James Anthony Bailey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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, US
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), born James Anthony McGinnis, was an American owner and manager of several 19th-century circuses, including The Barnum and Bailey 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). https://cowgirlmagazine.com/wild-women-of-the-west-agnes-lake-thatcher/

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.[5] He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, in The Bronx, New York City.[6] His widow subsequently sold the circus to the Ringling brothers in 1907, who eventually merged the rival operations in 1919.[7]

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 (July 9, 2021). James A. Bailey - The Genius Behind the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1 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. ^ "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.
  6. ^ "Woodlawn Cemetery • Crematory • Conservancy | New York's World Class Cemetery Since 1863". www.woodlawn.org. Retrieved 2022-01-17.
  7. ^ "The Circus: Transcript, Part 2". American Experience. PBS. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Anthony Bailey.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Anthony_Bailey&oldid=1197256055"