Here, Now and Long Ago...

Various musings on philosophy, history, contemporary politics, the world, life and monkeys...

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

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Alex MacDonald: I was an American entertainer of many talents, most famously as a clown, and I was pre-eminent before the American Civil War. During the height of my career, I was a household name. Coining the terms "One Horse Show" and "Greatest Show", I was a leading personality in the new American "pop culture", brought on by the technological changes of the Industrial Revolution and resultant mass culture. I became so popular that I ran for President of the United States in 1868. With changes in circus venues and popular culture after the Civil War, my legendary talents under the big top have gradually slipped into almost total historical obscurity such that in 2001, biographer David Carlyon called me "the most famous man you've never heard of".

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