Arthur Concello

Circus Profession: Trapeze Artist/Show Manager. Arthur Concello was born Arturo Vasconcellos in 1912, the son of a Portuguese railway worker from Spokane, Washington. By the time he was 16, Concello was a member of the Flying Wards’ act with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, and at 18, he had formed
his own number, the Flying Concellos. Artie fell in love. Antoinette, born in Quebec of French-Canadian parents,
was also the child of a railwayman. They married, and Concello taught Antoinette all he knew about flying. She became the world’s foremost woman flyer.
1932: with “The Greatest Show on Earth”, Ringling Bros, and Barnum and Bailey
1933: centre ring from the Codonas.

Scala, Berlin, Cirque d’Hiver in Paris before they returned to America.

1942 manager of RBBB.

1943 he bought the Russell Brothers’ Circus, the biggest motorised show in America which he operated it successfully for five years.

John Ringling North persuaded Concello to sell the Russell show to its star, the wild animal trainer Clyde
Beatty, and return to Ringling as its General Manager. Concello agreed. North gave Concello $20,000 a year in royalties for the
next 10 years until hey fell out, and Concello left. To return he asked for directorship, a seat on the board and a 10 per cent stake.

John Ringling North dreamed of taking his circus on a tour of Europe, but left Concello to organize it. The result, in 1963, was a shambles, and Concello took the blame. On returning to America from the premiere in Lille, France, Concello found he had been sacked.

In November 1967, North sold the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and Art Concello, already a wealthy man, benefited by the sale of his 10 per cent stock to live happily every after. Antoinette Concello and Art were divorced and later Concello married the British dancer and aerialiste Margaret Smith.

Inducted into the Ring of Fame: 2004.