Remember the Titans

Clockwise from the top: Shorty Flemm, Paul Jerome, Charlie Bell and Jojo Lewis

BOBBY KAY

BEN LINDER: (July 7, 1959 – April 28, 1987)

Courtesy of the Zinn Education Project

“My son was brutally murdered for bringing electricity to a few poor people in northern Nicaragua. He was murdered because he had a dream and because he had the courage to make that dream come true.”

- Ben Linder's mother, at his funeral.

In addition to volunteering as an engineer, Linder participated in vaccination campaigns, using his talents as a clown, juggler, and unicyclist to entertain the local children. Linder and two Nicaraguans—Sergio Hernández and Pablo Rosales—were killed in a Contra ambush on April 28, 1987. Linder was wounded by a grenade and then shot at point-blank range in the head. Read more and find the free downloadable teaching guide on Nicaragua, including a section on Linder, here: http://bit.ly/1PSeCdJ

RINGLING BROS. and BARNUM & BAILEY: Waiting for Spec at Madison Square Garden (1955)

Photo by Marvin Newman

OTTO GRIEBLING: Shrine Circus Poster (Circa 1930s)

VARIETY (April 9, 1909)

Marceline

A national organization is being organized by the circus clowns of the country. The first step was a meeting of the Hippodrome funmakers, under the leadership of Marceline, held in the Hippodrome dressing rooms a few days ago. The purpose of the association is not protection, but social. The following committee was appointed to carry the movement further: Marceline, George Holland, James R. Adams, Clyde Powers and Frank Hansen, of the Hippodrome; Al Miaco and George Hartzell, of the Ringling Bros.' Circus, and Spader Johnson and Fred De Voe, of the Barnum-Bailey organization. Wells Hawks, the public disseminator of "The Hip," furnishes the information.

PIC: Photography Entree, Circus Roncalli (2008)