Charles Philip "Chappie" Fox (May 27, 1913 – September 12, 2003) was a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

historian and philanthropist born in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, who greatly expanded the

Circus World Museum The Circus World Museum is a museum complex in Baraboo, Wisconsin, devoted to circus-related history. The museum features circus artifacts and exhibits and hosts daily live circus performances throughout the summer. It is owned by the Wisconsin Hi ...

and helped found the

Great Circus Parade The Great Circus Parade is a parade of marching bands, circus wagons, clowns, performers, and animals. Between 1963 and 2009, it has been held 30 times in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a few times in Chicago and Baraboo, Wisconsin. A fundraiser for the ...

in Milwaukee. Fox took over the tiny museum, in

Baraboo, Wisconsin Baraboo is a city in the Midwest and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The largest city in the county, Baraboo is the principal city of the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2020 population was 12,556. It is situ ...

, in 1960, and began to collect and restore antique circus wagons. These wooden wagons had been built in the late 19th and early 20th century, and lay in disrepair across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Today, the museum owns over 200 of these wagons. In 1963, Fox and Ben Barkin, under the sponsorship of the

Schlitz Brewing Company The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was an American brewery based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and once the largest producer of beer in the United States. Its namesake beer, Schlitz (), was known as "The beer that made Milwaukee famous" and was adve ...

, began the Great Circus Parade. A self-trained circus historian, Fox wrote and edited many books about circus animals, advertising and imagery, and also authored many children's stories. He died of heart disease at a nursing home in Baraboo and is survived by his wife Sophie and daughter, Barbara Fox McKellar.

Bibliography

Circus history

* ''Circus parades, a pictorial history of America's greatest pageant,'' Watkins Glen, N.Y., Century House, 1953. * ''A ticket to the circus; a pictorial history of the incredible Ringlings,'' Seattle : Superior, 1959. * ''A pictorial history of performing horses.,'' Seattle, Superior, 1960. * ''The circus comes to town''. Milwaukee, Inland Press, c1963. * ''The circus in America'' (with Tom Parkinson). Waukesha, Wis., Country Beautiful, 1969. * ''American circus posters in full color'' (editor). New York : Dover, 1978. . * ''The great circus street parade in pictures'' (with F. Beverly Kelley). New York : Dover, c1978. . * ''Old-time circus cuts : a pictorial archive of 202 illustrations'' (editor). New York : Dover, 1979. . * ''Circus baggage stock, a tribute to the Percheron horse''. Boulder, Colo. : Pruett, c1983. . * ''Billers, banners, and bombast: the story of circus advertising'' (with Tom Parkinson). Boulder, Colo. : Pruett, c1985. . * ''Horses in harness'' (edited by Jean Van Dyke). Greendale, WI : Reiman, c1987. . * ''The great circus street parade in pictures'' (with F. Beverly Kelly, 2nd ed.). New York : Dover, 1990. . * ''America's great circus parade: its roots, its revival, its revelry''. Greendale, WI : Reiman, c1993. * ''Horse drawn wagon collection at the Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin'' (editor). Milwaukee : Great Circus Parade, c1994. * ''The circus in America'' (with Tom Parkinson). Santa Monica, CA: Hennessey & Ingalls, 2002. .

Children's books

* ''Frisky, try again''. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1959 * ''Come to the circus''. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1960. * ''A fox in the house''. Chicago : Reilly & Lee, 1960. * ''Mr. Stripes the gopher''. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1962. * ''Birds will come to you''. Chicago : Reilly & Lee, 1963. * ''Mr. Duck's big day''. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1963. * ''Snowball, the trick pony''. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1964. * ''When autumn comes''. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, c1966. * ''Opie Possum's trick''. Chicago, Reilly & Lee, 1968. * ''Sweet Sue's adventures'' (story by Sam Campbell). Brushton, N.Y. : TEACH Services, c2002. .

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Chappie 1913 births 2003 deaths Writers from Milwaukee 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers American children's writers 20th-century American male writers Historians from Wisconsin