Ca' d' Zan #1 (From Eric Beheim)

In 1925, John Ringling was estimated to be worth 100 million dollars (a considerable sum back then!) In addition to a 1/3 ownership in the Ringling-Barnum Circus, he owned oil wells, railroads, theaters, a majority of the stock in the Madison Square Garden Corporation, Florida real estate, etc., etc., etc. In 1929, after he bought the American Circus Corporation, he also owned the titles to every circus of consequence in the United States: Sells-Floto, Hagenbach-Wallace, John Robinson, Sparks, and Al G. Barnes. (To paraphrase W. S. Gilbert, "It is, it is a glorious thing to be a Circus King!”)