Zoltán Hirsch was a Hungarian Jew and a person of short statue, who performed as clown and acrobat (stage-name Zoli Hirsch) in circus and vaudeville shows. In 1942, the world-renowned circus performer self-published an autobiography […]
Lulu and Albertino (n.d.). Image courtesy of: National Fairground and Circus Archives, University of Sheffield Lulu Adams (born Louise Cranston) was an English circus performer, and one of the first and few female clowns […]
Image courtesy of: Blackpool Council Historic Collections Nikolai Poliakov, known more widely as Coco the Clown, is perhaps Britain’s most famous August clown of the 20th century. He was born to a Jewish theatre family […]
Image courtesy of: Blackpool Council Historic Collections Charlie Cairoli was born in Affori, a district of Milan (Italy), on February 15th 1910, to a travelling circus family of French origins. Alongside his father […]
Rosa Bouglione, who still lives in Paris, was born Rosalie van Been in 1910 in Ixelles, Belgium. Her parents owned a small circus and menagerie, which toured in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. In the […]
Raymond Gurême was born in 1925 in a Manouches family, the name used for Sinti living in France. He spent his entire childhood in his father’s small circus, travelling mostly in the Western and Central […]
Josef Freiwald was born in the Canton of Wallis, his mother was a Sintezza, his father a Yenish. The authorities registered him as Swiss citizen. Later on, Freiwald worked as an acrobat and musician at […]
Sioma Zubicky was born in the German Circus Busch, as the son of Russian-Jewish parents. While father Boris performed as an acrobat and circus rider, his son showed an extraordinary talent for playing musical instruments. […]
Lia Schwartz, a German-born and a person of short stature, performed as the midget Lya Graf in the famous US circus, Ringling and Barnum & Bailey. Graf became famous in June 1933 when, during a […]
Image courtesy of: Ludmila Zhivkova family collection. Turcho Chukoev is second man from the left, first row Turcho Chukoev was a Bulgarian Roma musician who earned his living by working in circuses until the outbreak […]
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