In mid-September, at the 2019 Circus Fans Association of America convention in Springfield, MA, I had the immense honor to sit and talk with circus legend Jeanette Williams. Daughter of Harry Williams and Carola Althoff, Williams hails from a dynasty of German circus owners and performers. Her contributions to the world-wide circus scene are abundant. After a hugely successful career as an animal purchaser, trainer and presenter, Williams is now the president of Entertainment & Circus Agency, LLC, a company that produces shows and books performers all over the world. At a spry 77, she is witty and bright-eyed. She carries herself with an air of forthrightness and glamour but is approachable and casual from the start. It was a warm evening in Springfield, and the convention attendees were enjoying a refreshing buffet dinner on the top floor of the hotel. Williams and I stole away from the cluster of round tables and chatted for over an hour. 

She spoke with a cadence which indicated that she had told her story many times. Her sentences were factual, clipped — the headlines of her life. And indeed, how else could she possibly cover the enormity and depth of her outstanding career in one interview? Her wide bright eyes sometimes drifted, thinking into the past, but most often held mine, unabashedly, while she recounted the particulars of joys and hardships.  ...