Jean François

Bordeaux, France, 1860- Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, 1935

Acrobat, equestrian. He is the son of the French couple, Pierre and Marie François, both saltimbanco artists. When he was fourteen he started working at Circo Reins, in France. Jean moved to Brazil in 1881 with his wife, Anna Stevanowich, and their two children, Marcus and Stevan François. Here, the couple opened the Pavillion François, which they originally owned in France. In 1903, Jean inaugurated a fancy circus in São Paulo. In 1907, Jean traveled to Argentina and Uruguay and brought back 14 horses in order to train his 14 children to become excellent jockeys. Jean François was a modern businessman. In the end of the 1800s, when the streets were still illuminated by lamposts, he imported a power generator Otto, from Germany, and a film projector Pathé, from France to show films in his circus. In 1916, in order to exhibit an aquatic pantomime, he installed an 80 thousand liter tank of water in the circusring. To maintain a good quality of life in his family, he transformed his circus into a pavillion where he put on melodramas and theater plays. This pavillion continued having shows until 1935 when he passed away. From then on until 1962, the pavillion was ran by the artist, Hilário de Almeida, who married Maria François. 

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