There's a Customer Born Every Minute
P. T. Barnum's greatest sales approach on Earth

Replica captures circus excitement
?? The Tibbals Learning Center at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, focuses on the rich history of the big-top shows of the late 19th and early 20th century. In those days, dozens of traveling shows competed?fiercely for customers with exotic animal acts, death-defying feats and shock-inspiring sideshows. The last big-top show played in 1956, when circuses shifted their shows from tents to large arenas.
?? The shows during the big-top era were a logistical miracle, moving around 700 animals and about 1,500 workers and performers each day from town to town by railroad. It was that feat, getting a circus set up in time for the day's performance,?that first caught the attention of master model maker Howard C. Tibbals.

?? Largest miniature circus
?? The Howard Bros. circus, touted as the world's largest such miniature display, is the centerpiece of the Tibbals Learning Center. With more than 44,000 meticulously placed pieces, the miniature circus is based on the American shows of the late 1930s, at a scale of one inch to one foot. If it were?actual size, the circus would cover more than 20 acres.

?? Walking through the exhibit, visitors can peer into all the aspects of circus life. In the dining tent, about 900 place settings cover the long tables, complete with platters of food. A little farther, there's John Ringling's private tent, with workers unloading his private?automobile from a special rail car. Under the big top, which could accommodate 15,000 spectators, the famous long-legged clown Lou Jacobs steps out of a tiny car. There are even miniature manure piles.
?? And even though this installation is permanent, everything can be packed away and loaded onto the 149 circus wagons and 55 rail cars on which they would have arrived, "just like the real circus," Tibbals said.

Vocabulary Focus
death-defying (adj)--- very dangerous
logistical (adj)--- relating to the careful organization of complicated activity so that it happens in a successful and effective way
meticulously (adv)--- in a very careful manner, with great attention to every detail

-----------------

Specialized Terms
big-top (adj)--- 馬戲篷表演的；馬戲篷的 describing a circus performance that takes place under a large round tent

????