In 1949, LIFE magazine sent famed photographer Nina Leen to document the daily life of a sassy troupe of young women who had run off and joined the famous Barnum & Bailey Circus in Sarasota, Fla. What developed was a portrait of a sisterhood formed over acrobatics that mixed high-flying wire acts with fashionable high-waisted shorts. Sarasota was once considered “the home of the American circus”. Here: an aerialist smoking while rehearsing for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Sarasota, FL in 1949. (Photo By Nina Leen/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Badminton School sixth form pupils (L-R) Lucy Warden, who got 3 A* and is off to study English at Durham, Sam Crumpton, who got 1 A* and 2 A's and is off to study to be a vet at Cambridge and Madeline Sunter, who got 2 A* and 1 B, and is off to study fashion at St. Martins, celebrate their A-level results on August 18, 2011 in Bristol, England. With another record year for A-level results, sixth-form students face a scramble for university places in the final year before tuition fees rise. According to the examination bodies the pass rate rose for the 29th successive year to hit 97.8 percent, while around one in 12 exams achieved the top A* grade. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

A model stands in a light backstage after presenting the collection by Russian designer Alena Akhmadullina at The Russian State Library, one of the three national libraries of Russia, the largest library in the country, largest in Europe, in Moscow, Russia, on Wednesday, November 29, 2023. (Photo by Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Germany's Wolfgang Kimmig-Liebe, who has been volunteering as Santa Claus for years, is searched by a Carabiniere paramilitary police officer before entering in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to attend Pope Francis general audience, Wednesday, December 2, 2015. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/AP Photo)

Regina Halmich and Sergiy Plyuta perform during the 'Let's Dance' TV show at Coloneum on March 23, 2011 in Cologne, Germany.

Socialite Kathy Hilton attends the Prudential Financial Grand Prix Hamptons Classic Horse Show August 31, 2003 in Bridgehampton, New York.

Colonel Roscoe Turner, the pilot of an American Boeing plane, showing his wife a model of the plane, at the airfield in Mildenhall. (Photo by R. Wesley/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 19th October 1934