Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus and Performing Animals, also known as Chiarini's Circus and Menagerie or simply the Royal Italian Circus was a renowned traveling circus company.
| Royal Italian Circus | |
|---|---|
 Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus and Performing Animals, New Zealand Mail, 1879. | |
| Origin | |
| Country | United States |
| Founder(s) | |
| Year founded | 1856 |
| Defunct | Yes |
| Information | |
| Traveling show? | Yes |
| Circus tent? | Yes |
History
editItalian-born equestrian Giuseppe Chiarini established the international circus company as the director.
The circus first traveled across America in the mid-19th century and then started abroad. In 1855, Chiarini's Italian Circus performed in Greenville, Ohio.[1] Chiarini began touring Cuba in 1856 under the banner of the Royal Spanish Circus. He later adopted Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus, serving as the company's manager and proprietor.[2] In 1859, a wooden circus was provisionally opened in Havana for Smith & Chiarini's equestrian troupes.[3] In 1863, Chiarini's circus company in Havana performed at Plaza de Armas. In January 1867, Chiarini's circus headed to Mexico. After an eleven-week run in San Francisco, Chiarini advertised more shows on the Californian tour in 1868, including Sacramento, Stockton, and Marysville.[4] The circus had left for Panama and the cities of South America by steamer in 1869.[5]
During a visit to Auckland, New Zealand in January 1873, the circus company held an event.[6][7] Chiarini's company landed in Melbourne in March 1873, arriving from New Zealand. On October 8, 1874, the troupe performed in Yokohama, Japan.[8] In November 1879, returned to New Zealand in Wellington.[9]
In 1880, the troupe consisted of an American bison, two zebras, three full-grown Bengal tigers, three tiger cubs, eight performing dogs, over twenty well-trained horses, and six trick ponies.[10]
Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus and Performing Animals appeared in Singapore in 1882.[11] A performance in front of the Maharajah of Johor, whose state was located directly to the north of Singapore's Crown Colony, took place on January 30, 1883.[12]
The troupe made an appearance in Adelaide, Australia in 1884.[13]
According to records, negotiations for the sale of Chiarini's menagerie and circus animals were underway with Chinese parties in 1889.[14] Following a journey to Shanghai, just two elephants, twenty-three horses, fourteen ponies, two jacks, two goats, four monkeys, one brahma, and a large number of pigeons remained in the menagerie after part of it was sold.[15]
The famed circus which travelled the world no longer existed upon Chiarini's death in 1897 in Panama City, Panama.
References
edit- ^ "Circus and Menagerie. Signor Chiarini's Italian Circus - Newspapers.com™". newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ Auckland Star. (1872, November 9). Chiarini's Circus. Auckland Star, 3(726), 2. Retrieved May 27, 2024, from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18721109.2.14
- ^ "FROM HAVANA.; The Steamer Santiago de Cuba Slave Property Effect of the War in the States Miscellaneous and Commercial News". The New York Times. Havana, Cuba. September 3, 1861.
- ^ "Amusements: Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus - Newspapers.com™". newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ "Odds And Ends | The San Francisco Examiner, Jan 22, 1869 - Newspapers.com™". newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-05-30.
- ^ Auckland Star. (1873, January 6). Opening of Chiarini's circus. Auckland Star, 4(883), 2. Retrieved May 27, 2024, from https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18730106.2.9
- ^ "Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus". The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser. Vol. XXXVII, no. 5023. New South Wales, Australia. 15 July 1880. p. 5. Retrieved 28 May 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Japan Weekly Mail. (1875). Jappan Mēru Shinbunsha. Retrieved May 27, 2024, from the University of California's digitized collection.
- ^ Alamy. (1879, November 26). Chiarini's Royal Italian Circus and performing animals, Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved May 27, 2024, from https://www.alamy.com/chiarinis-royal-italian-circus-and-performing-animals-wellington-new-zealand-for-one-week-only-commencing-26th-november-1879-a-grand-congress-of-arenic-stars!-performing-royal-bengal-tigers!-the-performing-bison!-this-powerful-and-mammoth-combination-offers-an-arrangement-of-text-interspersed-with-engravings-showing-a-horse-jumping-through-a-paper-hoop-acrobatics-on-horseback-a-deer-and-a-dog-circus-image573403037.html
- ^ The Examiner. (1905, January 7). Chiarini's Circus. Retrieved May 27, 2024, from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/38258192
- ^ The Singapore Daily Times. (1882, April 1). Chiarini's Great Circus. Retrieved May 27, 2024, from https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/singdailytimes18820401-1.2.7.3
- ^ The Sunday Leader. (March 3, 1889). Roller Skating. Skating Around The World; 1889. Newspapers.com. Retrieved May 31, 2024, from https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sunday-leader-roller-skating-skatin/148419886/
- ^ State Library of South Australia. "Tiger and Taxidermists". Retrieved May 27, 2024, from https://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/tiger-and-taxidermists
- ^ The Straits Times. (1889, August 10). Chiarini's Circus. Straits Independent. Retrieved May 27, 2024, from https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitsindependent18890810-1.2.14
- ^ The San Francisco Examiner. (October 19, 1889). . Newspapers.com. Retrieved May 31, 2024, from https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner/47818292/