Adam John Forepaugh (born Adam John Forbach; February 28, 1831 – January 22, 1890) was an American horse trader and

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

owner. From 1865 through 1890 his circus operated under various names including Forepaugh's Circus, Forepaugh's Gigantic Circus and Menagerie, The Forepaugh Show, 4-PAW Show, The Adam Forepaugh Circus, and Forepaugh & The Wild West. He ran a successful horse trading business which provided horses to street railway companies. He became wealthy selling horses to the U.S. government during the American Civil War. He entered the circus business by taking part ownership in a circus due to an unpaid debt for the purchase of 44 horses. In the 1870s and 1880s, Forepaugh and P. T. Barnum had the two largest circuses in the United States and competed fiercely. His innovations included commission of the first railroad cars for a traveling circus in 1877, the first three-ring presentation and the first Wild West show. After Forepaugh's death in 1890, his circus operations were merged with the Sells Brothers Circus to form the Forepaugh-Sells Brothers' Circus in 1900.

Early life and horse trading career

Forepaugh was born into poverty in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, to John A. Forbach, a butcher, and Susannah Heimer. He began working in a butcher shop at age 9, earning $4 a month. He left home on the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad to Cincinnati, where he worked in cattle appraising and managing stagecoach lines. He moved to

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and formed a livestock and horse trading business. He became the largest purveyor of horses in New York state and earned a reputation as an expert judge of horses. Forepaugh ran a successful business selling horses to

street railway A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ar ...

companies. He purchased old "nags" from one streetcar company, allowed the horses to rejuvenate on an island in the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It f ...

, and then sold the horses at a higher price to a different streetcar company. Forepaugh’s horse selling enterprise during the American Civil War became his most lucrative business venture. The war made horses scarce and therefore very valuable. He became wealthy selling horses to the U.S. government.

Circus career

Forepaugh entered the circus business in 1864, when he sold 44 horses to John V. "Pogey" O'Brien for $9,000 to use in the Tom King Excelsior Circus. O'Brien could not repay the loan and Forepaugh assumed partial ownership of the circus. The next year, he and O'Brien purchased the Jerry Mabie Menagerie and created two circuses with their combined assets: The Great National Circus and the Dan Rice Circus. Forepaugh sold the Great National Circus and renamed the Dan Rice Circus as his own name. His circus toured 250 or more days each year and employed over 400 performers and workmen. His annual average profit exceeded $300,000. Forepaugh was different from most of his fellow circus operators. Already independently wealthy when he entered the circus business, he was much less a showman and much more a businessman—a stark contrast to P. T. Barnum and the

Ringling Brothers The Ringling brothers (originally Rüngling) were seven American siblings who transformed their small touring company of performers into one of the largest circuses in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Four brothers ...

. He was intimately involved in all aspects of the circus business. He would regularly seat himself at the main entrance into the circus, a vantage point that ensured that his face was seen by all and from which, it was rumored, he could estimate the night's receipts to hold his employees accountable.Albrecht, Ernest. American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press, 2000. s.v. "Forepaugh, Adam.

Through the 1870s and into the 1880s, Forepaugh and P. T. Barnum had the two largest circuses in the nation. Forepaugh had more animals than Barnum and generally paid higher salaries to the much-favored European talent. The two men constantly fought each other over rights to perform in the most-favored venues. They signed truces in 1882, 1884, and 1887, dividing the country into exclusive territories to avoid disputes. But at least twice, they decided to pool their resources and perform together. In 1880, Forepaugh and Barnum combined their shows for a Philadelphia engagement. In 1887, Forepaugh obtained permission to perform in

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

, a venue that Barnum considered to be exclusively his but had forfeited by his neglect to renew his contract. A compromise was negotiated, and once again the two circuses presented a combined performance in the largest circus performance to date. In 1889, Forepaugh sold his circus acts to James Anthony Bailey and James E. Cooper and sold his railroad cars to the

. The Ringlings used the equipment to transform their circus from a small animal-powered production to a huge rail-powered behemoth, which later purchased the

Barnum & Bailey Circus The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...

. Thus, in liquidating his circus assets, he indirectly contributed to the demise of his arch-rival. In her 1932 biography, Mary Elitch Long—the first woman to own a zoo—commented on purchasing animals from Forepaugh:

"Fine specimens were purchased from Forepaugh's collections and other sources, and a standing order placed with importers of rare and unusual creatures. P.T. Barnum was a frequent visitor during this summer and took a personal pride in this feature."

Business practices

Light of Asia, Forepaugh's White Elephant

The American circus business in this period was known for its unscrupulous business practices—practices of which Forepaugh was a willing participant. Forepaugh was also noted for his business acumen and marketing prowess, which made his circus profitable every year except one. An example of Forepaugh's unscrupulous methods was his rivalry with Barnum over Barnum's white elephant. Barnum had purchased, at great cost, an ostensibly white elephant, only to discover upon delivery that it was pink, with great spots. Forepaugh heard of this and saw an opportunity to one-up Barnum. He whitewashed a regular gray elephant, called it the "Light of Asia", and marketed it as the real thing. To further illustrate the spirit of the business dealings between the two, a reporter who managed to sneak up and remove some of the whitewash from the "Light of Asia" to prove Forepaugh's fraud was able to sell this information to Barnum, instead of writing a story about it for his newspaper. Some of Forepaugh's methods were truly innovative, however. He was the first circus operator to separate the menagerie from the big ring in order to attract church goers who might be leery of the "sinful" attractions of circus acts, yet still desirous to see the exotic animals in the menagerie.

Innovations

Forepaugh was responsible for many innovations in circus history, which influenced circuses for many years. * He was the first to incorporate a "Wild West Show" into his circus. * In 1869, he was the first to use two separate "bigtop"

tent A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using ...

s at the same time, one for the circus performance and the other for the

menagerie A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern zoological garden. The term was first used in 17th-century France, in reference to the m ...

. * In search of new talent, he sponsored a $10,000 beauty contest in 1881, looking for the "most beautiful woman in America". The winner was Louise Montague, a 21-year-old New York City actress blessed with a "charming blue eye" and "... magnificent teeth, which she shows to advantage in conversation". Many believe this was the first

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

in America. * He hired an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...

trainer named Ephraim Thompson in a time when blacks rarely had positions of such stature.

The famous "sucker" quote

The quote "

There's a sucker born every minute "There's a sucker born every minute" is a phrase closely associated with P. T. Barnum, an American showman of the mid-19th century, although there is no evidence that he actually said it. Early examples of its use are found among gamblers and con ...

, but none of them ever die" is often attributed to P. T. Barnum. The source of the quote is most likely famous con-man Joseph ("Paper Collar" Joe) Bessimer. Forepaugh attributed the quote to Barnum in a

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

interview in an attempt to discredit him. However, Barnum never denied making the quote. It is said that he thanked Forepaugh for the free

publicity In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or Brand awareness, awareness for any Product (business), product, Service (economics), service, person or organization (company, Charitable organization, charity, etc.). It may also refer to the mov ...

he had given him.

Death and legacy

Forepaugh died January 20, 1890, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

during the 1889–1890 flu pandemic and is buried in the family vault at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Many local charities and churches in the Philadelphia area benefited from his estate, including

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

, Morris Animal Refuge, St. Agnes, St. Luke's and Children's Medical Center. After Forepaugh's death, his circus operations merged with the Sells Brothers Circus to form the Forepaugh-Sells Brothers' Circus in 1900. An article at the end of 1907 observed that the Ringling brothers intended to close the remains of their property, the former Forepaugh show, eighteen years after its original owner's death, and stop using the name and likeness which had "been seen oftener than that of any other American, dead or alive" by that writer's estimation. Forepaugh gave his name to Forepaugh Park, the 1890s baseball venue in Philadelphia. In 2010, a young adult book
Tombstone Tea
'Tombstone Tea Amazon listing
'' Amazon.com''. Retrieved 5 October 2009. by Joanne Dahme takes place in Laurel Hill Cemetery and Forepaugh is one of the characters in the book.

Posters for Forepaugh & Sells Brothers

File:The 7 wild wheel whirl wonders, poster for Forepaugh & Sells Brothers, 1902.jpg File:Trapeze artists 1899.jpg File:Flickr - …trialsanderrors - Terrific flights over ponderous elephants, poster for Forepaugh ^ Sells Brothers, ca. 1899.jpg File:Champion great danes from the Imperial kennels, poster for Forepaugh and Sells Brothers, 1898.jpg

References

External links

Advertisement for Adam Forepaugh’s Circus in Athletic Park, Washington, DC, published in The National Republican, April 11, 1885Milner Library Illinois State University Digital Collections - Official Route 26th Annual Tour Adam Forepaugh Great All-Feature Show 1889

New York Public Library Digital Collections - Adam Forepaugh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forepaugh, Adam 1831 births 1890 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople American butchers Circus owners Burials at Laurel Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia) Businesspeople from Philadelphia Deaths from the 1889–1890 flu pandemic Horse trader Infectious disease deaths in Pennsylvania Wild West shows