Fall of the Big Top
Fall of the Big Top

Author: David Lewis Hammarstrom

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-04-25

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1476608350

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Once an eagerly awaited spectacle, the traveling circus--that miracle of red wagons, trumpeting elephants and spangled trapeze artists that slipped into town at dawn and disappeared by midnight--has all but vanished from the American landscape. This work explores circus history from 1793 to the present and addresses the forces of modern culture (such as the popularity of Cirque du Soleil, and pressure from the animal rights movement) that are pushing big top shows toward what the author calls "circus ballet." Numerous photographs and in-depth interviews conducted with show owners, performers and directors enrich the narrative. Overall, the book reveals a sobering contrast between circuses of yesterday and today, even as it honors the outstanding performers who created, and have sustained, the enduring appeal of the circus.

Circus Days Under the Big Top
Circus Days Under the Big Top

Author: Richard Glendinning

Publisher:

Published: 1969

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 9780811669177

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Traces the history of the circus from the Roman Circus Maximus to modern shows in covered arenas, with emphasis on the circus people's way of life during the Golden Age of the Big Top.

Circus Days and Nights
Circus Days and Nights

Author: Robert Lax

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2009-06-02

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 1468307665

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Though many hold him to be one of the greatest American poets of this century, Lax has maintained a low profile, living and writing in seclusion on the Greek island of Patmos. In Circus Days & Nights, Lax's three great long poems on the circus—“Circus of the Sun,†? “Mogador's Book,†? and “Sunset City†?—are collected together for the first time, placing this early masterwork in the position within American literature that it so richly deserves. Each of the three poems in this collection expresses a reverence for the acts of daring, beauty, and grace that make the circus the singular event it is. What also emerges is the drawing of a link between this world of the circus—wherein a tent is erected, acts are performed, and then the tent is disassembled only to be re-erected the next day—and Lax's faith. As Denise Levertov has said, “the radiant security of Lax’s faith appears in his work as a serenity of tone.†?

Circus Days
Circus Days

Author:

Publisher: Harmony

Published: 1975

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13:

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A photographic documentation of the Beatty-Cole Circus, recording and portraying the customs, activities, animals, and singular personalities of an endangered way of life.

The Circus Fire
The Circus Fire

Author: Stewart O'Nan

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2008-12-10

Total Pages: 386

ISBN-13: 0307482987

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The acclaimed author of Emily, Alone and Henry, Himself brings all his narrative gifts to bear on this gripping account of tragedy and heroism—the great Hartford circus fire of 1944. It was a midsummer afternoon, halfway through a Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus performance, when the big top caught fire. The tent had been waterproofed with a mixture of paraffin and gasoline; in seconds it was burning out of control. More than 8,000 people were trapped inside, and the ensuing disaster would eventually take 167 lives. Steward O'Nan brings all his narrative gifts to bear on this gripping account of the great Hartford circus fire of 1944. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of survivors, O'Nan skillfully re-creates the horrific events and illuminates the psychological oddities of human behavior under stress: the mad scramble for the exits; the perilous effort to maneuver animals out of danger; the hero who tossed dozens of children to safety before being trampled to death. Brilliantly constructed and exceptionally moving, The Circus Fire is history at its most compelling.

Fall of the Big Top
Fall of the Big Top

Author: David Lewis Hammarstrom

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2022-11-23

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781476691350

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Once an eagerly awaited spectacle, the traveling circus--that miracle of red wagons, trumpeting elephants and spangled trapeze artists that slipped into town at dawn and disappeared by midnight--has all but vanished from the American landscape. This work explores circus history from 1793 to the present and addresses the forces of modern culture (such as the popularity of Cirque du Soleil, and pressure from the animal rights movement) that are pushing big top shows toward what the author calls "circus ballet." Numerous photographs and in-depth interviews conducted with show owners, performers and directors enrich the narrative. Overall, the book reveals a sobering contrast between circuses of yesterday and today, even as it honors the outstanding performers who created, and have sustained, the enduring appeal of the circus.

Circus World
Circus World

Author: Andrea Ringer

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2024-07-09

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 0252056744

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From the 1870s to the 1960s, circuses crisscrossed the nation providing entertainment. A unique workforce of human and animal laborers from around the world put on the show. They also formed the backbone of a tented entertainment industry that raised new questions about what constituted work and who counted as a worker. Andrea Ringer examines the industry-wide circus world--the collection of shows that traveled by rail, wagon, steamboat, and car--and the traditional and nontraditional laborers who created it. Performers and their onstage labor played an integral part in the popularity of the circus. But behind the scenes, other laborers performed the endless menial tasks that kept the show on the road. Circus operators regulated employee behavior both inside and outside the tent even as the employees themselves blurred the line between leisure and labor until, in all parts of the show, the workers could not escape their work. Illuminating and vivid, Circus World delves into the gender, class, and even species concerns within an extinct way of life.