Portraits of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performers and staff
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Portrait of train mechanic Jerry Lee Bentley, who was born on a train.
"I've been in the show business pretty much all my life. I was born and raised on another traveling show. I took some time off in between with the service, [but] I had to come back.
I have been traveling with the shows for over 64 years. Ringling Brothers, I've been with them 16 years.
I've been doing it now all these years. It's the only thing pretty much I know what to do is making sure to make the train comes out, you know, goes from one town to the other, make it safe for the people who live on there. Pretty much that's all I've been doing.
[When] I see families come out and they have big smiles, and the kids are happy, it's like it hits home. You know, I've done my job good because I made sure we got here safely and everything was going good with the show and no one got hurt, and you go on from there.
If I can put a smile on someone's face, I feel okay. I've done a good job."
After 146 years, the "Greatest Show on Earth" will close its curtain in the end of May.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus started in 1919 when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The circus' parent company, Feld Entertainment, made the decision to end the show after waning ticket sales and long court battles over the treatment of animals, particularly the elephants, made the costly entertainment event unsustainable.
![Portrait of train mechanic Jerry Lee Bentley, who was born on a train. <br />
<br />
"I've been in the show business pretty much all my life. I was born and raised on another traveling show. I took some time off in between with the service, [but] I had to come back.<br />
<br />
I have been traveling with the shows for over 64 years. Ringling Brothers, I've been with them 16 years.<br />
<br />
I've been doing it now all these years. It's the only thing pretty much I know what to do is making sure to make the train comes out, you know, goes from one town to the other, make it safe for the people who live on there. Pretty much that's all I've been doing.<br />
<br />
[When] I see families come out and they have big smiles, and the kids are happy, it's like it hits home. You know, I've done my job good because I made sure we got here safely and everything was going good with the show and no one got hurt, and you go on from there.<br />
If I can put a smile on someone's face, I feel okay. I've done a good job."<br />
<br />
After 146 years, the "Greatest Show on Earth" will close its curtain in the end of May. <br />
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus started in 1919 when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The circus' parent company, Feld Entertainment, made the decision to end the show after waning ticket sales and long court battles over the treatment of animals, particularly the elephants, made the costly entertainment event unsustainable.](https://m.psecn.photoshelter.com/img-get2/I0000suchYEUU5jQ/fit=1000x750/g=G0000BI8ps.2vTPA/150827-Sinclair-RinglingPortraits-008.jpg)
