Dolly Jacobs was born into circus life and what a life she has had! She wouldn’t have had it any other way. Her famed father was Lou Jacobs, the legendary featured clown for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus® for over 60 years. Dolly’s mother, Jean Rockwell Jacobs was one of the top models of her time in New York then transformed her career to become a circus artist as well. As a girl, Dolly trained with the Sailor Circus in Sarasota learning a variety of the circus arts before launching her career with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus® as an aerialist.
She then toured the world, establishing her own well-deserved reputation as one of the top aerialists of all time, thrilling audiences with the “Roman Rings” and earning her the title “Queen of the Air.” Dolly was featured at many circus festivals throughout the world, which underscored her exceptional talent and artistry.
Dolly was one of a handful of circus artists invited to participate – twice – in the International Circus Festival of Monaco – each time winning her “La Dame du Cirque” (Lady of the Circus) award, along with being awarded the “Award from the City of Monaco” and, more honorably, the coveted “Silver Clown Award” presented to her by his royal highness Prince Albert of Monaco in 1988.
Along with many of her other awards, in January 1997, Dolly was inducted into the Circus Ring of Fame at St. Armand’s Circle and, in January 1998, into the Ringling Circus Museum Hall of Fame, both in Sarasota, Florida. In 2015 Dolly became the first circus artist in history to be awarded the “National Endowment for the Arts National Fellow”, the highest arts award in the US, recorded in the Library of Congress in Washington DC.
