Most people run away from home to join the circus.

Not Dudley Riggs. For him, the circus was home.

Born to aerial flyers (Riggs & Riggs), he was put to work as soon as he could sit up. He starred as the tiny "Polar Prince from the North Pole" in the Russell Brothers Circus, pulled in a wagon first by a miniature horse and then later a polar bear.

By age 5, he had graduated to a vaudeville act. By 10, he was flying on the trapeze with his parents.

After he left the circus, he became a pioneer in a form of comedy called improv, founding what would become the Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis.

Full story.