Circus clown of George M. Cohan. He was also one of the main models for "Uncle Sam". With changes in circus and popular culture after the Civil War, his legendary talents under the big top have gradually slipped into almost total historical obscurity; biographer David Carlyon (2001) called him "the most famous man you've never heard of". While Dan Rice's talking and singing clown was taking America by storm, a new type of clown was emerging on the British pantomime stage, one that would have a more lasting influence on contemporary American circus clowning. George Lafayette Fox was America's first great "whiteface"
The Circus Surprise to look out at the circus and makes Nick laugh by saying that the lions are kittens and the people were ants. Bina Williams in her review for the School Library Journal said "Fletcher details an occurrence that is bound to happen to just about every kid at one time or another--getting lost in a public place. Vagin's gouache pictures vividly portray the details of a circus that is big enough to be interesting but not so big as to be scary." Publishers Weekly was mixed in their review saying "Fletcher's text is by turns reassuring and practical in tone,