Flea Circus at Kids Arts Day in Kent, Washington

An upcoming Flea Circus reported by OregonLive.Com

On Saturday 3rd March in Kent, Washington, US the kids at the kids arts festivals will be entertained by the Flea Circus from Steve "The Pretty Good".

There will also be a series of hands on arts projects for the kids and performance on the stage.

Ezekiel "Zeke" Sapperticker

In my quest for knowledge of flea circuses I come across some colourful characters with bizarre claims. In particular some of the claims of the Hecklers mentioned in "Wild Tigers, Tame Fleas" are rather embellished (or just made up?). There's also the story about the Flea Circus trainer who was attacked by his own fleas from Weekly World News.

However, I quizzed a chap on Myspace to find out about his Grandfather Zeke Sapperticker's Flea Circus and recieved the following reply.

Thee Money Butlers - a closer look at the sapperticker family tree

I'll let you make your own mind up about the accuracy of the claims but I have a feeling it might be difficult to find other sources to corroborate them.

Flea Postcards

There are a wide range of postcards of fleas available on Ebay from the funny to saucy to sureal. Here's a montage of some of those that I've seen over the last couple of years.

Matchboxes

Did Victorian Flea Circus performers keep their fleas in matchboxes?

It's a nice idea but perhaps a little unlikely. The match was invented in 1827 which is just before the Flea Circus rose to popularity and as you can see from the picture, the large size of the matches meant for large boxes. There is also the issue of the fleas being able to escape.

It is more likely that the Flea Trainers used a pill box because the size and seal was more appropriate for keeping fleas.

However in the Flea Film I intend to use a match box because they look better and because my Ring Master has too large hands to manipulate a pill box. So I don't expect all you Pullicologists and Phillumenists to be writing in with complaints because I told you in advance....

BRITISH MATCHBOX LABEL AND BOOKLET SOCIETY

Chuck Caputo Flea Circus for Sale

Flea Circus By Chuck Caputo

The latest flea circus creation out of the workstop of Chuck Caputo is in a mysterious looking nautical chest. The interior is a bright flea circus ring with a range of tricks including:

Moving balls, a trapeze, high dive, moving rope, flag pole, sword fighting and a cannon.

The chest also contains a hidden tape recorder so you can have music at your circus.

For sale for delivery to the USA or Canada
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190081844511&sspagename=ADME:B:AAQ:UK:1

See more magical props at: http://www.freewebs.com/caputocollection/

Killer Fleas

Fleas are not always the nice friendly creatures that we know and love, sometimes they can be dangerous. As well as being blamed for the black death and for your pet's hair dropping out they can also be more serious problems.

Killer fleas from the Onion

Disasters from the Flea Circus Research Library

Flea Surgery

Scientists have taken the gene that produces resilin and used it to create a
super-strong rubbery polymer with potential use in surgery. Resilin has a resilience efficiency much higher than rubber and means it can be used for spinal implants and in the repair of blood vessels.

BBC Report