The Greatest Show - Broadway Musical Soundtrack CD | Official Cast Recording for Home, Car & Party Playback

New York Times staff photographer Ernie Sisto took this photo in 1946 of kids peeking at a preview of "the greatest show on earth" at Madison Square Garden.

"It began in 1871 as P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome," Lizette Alvarez wrote in The Times in April 2017. "Back when Prussia was still a kingdom and Jesse James was robbing banks." The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus "survived the Depression, two world wars and the new media of its time, including radio, film and TV," she wrote, but ultimately failed to dazzle the children of the smartphone age.

After a 146-year-run, the world's most historic circus folded its tent for good on May 21, 2017.