Tahar Douis, a Moroccan circus performer who regularly puts his bald head in the mouths of alligators, has had a lifelong dream: to perform in Chicago’s Medinah Temple.
On Friday, he will finally get that chance–and just in time. The 57th annual Medinah Shrine Circus begins a 17-day engagement in what has become one of the city’s best-known traditions.
But it’s likely to be the last circus held at the fortress-like landmark at 600 N. Wabash Ave. The building, to the dismay of circus types worldwide, is earmarked for sale and demolition.
“If I dream again, I wish that the building will stay,” Douis, 40, said, rehearsing Thursday in a fake animal-skin loincloth and robe.
To many Chicagoans, the Medinah Shrine Circus conjures up sweet memories of childhood. To circus performers, it’s the ultimate venue with its perfect acoustics, stained glass windows and arms-length intimacy.
More than 4,000 red-velvet seats ring the stage in a three-tiered arch, with the farthest spectator being, perhaps, 80 yards away.
“You’re sucked right in,” said ringmaster Timothy Tegge, who is–literally–married to a clown. “You can feel the energy and the magnetism of everyone and everything.”
At one time or another, the most famous circus acts in the world, including the Wallendas and the Hannefords, played at Medinah.
“The best of the best played here,” Tegge said, while nearby a nimble 19-year-old woman in a sequined bikini twirled dozens of hoops on her hand, waist and knee.
As performers prepared Thursday for the final run, sentimentality was high.
“It’s a sad thing, it’s going to be no more,” said trainer Pam Rosaire-Zoppe, chasing after a 2-year-old chimpanzee named Saboo. “I can’t believe they’re going to tear it down. I’m going to cry.”
Rosaire-Zoppe, 52, was only 15 when she first began coming to the Medinah as part of a family of circus performers. Her father trained draft horses, including “Tony the Wonder Horse.” Her spouse, Roger Zoppe, was a noted bareback rider.
“My husband used to spin on his head,” she said. “He’s very famous for that.”
Next year, if the temple is gone, the show is likely to continue, but at another site. Discussions are ongoing with the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“Of course we’ll go somewhere else,” said Patrick M. Delaney Sr., circus chairman. “This is our major fundraiser.”
Each year, some 120,000 people pay $8 to $20 each to see the circus. The money raised is not used, as many believe, for the local Shriners Hospital for Children but, instead, for other needs, including the upkeep of the temple.
No longer, however, can the 6,000 fez-wearing members afford the maintenance on the vast mosque, which was built in 1912. In 1995, for instance, the distinctive green onion-bulb domes were removed from the roof of the temple because they had become dangerously deteriorated.
Though the deal is not final, Chicago real estate developer Steven Fifield has an agreement with the Shriners to purchase the temple for $20 million. In its place, he plans to build a hotel, condo and shops.
The Shriners, meanwhile, will find a newer, less expensive home and invest the rest of the money in hopes of sustaining the fraternal organization, which is dwindling in size.
“I think this is a beautiful building and would hate to leave it,” Delaney said. “I’ve put in 30 years here. It’ll never be duplicated.”
The title of this year’s circus is “The Last Dance.” All the acts that ever appeared at the temple are invited back for closing night, March 21.
“We’re trying to decide which song to play,” Delaney said. “It may be `Thanks for the Memories.’ “