Signor Bagonghi (Giuseppe Bignoli) | The Bignoli that made Bagonghi famous

Signor Bagonghi (Giuseppe Bignoli)

Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth. Signor Bagonghi. First American Appearance of the World's Smallest and Most Wonderful Rider Who Made All Europe Laugh. Cincinnati & New York: The Strobridge Litho Co, 1915 (no. 15-B-228)

Color lithograph poster (30 x 40 1/8 in.; 764 x 1020 mm). Laid down on linen.

Jugate portraits of the Circus's founders are relegated to an upper corner of this poster, which is dominated by five views of Signor Bagonghi's stunt riding. According to Raffaele De Ritis's Storia del Circo (Rome, 2008), "Bagonghi" is a generic term for little people in the Italian circus. The first, whose family name was probably really Bagonghi, appeared around 1890 at Circo Guillaume. The name was made world famous by Giuseppe Bignoli (1889–1939), the Bagonghi who arrived at Barnum & Bailey around 1910 and continued to perform with Ringling Bros. until 1926.