Frisco Frank's Western Circus

Apr 9

4 min read

written by J.P. Browne

Frisco Frank’s Western Circus is a tragedy in that it has largely being forgotten for numerous reasons. The main one being that it was only around for a very short time, a year or maybe even a few months before disappearing. The Circus family that set up the Frisco Frank’s Western Circus was the Paulo family.

Frank Paulo or ‘Frisco Frank’ was a talented Auguste clown (the most popular type of clown we have today) coming from a well-known English circus family. Frank’s mother was ‘Madame Caroline’ a famous tight-rope walker who once walked across the Niagara Falls in Canada and was billed as a "Madame Blondin" (Blondin being the most famous tight-rope walker in the world at that stage) in Britain. She gained fame by falling fifty feet in Bolton while trying to walk between two church steeples in May, 1869 and while there doesn’t seem to have being any harm physically to her it seems to have affected her confidence as a tight rope walker. (1)

Frank learned his trade as a clown moving with his family from Circus to Circus. It was sometime in the 1890’s that he came to Ireland performing with his family for James Lloyd in Lloyd’s Mexican Circus. It was here he got to learn the Irish Circus Scene and know the towns and villages which he would someday roam himself. Coming back to England he joined Wilson’s Circus and there met his future wife Clara Wilson who he married in 1903 (4).

Clare Wilson was born in 1884 was from a circus family herself. Her father was William Wilson, a fairground showman and her mother was Elizabeth Silvester from yet another famous circus family. After marriage they stayed with Clara’s family circus for several season before deciding to go out on their own.

They found employment with the aforementioned Buff Bills Circus which was at the time traveling England. With Buff Bill Kaye being “a good master to us" (2) they travelled over to Ireland with him in 1907 and toured with his Circus for several seasons. Clara now billed as “Madame Paulo” walked the wire, while Frank showed a fortune-telling pony as well as clowning.

In 1908 Frank Paulo made the papers unfortunately for the wrong reason as he was stabbed in the face in Virginia, Co. Cavan. Two local men came with straw wanting to sell it. Paulo informed them that they had already bought straw and didn’t need it. One of the men, Thomas Glancy who was drunk got belligerent and was thrown out of the field where he promptly came back with a knife stabbing Frank Paulo, with the wound requiring stitches. Glancy (a repeat offender) was later caught and got nine months in prison with hard labour (5).

They did well with Buff Bills for several seasons before taking up an offer with Hanneford’s Circus which was also based in Ireland. It was after a season or so at Hannefords that the Paulo’s decided to set up their own Circus called “Frisco Frank’s Western Circus”. (3)

By most accounts ‘Frisco Frank’s Western Circus’ seems to have being an aspirational name as the show was obviously closer to a ‘fit-up’ a show which birthed numerous circus’s over the years such as Duffy’s Circus before having success and expanding later. The Paulo’s show was the same as many did back then which got the patrons in with no charge for admission but sold tickets for prizes. The money from the raffles was the profit made for the circus. At this stage they did not appear to have even a tent yet just a wagon which could double for a large stage; on this singing and dancing would be performed with the Clara Paulo walking a tightrope. According to family lore “On the first day the prizes cost six shillings and they sold three shillings worth of tickets.’ (2) Eventually thing got better as they able to add two stalls these being a hoopla and gun stall. Typically, these types of shows would be move around finding markets that were held and following these about.

Just as they were beginning to do well tragedy struck. World War I broke out in 1914 with Frank Paulo been called up to serve (7). This left Clara Paulo in charge of the circus. In 1916 (there is dispute about the date with others saying 1910 or 1914) some local thugs in Cork with anti-English feelings (and one would assume a lot of drink) set fire to the Paulo’s tent. The fire was rapid and the Paulo’s lost everything. This despicable act of arson tragically destroyed what were the foundations of a very promising circus. The Paulo’s were pretty much destitute after the attack with the Paulo’s having to rely on open-air shows to salvage back some money as the loss of a tent would have being a large financial blow to them, especially if not insured. With the tent gone it seems the decision was made to abandon Ireland.

You can understand their thinking at the time. Clara Paulo remembers traveling through a bombed and shelled out Dublin which would put it just after the failed 1916 Rising by Irish Rebels against the British Government. Feelings would have been running high and after the Paulo’s already being at the end of anti-British sentiment they wouldn’t have wanted to stay in a situation which was getting more explosive by the day. Regardless of the circumstances the Paulo’s traveled back to England.

Frank Paulo survived World War I and with the fires of ambition still burning he used his army gratuity to buy a second-hand tent, a lion, and several horses and began to rebuild the family circus again. This time calling it after the family, Paulo's Circus.

Paulo's Circus ran until 1929 when Frank Paulo died. The circus was then sold and amalgamated into the Anderton and Rowland Circus (6). The Paulo family itself went on to become one of Britain’s Premier Circus Families with a Paulo’s Circus owed and run by descendants of Frank and Clara Paulo still traveling to this very day.

Bibliography: