<Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> www.ringling.com </Td> </Tr> <P> Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros. or simply Ringling was an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth . It and its predecessor shows ran from 1871 to 2017 . Known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, the circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P.T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows . The Ringling brothers had purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919 . </P> <P> After 1956 the circus no longer exhibited under their own portable "big top" tents, instead using permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas . In 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston Judge Roy Hofheinz bought the circus from the Ringling family . In 1971, the Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus to Mattel, buying it back from the toy company in 1982 . Since the death of Irvin Feld in 1984, the circus had been a part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by Kenneth Feld, with its headquarters in Ellenton, Florida . </P> <P> With weakening attendance and high operating costs, the circus closed on May 21, 2017 after 146 years . </P>

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