American impresario of one of America’s great traditions, the traveling circus. The Ringling Brothers Circus was founded by seven Ringling brothers and the very name became associated with the excitement and hoopla of an arena in which clowns, acrobats, fire-eaters, trained tigers and sideshow exhibits were delivered to small towns and cities across the nation. Beginning in 1884, the Ringling brothers of Baraboo, Wisconsin, known as the “Kings of the Circus World,” ran a tented circus. In 1907, they purchased their largest competitor, Barnum & Bailey, and by 1919, their show had grown to be the largest traveling amusement in the world with 1,200 employees and 100 double-length railroad cars. The president of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, North was attacked viciously by the press in 1956 when he closed the “Big Top,” thereby ending a beloved American tradition.
Young John was born into this noted circus family and by age 12 he was working in the business as a ‘candy butcher,’ learning every part of the operation. As an adult he became president of the show, in 1937, a position he held until his cousin took over in 1943. In 1947, when the last of the brothers died, North once again took over the reins of the company. The tastes of the public changed over the years, and the show gradually moved deeply into financial trouble. North came to the regretful decision that moving from place to place was not cost-effective, and on 7/16/1956 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey gave its last performance under the big top. North commented that “the tented circus as it exists today is, in my opinion, a thing of the past.”
He continued to work with the show at its Baraboo home until 11/11/1967 when he sold the circus to the Feld Family. The sale was finalized during a ceremony held at the Coliseum in Rome. North died on June 4, 1985 in Brussels, Belgium.
Link to Wikipedia biography