As the Big Top has given way to the hardtop, the circus (TIME, April 13) has undergone many a change. But nothing has changed more than its co-attraction, the sideshow. Once a traveling chamber of biological horrors, it has now been tamed into a sort of Ed Sullivan variety show with cotton candy and Cracker Jack. Rationalizing the metamorphosis is Nate Eagle, 62, the corpulent, mustachioed talker and general manager of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's sideshow. Says horn-voiced Eagle: "You don't find freaks in sideshows any more. You find strange...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
