Biography

The Paulo’s Circus was founded in Ireland in the early part of the twentieth century and although the business was folded or merged on a couple of occasions a branch of it can still be found travelling the UK today.

The Paulo family originated with the union of Henry Butcher and Caroline Baker, better known as Madame Blondin.

The most significant strains to the Paulo family are Frank’s family and Harry’s family, although Thomas also achieved fame around Ireland and Scotland.

At the time of the Paulo Circus inception, the family couldn’t have anticipated that the business would have to survive two major bellicose conflicts which would change the face of Europe. In 1914 at the outbreak of WWI life was interrupted, men were conscripted around the country and resources were redirected to the war effort including circus animals and transport. Frank Frisco was recruited to serve in France and didn’t join the family and the show again until the end of the war. He died of pneumonia in 1928-29 in Rotherham while on his way to St. Austell to merge his circus with the Anderton and Rowland Show. This was not to be the end of the Paulo Circus though, as in 1939 Frank’s widow and her children reformed the family circus and prospered through the WWII years taking morale boosting entertainment around the country. They continued running the Paulo Circus until finally folding it in 1949. It wasn’t until 1983 when another member of the family; Clara Paulo, the seventh child of Frank and Clara, and her husband Ken McManus decided to reinstate the Paulo Circus.

Clara was a proficient bareback rider, a contortionist and an acrobat and Ken was the brother of Henry ‘Lightening’ McManus, a boxer who married into the Paulo family.

Although Ken’s roots were outside the circus, he embraced showmanship and become a talented bareback rider and clown, playing the comedy role to the Sensational Friscos trampoline act and doubling up as Ringmaster. The renewed Paulo Circus run until Clara and Ken retired in 1996, although their legacy did not end there, as their grandson, Kenny Darnell, is one of the principals of the current Gilbert and Paulo’s Circus company.

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