100 years ago, Ringling Bros. brought 'World's Greatest' to town
By Frank Boyett Evansville Courier & Press
October 2, 2010
The world's strongest man came to Henderson in 1910 to perform here with the Ringling Bros. circus.
His name was Arthur Saxon, a German who could lift 350 pounds over his head with one arm. He still holds the world record for that feat, called the bent press, for one time when he lifted 370 pounds that way. There have been unconfirmed stories that he could lift as much as 385 pounds by that method.
Pretty impressive. I couldn't lift that much weight if I channeled every muscle in my body.
Of course, Saxon had been lifting weights since he was a kid. By 1910 he was 32, and had been performing in circus acts in Europe for years. But this was his first trip to America, The Gleaner noted on Sept. 14, 1910.
"The strongest man in the world is Arthur Saxon," the article began. "He has proved it to the scientists of Europe. He proved it to the people of New York City. He will prove it to the people of Henderson when he comes on Friday, September 30, with Ringling Brothers World's Greatest Shows.
"Arthur Saxon can lift a 375-pound dumbbell above his head with one hand. No other man was ever able to do this. He and a brother lie on their backs and with their feet support a bridge over which passes an automobile with six passengers." They supported about four tons in that manner. "Two of his brothers perform with him. They are very nearly as strong."
The pre-show publicity got a little hyperbolic at times, so take this stuff with a grain of salt. Just about every day prior to the show there was a new story extolling the wonders of the circus. "The greatest event in the history of Henderson is at hand," the story on Sept. 17 ended.
The Sept. 27 story noted that the menagerie included "Darwin, the missing link, an animal that looks more like a human being than some men."
The circus was actually a traveling multi-cultural town, according to the Sept. 22 article. If its five trains were put together they would have stretched a mile long. When the show erected all its tents, they covered 14 acres.
On the payroll were 1,290 people -- representing 29 countries -- of which 375 were performers. It took a staff of more than 70 to simply feed and serve the remainder. "The show also carries its own doctors, lawyers, dentists and detective force."
The show also had its own Turkish bath, its own library and its own power plant. "In a single season the vast organization often travels over 45,000 miles, stopping in 200 cities and exhibiting before 4 million people." Prior to each engagement they held a parade to drum up customers.
And of course, along with the lions, tigers, bears, camels, zebras, the 40 elephants, the myriad high-wire trapeze artists, sword swallowers, dancing horses, trick riders and all the rest -- there were the clowns.
So, send in the clowns, of which there were 50
"Each is a master of the art of making people forget their troubles," according to a Sept. 24 article. "Every pause in the exciting bill is filled with delicious skits, screaming pantomimes, bewitching tomfoolery, travesties on political and public happenings and hilarious hijinks in general.
"These clowns are original and versatile.... Some of them have made kings laugh in the royal courts of Asia. Others are from our own vaudeville and musical comedy companies. They are as unctuous a bunch of sky-larkers as ever smelled sawdust.
"From thrills the audience turns to laughter, and from laughter back to thrills. When the high-air feats of the daring aerialists are not sending cold thrills up and down 10,000 spinal columns, the clowns are making spectators hold their sides and shout with the joy of living."
