une des opérettes de cirque novatrices que les Bouglione montèrent avec [[Géo Sandry]], leur concepteur et metteur en scène, pendant l’occupation allemande, afin de soutenir le moral des Parisiens.

Pour Émilien, cette expérience avait constitué une utile formation à la théâtralité et à l’art du spectacle. Il apparut aussi dans de petits rôles auprès de quelques-uns des grands clowns de l’époque, qui se succédaient dans les pistes des Bouglione avec la régularité d’un mécanisme bien entretenu. Après la guerre, durant les vacances scolaires, il commença à se familiariser avec la cavalerie de son oncle Sampion : sept étalons ukrainiens, dont il prit finalement la direction en 1950.

===L’étoile de la famille===

Ce qui suivit fut la naissance d’Émilien Bouglione, l’icône du cirque. Il nourrissait de véritables ambitions artistiques, qui trouvèrent rapidement leur forme dans ''La Poste'' —ce vertigineux tableau équestre créé au XIXe siècle par [[Andrew Ducrow]], où un cavalier se tient debout sur deux chevaux lancés au grand galop tandis qu’une demi-douzaine d’étalons passe à toute vitesse et à tour de rôle entre ses jambes ; le cavalier saisit une à une leurs longues rênes qu'ils déploient avant de contrôler un attelage lancé à pleine allure. Émilien la présenta d’abord en costume de cowboy, puis en Zorro, et enfin dans la tenue romaine de Ben-Hur, saisissant les basques d’Hollywood avec une assurance qu’Hollywood lui-même aurait pu envier.

[[File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Émilien dans "La Poste" (1962)]]Partageant ses activités entre le Cirque d’Hiver à Paris et ses tournées à travers la France, la Belgique et les Pays-Bas (avec une incursion au Brésil), le cirque Bouglione offrit à Émilien l’occasion de s’essayer à tout, de l’acrobatie à la spécialité de la famille, le dressage—dont la présentation du groupe mixte de tigres, lions et léopards de son oncle Firmin, ainsi que les éléphants Bouglione&mash;et même de remplacer, au besoin, un homme-canon. Mais l’équitation demeura son véritable domaine, le médium par lequel son imagination inépuisable trouvait son expression.

Assisté de l’indispensable André Vasserot, Émilien rassembla de riches écuries et développa un style à la fois vivant et précis : de grands groupes de races mêlées—Anglo-Arabes, Norvégiens, poneys—libérés des rigidités de l’école classique, souvent présentés avec sa marque personnelle : monté sur un cheval magnifique, toujours dans un costume somptueux, et parfois assis sur une selle mexicaine ornée. À l’inverse de son père et de ses oncles, qui paraissaient souvent en piste (et dans la cage) en costume de ville, Émilien avait un sens aigu du style et une véritable élégance qui servaient son remarquable sens du spectacle.

Qu’il conduise sa cavalerie ou qu’il évolue dans ''La Poste'', il traversait une galerie d’identités qui avaient fait vibrer les imaginaires du XXe siècle : Robin des Bois, un chef sioux, Zorro, Davy Crockett, un ''charro'' mexicain, un prince oriental, un ''gaucho'' argentin, un gladiateur, un ''vaquero'' andalou. Ses costumes et ses choix orchestraux étaient toujours du plus haut niveau, et son charisme était alors devenu indéniable. Il avait su distiller l’esprit de la littérature populaire et du cinéma en un art scénique immédiat, dont la piste était le médium.

Les années 1960 marquèrent l’apothéose du film d’aventures en Technicolor, ainsi qu’une période d’activité intense pour la famille Bouglione. En 1963, elle reprit le [[Cirque de Montmartre]] à Paris (anciennement Medrano), placé sous la direction des « Bouglione Juniors » (Firmin, Émilien, Sampion, Joseph) tandis que, dès la fin des années 1950, le Cirque d’Hiver commença à accueillir une émission télévisée extrêmement populaire, [[''La Piste aux Étoiles'']]. Pendant plus de vingt ans, cette émission offrit à Émilien une exposition extraordinaire, non seulement de sa personne auprès du public français, mais aussi, pour lui-même, aux techniques de la télévision et à un ensemble remarquable et divers d’artistes talentueux. Il apprenait vite.

===Un homme du monde===

[[File:Emilien_Bouglione_by_Avedon.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Émilien par Richard Avedon (1955)]]Doté d’une élégance naturelle en piste comme hors de la piste, Émilien possédait des dons et des centres d’intérêt sociaux qui surprenaient ceux qui s’attendaient à ce qu’un homme de cirque limite son monde au seul cirque. Il pouvait converser avec quiconque sur de nombreux sujets—brillant et modeste à parts égales—et il développa, avec une apparente facilité, des amitiés bien au-delà du monde de la sciure. Il conserva, tout du long, le charme mystérieux du nomade : impossible à expliquer pleinement, impossible à écarter.

À l’aise dans tous les milieux, il devint ami avec Salvador Dalí. En 1955, il posa pour le légendaire photographe Richard Avedon, qui réalisa au cirque des images aujourd’hui conservées dans de grands musées du monde entier. Dans les années 1970, le Cirque d’Hiver se mit à accueillir un nouveau cycle du ''Gala de l'Union des Artistes'' (l’inspiration originelle de tous les « Circus of The Stars » ultérieurs, né en 1923 au [[Nouveu Cirque (Paris)|Nouveau Cirque]] à Paris), l’un des événements parisiens les plus étincelants du XXe siècle.

Émilien en collabora à la direction et, année après année, confia sa ''chambrière'' et ses chevaux à des personnalités comme Gina Lollobrigida (qu’il avait rencontrée à dix-sept ans sur le tournage du film ''Trapeze'' [1956] au Cirque d’Hiver), le légendaire réalisateur et acteur italien Vittorio De Sica, et l’une des plus grandes vedettes parisiennes, Joséphine Baker. Parmi ses amis figuraient également Charles Aznavour, Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, le chef légendaire Paul Bocuse et le jazzman Lionel Hampton—parmi beaucoup d’autres.

Pour ses somptueux et élégants costumes de scène, il fit un jour appel à Paco Rabanne. Il accordait la même attention à ses harnais et à ses selles : on se souvient surtout de la majestueuse selle-armure incrustée d’argent sur laquelle, vêtu d’une veste boléro à sequins dorés sur un gilet noir et un pantalon noir, Émilien fut représenté par le grand illustrateur italien Renato Casaro pour une magnifique affiche en deux feuilles de 1976—l’image d’un homme parfaitement à l’aise dans sa propre légende.

===Lauréat et collectionneur : le Prince du Cirque===

En 1974, les Bouglione mirent leur cirque itinérant à la disposition du prince Rainier III de Monaco pour accueillir et organiser le premier [[Festival International du Cirque de Monte Carlo]]. Émilien y présenta sa cavalerie et remporta un Clown d’Argent—le tout premier jamais décerné. Dans nombre de ses numéros équestres, il était accompagné de son épouse, la belle [[The Bouglione Family|Christiane Bouglione]], née Hernandez (en 1940), qui produira ensuite ses propres spectacles, et qui lui donna quatre enfants: Joseph (né en 1960), Regina (née en 1962), Louis-Sampion (né en 1966) et Odette (née en 1969).

[[File:Bouglione_Family.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Émilien Bouglione avec ses frères et son père au Festival de Monte Carlo (1974)]]Le Cirque Bouglione cessa ses tournées en 1981 et, quelques années plus tard, le Cirque d’Hiver abandonna lui aussi sa saison de cirque, devenant un théâtre à louer. Émilien se tourna alors vers sa vieille passion : la collection. Il accumula, avec une ferveur méthodique, un étonnant trésor d’objets d’art—peintures, bronzes, divers souvenirs, documents liés au cirque et au monde équestre—contribuant ainsi à reconstituer des pans d’histoire du cirque qui, autrement, auraient pu disparaître.

En 1999, avec sa mère et son frère Sampion III, il donna sa bénédiction à la décision de confier à la nouvelle génération des Bouglione le retour de la saison de cirque au Cirque d’Hiver. Le rôle d’Émilien dans ce projet fut unique et impossible à définir précisément : celui d’un esprit inspirateur. Sa seule présence conférait une tranquille autorité à une expérience qui devint, au fil des ans, l’un des succès les plus remarquables du monde du cirque, en grande partie grâce aux propres enfants d’Émilien.

Dans les premières décennies du XXIe siècle, quiconque passait par hasard au Cirque d’Hiver à n’importe quelle heure de la journée pouvait aisément se retrouver face à la silhouette de « Monsieur Émilien », devenu le patriarche de la famille, surgissant de façon inattendue de l’un des vomitoires de la salle, d’un couloir mystérieux, ou de l’une des innombrables petites portes que le vénérable bâtiment semble multiplier à l’infini.

Sa silhouette longiligne se déplaçait silencieusement et discrètement—et, invariablement, son élégance impeccable vous frappait : ses magnifiques gilets, assortis à une cravate ou un foulard, ses boutons de manchette ornés scintillant aux poignets. C’était moins l’éclat d’un vétéran du cirque à la retraite que la grâce d’un souverain émérite. Pourtant, rien chez lui n’intimidait. Une douce familiarité s’installait d’emblée, et la conversation (on pouvait se trouver entraîné dans les savoirs du cirque, les beaux-arts, l’actualité, un petit-enfant passant, un détail négligé dans un coin) brûlait d’une passion calme et fervente.

===Épilogue===

Peu à peu, les enfants d’Émilien prirent en main la gestion complète du Cirque d’Hiver. Joseph en était le très talentueux directeur artistique depuis la reprise des activités circassiennes du Cirque d’Hiver, assisté de sa sœur Regina, qui veille à l’allure et à l’élégante garde-robe des artistes et du personnel. [[File:Emilien_Bouglione_-_old_age.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Émilien Bouglione (c.2015)]]Louis-Sampion, qui partage la passion de son père pour l’histoire et la collection, créa le musée privé "Émilien Bouglione" au Cirque d’Hiver et s’assure que les valeurs culturelles et historiques du légendaire bâtiment parisien sont appréciées et préservées. Enfin, Odette devint CEO de l’ensemble de l’organisation Bouglione. Tous partagent avec leur père l’élégance, le talent et un respect engagé pour la place de leur famille dans l’histoire du cirque.

Émilien Bouglione s’est éteint à Paris le 15 mars 2026 ; il avait quatre-vingt-douze ans. Ses obsèques furent célébrées à l’église Saint-Roch, rue Saint-Honoré à Paris, en présence d’une grande foule d’amis, de professionnels du cirque et d’admirateurs. ''Le Prince du Cirque'', comme on l’appelait souvent, rejoignit deux générations précédentes de ses ancêtres dans le mausolée de la dynastie Bouglione, au cimetière de Lizy-sur-Ourq, près de Paris. Émilien Bouglione fut l’une de ces personnalités universellement aimées grâce auxquelles le mot « cirque » continue d’évoquer fascination et légende plutôt qu’une simple nostalgie.

==Lectures conseillées==

* Pascaline Kromicheff, ''Émilien Bouglione, Prince du Cirque'' (Puits, De la Voix au Chapitre, 2019) — ISBN 978-2-9562209-1-6

==See Also==

* Biography: [[The Bouglione Family]]
* Video: [[Bouglione_Norwegian_Horses_Video_(1962)|Emilien Bouglione, chevaux norvegiens]], au Cirque d'Hiver (1962)
* Video: [[Bouglione_Horses_Video_(1963)|Emilien Bouglione, cavalerie]], au Cirque d'Hiver (1963)
* Video: [[Emilien_Bouglione_Video_(1966)|Emilien Bouglione, ''La Poste'']], au Cirque d'Hiver (1966)
* Video: [[Emilien_Bouglione_Video_(1969)|Emilien Bouglione, ''La Poste'']], au Cirque d'Hiver (1969)
* Video: [[Emilien_Bouglione_Video_(1974)|Émilien Bouglione, cavalerie]], au Chipperfield's Circus (1974)

==Image Gallery==

<Gallery>
File:Les_Frères_Bouglione.jpg|Les frères Bouglione (c.1950)
File:Bouglione_-_Avedon.jpg|Émilien Bouglione par Richard Avedon (1955)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_by_Avedon.jpg|Émilien Bouglione par Richard Avedon (1955)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Avedon.jpg|Émilien Bouglione, Mylos, et Dovina par Richard Avedon (1955)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|Émilien Bouglione dans ''La Poste'' (1962)
File:Joseph_-_Rosa_Bouglione.jpg|Joseph et Rosa Bouglione (1963)
File:Emilien_Bouglione.jpg|Émilien Bouglione et sa cavalerie (c.1965)
File:Emilien_Bouglione Portrait.jpg|Émilien Bouglione (c.1970)
File:Emilien_and_Christiane_Bouglione.jpg|Émilien et Christiane Bouglione (c.1970)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Western.jpg|Émilien Bouglione avec sa selle mexicaine (c.1970)
File:Bouglione_Family.jpg| Émilien Bouglione et sa famille à Monte Carlo (1974)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_poster.jpg|Affiche annonçant Émilien Bouglione (c.1975)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Poster.jpg|Affiche par Renato Casaro représentant représentant Émilien Bouglione (1976)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_-_old_age.jpg|Émilien Bouglione, le Prince du Cirque (c.2015)
</Gallery>

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Bouglione, Émilien]][[Category:Animal Trainer|Bouglione, Émilien]][[Category:Equestrians|Bouglione, Émilien]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Bouglione, Émilien]]

Émilien Bouglione/Fr

2026-04-28T00:29:33Z

Djando: Created page with "{{Language|Émilien Bouglione}} 300px ==Écuyer, Directeur de Cirque== ''Par Raffaele De Ritis'' Émilien Bouglione (1934-202..."

{{Language|Émilien Bouglione}}

[[File:Emilien_Bouglione Portrait.jpg|right|300px]]
==Écuyer, Directeur de Cirque==

''Par Raffaele De Ritis''

Émilien Bouglione (1934-2026) était le quatrième des sept enfants de [[The Bouglione Family|Joseph et Rosa Bouglione]] (Odette, 1929-2025 – Josette, 1930-? – Firmin, 1933-2022 – Émilien – Sandrine, 1936-2012 – Sampion III, 1938-2019 – Joseph, né en 1942). Des quatre frères, il était de loin le plus artiste ; il succéda à son oncle Sampion II à la tête du département équestre du Cirque Bouglione et présenta, avec un goût infini et un allant remarquable, des tableaux équestres souvent préparés avec l’aide de son mentor, le Maître écuyer [[André Vasserot]] (1911-1991).

===La famille Bouglione===

Il naquit Jules Émilien Buffalo-Bill Bouglione le 20 juillet 1934, à Coulommiers (ville célèbre pour son fromage, à l’est de Paris), où le cirque familial était en représentation. Son père, le légendaire directeur de cirque Joseph Bouglione (1904-1987), et sa mère belge, Rosalie Van Been (1910-2018), étaient tous deux d’ascendance rom et venaient du monde des ménageries foraines, qui, entre les deux guerres, se restructuraient pour devenir le cirque itinérant moderne.

[[File:Joseph_-_Rosa_Bouglione.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Joseph et Rosa Bouglione (1963)]]Le père et les oncles de « Julot » (le diminutif sous lequel Émilien était connu de ses proches et de sa famille) avaient déjà défilé sous une succession d’enseignes pittoresques—dont l’une contribua à faire leur fortune : ''Stade Bufalo-Bill''—avant de s’établir sous le fier titre de ''Cirque des 4 Frères Bouglione''. On dit que le lendemain de l’arrivée du nouveau-né, Jules Émilien, ils signèrent le contrat qui fit d’eux les locataires du [[Cirque d'Hiver]] à Paris, le plus ancien bâtiment de cirque au monde, qui allait devenir leur propriété.

Les Bouglione formaient une grande famille dont l’école était la piste. Émilien y entra à l’âge de deux ans et était déjà en selle deux ans plus tard. Comme dans tout cirque, la piste des Bouglione était une école de la vie, dont le programme s’écrivait dans l’odeur âcre du crottin, des fauves, du cuir et de la sciure. Leur approche de l’art équestre ne devait rien au style académique classique (déjà en déclin) : la leur était plus farouche et plus romantique ; c’était un monde de chevaux mythiques qui galopent à travers le folklore et les romans populaires, montés par une famille dont le sang rom lui donnait un sceau d’éblouissante merveille.

Émilien fit ses débuts officiels en 1943, annoncé comme « Le plus jeune cavalier de France », sous la tutelle de [[Achille Zavatta]], clown célèbre et l’une des figures les plus protéiformes que le monde du cirque ait produites. Le jeune Émilien avait toutefois déjà été employé dans de petits rôles dans la pantomime ''Blanche-Neige'' ("Snow White")—l’une des opérettes de cirque novatrices que les Bouglione montèrent avec [[Géo Sandry]], leur concepteur et metteur en scène, pendant l’occupation allemande, afin de soutenir le moral des Parisiens.

Pour Émilien, cette expérience avait constitué une utile formation à la théâtralité et à l’art du spectacle. Il apparut aussi dans de petits rôles auprès de quelques-uns des grands clowns de l’époque, qui se succédaient dans les pistes des Bouglione avec la régularité d’un mécanisme bien entretenu. Après la guerre, durant les vacances scolaires, il commença à se familiariser avec la cavalerie de son oncle Sampion : sept étalons ukrainiens, dont il prit finalement la direction en 1950.

===L’étoile de la famille===

Ce qui suivit fut la naissance d’Émilien Bouglione, l’icône du cirque. Il nourrissait de véritables ambitions artistiques, qui trouvèrent rapidement leur forme dans ''La Poste'' —ce vertigineux tableau équestre créé au XIXe siècle par [[Andrew Ducrow]], où un cavalier se tient debout sur deux chevaux lancés au grand galop tandis qu’une demi-douzaine d’étalons passe à toute vitesse et à tour de rôle entre ses jambes ; le cavalier saisit une à une leurs longues rênes qu'ils déploient avant de contrôler un attelage lancé à pleine allure. Émilien la présenta d’abord en costume de cowboy, puis en Zorro, et enfin dans la tenue romaine de Ben-Hur, saisissant les basques d’Hollywood avec une assurance qu’Hollywood lui-même aurait pu envier.

[[File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Émilien dans "La Poste" (1962)]]Partageant ses activités entre le Cirque d’Hiver à Paris et ses tournées à travers la France, la Belgique et les Pays-Bas (avec une incursion au Brésil), le cirque Bouglione offrit à Émilien l’occasion de s’essayer à tout, de l’acrobatie à la spécialité de la famille, le dressage—dont la présentation du groupe mixte de tigres, lions et léopards de son oncle Firmin, ainsi que les éléphants Bouglione&mash;et même de remplacer, au besoin, un homme-canon. Mais l’équitation demeura son véritable domaine, le médium par lequel son imagination inépuisable trouvait son expression.

Assisté de l’indispensable André Vasserot, Émilien rassembla de riches écuries et développa un style à la fois vivant et précis : de grands groupes de races mêlées—Anglo-Arabes, Norvégiens, poneys—libérés des rigidités de l’école classique, souvent présentés avec sa marque personnelle : monté sur un cheval magnifique, toujours dans un costume somptueux, et parfois assis sur une selle mexicaine ornée. À l’inverse de son père et de ses oncles, qui paraissaient souvent en piste (et dans la cage) en costume de ville, Émilien avait un sens aigu du style et une véritable élégance qui servaient son remarquable sens du spectacle.

Qu’il conduise sa cavalerie ou qu’il évolue dans ''La Poste'', il traversait une galerie d’identités qui avaient fait vibrer les imaginaires du XXe siècle : Robin des Bois, un chef sioux, Zorro, Davy Crockett, un ''charro'' mexicain, un prince oriental, un ''gaucho'' argentin, un gladiateur, un ''vaquero'' andalou. Ses costumes et ses choix orchestraux étaient toujours du plus haut niveau, et son charisme était alors devenu indéniable. Il avait su distiller l’esprit de la littérature populaire et du cinéma en un art scénique immédiat, dont la piste était le médium.

Les années 1960 marquèrent l’apothéose du film d’aventures en Technicolor, ainsi qu’une période d’activité intense pour la famille Bouglione. En 1963, elle reprit le [[Cirque de Montmartre]] à Paris (anciennement Medrano), placé sous la direction des « Bouglione Juniors » (Firmin, Émilien, Sampion, Joseph) tandis que, dès la fin des années 1950, le Cirque d’Hiver commença à accueillir une émission télévisée extrêmement populaire, [[''La Piste aux Étoiles'']]. Pendant plus de vingt ans, cette émission offrit à Émilien une exposition extraordinaire, non seulement de sa personne auprès du public français, mais aussi, pour lui-même, aux techniques de la télévision et à un ensemble remarquable et divers d’artistes talentueux. Il apprenait vite.

===Un homme du monde===

[[File:Emilien_Bouglione_by_Avedon.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Émilien par Richard Avedon (1955)]]Doté d’une élégance naturelle en piste comme hors de la piste, Émilien possédait des dons et des centres d’intérêt sociaux qui surprenaient ceux qui s’attendaient à ce qu’un homme de cirque limite son monde au seul cirque. Il pouvait converser avec quiconque sur de nombreux sujets—brillant et modeste à parts égales—et il développa, avec une apparente facilité, des amitiés bien au-delà du monde de la sciure. Il conserva, tout du long, le charme mystérieux du nomade : impossible à expliquer pleinement, impossible à écarter.

À l’aise dans tous les milieux, il devint ami avec Salvador Dalí. En 1955, il posa pour le légendaire photographe Richard Avedon, qui réalisa au cirque des images aujourd’hui conservées dans de grands musées du monde entier. Dans les années 1970, le Cirque d’Hiver se mit à accueillir un nouveau cycle du ''Gala de l'Union des Artistes'' (l’inspiration originelle de tous les « Circus of The Stars » ultérieurs, né en 1923 au [[Nouveu Cirque (Paris)|Nouveau Cirque]] à Paris), l’un des événements parisiens les plus étincelants du XXe siècle.

Émilien en collabora à la direction et, année après année, confia sa ''chambrière'' et ses chevaux à des personnalités comme Gina Lollobrigida (qu’il avait rencontrée à dix-sept ans sur le tournage du film ''Trapeze'' [1956] au Cirque d’Hiver), le légendaire réalisateur et acteur italien Vittorio De Sica, et l’une des plus grandes vedettes parisiennes, Joséphine Baker. Parmi ses amis figuraient également Charles Aznavour, Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, le chef légendaire Paul Bocuse et le jazzman Lionel Hampton—parmi beaucoup d’autres.

Pour ses somptueux et élégants costumes de scène, il fit un jour appel à Paco Rabanne. Il accordait la même attention à ses harnais et à ses selles : on se souvient surtout de la majestueuse selle-armure incrustée d’argent sur laquelle, vêtu d’une veste boléro à sequins dorés sur un gilet noir et un pantalon noir, Émilien fut représenté par le grand illustrateur italien Renato Casaro pour une magnifique affiche en deux feuilles de 1976—l’image d’un homme parfaitement à l’aise dans sa propre légende.

===Lauréat et collectionneur : le Prince du Cirque===

En 1974, les Bouglione mirent leur cirque itinérant à la disposition du prince Rainier III de Monaco pour accueillir et organiser le premier [[Festival International du Cirque de Monte Carlo]]. Émilien y présenta sa cavalerie et remporta un Clown d’Argent—le tout premier jamais décerné. Dans nombre de ses numéros équestres, il était accompagné de son épouse, la belle [[The Bouglione Family|Christiane Bouglione]], née Hernandez (en 1940), qui produira ensuite ses propres spectacles, et qui lui donna quatre enfants: Joseph (né en 1960), Regina (née en 1962), Louis-Sampion (né en 1966) et Odette (née en 1969).

[[File:Bouglione_Family.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Émilien Bouglione avec ses frères et son père au Festival de Monte Carlo (1974)]]Le Cirque Bouglione cessa ses tournées en 1981 et, quelques années plus tard, le Cirque d’Hiver abandonna lui aussi sa saison de cirque, devenant un théâtre à louer. Émilien se tourna alors vers sa vieille passion : la collection. Il accumula, avec une ferveur méthodique, un étonnant trésor d’objets d’art—peintures, bronzes, divers souvenirs, documents liés au cirque et au monde équestre—contribuant ainsi à reconstituer des pans d’histoire du cirque qui, autrement, auraient pu disparaître.

En 1999, avec sa mère et son frère Sampion III, il donna sa bénédiction à la décision de confier à la nouvelle génération des Bouglione le retour de la saison de cirque au Cirque d’Hiver. Le rôle d’Émilien dans ce projet fut unique et impossible à définir précisément : celui d’un esprit inspirateur. Sa seule présence conférait une tranquille autorité à une expérience qui devint, au fil des ans, l’un des succès les plus remarquables du monde du cirque, en grande partie grâce aux propres enfants d’Émilien.

Dans les premières décennies du XXIe siècle, quiconque passait par hasard au Cirque d’Hiver à n’importe quelle heure de la journée pouvait aisément se retrouver face à la silhouette de « Monsieur Émilien », devenu le patriarche de la famille, surgissant de façon inattendue de l’un des vomitoires de la salle, d’un couloir mystérieux, ou de l’une des innombrables petites portes que le vénérable bâtiment semble multiplier à l’infini.

Sa silhouette longiligne se déplaçait silencieusement et discrètement—et, invariablement, son élégance impeccable vous frappait : ses magnifiques gilets, assortis à une cravate ou un foulard, ses boutons de manchette ornés scintillant aux poignets. C’était moins l’éclat d’un vétéran du cirque à la retraite que la grâce d’un souverain émérite. Pourtant, rien chez lui n’intimidait. Une douce familiarité s’installait d’emblée, et la conversation (on pouvait se trouver entraîné dans les savoirs du cirque, les beaux-arts, l’actualité, un petit-enfant passant, un détail négligé dans un coin) brûlait d’une passion calme et fervente.

===Épilogue===

Peu à peu, les enfants d’Émilien prirent en main la gestion complète du Cirque d’Hiver. Joseph en était le très talentueux directeur artistique depuis la reprise des activités circassiennes du Cirque d’Hiver, assisté de sa sœur Regina, qui veille à l’allure et à l’élégante garde-robe des artistes et du personnel. [[File:Emilien_Bouglione_-_old_age.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Émilien Bouglione (c.2015)]]Louis-Sampion, qui partage la passion de son père pour l’histoire et la collection, créa le musée privé "Émilien Bouglione" au Cirque d’Hiver et s’assure que les valeurs culturelles et historiques du légendaire bâtiment parisien sont appréciées et préservées. Enfin, Odette devint CEO de l’ensemble de l’organisation Bouglione. Tous partagent avec leur père l’élégance, le talent et un respect engagé pour la place de leur famille dans l’histoire du cirque.

Émilien Bouglione s’est éteint à Paris le 15 mars 2026 ; il avait quatre-vingt-douze ans. Ses obsèques furent célébrées à l’église Saint-Roch, rue Saint-Honoré à Paris, en présence d’une grande foule d’amis, de professionnels du cirque et d’admirateurs. ''Le Prince du Cirque'', comme on l’appelait souvent, rejoignit deux générations précédentes de ses ancêtres dans le mausolée de la dynastie Bouglione, au cimetière de Lizy-sur-Ourq, près de Paris. Émilien Bouglione fut l’une de ces personnalités universellement aimées grâce auxquelles le mot « cirque » continue d’évoquer fascination et légende plutôt qu’une simple nostalgie.

==Lectures conseillées==

* Pascaline Kromicheff, ''Émilien Bouglione, Prince du Cirque'' (Puits, De la Voix au Chapitre, 2019) — ISBN 978-2-9562209-1-6

==See Also==

* Biography: [[The Bouglione Family]]
* Video: [[Bouglione_Norwegian_Horses_Video_(1962)|Emilien Bouglione, chevaux norvegiens]], au Cirque d'Hiver (1962)
* Video: [[Bouglione_Horses_Video_(1963)|Emilien Bouglione, cavalerie]], au Cirque d'Hiver (1963)
* Video: [[Emilien_Bouglione_Video_(1966)|Emilien Bouglione, ''La Poste'']], au Cirque d'Hiver (1966)
* Video: [[Emilien_Bouglione_Video_(1969)|Emilien Bouglione, ''La Poste'']], au Cirque d'Hiver (1969)
* Video: [[Emilien_Bouglione_Video_(1974)|Émilien Bouglione, cavalerie]], au Chipperfield's Circus (1974)

==Image Gallery==

<Gallery>
File:Les_Frères_Bouglione.jpg|Les frères Bouglione (c.1950)
File:Bouglione_-_Avedon.jpg|Émilien Bouglione par Richard Avedon (1955)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_by_Avedon.jpg|Émilien Bouglione par Richard Avedon (1955)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Avedon.jpg|Émilien Bouglione, Mylos, et Dovina par Richard Avedon (1955)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|Émilien Bouglione dans ''La Poste'' (1962)
File:Joseph_-_Rosa_Bouglione.jpg|Joseph et Rosa Bouglione (1963)
File:Emilien_Bouglione.jpg|Émilien Bouglione et sa cavalerie (c.1965)
File:Emilien_Bouglione Portrait.jpg|Émilien Bouglione (c.1970)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Western.jpg|Émilien Bouglione avec sa selle mexicaine (c.1970)
File:Bouglione_Family.jpg| Émilien Bouglione et sa famille à Monte Carlo (1974)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_poster.jpg|Affiche annonçant Émilien Bouglione (c.1975)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Poster.jpg|Affiche par Renato représentant représentant Émilien Bouglione (1976)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_-_old_age.jpg|Émilien Bouglione, le Prince du Cirque (c.2015)
</Gallery>

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Bouglione, Émilien]][[Category:Animal Trainer|Bouglione, Émilien]][[Category:Equestrians|Bouglione, Émilien]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Bouglione, Émilien]]

Rasshivkin Video (1983)

2026-04-27T05:38:55Z

Djando: Created page with "Vyacheslav, Ella and Slava Rasshivkin, hand-to-hand balancing, in a Russian circus (1983) {{#ev:vimeo|1186831107|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Vyacheslav Rasshivkin..."

Vyacheslav, Ella and Slava Rasshivkin, hand-to-hand balancing, in a Russian circus (1983)

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Vyacheslav Rasshivkin]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Rasshivkin Trio]]

Duo Acero

2026-04-26T21:22:09Z

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==Acrobats==

* Video: [[Acero_Duo_Video_(2025)|Duo Acero, hand-to-hand balancing]], at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (2025)

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Acero Duo]][[Category:Acrobats|Acero Duo]][[Category:Hand-to-Hand Balancing|Acero Duo]]

Acero Duo Video (2025)

2026-04-26T21:19:08Z

Djando: Created page with "Duo Acero, hand-to-hand balancing, at the 47th International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (2025) — ''Document: France Television'' {{#ev:vimeo|1186756827|740}} =..."

Duo Acero, hand-to-hand balancing, at the 47th [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]] (2025) — ''Document: France Television''

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Duo Acero]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Acero Duo]]

Aleksandr Streltsov

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==Aerialist==

* Video: [[Streltsov_Video_(1990)|Aleksandr Stretsov, ''Angel'']], strap act created by [[Valentin Gneushev]] (1990)

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Stretsov, Aleksandr]][[Category:Aerialists|Stretsov, Aleksandr]][[Category:Strap Acts|Stretsov, Aleksandr]]

Streltsov Video (1990)

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Djando: Created page with "Aleksandr Streltsov, ''Angel'', strap act (excerpts), created by Valentin Gneushev (1990) {{#ev:vimeo|1184949431|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Aleksandr Streltsov..."

Aleksandr Streltsov, ''Angel'', strap act (excerpts), created by [[Valentin Gneushev]] (1990)

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Aleksandr Streltsov]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Streltsov, Aleksandr]]

Larkina Video (1993)

2026-04-20T05:52:34Z

Djando: Created page with "Yelena Larkina, hula-hoop act (excerpts), as originally staged by Valentin Gneushev (1993) {{#ev:vimeo|1184697372|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Yelena Larkina ..."

Yelena Larkina, hula-hoop act (excerpts), as originally staged by [[Valentin Gneushev]] (1993)

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Yelena Larkina]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Larkina, Yelena]]

Gneushev Video (c.1990)

2026-04-20T02:58:41Z

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Valentin Gneushev's interview on Russian Television (c.1990), interspersed with excerpts of later videos of [[Evgeny Pimonenko]], [[Yelena Larkina]], the [[Duo Bondarenko]], [[Aleksandr Steltsov]], and a piece of acrobatic dance, which he had created. (''In Russian.'') — ''Document: RosGosTsirk''

{{#ev:vimeo|1184614277|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Valentin Gneushev]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Gneushev, Valentin]]

Duo Bondarenko

2026-04-19T20:50:11Z

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==Jugglers==

* Video: [[Bondarenko_Video_(1993)|Duo Bondarenko, juggling act (excerpts)]], archival document (1993)

[[Category:Artsits and Acts|Bondarenko Duo]][[Category:Jugglers|Bondarenko Duo]]

Bondarenko Video (1993)

2026-04-19T20:47:09Z

Djando: Created page with "Duo Bondarenko, juggling act (excerpts), staged by Valentin Gneushev (1993) {{#ev:vimeo|1184616543|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Duo Bondarenko Category:Video..."

Duo Bondarenko, juggling act (excerpts), staged by [[Valentin Gneushev]] (1993)

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Duo Bondarenko]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Bondarenko Duo]]

Wolfgang Lauenburger

2026-04-15T20:06:31Z

Djando: Created page with "==Animal Trainer== * Video: Wolfgang Lauenburger, dog act, at the International Circus festival of Monte Carlo (2025) Category:Artists and..."

==Animal Trainer==

* Video: [[Lauenburger_Dog_Video_(2025)|Wolfgang Lauenburger, dog act]], at the International Circus festival of Monte Carlo (2025)

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Lauenburger, Wolfgang]][[Category:Animal Trainers|Lauenburger, Wolfgang]][[Category:Dog Acts|Lauenburger, Wolfgang]]

Lauenburger Dog Video (2025)

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Wolfgang Lauenburger, dog act, at the 47th [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]] (2025) — ''Document: France Television''

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Wolfgang Lauenburger]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Lauenburger, Wolfgang]]

Balkanski Trio

2026-04-13T01:59:13Z

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==Acrobats, Roller Skaters==

* Video: [[Balkanski_Trio_Video_(2025)|Trio Balkanski, roller skating]], at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (2025)

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Balkanski Trio]][[Category:Acrobats|Balkanski Trio]][[Category:Roller-Skating Acts|Balkanski Trio]]

Balkanski Trio Video (2025)

2026-04-13T01:55:49Z

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Trio Balkanski, roller skating, at the 47th [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]] (2025) — ''Document: France Television''

{{#ev:vimeo|1182477991|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Balkanski Trio]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Balkanski Trio]]

Muky and Alex

2026-04-11T18:55:01Z

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==Clowns==

Muky & Alex—whose full stage names were Muky Mukyon & Alex Alizon (roughly translating to Muky Clown & Alex Cheerful), were Israel's [[The Ziratron]]'s beloved house clowns. Alex (1919-1991) was born Akiva Rokenstein in Chernivtsi, Romania (today Ukraine) to a family of carpenters. From a young age he was funny and excelled at balancing tricks and was spotted by a professional clown from the Chernivtsi Circus who was so impressed by Alex that he invited him to become his assistant.

Alex was only fifteen years old at the time, and he left his home to join the circus. Later he became a soldier in the Red Army and was captured during WWII and sent to a concentration camp in Transnistria. He survived the camp and, in 1945, came to Israel. There he met Muky (1889-1981), born Ya'akov Goldstein in Sofia, Bulgaria. He had been a professional clown all his life. In 1950 the Ziratron's director, Sam Kalinhof, introduced him to Alex. Muky was thirty years older than Alex, and much more experienced, and Alex became his student and stage partner.

When the Ziratron, Israel's first circus, was created in 1950, Muky & Alex became its household clowns and performed in all its shows until 1959. They each had a well-defined character: Muky was a wise and funny clown, whereas Alex was a naive and serious clown and was "he who got slapped". Eventually they added a third clown to their team and worked as a trio with Charlie Klein, a former acrobat and a stilt walker.

==Image Gallery==

<Gallery>
File:Muky_and_Alex.jpg|Muky & Alex with friend
</Gallery>

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Muky and Alex]][[Category:Clowns|Muky and Alex]]

Gino Donati Video (1981)

2026-04-10T22:18:04Z

Djando: Created page with "Gino Donati (and partner), comedy acrobatic act, in BBC Television's ''Summertime Special'' (1981) {{#ev:vimeo|1181389861|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Gino Donati [..."

Gino Donati (and partner), comedy acrobatic act, in BBC Television's ''Summertime Special'' (1981)

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==See Also==

* Biography: [[Gino Donati]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Donati, Gino]]

The Ziratron

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[[File:Ziratron_Pin.png|right|300px]]
==Israel's First Circus==

''By Stav Meishar''

Although there is a long tradition of Jewish circus families and Jewish-owned circuses, especially in Northern and Eastern Europe, Israel, which has welcomed many Jewish circus performers among its population, doesn't have a circus of its own—although circus schools are beginning to appear, and it organized an international circus festival in 2015. However, there has been one genuine Israeli circus in existence for a little more than a decade after the State of Israel's creation in 1948.

===The Ziratron===

[[File:Ziratron_Program_50-51.jpg|thumb|left|300pix|Ziratron Program cover (1950)]]Israel's very first circus, founded 1950, was named ''Ziratron'', which is a hybrid of two Hebrew words: "Zira" (an arena or manège) and "Te'atron" (theater). It was the brainchild of thirty-six discharged and disabled soldiers, who founded a cooperative and invested the hefty sum of 35,000 liras in the founding of the circus—most of it raised via loans from the Office for Rehabilitation of Veterans. In the beginning, the Administrative Director was Aron Berman, and the Artistic Director was Shlomo (Sam) Kalinhof.

"We are professionals, and some of us have spent years working in some of Europe's most important circuses", explained the secretary of the cooperative, Lipi Hirsch, when interviewed for the newspaper ''Davar''. According to Hirsch, he and his friends made sure the circus is "100 percent" legit: "We have invited the very best—flying acrobats, clowns, bicycle acrobats, animal trainers, as well as a big orchestra to accompany the performances." The circus had its opening night on Tuesday, May 16th, 1950.

Soon after they opened, the Ziratron's fame rose and circus became a popular medium of entertainment in Israel. In those days the young country was inhabited by hundreds of thousands of new immigrants who had yet to master the Hebrew language and could not access Israeli theater or cinema. Thus, the circus provided them with a source of light entertainment that the entire family could enjoy.

They opened their circus on five dunams of land (approximately 4,500 square meters) in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, with the support of the municipality. They built what is known as a "construction," a round structure of wood covered with a canvas roof. There was a traditional circus ring, and the house could accommodate up to 2,500 spectators. People nicknamed it "The Canvas Colosseum". Beyond their Ramat Gan home, the Ziratron also had a permanent location for their shows in the city of Haifa.

The Ziratron staged mostly circus performances, showcasing "acrobatics, magic tricks, clowns, bicycle riders, dogs, horses, elephants, trained monkeys and many other elements of courage and speed accompanied by much humor". Later, trained wild animals were also incorporated. Their shows attracted thousands of spectators from all over the country and won raving reviews.

===Israeli Performers===

[[File:Muky and Alex.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Muky & Alex with friend (1951)]]Like all circuses, the Ziratron showcased an international cast of performers, but it had also a core of Israeli artists. Two of these artists were Zila and Charlie Klein. Born in Warsaw, Poland in 1927, Zila met Charlie when she was 18 years old; one year later, she married him and joined the circus with him. Charlie Klein was born in Hungary in 1907. He survived World War II by way of street performing, hiding his Jewish identity and traveling throughout Europe for a few years, until he managed to escape Europe for Israel. Charlie was a clown, stilt-walker and an acrobatic base. Zila was an acrobat, dancer and a skater, both on regular skates as well as ice skates. She performed at the circus until her daughter was born when she was thirty-one, at which point she retired.

Another colorful character in the Ziratron was Zippora Zabbari (born 1908), a middle eastern dancer, trick roping artist and horse rider. Born in Israel she left for Prague when she was 21. Known there as "Miss Palestine," she dipped her toes in sawdust for the first time, picking up horse-riding and trick roping. Zippora later moved to Berlin where she further developed her circus skills. She performed these as a duo with her husband, a circus artist. Zippora escaped Germany for Israel on the eve of World War II.

The Ziratron's beloved clowns were [[Muky and Alex]]—whose full stage names were Muky Mukyon & Alex Alizon (roughly translating to Muky Clown & Alex Cheerful). Alex (1919-1991) was born Akiva Rokenstein in Chernivtsi, Romania (today Ukraine) to a family of carpenters. From a young age he was funny and excelled at balancing tricks and was spotted by a professional clown from the Chernivtsi Circus who was so impressed by Alex that he invited him to become his assistant.

Alex was only fifteen years old at the time, and he left his home to join the circus. Later he became a soldier in the Red Army and was captured during WWII and sent to a concentration camp in Transnistria. He survived the camp and, in 1945, came to Israel. There he met Muky (1889-1981), born Ya'akov Goldstein in Sofia, Bulgaria. He had been a professional clown all his life. In 1950 the Ziratron's director, Sam Kalinhof, introduced him to Alex. Muky was thirty years older than Alex, and much more experienced, and Alex became his student and stage partner.

[[File:Ziratron_Program_(1954).jpg|thumb|left|400px|Program for the 1954 Season]]When the Ziratron was created, Muky & Alex became its household clowns and performed in all its shows. They each had a well-defined character: Muky was a wise and funny clown, whereas Alex was a naive and serious clown, and it was "he who got slapped". Eventually they added a third clown to their team and worked as a trio with Charlie Klein on his stilts.

Avi Koren, an Israeli lyricist and translator, was just five years old when the Ziratron first opened. He and his friends used to sneak into the circus frequently, blending in with paying audience members. He left a description of his experience: "Inside the tent, which was boiling in the summer and leaking in the winter, we witnessed the whole wide world: Acrobats walking on tightrope, flaming torches in their hands, above them only a roof of canvas and beneath them only a net; dogs leaping through flaming hoops; monkeys sucking on baby bottles; dancing horses, bowing down to the instructions of the fairest of circus ladies... And once they had ridden out to the sound of the orchestra, bowing their heads towards the audience, in came Muky & Alex, 'The World's Funniest Clowns'… Muky & Alex—one hoarse and the other mute—would fall, tumble, flip, pour water on each other, and get tangled up in the net."

While the Ziratron was founded and managed by Israelis, most of its cast was international. Among many famous circus artists who performed during the 1951-1952 season were the beautiful and talented equestrienne [[Benji de La Cour]] (Benji and her husband [[Yves de La Cour]] were regulars of Paris's famous [[Cirque Medrano (Paris)|Cirque Medrano]]). There were also [[The Marconis]] (Pierre and Lucien Guillon) who had a spectacular aerial act, and the [[Trio Royal]], a Dutch jockey act composed of siblings Rita, Isabella and Bent Brunn, who performed under the watchful eye (and ''chambrière'') of their father, Joseph Brunn.

===Change of Times===

[[File:Josephine_Baker_at_Ziratron.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Josephine Baker at The Ziratron (1954)]]A big organizational change seems to have occurred in 1954: The company previously registered as "Ziratron Workers Cooperative, Ltd" has either been dissolved or rebranded, and had become "Ziratron Public Entertainments Company, Ltd". While the Ziratron continued to do business under the same name, the change was evident in the kind of entertainment they now produced: Starting in 1954 the Ziratron also hosted plays, boxing matches, musical concerts and more, as its popularity rose further.

A notable performance was that of the world-renowned black entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist Josephine Baker in 1954. The American industry entertainment magazine ''Variety'' reported Ms. Baker's performance thus: "[The Ziratron's] attraction for the two weeks in December was Josephine Baker, who gave two performances daily to sellout audiences. Prices were 50c (for children) to $3. The government gets 40% of the intake. "

There had been also a significant change of management: The Ziratron was now run by Rainer L. Grosskopf on a yearly rental arrangement that had started in September 1954. Grosskopf’s father, a composer, conductor and theatre operator in Berlin, had written some of Ms. Baker’s early repertoire; he was killed by Hitler's guards after refusing to conduct in Hitler’s presence.

Though the Ziratron was popular, things were far from rosy. According to the Ziratron's directors, Mr. Grosskopf refused their advice and made bad business decisions that resulted in heavy debts. Many exchanges between the Ziratron and various state authorities (as early as 1952) show that the Ziratron required constant financial support to be able to bring artists to Israel, but they also complained that Grosskopf's management had put the company out of favor with the authorities. The Ziratron was eventually forced to close; then its property suffered severe flood damage, and it remained shut for eight months.

Additionally, Israel's political position as a young country surrounded by enemy nations also created challenges. In 1956 the Ziratron hosted (not for the first time) Redley's Circus on Ice. It was the time of the Suez Crisis, known to Israelis as the Sinai War. Because of the conflict, shows were poorly attended, and the owner had to slash his performers' pay, telling them they'd have to pay their own fare home if they wanted to leave. As a result, the skaters who remained had to sleep in the menagerie tents.

===A New Circus in Tel Aviv?===

[[File:Polish_State_Circus_in_Israel.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Poster for the Polish State Circus (1960]]In November 1958 the members of the Ziratron cooperative decided to build a permanent home for their circus in the neighboring (and much larger) city of Tel-Aviv. The land chosen for this purpose was then far away from the main areas of nightlife and entertainment; the building, envisioned to be a bona fide circus building, was designed by the award-winning architect Aharon Doron (1917-2012).

Construction was supposed to last three or four months, and in June 1959 the Ziratron began dismantling its Ramat Gan's ''construction'' with the intention of moving into the permanent Tel-Aviv building as soon as the work was completed. Alas, some disagreements, financial troubles and budget deficits soon halted the work on the circus building, and its skeleton was left deserted and unfinished.

At that time the Ziratron was still supporting and rehabilitating wounded soldiers: A letter to the Israeli government dated March 10th, 1959 lists seven such men who were among the Ziratron's founders. Other records show that, during various times throughout the 1950s, the Ziratron supported thirty to seventy families of veteran, wounded, and discharged soldiers.

As the skeleton of their building remained to haunt the city, the Ziratron seems to have gone through yet another organizational change. There are no more reports of performances, circus or otherwise, at the Ziratron's "Canvas Colosseum" in Ramat Gan. After a decade of spectacular shows and much love from Israeli audiences, the Ziratron appears to have fizzled out of existence as quickly as it had appeared.

But the company registered as "Ziratron Public Entertainments Company, Ltd." continued to produce shows. In February 1960 they brought the Polish State Circus to Israel, which performed for a six-month contract at Kikar Ha'Medina ("The State Square"), but still under the "Ziratron" brand. Bringing it to Israel was quite a logistical feat: It required visas for 80 people and importation permits for 70-80 animals. This necessitated not only financial and diplomatic support from the State of Israel, but also the collaboration of three theatrical agents: Jakob Ori, an independent theatrical agent based in Haifa, and Aron Berman and Sam Kalinhof, directors of the Ziratron.

Since its inception in 1950, the Ziratron board rotated its members as directors, many serving for more than one term. As the Ziratron ceased its physical operation in Ramat Gan and began producing shows at Kikar Ha'Medina, its first duo of directors, Aron Berman and Sam Kalinhof. also became its last.

===The End of Israel's First Circus===

[[File:Program_Bulgarian_State_Circus_1966.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Bulgarian State Circus program (1966)]]Over the following years, throughout the 1960s, Kikar Ha'Medina replaced the Ziratron tent as the main venue for visiting circuses, including [[Circus Medrano-Swoboda]] (later, [[Medrano-Casartelli]]) that came almost every year (brought to Israel by impresario Jakob Ori). In fact, there were so many circuses performing at Kikar Ha'Medina that it led to a popular saying: "The State of Israel is like the State Square: half the time circus, half the time mud".

In 1964, five years after the construction of the Ziratron's Tel Aviv building had halted, its remaining skeleton was purchased by Israeli businessman Joseph Epstein and used for the construction of the "Cinerama" hall, where many films, concerts and other events were hosted for decades (the building was eventually demolished in 2016). In the beginning, there was some hope that the building could be used for Ziratron circus shows. But that hope never seemed to have come true.

To the unsuspecting viewer, it seemed that the Ziratron had died when its ''construction'' was dismantled in 1959 and was replaced by the foreign circuses visiting Kikar Ha'Medina throughout the 1960s. But that was just an appearance: It was in fact it was still "Ziratron Public Entertainments Company, Ltd." that imported these foreign circuses to perform at Kikar Ha'Medina, even though their venue in Ramat Gan was no more. Strangely, however, the company was no longer doing business as the Ziratron; that name had completely disappeared from both marketing and programs and had been replaced by the name of the man who presided over the company and was its first and last director: "Impresario A. Berman" (Aron Berman).

In 1967, Joseph Epstein (owner of the Ziratron-Cinerama building) went bankrupt, and the Israeli courthouse ordered his companies to be dismantled and sold—among which the Ziratron-Cinerama building. The following year, in July 1968, "Ziratron Public Entertainments Company, Ltd." went up for auction. It remains unclear whether at the time of the auction the company was owned by Mr. Epstein or by the veteran's cooperative; state records show that Mr. Berman started his own company in June 1969.

After many incarnations, thus came the end of the Ziratron. The cooperative founded by veterans in November 1949 that captivated so many audiences throughout the 1950s and 1960s ceased to exist. It paid its very last debt to the legal receiver in July 1973.

==A Note on The Source==

'''''This article has been adapted from the original on ''The Escape Act'' website''''' ([http://www.theescapeactshow.com/blog/extra-israels-first-circus theescapeactshow.com])

==Image Gallery==

<Gallery>
File:Ziratron_Program_50-51.jpg|Ziratron Progam - 1950-51 Season (1950)
File:Zippora_Zabbari.jpg|Zippora Zabbari (c.1950)
File:Muky_and_Alex.jpg|Muky & Alex with friend (1951)
File:Josephine_Baker_at_Ziratron.jpg|Josephine Baker at The Ziratron (1954)
File:Ziratron_Program_(1954).jpg|Ziratron program (1954)
File:Ziratron_Pin.png|Ziratron souvenir pin (c.1955)
File:The_Ziratron-Aerial_view.jpg|The Ziratron (1955)
File:Ziratron_crowd.jpg|The Ziratron (1955)
File:Polish_State_Circus_in_Israel.jpg|Polish State Circus Poster (1960)
File:Program_Bulgarian_State_Circus_1966.jpg|Bulgarian State Circus Program (1966)
File:Hungarian_State_Circus_poster_(1967).jpg|The Hungarian State Circus in Tel Aviv (1967)
</Gallery>

[[Category:Circuses|Ziratron, The]][[Category:History|Ziratron, The]]

Statues BAC Video (1994)

2026-03-28T17:50:46Z

Djando:

Melinda Merlier, Carlos Guity & James Clowney (with [[Barry Lubin]]), statue act, in the [[Big Apple Circus]] production of ''Grandma Meets Mummenschanz'' (1994)

{{#ev:vimeo|1177923552|740}}

==See Also==

* Biographies: [[Melinda Merlier]], [[Carlos Guity]], [[James Clowney]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Merlier, Melinda]]

James Clowney

2026-03-26T21:31:02Z

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

[[File:James_Clowney.jpg|right|250px]]
==Acrobat==

''By Dominique Jando''

James Clowney (1972-2026) was a talented acrobat and comedy character whose professional career spanned twenty years in two circuses only, but two prestigious ones: New York's [[Big Apple Circus]] and Canada's [[Cirque du Soleil]]. A versatile and charismatic performer and a generous individual, he was held in high esteem by his colleagues and loved by his audiences—until his untimely death at age fifty-four in 2026.

===A Kid from Manhattan===

Born in New York January 9, 1972, James grew up in Manhattan surrounded by five sisters and one brother. On July 18, 1977, the Big Apple Circus gave its inaugural performance in a landfill near Battery Park, in Manhattan; the Big Apple Circus was then the performing arm of the New York School for Circus Arts, and the show featured a young and very talented African American acrobatic group, [[The Back Street Flyers]].

Age fourteen to sixteen, hailing from the now-defunct Charles Evans Hughes High School in the Chelsea District on Manhattan's West Side (of ''West Side Story'' fame), they had practiced tumbling at a YMCA, until their teacher brought them to the newly established New York School for Circus Arts. They were to become a staple of the Big Apple Circus’s early productions, and, in 1980, won a Silver Medal at Paris’s [[Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain]]. The Back Street Flyers became an inspiration for other African American kids in New York.

James joined the New York School for Circus Arts at age nine, in 1981. When the school morphed into the Big Apple Circus Arts in Education Program two years later and found a home at the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School (better known simply as Harbor School) on Governors Island, James moved with it, and graduated from Harbor School in 1986. He then went to West Side High School, took a break to work as an usher and on the ring crew at the Big Apple Circus, and returned to school to graduate in 1992.

During that time, James never stopped training. In 1988, he performed an acrobatic act with [[Carlos Guity]] (soon to join the Big Apple Circus) and four other students of the Arts in Education Program at the [[Festival Première Rampe]] in Monte Carlo—then the junior equivalent of the [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]]—where they won the ''Nice-Matin'' award presented by the local press.

===An International Circus Career===

James eventually joined the Big Apple Circus Company in 1993 for its production of ''Carnevale in Venice''. He appeared in the show as a tumbler and acrobat in various tableaus. Turned professional, he would participate in three more Big Apple Circus productions until 1997—notably in a hand-to-hand balancing act with [[Melinda Merlier]] and Carlos Guity, in a comedy tumbling act with [[Julian Stachowski]], Carlos Guity, [[Al Calienes]], and [[Elena Panova]], in a Russian barre act with Julian Stachowski and Carlos Guity, and in a teeterboard act with Melinda Merlier, Carlos Guity, Julian Stachowski, and the [[William Woodcock, Jr.|Woodcock]] elephants: A versatile performer indeed!

Then, in 1998, James went to work at Cirque Du Soleil for the Canadian circus's restaging of its old production of ''Saltimbanco''. James was originally cast as an acrobat and character in the show, but his presence and comedic talent eventually earned him the central role of "The Ringmaster." James was an excellent spotter, and didn't hesitate to put himself at risk to save a fellow performer. In 2008, he suffered leg and ankle fractures after he broke a twelve-meter fall (about thirty feet) by another acrobat, Yannick Blackburn. He was credited with saving Blackburn's life. James would tour the world with ''Saltimbanco'' for fifteen years before leaving the show in 2012.

Then, at age forty, James Clowney left the circus altogether and went to work for a time as a security professional for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. He settled in Las Vegas, where Cirque du Soleil employees and alumni are many, and eventually created his own business, ''Armchair Millionaire Academy''—the title of which corresponds well with his sense of humor.

What happened next is not well documented. Having left show business, James somewhat disappeared from the circus world's radar—until his death from a heart attack on January 30, 2026, at age fifty-four, which came as a shock to all those who had been lucky to know and work with him. His was survived by one son, Ayjai Clowney. James Clowney was a warm human being, and a multi-talented artist who combined amazing strength, acrobatic nimbleness, and a great sense of humor. Said James: "Always believe that hard work pays off."

==See Also==

* Video: [[Statues_BAC_Video_(1994)|James Clowney,Melinda Merlier, and Carlos Guity, statue act]], in the Big Apple Circus production of ''Grandma Meets Mummenschanz'' (1994)
* Video: [[Stachowsky_Clowney_Guity_BAC_1996_Video|James Clowney, Carlos Guity & Julian Stachowski, double-bar act]], at the Big Apple Circus (1996)
* Video: [[Bill Woodcock Elephants and BAC Company BAC 1996 Video| James Clowney and the Big Apple Circus Company]], teeterboard with Bill Woodcock's elephants in ''The Medicine Show'' (1996)

==Image Gallery==

<Gallery>
File:Clowney_-_Guity_BAC.jpg|James Clowney at the New York School for Circus Arts (1988)
File:James_Clowney_-_CdS.png|James Clowney (bottom) practicing at Cirque du Soleil (c.2000)
File:James_Clowney.jpg|James Clowney (1993)
File:James_Clowney_-_Cirque_du_Soleil.jpg|James Clowney at Cirque du Soleil (c.2010)
</Gallery>

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Clowney, James]][[Category:Acrobats|Clowney, James]][[Category:Hand-to-Hand Balancing|Clowney, James]][[Category:Teeterboard|Clowney, James]]

Castors Video (c.1960)

2026-03-26T17:38:59Z

Djando:

Les Castors (Nora, Toly, Charly, and Eddy, with their father, Louis Moustier), foot-juggling and Risley act, at the Grand Cirque de France ([[Cirque Gruss-Jeannet]]) (c.1960)

{{#ev:vimeo|1176699061|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Les Castors]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Castors, Les]]

Smart Video (1981)

2026-03-24T05:45:25Z

Djando: Created page with "Yasmine Smart, horses at liberty, at the 8th International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (1981) — ''Document: France Television'' {{#ev:vimeo|1176313834|740}} ==S..."

Yasmine Smart, horses at liberty, at the 8th [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]] (1981) — ''Document: France Television''

{{#ev:vimeo|1176313834|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Yasmine Smart]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Smart, Yasmine]]

Émilien Bouglione

2026-03-21T04:10:18Z

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

{{Languages}}

[[File:Emilien_Bouglione Portrait.jpg|right|300px]]
==Equestrian, Circus Director==

by Raffaele De Ritis

Émilien Bouglione (1934-2026) was the fourth of [[The Bouglione Family|Joseph and Rosa Bouglione]]’s seven children (Odette, 1929-2025 – Josette, 1930-? – Firmin, 1933-2022 – Émilien – Sandrine, 1936-2012 – Sampion III, 1938-2019 – Joseph, b. 1942). Of the four brothers, he was by far the most artistically minded; he succeeded his uncle Sampion II at the helm of Cirque Bouglione’s equestrian department and presented with infinite taste and great gusto equestrian presentations that were often prepared with the help of his mentor, Master Equestrian [[André Vasserot]] (1911-1991).

===The Bouglione Family===

He was born Jules Émilien Buffalo-Bill Bouglione on July 20th, 1934, in Coulommiers (a town famous for its cheese, east of Paris), where his family's circus was performing. His father, the legendary circus director Joseph Bouglione (1904-1987), and his Belgian mother, Rosalie Van Been (1910-2018), were both of Roma descent and came from the world of fairground menageries, which were, between the two world wars, restructuring into the modern traveling circus.

[[File:Joseph_-_Rosa_Bouglione.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Joseph and Rosa Bouglione (1963)]]The father and uncles of "Julot" (the diminutive by which Emilien was known by his close friends and family) had already paraded under a succession of picturesque banners—including one that helped them build their fortune: ''Stade Bufalo-Bill''—before settling on the proud ''Cirque des 4 Frères Bouglione''. It is said that the day after their newest family member, Jules Émilien, had arrived, they signed the contract making them tenants of the [[Cirque d'Hiver]] in Paris, the world's oldest circus building, which eventually became their property.

The Bougliones were a large family whose school had been the circus ring. Emilien entered it at the age of two and was already in the saddle two years later. Like in every circus, the Bougliones' ring was a school of life, the curriculum of which was written in the pungent smell of horse manure, wild animals, leather, and sawdust. Their approach to equestrian art owed nothing to the classical academic style (already fading away): Theirs was fierce and more romantic; it was the world of mythical horses that gallop through folklore and dime novels, ridden by a family whose Roma blood gave it a stamp of dazzling wonder.

Émilien made his official debut in 1943, billed as "Le plus jeune cavalier de France" (The Youngest Horseman in France"), under the tutelage of [[Achille Zavatta]], a celebrated clown and one of the most protean figures the circus world ever produced. Young Émilien, however, had already been used in small parts in the pantomime ''Blanche-Neige'' ("Snow White")—one of the innovative circus operettas the Bougliones staged with the [[Géo Sandry]], their conceptor and director, during the German occupation to uplift the Parisians' spirits.

To Émilien, this experience had been a useful training in theatricality and showmanship. He also appeared in small parts with some of the great clowns of the times, who rotated through the Bougliones' circus rings with the reliability of a well-maintained mechanism. After the war, during school holidays, he began to familiarize himself with his uncle Sampion's ''cavalerie'': seven Ukrainian stallions, which he eventually took over in 1950.

===The Family's Star===

What followed was the making of Émilien Bouglione, the Circus Icon. He had true ambitions as a circus artist, which quickly found their shape in ''La Poste'' ("The Courier")—that vertiginous equestrian presentation created in the 19th century by [[Andrew Ducrow]], in which a rider stands astride two horses at full gallop while a half-dozen stallions pass at great speed between his legs, the rider catching their unfolding long reins one by one before controlling a full galloping atelage. Émilien presented it first in a cowboy costume, then as Zorro, and finally in the Roman attire of Ben-Hur, grasping the coattails of Hollywood with a confidence that Hollywood itself might have envied.

[[File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Émilien in "La Poste" (1962)]]Dividing its activities between Paris's Cirque d'Hiver and its tours throughout France, Belgium, and The Netherlands (with a foray in Brazil), the Bouglione circus gave Émilien the opportunity to try his hand at everything, from acrobatics to the family's specialty, animal training—which had included the presentation of his uncle Firmin's mixed group of tigers, lions and leopards, as well as the Bouglione elephants&mash;and even standing in for a human cannonball when the occasion demanded. But horsemanship remained his true domain, the medium through which his inexhaustible imagination found its expression.

Assisted by the indispensable André Vasserot, Émilien assembled rich stables and developed a style at once lively and precise: large groups of mixed breeds—Anglo-Arabs, Norwegians, ponies—freed from the rigid stylizations of the classical school, often presented with his personal trademark: riding a magnificent horse, always in a superb costume, and sometimes sitting on an ornate Mexican saddle: As opposed to his father and his uncles, who often appeared in the ring (and in the cage) in the suit they wore in town, Émilien had a keen sense of style and a true elegance that served his outstanding showmanship.

Whether conducting his ''cavalerie'' or in the evolutions of ''The Courier'', he moved through a gallery of identities that had thrilled twentieth-century imaginations: Robin Hood, a Sioux chief, Zorro, Davy Crockett, a Mexican ''charro'', an oriental prince, an Argentinean ''gaucho'', a gladiator, an Andalusian ''vaquero''. His costumes and orchestral choices were always of the highest order, and his charisma became, by then, undeniable. He had managed to distil the spirit of popular literature and film into immediate scenic art, and the ring was his medium.

The 1960s marked the apotheosis of the Technicolor adventure film, and an intensely busy period for the Bouglione family. In 1963, they took over Paris's [[Cirque de Montmartre]] (formerly Medrano), which was placed under the management of the "Bouglione Juniors" (Firmin, Émilien, Sampion, Joseph) while, starting at the end of the 1950s, the Cirque d'Hiver began hosting the extremely popular and long-running television circus show [[''La Piste aux Étoiles'']]. For more than twenty years, that show gave Émilien an extraordinary exposure, not only of him to the French public, but for him personally to television techniques and to a remarkable and diverse assortment of talented artists. He was a quick study.

===A Man of The World===

[[File:Emilien_Bouglione_by_Avedon.jpg|thumb|left|400px|ÉEmilien by Richard Avedon (1955)]]Endowed with a natural elegance in and outside the ring, Émilien had social gifts and interests that surprised those who expected a circus man to limit his world to the sole circus. He could converse with anyone on many subjects—brilliant and modest in equal measure—and he developed, with some apparent ease, friendships well beyond the world of sawdust. He retained all the while the mysterious charm of the nomad: impossible to fully explain, impossible to dismiss.

Naturally at ease in all social groups, he became friends with Salvador Dalí. In 1955, he sat for the legendary photographer Richard Avedon, who made pictures of him now preserved in major museums worldwide. In the 1970s, the Cirque d'Hiver began to host a new cycle of the annual ''Gala de l'Union des Artistes'' (the original inspiration for all subsequent "Circus of The Stars", originated in 1923 at Paris's [[Nouveu Cirque (Paris)|Nouveau Cirque]]), one of the most glittering Parisian events of the twentieth century.

Émilien collaborated on its direction, and year after year handed his ''chambrière'' and his horses to the likes of Gina Lollobrigida (whom, at age seventeen, he had met on the set of the film ''Trapeze'' [1956], which was shot at the Cirque d'Hiver), the legendary Italian film director and actor Vittorio De Sica, and one of Paris's brightest stars, Josephine Baker. His circle of friends also included Charles Aznavour, Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, the legendary chef Paul Bocuse, and the jazzman Lionel Hampton—among many others.

For his magnificent and elegant stage costumes, he once turned to Paco Rabanne. He paid the same attention to his harnesses and his saddles: Memorable above all was the majestic silver-inlaid saddle-armor on which, wearing a gold-sequined bolero jacket over a black gilet and black pants, Émilien was portrayed by the great Italian illustrator Renato Casaro for a magnificent two-sheet poster of 1976— the image of a man entirely comfortable in his own legend.

===Award-Winner and Collector: The Circus Prince===

In 1974, the Bougliones put their traveling circus at the disposal of Monaco's Prince Rainier III to host and organize the first [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]]. Émilien entered his liberty act in the competition and took home a Silver Clown—the first ever awarded. In many of his equestrian acts, he was accompanied by his wife, the beautiful [[The Bouglione Family|Christiane Bouglione]], née Hernandez (b.1940), who would eventually produce her own shows, and who gave him four children, Joseph (b.1960), Regina (b.1962), Louis-Sampion (b.1966), and Odette (b.1969).

[[File:Bouglione_Family.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Émilien Bouglione with his brothers and his father at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo (1974)]]The Cirque Bouglione quit traveling in 1981, and a few years later the Cirque d'Hiver also abandoned its circus season, becoming a theater-for-hire. Émilien then turned to his lifelong passion: collecting. He accumulated, with methodical fervor, an astonishing trove of art objects—paintings, bronzes, various memorabilia, documents related to the circus and the equestrian world—helping to reconstruct in the process parts of circus history that might otherwise have disappeared.

In 1999, together with his mother and his brother Sampion III, he gave his blessing to a decision to entrust the Bougliones' next generation with reviving the Cirque d'Hiver's circus season. Émilien's own role in the project was unique and impossible to define precisely: that of an inspiring spirit. His presence alone lent quiet authority to an experiment that became, over the years, one of the most remarkable successes in the circus world, in large part thanks to Émilien's own children.

In the first decades of the twenty-first century, anyone who happened to pass through the Cirque d'Hiver at any hour of the day could easily find themselves face to face with the silhouette of "Monsieur Émilien," who had become the family patriarch, emerging unexpectedly from one of the house's ''vomitorums'', or from some mysterious corridor, or any one of the numerous age-old little doors that the venerable building seems to multiply at will.

His lean figure moved silently and discreetly—and, invariably, his impeccable elegance struck you: his magnificent waistcoats, coordinated with tie or foulard, emblazoned cufflinks glinting at the wrists. It was less the flamboyance of a retired circus veteran than the grace of an emeritus sovereign. Yet there was nothing intimidating about him. A gentle familiarity established itself at once, and the conversation (one might find oneself drawn into circus lore, fine arts, current affairs, a grandchild passing by, some neglected detail in a corner) burned with a quiet, fervent passion.

===Epilogue===

Little by little, Émilien's children took over the full management of the Cirque d'Hiver. Joseph had been the shows' very talented artistic director since the Cirque d'Hiver had resumed its circus activities, assisted by his sister Regina, who oversees the look and elegant wardrobe of artists and personnel. [[File:Emilien_Bouglione_-_old_age.jpg|thumb|left|400px|Émilien Bouglione (c.2015)]]Louis-Sampion, who shared his father's passion for history and collecting, created the private Musée Émilien Bouglione in the Cirque d'Hiver, and makes sure the cultural and historical values of the legendary Parisian building are appreciated and safeguarded. Finally, Odette became CEO of the entire Bouglione organization. They all share with their father elegance, talent, and a committed respect for the place of their family in circus history.

Émilien Bouglione passed away in Paris on March 15, 2026; he was ninety-two. His funeral service was held at the Église Saint-Roch, rue St. Honoré in Paris, and was attended by a large crowd of friends, circus professionals, and admirers. ''Le Prince du Cirque'' ("The Circus Prince"), as he was often called, joined two previous generations of his ancestors in the Bouglione dynasty's mausoleum at the cemetery of Lizy-sur-Ourq, near Paris. Émilien Bouglione was one of those beloved personalities thanks to whom the word "circus" continues to evoke fascination and legend rather than mere nostalgia.

==Suggested Reading==

* Pascaline Kromicheff, ''Émilien Bouglione, Prince du Cirque'' (Puits, De la Voix au Chapitre, 2019) — ISBN 978-2-9562209-1-6

==See Also==

* Biography: [[The Bouglione Family]]
* Video: [[Bouglione_Norwegian_Horses_Video_(1962)|Emilien Bouglione, Norwegian horses]], at the Cirque d'Hiver (1962)
* Video: [[Bouglione_Horses_Video_(1963)|Emilien Bouglione, liberty act]], at the Cirque d'Hiver (1963)
* Video: [[Emilien_Bouglione_Video_(1966)|Emilien Bouglione, ''La Poste'']], at the Cirque d'Hiver (1966)
* Video: [[Emilien_Bouglione_Video_(1969)|Emilien Bouglione, ''La Poste'']], at the Cirque d'Hiver (1969)
* Video: [[Emilien_Bouglione_Video_(1974)|Émilien Bouglione, liberty act]], at Chipperfield's Circus (1974)

==Image Gallery==

<Gallery>
File:Les_Frères_Bouglione.jpg|The Bouglione Brothers (c.1950)
File:Bouglione_-_Avedon.jpg|Émilien Bouglione by Richard Avedon (1955)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_by_Avedon.jpg|Émilien Bouglione by Richard Avedon (1955)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Avedon.jpg|Émilien Bouglione, Mylos, and Dovina by Richard Avedon (1955)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Courier.jpg|Émilien Bouglione in ''La Poste'' (1962)
File:Joseph_-_Rosa_Bouglione.jpg|Joseph & Rosa Bouglione (1963)
File:Emilien_Bouglione.jpg|Émilien Bouglione and his horses (c.1965)
File:Emilien_Bouglione Portrait.jpg|Émilien Bouglione (c.1970)
File:Emilien_and_Christiane_Bouglione.jpg|Émilien and Christiane Bouglione (c.1970)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Western.jpg|Émilien Bouglione with his Mexican saddle (c.1970)
File:Bouglione_Family.jpg| Émilien Bouglione and Family in Monte Carlo (1974)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_poster.jpg|Poster featuring Émilien Bouglione (c.1975)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_Poster.jpg|Poster by Renato Casaro featuring Émilien Bouglione (1976)
File:Emilien_Bouglione_-_old_age.jpg|Émilien Bouglione, the Circus Prince (c.2015)
</Gallery>

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Bouglione, Émilien]][[Category:Animal Trainer|Bouglione, Émilien]][[Category:Equestrians|Bouglione, Émilien]][[Category:Circus Owners and Directors|Bouglione, Émilien]]

Aleksandr Bondarev

2026-03-18T19:27:36Z

Djando: Created page with "==Acrobat== * Video: The Bondarev Troupe, teeterboard, on Russian television (1985) Bondarev, AleksandrCategory:Acr..."

==Acrobat==

* Video: [[Bondarev_Video_(1985)|The Bondarev Troupe, teeterboard]], on Russian television (1985)

[[Category:Artists and Acts|Bondarev, Aleksandr]][[Category:Acrobats|Bondarev, Aleksandr]][[Category:Teeterboard|Bondarev, Aleksandr]]

Bondarev Video (1985)

2026-03-18T19:24:51Z

Djando: Created page with "The Bondarev Troupe, teeterboard, in a USSR television documentary (1985) {{#ev:vimeo|1174521429|740}} ==See Also== * Biography: Aleksandr Bondarev Category:Video A..."

The Bondarev Troupe, teeterboard, in a USSR television documentary (1985)

{{#ev:vimeo|1174521429|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Aleksandr Bondarev]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Bondarev Troupe]]

Luna Video (2025)

2026-03-15T23:38:05Z

Djando:

Duo Luna (Marina Luna & Marika Ashley Gould), aerial hoop, at the 47th [[International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo]] (2025) — ''Document: France Television''

{{#ev:vimeo|1173837721|740}}

==See Also==

* Biography: [[Marina Luna]]

[[Category:Video Archive|Luna Duo]]