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 Is Coming the author, Angela Bull notes that while "most reviewers praised it warmly", the "Time and Tide" reviewer thoroughly disliked Peter and Santa, wishing that Noel had "killed them off, instead of trailing them through the book and nearly spoiling her excellent material". Noel Streatfeild received the Carnegie Medal for "The Circus Is Coming" in the award's third year. Her "Ballet Shoes" had been considered for the medal in the first year, as had Howard Spring's "Sampson's Circus". "The Circus Is Coming" combines the circus setting of Spring's adventure story (which also had illustrations by Spurrier) with the artiste training of