Cirque Fernando. The Cirque Medrano is a French circus that was located at 63 Boulevard de Rochechouart, at the corner of rue des Martyrs, in the 18th arrondissement at the edge of Montmartre in Paris. It was originally called Cirque Fernando. The title Cirque Medrano is still active today: it is now a successful French traveling circus. The Parisian circus was created by a Belgian circus entrepreneur, Ferdinand Beert, known as Fernando, and was built at the corner of the Boulevard de Rochechouart and the Rue des Martyrs, in what was then the edge of the City of Paris, under the name Cirque Fernando. The area was a working-class neighborhood at the foot of the hill of Montmartre, famous for its many places of popular entertainment, among which the Moulin de la Galette and the famous Bal du Moulin Rouge; and in the vicinity of the Bateau-Lavoir in Montmartre, where many young painters lived. An acrobat and equestrian, Fernando started his Cirque Fernando in Vierzon, France, in 1872. The following year, he came to Paris to perform at the Fete de Montmartre, but the traditional fairgrounds for this annual fair were on the very spot on which the Church of the Sacre-Coeur was being built. Fernando thus went on to search for a suitable empty lot nearby, and found it on the Boulevard de Rochechouart, between the rue des Martyrs and the present rue Viollet-le-Duc. He had considerable success there, which went far beyond the context of the fair. He therefore managed to obtain a thirty-year lease on his piece of land to build a permanent circus. Designed by the architect Gustave Gridaine, the new Cirque Fernando opened on June 25, 1875. Because of its proximity to Montmartre, the circus attracted many artists, who came to sketch the performers in action, which sometimes resulted in full paintings. They brought in their wake members of the Parisian boheme, writers, journalists, actors, who generated publicity for the circus. Mrs. Fernando, who oversaw the box office, decided to let the painters work freely in the circus during rehearsals and watch the performances free of charge; a tradition that will remain under the subsequent management of Geronimo Medrano. Fernando Beert eventually gave the management of his circus to his stepson, Louis, known as Louis Fernando. Although Louis's artistic direction proved quite successful, notably with popular revues written for his star clown, Geronimo Medrano, known as Boum-Boum, his financial management of the family's enterprise was often erratic. He eventually led the circus to bankruptcy in October 1897. In the following December, Geronimo Medrano bought back Fernando's lease, and renamed the circus Cirque Medrano. Geronimo Medrano successfully revived the circus of the Boulevard de Rochechouart. It remained a meeting point for artists: Picasso, Braque, Kees van Dongen were regulars. Medrano managed the circus until his death in 1912. Then, his wife, Berthe, took over the circus, and gave the artistic management to Rodolphe Bonten, a former acrobat. Geronimo and Berthe had a son, Jerome Medrano, who was five years old when his father died. To ensure her son's future, Berthe, whose health was deteriorating, remarried with Rodolphe Bonten. Jerome was given a formal education in elite schools that had not much to do with the circus. During World War I, Bonten hired a trio of clowns, the Fratellinis, who soon became the Idols of Paris and ensured Medrano's financial success. When Berthe Medrano died of cancer in 1920, Rodolphe Bonten took over the full management of the circus, but the lease actually reverted to Jerome Medrano, who was only thirteen. Bonten's management was sound, if not overly imaginative, and Cirque Medrano continued to thrive. It was still a favorite rendez-vous for the Parisian artistic elite; and still attracted many artists, who were always welcome around the ring. During World War II and the German Occupation of France, the lease of the Cirque Medrano, which, since Fernando's bankruptcy, included the land as well as the walls, was put for sale. Jer�me Medrano had joined the French Resistance, and was not in a position to buy his circus back; the wealthy Bouglione family, owners of Paris's Cirque d'Hiver, bought the land and the walls from their rightful owners, the Saint family, paying them in gold! At the end of the War, Jerome Medrano found himself being the tenant of his main competitors. From one lawsuit to another, Jerome Medrano managed to stay at the helm of his circus until the end of 1962, when the Bougliones finally took possession of the building.