The birth of American popular culture
The Circus 1870-1950. Excerpt from an essay by Dominique Jando
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It is not surprising that the American circus enjoyed its golden age in the Victorian era, shortly after Europe expanded its colonies deep into these unfamiliar territories, triggering a new interest in exploration. The "civilized" world became increasingly curious about other cultures, and the circus - especially the American circus - was ready to satisfy this curiosity. It did this on Circus Day first with its posters, then the menagerie, then the sideshow, and then with the show itself, most notably offering grandiose spectacles and pageants that only the circus could produce on such a phenomenal scale. The circus was like an extravagantly illustrated travel or history book.
Kings, Queens, and Heroes of History
Grand spectacles and lavish pageantry were a trademark of the American circus.... The American circus had become a gigantic traveling affair where theatrical subtleties didn't have a place. The old hippodramas were replaced by pageants - stunning spectacles, or "specs" in circus parlance. They were richly costumed parades involving an endless procession of characters on horse and foot and, of course, including animals from the vast resources of the menagerie. They were elaborate and theatrical versions of street parades, but under the big top. True to form, they often pretended to be educational, such as Ringling Bros.'s Joan of Arc, produced in 1913 and advertised as a "magnificent 1200-character spectacle" with "300 dancing girls in entrancing revels." It was undoubtedly "a dazzling scene of life, color, and action" as proclaimed, but the real French saint-warrior might have felt out of place amidst 300 girls cavorting in revels under the big top. Productions such as these were grand, lavish, spectacular, colorful, and on a scale that no theater could ever come near to replicating. The history of America's European past was not always that familiar to circus audiences, which consisted of a broad spectrum of the population, including a good percentage of recent immigrants whose formal education could be lacking. The circus took care of that too. Bailey had commissioned Imre Kiralfy, the Broadway director and producer, to stage Columbus and the Discovery of America (1891-92). The spectacle Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt (1912) brought from the past "the grandeur and opulence of Cleopatra's court," even including an "Antony" character to give the ensemble an additional historical flourish. These pageants, like the menagerie, provided a view of faraway lands and magic kingdoms where maharajahs and their courts paraded on an endless procession of "sacred" elephants. They were also excursions into the past, allowing glimpses of history - however distorted they might have been. Only when Cinemascope and Technicolor appeared in movie theaters did the circus have any real competition. But for all their grandiosity, movies never had what the circus could offer: real-life pageants with the sounds, colors, and smells of living wonders.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Page [1] [2] [3]
It is not surprising that the American circus enjoyed its golden age in the Victorian era, shortly after Europe expanded its colonies deep into these unfamiliar territories, triggering a new interest in exploration. The "civilized" world became increasingly curious about other cultures, and the circus - especially the American circus - was ready to satisfy this curiosity. It did this on Circus Day first with its posters, then the menagerie, then the sideshow, and then with the show itself, most notably offering grandiose spectacles and pageants that only the circus could produce on such a phenomenal scale. The circus was like an extravagantly illustrated travel or history book.
Kings, Queens, and Heroes of History
Grand spectacles and lavish pageantry were a trademark of the American circus.... The American circus had become a gigantic traveling affair where theatrical subtleties didn't have a place. The old hippodramas were replaced by pageants - stunning spectacles, or "specs" in circus parlance. They were richly costumed parades involving an endless procession of characters on horse and foot and, of course, including animals from the vast resources of the menagerie. They were elaborate and theatrical versions of street parades, but under the big top. True to form, they often pretended to be educational, such as Ringling Bros.'s Joan of Arc, produced in 1913 and advertised as a "magnificent 1200-character spectacle" with "300 dancing girls in entrancing revels." It was undoubtedly "a dazzling scene of life, color, and action" as proclaimed, but the real French saint-warrior might have felt out of place amidst 300 girls cavorting in revels under the big top. Productions such as these were grand, lavish, spectacular, colorful, and on a scale that no theater could ever come near to replicating. The history of America's European past was not always that familiar to circus audiences, which consisted of a broad spectrum of the population, including a good percentage of recent immigrants whose formal education could be lacking. The circus took care of that too. Bailey had commissioned Imre Kiralfy, the Broadway director and producer, to stage Columbus and the Discovery of America (1891-92). The spectacle Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt (1912) brought from the past "the grandeur and opulence of Cleopatra's court," even including an "Antony" character to give the ensemble an additional historical flourish. These pageants, like the menagerie, provided a view of faraway lands and magic kingdoms where maharajahs and their courts paraded on an endless procession of "sacred" elephants. They were also excursions into the past, allowing glimpses of history - however distorted they might have been. Only when Cinemascope and Technicolor appeared in movie theaters did the circus have any real competition. But for all their grandiosity, movies never had what the circus could offer: real-life pageants with the sounds, colors, and smells of living wonders.
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The Circus, 1870-1950
Hardcover, 29 x 44 cm (11.4 x 17.3 in.), 670 pages
$ 200.00
$ 200.00
A journey into the glitter, the grit, and glory of 100 years of the American circus, including 1940s–50s color photographs that have never been seen before.
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey back lot photographed by Stanley Kubrick, 1948. The Library of Congress, Look Magazine Collection
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