The “New Madison Square Garden” referred to at the top of the poster was the 4th iteration of the entertainment venue (on three different sites) since its founding in 1879; it had opened the year before this poster was issued. The composition here promotes the clowns and wild animals that had been staples of the American traveling circus since the 19th century. Ringling Brothers had purchased Barnum & Bailey, another major circus company in 1907, but they did not officially merge into the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows mentioned at the lower margin of this poster until 1919. During the 1970s, the role of wild animals in these events was increasingly questioned by animal-rights activists and others, and this forced some circuses to close and others to adapt.