Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“It’s not circus if it isn’t under a tent.”

Through Sun, Rain, Wind, and Mud: On the Road with Cole Bros. Circus by Bill Carter

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CBR14Bingo: Camel (the camel is an exotic animal, and there are photos of exotic animals in this book) The title’s sentiment isn’t one I completely agree with, having seen great circus in an arena setting, but the experience of sitting in a tent does elevate the experience and bring a more elemental feeling. I recently got to see Paul Binder talk about the circus and he pointed out the core nature of a round ring, and that there is a fundamental power in sitting in […]

“I had confirmed my belief that I could walk into a cage of big cats and more importantly, walk back out again.”

Wild Animal Circus: True Tales From Carson & Barnes Circus by Dennis J. Younger

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CBR14Bingo: Snakes (there are snakes in this book) Continuing my dive into circus animal trainer memoirs with this self-published look into working the big cat act at Carson & Barnes in 1977-1978. This is a very plainly written, minimally edited book that is basically a day by day journal of his time on the show and a few pages about him working at a roadside zoo type attraction in Florida afterwards. It was interesting in terms of the facts and his honesty about the mistreatment […]

“The Circus has a great obligation to the people of America.” (Irving Feld)

Tiger, Tiger: My 25 Years with the Big Cats by Charly Baumann

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CBR14Bingo: Star (Charly clearly sees himself as a star, and he was) This was a pretty fast and straight forward autobiography of Charly Baumann’s twenty-five years of circus life. It’s not the type of autobiography where the author does a lot of introspection, but it’s an enjoyable read and a good look into European and American circus post-WWII and into the 1970s. His descriptions of his training methods and the long, difficult process of carefully training tigers was interesting. There are also a lot of […]

“Whatever the hardships involved in being connected with it, this was the circus; and it was pure magic.”

Circus Doctor by J.Y. Henderson (as told to Richard Taplinger)

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CBR14Bingo: Elephant (there are a bunch of elephants in this book) Circus Doctor is, as its straight forward title suggests, an autobiography of a circus veterinarian. At the time he wrote this book, J.Y. Henderson had been working for Ringling for ten years, and from some cursory Googling it looks like he ended up working there for over forty. You can tell from the book how caring and passionate he is about caring for the vast variety of animals under his care, so it makes sense […]



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