Circus Leo
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
Circus Leo
Guy Edward Leopold
Vancouver, British Columbia
Est. 1948 - 1970
Circus Leo was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, on August 24, 1916.[1] He toured with circus shows for 23 seasons, including Bill Lynch shows, Elliot Walker’s, World’s Finest, Wallace Brothers, and Ringling Bros., hence his nickname “Circus Leo”. Early in his circus days, he worked as a candy butcher, and he eventually worked his way into doing tattoos. During the off-season in the carnival, Leo would travel to different shops. He got his first tattoo from Charlie Snow in Halifax around the age of 17. This was in the 1930s when he was working as a seaman. With the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Navy where he spent five years, adding to his tattoo collection as he travelled. Many of his tattoos were applied by artists such as Milton Zeis, Davy Jones, Ron Ackers, and others. He claimed to have visited Charley Wagner, Fred Baldwin, Charlie Snow, Milton Zeis, Percy Waters, and
Owen Jensen.[2] He collected flash and worked wherever opportunities
presented themselves. The collection of flash he acquired certainly supports his claim that he visited all the artists mentioned above. After the war, he began to learn more about tattooing and often visited Charlie Wagner in New York City. Wagner taught him a few tricks of the trade, and in 1948, with his new Owen Jensen
machine, Circus Leo settled in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, and opened his first shop. Ten years later, he moved to 536 Robson Street. in Vancouver where he worked for many years at the back of Mike’s Barber Shop.[3] At the end of his career in the 1970s, he moved back to New Brunswick to retire and stopped tattooing.
[2] Article in The Province, Thur. Dec 17, 1970, ·p. 69.
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