The Ringmaster is a major character in Disney’s 1941 animated feature film, Dumbo. As his name suggests, he is the head honcho of the circus in which most of the film takes place.
The Ringmaster is a stereotypical showman and businessman, with his main objective being to put on a decent, and entertaining show for profit. While an average and human agenda, his manner of doing so is extremely dubious, with several moments throughout the film hinting at the Ringmaster's nature behind closed doors.
According to his undervalued roustabouts, the Ringmaster is an abusive figure, forcing his crew to work through harsh conditions, all the while spewing derogatory names. It is mentioned by both the roustabouts and the clowns that he underpays his employees greatly, with the clowns all eventually asking him for a raise. His treatment of the animals (specifically the elephants) is also an indication of the Ringmaster's cruelty, as he carelessly has them perform impossible and life-threatening stunts as a means to draw in box office revenue, the best example of it is the Pyramid of Pachyderms (implied to not have even be rehearsed once).
According to animation historian John Canemaker, this was purposefully done, as Dumbo has a cynical outlook on the traveling circus industry, highlighting how the entire setup is nothing more than a cheap, often sadistic illusion. Despite this, he is never shown to be quite as outwardly malicious as other villains introduced before or after him: his antagonistic actions against the Jumbo family are only answers to their dangerous behavior (going crazy against circus guests and ruining an albeit already dangerous stunt). He may be, at his worst, a man running a show in an extremely questionable manner.
The animals of the circus, in particular the elephants and Timothy Mouse, do not think too highly of the Ringmaster, finding him pompous and oafish—the latter of which isn't entirely untrue, as a recurring gag with the Ringmaster involves him tumbling into a barrel of water.
He is first seen when a tender engine named Casey Junior is all loaded and ready to go, and shouts "All aboard!" and the tender engine whistles back "All aboard! Let's go!". He is seen again leading the circus parade after they've arrived at their first city.
When some mean kids start to make fun of Dumbo's big ears, Mrs. Jumbo, Dumbo's mother, starts attacking them in an attempt to protect her son. The Ringmaster begins to show a more "villainous" side as he orders his men to strip Dumbo away from his mother to make sure it doesn't happen again (at least looking at some concept during production) and to hold her mother down with many ropes. He furiously hits her with his whips multiple times, only to be thrown by Mrs. Jumbo into the barrel where Dumbo was bathed earlier.
Furious and humiliated, the Ringmaster has the "mad elephant" locked up in a cage. Later, he talks to his assistant Joe about a pachyderm pyramid, but has no clue what his climax will be. Timothy the Mouse, who heard this, convinces the Ringmaster in his sleep to make Dumbo the climax so that Mrs. Jumbo can be let out. The next day, the Ringmaster puts the act into use, but Dumbo trips over his ears and causes the pyramid to fall, setting off a catastrophic chain of events which leads to the tent itself falling down and leaving the Ringmaster angry and disappointed at the disaster that resulted from his big idea.
Furious and seeing no other use for Dumbo, he teams the little elephant with the clowns so to give him a role without causing anything disastrous. During a show in which Dumbo jumps off a higher building, he sees Dumbo soar over the crowd. He points in amazement to see something he never saw before. He receives his comeuppance via public humiliation, as Dumbo uses his ability to fly by running the Ringmaster in a water-filled barrel (echoing what Mrs. Jumbo did earlier) then throwing one of the clowns' elephant mask atop his rear.
He is not seen again after his humiliation, but since Timothy became Dumbo's manager, it is presumable that he became the new manager of the circus, making Dumbo the main star of his circus, signing a Hollywood contract, giving the little elephant his own train car, and best of all, freeing Mrs. Jumbo from her solitary confinement.