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{{short description|American circus proprietor}}
{{short description|American circus proprietor (1847–1906)}}
{{Other people|James Bailey}}
{{Other people|James Bailey}}
{{Infobox person
{{Infobox person
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| birth_name = James Anthony McGinnis
| birth_name = James Anthony McGinnis
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1847|7|4}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1847|7|4}}
| birth_place = [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]], US
| birth_place = [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1906|4|11|1847|7|4}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1906|4|11|1847|7|4}}
| death_place = [[Mount Vernon, New York]], US
| death_place = [[Mount Vernon, New York]], US
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| nationality =
| nationality =
| other_names = James A. Bailey (professional title)
| other_names = James A. Bailey (professional title)
| known_for = Co-founder of [[Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus]]<ref name="Detroit">{{cite news|last1=Allen|first1=Robert|title=A strangled elephant, circus mishaps and Detroit's ties to 'The Greatest Show on Earth'|url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/12/29/detroit-barnum-bailey-circus/986777001/|newspaper=[[Detroit Free Press]]|date=December 29, 2017|access-date=December 31, 2017}}</ref><br />Managing [[Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show]]
| known_for = Co-founder of [[Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus]]<ref name="Detroit">{{cite news|last1=Allen|first1=Robert|title=A strangled elephant, circus mishaps and Detroit's ties to 'The Greatest Show on Earth'|url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/12/29/detroit-barnum-bailey-circus/986777001/|newspaper=[[Detroit Free Press]]|date=December 29, 2017|access-date=December 31, 2017}}</ref><br />Managing [[Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show]]<ref name="adamsgbaily" />
| education =
| education =
| employer =
| employer =
| occupation =
| occupation =
| title =
| title =
| networth =
| height =
| height =
| term =
| term =
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| party =
| party =
| boards =
| boards =
| religion =
| spouse = {{marriage|Ruth Louisa McCaddon |1868}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Ruth Louisa McCaddon |1868}}
| partner =
| partner =
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}}
}}
[[File:Jas Bailey Home St Nick Pl jeh.JPG|thumb|[[James Bailey House]] in Harlem, New York City]]
[[File:Jas Bailey Home St Nick Pl jeh.JPG|thumb|[[James Bailey House]] in Harlem, New York City]]
⚫
'''James Anthony Bailey''' (July 4, 1847 &ndash; April 11, 1906), born '''James Anthony McGinnis''', was an American [[circus]] [[Ringmaster (circus)|ringmaster]] and impresario.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Cesar Among Showmen. James A. Bailey, The Partner And Successor Of Barnum. He Is The Creator Of The Modern Circus. His Tremendous Energy And Working Ability. How He Became What He Is. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/04/19/103303157.pdf|quote=One of the most modest little men that ever lived has been forced to the front by the death of P.T. Barnum. James Anthony Bailey for ten years has been Mr. Barnum's partner. He can, without exaggeration, be called the creator of the modern circus. He has lifted the circus to a standard that renders almost ridiculous the laws that once were so necessary for its regulation. |work=[[New York Times]] |date=April 19, 1891 |access-date=2007-07-21 }}</ref>


⚫
'''James Anthony Bailey''' (July 4, 1847 &ndash; April 11, 1906) ([[birth name|né]] '''McGinnis)''', was an American owner and manager of several 19th-century [[circus]]es, including the [[Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus]] (also billed as "The Greatest Show on Earth").<ref name="adamsgbaily">{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Gloria |title=James A. Bailey – The Genius Behind the Barnum & Bailey Circus |date=2021 |publisher=Slanted Ink |location=Stow, OH |isbn=978-1736768815 |edition=1st}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=A Cesar Among Showmen. James A. Bailey, The Partner And Successor Of Barnum. He Is The Creator Of The Modern Circus. His Tremendous Energy And Working Ability. How He Became What He Is. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/04/19/103303157.pdf|quote=One of the most modest little men that ever lived has been forced to the front by the death of P.T. Barnum. James Anthony Bailey for ten years has been Mr. Barnum's partner. He can, without exaggeration, be called the creator of the modern circus. He has lifted the circus to a standard that renders almost ridiculous the laws that once were so necessary for its regulation. |work=[[New York Times]] |date=April 19, 1891 |access-date=2007-07-21 }}</ref>
⚫
==Early Life==
⚫
James Anthony McGinnis was born in 1847<ref name="gadamsbaily">{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Gloria |title=James A. Bailey - The Genius Behind the Barnum & Bailey Circus |date=July 9, 2021 |publisher=Slanted Ink |location=Stow, OH |isbn=978-1736768815 |edition=1}}</ref> in [[Detroit, Michigan]]. His father, Edward McGinnis, died in October 1849 of [[cholera]], and in 1855 he was orphaned when his mother, Hannora McGinnis, died. James then went to live with his older sister, Catherine Gordon.


⚫
==Early life==
Life with Catherine was difficult and she tended to be overbearing and harsh.<ref name="gadamsbaily"></ref> Sometime between 1859 and 1860, James ran away from home.
⚫
James Anthony McGinnis was born July 4, 1847<ref name="adamsgbaily" /> to Edward and Hannora McGinnis in [[Detroit, Michigan]]. Edward McGinnis died in October, 1849 of [[cholera]] and in 1855, James was orphaned when his mother died. James then went to live with his older sister, Catherine Gordon.


Life with Catherine was difficult as she tended to be overbearing and harsh. Sometime between 1859 and 1860, James ran away from Catherine's home and found a job and a place to stay on a farm about 10 miles outside the city of [[Pontiac, Michigan]]. Finding life on the farm unrewarding, 13-year old James wandered into Pontiac where he found work at the Hodges House Hotel.<ref name="adamsgbaily" />
==Biography==

McGinnis was orphaned at the age of eight. He was working as a bellhop in [[Pontiac, Michigan]], when he was discovered by circus advertising advance man Frederic Harrison Bailey (a nephew of circus pioneer [[Hachaliah Bailey]]) as a teenager. F.H. Bailey gave McGinnis a job as his assistant, and the two traveled together for many years. McGinnis eventually adopted F.H. Bailey's surname to become James A. Bailey.<ref name="AmExp2018"/>
After working at the hotel for a time, he was discovered by Colonel Frederic Harrison Bailey, a nephew of circus pioneer [[Hachaliah Bailey]], and an advance man for John Robinson and Bill Lake's traveling circus.<ref name="adamsgbaily" /> F.H. Bailey gave McGinnis a job as his assistant, and the two traveled together for many years. McGinnis eventually adopted F.H. Bailey's surname to become James A. Bailey.<ref name="AmExp2018"/>

==Circus life==
In his diary, James' brother-in-law Joe McCaddon writes that Bailey recounted stories of how he left the circus world at age 16 and went to work as clerk to a [[sutler]] during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref name="adamsgbaily" />

In 1866, with the war over, he went back to work for Bill Lake, who now owned his own circus with his wife [[Agnes Lake Thatcher]]. During this time, James met Ruth Louisa McCaddon of [[Zanesville, Ohio]]. James and Ruth became friends, fell in love, and were married in December 1868. The very next year in [[Granby, Missouri]], Bill Lake was shot and killed. With her husband dead, Agnes Lake became the first woman in the United States to own a circus<ref name="adamsgbaily" /> (Agnes Lake would later marry famous gunfighter [[Wild Bill Hickok]], who worked for a short time with [[Buffalo Bill Cody]], whose Wild West Show James A. Bailey would one day manage). <ref> https://cowgirlmagazine.com/wild-women-of-the-west-agnes-lake-thatcher/</ref>


Bailey later associated with [[James E. Cooper]], and by the time he was 22, he was manager of the [[Cooper and Bailey]] circus. He then met with [[Phineas Taylor Barnum|P.T. Barnum]], and together they established [[Barnum and Bailey's Circus]] (for which Bailey was instrumental in obtaining [[Jumbo]] the Elephant) in 1880, with their combined show opening the following spring in Madison Square Garden.<ref name="AmExp2018">{{cite web |title=The Circus: Transcript, Part 1 |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/circus/ |website=American Experience |publisher=PBS |access-date=16 November 2018 |date=9 October 2018}}</ref>
Bailey later associated with [[James E. Cooper]], and by the time he was 22, he was manager of the [[Cooper and Bailey]] circus. He then met with [[Phineas Taylor Barnum|P.T. Barnum]], and together they established [[Barnum and Bailey's Circus]] (for which Bailey was instrumental in obtaining [[Jumbo]] the Elephant) in 1880, with their combined show opening the following spring in Madison Square Garden.<ref name="AmExp2018">{{cite web |title=The Circus: Transcript, Part 1 |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/circus/ |website=American Experience |publisher=PBS |access-date=16 November 2018 |date=9 October 2018}}</ref>


Barnum was the face of the circus, but James Bailey was the hard worker who insisted on staying behind the scenes. Barnum once wrote to him that James managed the show “ten times better than I could.”<ref name="adamsgbaily" />
Bailey married Ruth McCaddon of [[Zanesville, Ohio]].{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}


Equestrienne Josie Demott Robinson wrote in her autobiography that, “Mr. Barnum was the advertiser, who loved the limelight, who rode around in the ring, and announced who he was. But Mr. Bailey was the businessman, content to be invisible...and interested only in the success of the show.”<ref name="adamsgbaily" />
⚫
Bailey died of [[erysipelas]] in 1906 at age 58.<ref>{{cite news |title=James A. Bailey, King Of Circus Men, is Dead. News Kept From Performers Till The Show Was Over. Widow Gets Circus Stock. Showman Died Of Erysipelas At His Country Home Near Mount Vernon After A Week's Illness. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/04/12/101773989.pdf |quote=While the band blared and the clowns made fun and the elephants walked around at the circus last night for the thousands in [[Madison Square Garden]], there were few among the spectators who knew that James A. Bailey, the backbone of the "greatest show on earth", lay dead in his home, The Knolls, near [[Mount Vernon, New York|Mount Vernon]]. |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=April 12, 1906 |access-date=2007-07-21 }}</ref>

⚫
He is buried in [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)|Woodlawn Cemetery]], in [[The Bronx]], New York City.<ref>https://www.thewoodlawncemetery.org/rv/the-circus-is-in-town/</ref> His widow subsequently sold the circus to the [[Ringling brothers]] in 1907, who eventually [[Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus#Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus|merged the rival operations]] in 1919.<ref name="AmExp22018">{{cite web |title=The Circus: Transcript, Part 2 |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/circus/ |website=American Experience |publisher=PBS |access-date=16 November 2018 |date=9 October 2018}}</ref>
Bailey was considered by many to be a genius at logistics. His organizational skills for transporting people, animals, and equipment was copied by the military of more than one country.<ref name="adamsgbaily" />

He hired [[Pinkerton (detective agency)|Pinkerton]] Detectives to travel with the show and protect circusgoers from grifters and thieves.<ref name="adamsgbaily" />

He established “Orphan Day”, one day a year when orphans could attend the circus for free. He was often known to carry children who couldn't walk into the circus tent and find them a seat away from the crush of the crowd.<ref name="adamsgbaily" />

Following Barnum's death in 1891, Bailey managed not only The Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, but in 1894, took on the management of [[Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show]].<ref name="adamsgbaily" />

==Death and legacy==
⚫
Bailey died of [[erysipelas]] in 1906 at age 58 at his home in [[Mount Vernon, NY]].<ref>{{cite news |title=James A. Bailey, King Of Circus Men, is Dead. News Kept From Performers Till The Show Was Over. Widow Gets Circus Stock. Showman Died Of Erysipelas At His Country Home Near Mount Vernon After A Week's Illness. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/04/12/101773989.pdf |quote=While the band blared and the clowns made fun and the elephants walked around at the circus last night for the thousands in [[Madison Square Garden]], there were few among the spectators who knew that James A. Bailey, the backbone of the "greatest show on earth", lay dead in his home, The Knolls, near [[Mount Vernon, New York|Mount Vernon]]. |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=April 12, 1906 |access-date=2007-07-21 }}</ref>
⚫
He is buried in [[Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)|Woodlawn Cemetery]], in [[The Bronx]], New York City.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Woodlawn Cemetery • Crematory • Conservancy {{!}} New York's World Class Cemetery Since 1863|url=https://www.woodlawn.org/|access-date=2022-01-17|website=www.woodlawn.org}}</ref> His widow subsequently sold the circus to the [[Ringling brothers]] in 1907, who eventually [[Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus#Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus|merged the rival operations]] in 1919.<ref name="AmExp22018">{{cite web |title=The Circus: Transcript, Part 2 |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/circus/ |website=American Experience |publisher=PBS |access-date=16 November 2018 |date=9 October 2018}}</ref>

[[Image:J.A._Bailey_Estate_at_Mount_Vernon,_NY.jpg|thumb|Bailey Estate on Lincoln Avenue in [[Mount Vernon, NY]]]]

In his book about the circus, Earl Chapin May wrote, “Probably...no circus owner and manager left more sincere mourners than the thin little magnate known to millions as James A. Bailey.”<ref name="adamsgbaily" />

Taped beneath a photo of James Bailey in the scrapbook of employee Harrison Gunning is a small scrap of paper that reads, “P.T. Barnum was the great showman, but Mr. Bailey was the supreme of all circus managers, past and present.”<ref name="adamsgbaily" />

James A. Bailey was inducted into the [[International Circus Hall of Fame]] in 1960 and into the [[Circus Ring of Fame]] in [[Sarasota, Florida]] in 1990.<ref name="adamsgbaily" />


==References==
==References==
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*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/circus-life-and-times-of-james-bailey-part-2/ American Experience: The Circus: The Life and Times of James Bailey, Part 2]
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/circus-life-and-times-of-james-bailey-part-2/ American Experience: The Circus: The Life and Times of James Bailey, Part 2]
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/circus-life-and-times-of-james-bailey-part-3/ American Experience: The Circus: The Life and Times of James Bailey, Part 3]
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/circus-life-and-times-of-james-bailey-part-3/ American Experience: The Circus: The Life and Times of James Bailey, Part 3]
* {{cite BDA1906 |wstitle= Bailey, James Anthony |volume= 1 |page=183 |short=1}}
*{{Find a Grave|6817434}}
*{{Find a Grave|6817434}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170129145857/http://www.circushistory.org/Pdf/ConoverJAB.pdf The Affairs of James A. Bailey] by Richard E Conover
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20170129145857/http://www.circushistory.org/Pdf/ConoverJAB.pdf The Affairs of James A. Bailey] by Richard E Conover
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[[Category:1847 births]]
[[Category:1847 births]]
[[Category:1906 deaths]]
[[Category:1906 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)]]
[[Category:American circus owners]]
[[Category:Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus]]
[[Category:Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus]]
[[Category:Circus owners]]
[[Category:Wild West shows]]
[[Category:Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Detroit]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in New York (state)]]

Latest revision as of 17:55, 8 August 2024

For other people named James Bailey, see James Bailey (disambiguation).
James Anthony Bailey
Born
James Anthony McGinnis

(1847-07-04)July 4, 1847
Detroit, Michigan, United States
DiedApril 11, 1906(1906-04-11) (aged 58)
Mount Vernon, New York, US
Resting placeWoodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York
Other namesJames A. Bailey (professional title)
Known forCo-founder of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus[1]
Managing Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show[2]
Spouse
Ruth Louisa McCaddon
​
​
(m. 1868)​
James Bailey House in Harlem, New York City

James Anthony Bailey (July 4, 1847 – April 11, 1906) (né McGinnis), was an American owner and manager of several 19th-century circuses, including the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also billed as "The Greatest Show on Earth").[2][3]

Early life

[edit]

James Anthony McGinnis was born July 4, 1847[2] to Edward and Hannora McGinnis in Detroit, Michigan. Edward McGinnis died in October, 1849 of cholera and in 1855, James was orphaned when his mother died. James then went to live with his older sister, Catherine Gordon.

Life with Catherine was difficult as she tended to be overbearing and harsh. Sometime between 1859 and 1860, James ran away from Catherine's home and found a job and a place to stay on a farm about 10 miles outside the city of Pontiac, Michigan. Finding life on the farm unrewarding, 13-year old James wandered into Pontiac where he found work at the Hodges House Hotel.[2]

After working at the hotel for a time, he was discovered by Colonel Frederic Harrison Bailey, a nephew of circus pioneer Hachaliah Bailey, and an advance man for John Robinson and Bill Lake's traveling circus.[2] F.H. Bailey gave McGinnis a job as his assistant, and the two traveled together for many years. McGinnis eventually adopted F.H. Bailey's surname to become James A. Bailey.[4]

Circus life

[edit]

In his diary, James' brother-in-law Joe McCaddon writes that Bailey recounted stories of how he left the circus world at age 16 and went to work as clerk to a sutler during the Civil War.[2]

In 1866, with the war over, he went back to work for Bill Lake, who now owned his own circus with his wife Agnes Lake Thatcher. During this time, James met Ruth Louisa McCaddon of Zanesville, Ohio. James and Ruth became friends, fell in love, and were married in December 1868. The very next year in Granby, Missouri, Bill Lake was shot and killed. With her husband dead, Agnes Lake became the first woman in the United States to own a circus[2] (Agnes Lake would later marry famous gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok, who worked for a short time with Buffalo Bill Cody, whose Wild West Show James A. Bailey would one day manage). [5]

Bailey later associated with James E. Cooper, and by the time he was 22, he was manager of the Cooper and Bailey circus. He then met with P.T. Barnum, and together they established Barnum and Bailey's Circus (for which Bailey was instrumental in obtaining Jumbo the Elephant) in 1880, with their combined show opening the following spring in Madison Square Garden.[4]

Barnum was the face of the circus, but James Bailey was the hard worker who insisted on staying behind the scenes. Barnum once wrote to him that James managed the show “ten times better than I could.”[2]

Equestrienne Josie Demott Robinson wrote in her autobiography that, “Mr. Barnum was the advertiser, who loved the limelight, who rode around in the ring, and announced who he was. But Mr. Bailey was the businessman, content to be invisible...and interested only in the success of the show.”[2]

Bailey was considered by many to be a genius at logistics. His organizational skills for transporting people, animals, and equipment was copied by the military of more than one country.[2]

He hired Pinkerton Detectives to travel with the show and protect circusgoers from grifters and thieves.[2]

He established “Orphan Day”, one day a year when orphans could attend the circus for free. He was often known to carry children who couldn't walk into the circus tent and find them a seat away from the crush of the crowd.[2]

Following Barnum's death in 1891, Bailey managed not only The Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth, but in 1894, took on the management of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.[2]

Death and legacy

[edit]

Bailey died of erysipelas in 1906 at age 58 at his home in Mount Vernon, NY.[6] He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, in The Bronx, New York City.[7] His widow subsequently sold the circus to the Ringling brothers in 1907, who eventually merged the rival operations in 1919.[8]

Bailey Estate on Lincoln Avenue in Mount Vernon, NY

In his book about the circus, Earl Chapin May wrote, “Probably...no circus owner and manager left more sincere mourners than the thin little magnate known to millions as James A. Bailey.”[2]

Taped beneath a photo of James Bailey in the scrapbook of employee Harrison Gunning is a small scrap of paper that reads, “P.T. Barnum was the great showman, but Mr. Bailey was the supreme of all circus managers, past and present.”[2]

James A. Bailey was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame in 1960 and into the Circus Ring of Fame in Sarasota, Florida in 1990.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Allen, Robert (December 29, 2017). "A strangled elephant, circus mishaps and Detroit's ties to 'The Greatest Show on Earth'". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Adams, Gloria (2021). James A. Bailey – The Genius Behind the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1st ed.). Stow, OH: Slanted Ink. ISBN 978-1736768815.
  3. ^ "A Cesar Among Showmen. James A. Bailey, The Partner And Successor Of Barnum. He Is The Creator Of The Modern Circus. His Tremendous Energy And Working Ability. How He Became What He Is" (PDF). New York Times. April 19, 1891. Retrieved 2007-07-21. One of the most modest little men that ever lived has been forced to the front by the death of P.T. Barnum. James Anthony Bailey for ten years has been Mr. Barnum's partner. He can, without exaggeration, be called the creator of the modern circus. He has lifted the circus to a standard that renders almost ridiculous the laws that once were so necessary for its regulation.
  4. ^ a b "The Circus: Transcript, Part 1". American Experience. PBS. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  5. ^ https://cowgirlmagazine.com/wild-women-of-the-west-agnes-lake-thatcher/
  6. ^ "James A. Bailey, King Of Circus Men, is Dead. News Kept From Performers Till The Show Was Over. Widow Gets Circus Stock. Showman Died Of Erysipelas At His Country Home Near Mount Vernon After A Week's Illness" (PDF). New York Times. April 12, 1906. Retrieved 2007-07-21. While the band blared and the clowns made fun and the elephants walked around at the circus last night for the thousands in Madison Square Garden, there were few among the spectators who knew that James A. Bailey, the backbone of the "greatest show on earth", lay dead in his home, The Knolls, near Mount Vernon.
  7. ^ "Woodlawn Cemetery • Crematory • Conservancy | New York's World Class Cemetery Since 1863". www.woodlawn.org. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
  8. ^ "The Circus: Transcript, Part 2". American Experience. PBS. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
[edit]
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