Figure:Acrobat

At the turn of the century, Philadelphia toy maker A. Schoenhut seized upon the circus mania that had spread across the nation, producing miniature versions of the beloved circus performers and animals. Called the Humpty Dumpty Circus-a name inspired by a popular play of the time-the toy line became an immediate success. It featured ten core performers, over thirty different animals, and a wide variety of accessories, ranging from simple props like chairs and ladders to elaborate, three-dimensional canvas tents.

All of the Schoenhut circus performers have similar characteristics, including wooden or bisque heads, painted features, "crab" hands that could hold or support props, and jointed wooden bodies held together with elastic. Schoenhut created this figure, the acrobat or Chinaman, to represent the Chinese performers that became a mainstay circus act in the 19th century. Schoenhut's acrobats wear wide white pants and colored tunics and have a long queue of black hair. In actual circus acts, acrobats often used these queues to perform "hair hangs."