Legendary Circus performers Albert and Paulina Schumann's Harringay years

As most members of HOL will be aware, one of Harringay's most famous events for many years was Tom Arnold's Circus at the Harringay Arena. Many famous circus performers passed through the big top that once stood on the spot which B&Q now occupies.

One of these was Albert Schumann, renowned horse trainer, whose Cirkus Schumann, based in Copenhagen, was famous throughout Europe. It was for years the finest circus in Scandinavia, and made regular visits to Gothenburg, Stockholm, Oslo, Odense, Aarhus, and Aalborg.

However,the expense of keeping a huge stud of fine quality horses and ponies forced the Schumanns to find winter work in England each year from 1947 onwards, and this is where the Harringay connection comes in. 

From 1947 to 1955, the Schumanns were lucky to land lucrative contracts for Tom Arnold's Mammoth Circus at the Harringay Arena in London. In an almost unbroken run, Schumann and his family brought 60 or more horses and ponies to London each winter, giving ever more spectacular displays. He favoured English greys, purebred Arabs, the rare black Yugoslav Arabs and Lipizzaners from the Spanish Riding School of Vienna.

Albert was married to Paulina Schumann the glamorous acrobat and equestrienne and part of circus royalty, being the daughter of the world famous Spanish clown, Charlie Rivel. It is her ideas and sense of showmanship that can be seen during the horses perfomance in the video of the 1949 Harringay Circus here. Tom Arnold and his director, Clement Butson, agreed to invest in her expensive costumes and staging concepts. The results of this financial collaboration could be seen each year in the fully produced, brilliantly themed equestrian acts they presented in the circuses of Stockholm, Göteborg, Copenhagen, and Harringay.

Inspired by international folklore themes, Paulina designed acts that were enhanced by Butson's staging gifts. They developed a host of high-school riding presentations and liberty acts, combining horses of different breeds and robes. They created some unusual novelties, such as an "Equestrian Potpourri" with forty horses in the ring simultaneously. Among other remarkable achievements was the production of The Troika; Carnival in Venice; Madame Bovary in the Bois de Boulogne; and Fiesta en Sevilla (1951), which included the bareback riding troupe of Enrico Caroli. Her association with Tom Arnold's Harringay shows lasted until 1954.

Their son, Benny, who performed in London with his parents as a child, has a successful career as a clown in Denmark.

Find more historical videos on Harringay online

Sources: Circopedia; The Times Obituary of Albert Schumann 2001; Benny Schumann website