May Wirth

May Wirth (6 June 1894 – 18 October 1978) was an Australian circus and vaudeville performer^[1] famous for her ability to do somersaults forwards and backwards on a running horse. She was inducted to the Circus Hall of Fame as a bareback rider in 1963.^[2]

Circus troops

Wirth performed with the Barnum and Bailey circus in the United States,^[3][4] and was the star of Wirth's Circus in 1916^[5] as the "greatest bareback riding star"^[6]

References

1. St. Leon, Mark (1990). Wirth, May Emmeline (1894-1978). Canberra, Australia: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
2. "International Circus Hall of Fame Inductees, Peru Indiana". Retrieved 2013-05-02.
3. Rogers, Will; Wertheim, Arthur Frank, 1935-; Bair, Barbara, 1955-; Gragert, Steven K; Johansson, M. Jane, 1963- (1996), The papers of Will Rogers, University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 978-0-8061-3704-9
4. "Miss Millionaire Wirth.". Molong Argus (NSW : 1909 - 1921). NSW: National Library of Australia. 3 October 1913. p. 10. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
5. "WIRTH'S CIRCUS.". Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954). Perth, WA: National Library of Australia. 23 July 1916. p. 11 Section: First Section. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
6. "It's Safer To Stand On The Horse.". The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW : 1949 - 1953). Sydney, NSW: National Library of Australia. 12 March 1950. p. 2 Supplement: Features. Retrieved 2 May 2013.