Marietta Zanfretta, known as Madame Siegrist, was an Italian tightrope dancer who found success in the United States. One of the greatest female tight-rope dancers in the world, she was known for performing en pointe on the tightrope, a rare feat.

"Dr." Gilbert Reynolds Spalding, sometimes spelled Spaulding, was an American showman, circus owner and innovator, being the first to own his own showboat, constructed the first showboat to contain an entire circus and in 1856 the first to send an entire circus on tour in its own railroad cars.