FLASHBACK

United States, 1930.

After more than a century in operation, the famed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is closing for good in May. “The Greatest Show on Earth” dates back to 1907, when its two namesake circuses merged to become the acme of early-20th-century American entertainment, a spectacle of clowns, death-defying performers—high-wire acrobats, human cannonballs—and a legion of exotic animals, ranging from llamas and kangaroos to panthers and, of course, elephants. Elephants were always the centerpiece of the show, but by the 1990s, animal rights organizations had begun advocating against their mistreatment, leading the company to pay a steep fine for alleged animal welfare violations and ultimately phase out the pachyderms altogether in 2015. Americans’ taste of amusement had also changed, bringing a steady decline in ticket sales. The company finally announced in January that it would no longer be coming to town; its final show will be held on May 21 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island, where the troupe will take their final bow to a sell-out crowd.