Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
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
Tags for Forum Posts: Harringay Arena, tom arnold's circus
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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I'm glad animal circus's are outlawed. We campaigned for many years against animal cruelty but a lot of countries still allow it to carry on. Most repulsive to me is the use of electric shock prods for 'training purposes'. Sweden, Austria, Costa rica, India, Finland, Singapore, Switzerland, and Denmark have already restricted the use of Animals in entertainment. In response to a growing popular concern about the use of animals in entertainment, Animal-free circuses are becoming more common around the world. Israel has banned any animal from performing in any circus. In 2009, Bolivia passed legislation banning the use of any animals, wild or domestic, in circuses. The law states that circuses "constitute an act of cruelty." Circus operators had one year from the bill's passage on July 1, 2009 to comply. Sorry if this upsets anyone but it needs to be said.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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These were different times and different values. It wasn't much before this that the use of dancing bears as street entertainment could still be seen. I'm guessing you haven't seen Doris' Polar bear act or you'd be even crosser.I'm glad that the widespread use of wild animals has pretty much disappeared.
However, the obit I read of Schumann suggested that the horses worked for 8 years before retirement to pastures near Stockholm so this was probably less cruel than horse racing. It's probably significant that the Schumann circus closed in 1969 and that the Danish son of Paulina and Albert is a clown and runs workshops, presumably because times changed and people were no longer comfortable with animal exploitation.
What interested me was that in tracking down Albert, I discovered his wife, Paulina who proves to be a much more interesting character in terms of creativity. She returned to working with her father as his 'straight man' in Spain after her marriage broke up and had a major exhibition devoted to her in Barcelona. For me she's the most intriguing part of this story.
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I completely agree with you but seeing that clip made me shudder. While i'm at it, clowns give me the creeps. (Someone tell me to cheer up !)
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It's an historical source, that's all.
Writing or presenting sources does not necessarily mean that you agree with what you see or read. The idea of people using bears or elephants is shocking to us now and may have been to some people then too (not everyone liked watching the gladiators in Roman times either).
Watching the kids in the audience in their rationed clothes is interesting. This spectacle for them would have been doubly astonishing: the colourful exoticism of the performers, the sense of normality that laughing at clowns might bring and although, there is a reminder that we weren't long after the war with the appearance of the ridiculous toy tank, being able to laugh takes the sting out of it. Some of these clowns were refugees from war torn and broken parts of Europe, their clowning does have a bitter sweet feel to it perhaps but its not creepy. (feeling cheerful yet?)
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Liz* Thanks for trying to cheer me up. While i'm at it, white blokes with dreadlocks. Affected pretentiousness or what ?
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Met a ginger bloke with dreadlocks tonight and he seemed anything but.
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I remember reading something by Patrick O'Brien about his research into the navy archives for many of his novels: it was about a British Officer who, upon boarding a French vessel in the usual manner found himself confronted by a man dressed as a clown whom he quickly ran through with his sword. Some poor French conscript who wanted nothing more than to be a clown and make children laugh had not even been given a uniform before being sent into battle against the might of the British Navy. Very, very sad.
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John* Are you making a clowns 'sad' face & rubbing eyes ?... .. wait, i'm getting it mixed up with mime
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Glad you liked the clip Kim. I've gathered together all the historical clips I and other people have added here. I also added lots of Harringay Circus pictures and memorabilia here (including one of Mae West petting an elephant!)
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