Popular Entertainment Museum Project

Mar 14, 2019
3 min read

A Circus is a travelling company of acrobats, clowns, and other entertainers which gives performances, typically in a large tent, in a series of different places. The average price for Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey Circus Tickets start from $47. The minimum get in price is $25 for Ringling Bros.

Circus, an entertainment or spectacle usually consisting of trained animal acts and exhibitions of human skill and daring. The word has the same root as circle and circumference, recalling the distinctive environment in which such entertainment is presented—the ring, a circular performance area usually bounded by a short fence (or “curb”). The ring may be enclosed in an arena, in a building designed for circus performances, or in a tent, and it is generally surrounded by tiers of seats for spectators.

The modern circus was actually created in England by Philip Astley (1742-1814), a former cavalry Sergeant-Major turned showman who taught horse riding. After two seasons in London, he needed to bring some novelty to his performances. Consequently, he hired acrobats, rope-dancers, and jugglers, interspersing their acts between his equestrian displays. Another addition to the show was a character borrowed from the Elizabethan theatre, the clown, who filled the pauses between acts with burlesques of juggling, tumbling, rope-dancing, and even trick-riding.

Bear Performances;

Bear cubs are chained by their necks and tethered to a wall. This forces them to remain upright, sometimes for hours on end, in order to train them to walk on their hind legs.

Their spirits are broken. They quickly learn that despite how tired and scared they feel, they must continue to stand or they could choke or hang themselves.

Polar bear on vintage circus poster – but performing bears are, sadly, not a thing of the past (Bear Conservation collection)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhGm85hmy6k

A bear from Castle's Bears was made to walk on her front legs as she walked over a beam and down some stairs during a recent James Cristy Cole Circus performance in Council Bluffs, Iowa. She urinated as she performed these "tricks"—which, according to a bear expert, is a sign of acute stress. Forcing bears to perform difficult tricks such as these causes them distress and can lead to long-term psychological issues, as they're counter to their natural behavior and abilities.

Although not a thing of the past, Bear performances are generally frowned upon. Companies such as PETA are working towards fighting for the safety of animals within circus environments and working towards eliminating animals being used for entertainment purposes.

Variety acts

Variety was a popular form of American stage entertainment in the mid-1800s. First conceived as saloon shows, these revues were anything but refined. Circus acts, singers, dancers, chorus girls and bawdy comics were presented.

America's most prestigious variety house was Koster and Bial's on West 23rd Street in New York City. This elegant auditorium was the most desired booking in pre-vaudeville show business, but it was few women went along when their husbands caught a show there. Every town in the USA had something that passed as a variety house, The promoters of variety were not looking to attract a family audience. So long as respectable women would not be caught dead in such establishments, husbands and sons could carouse without interference. Heckling, fist fights, even gunfire were not uncommon in these smoke-filled halls.

During the 19th century the demand for entertainment was intensified by the rapid growth of urban population. By the Theatre Regulations Act of 1843, drinking and smoking, although prohibited in legitimate theatres, were permitted in the music halls. Tavern owners, therefore, often annexed buildings adjoining their premises as music halls. The low comedy of the halls, designed to appeal to the working class and to men of the middle class, caricatured events familiar to the patrons—e.g., weddings, funerals, seaside holidays, large families, and wash day.

Variety shows can be seen in many different platforms today such as on television; Britains got talent, American idol, cabaret performances and circus.

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University of Sheffield. (2016). Brief History of Circus. Available: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/nfca/researchandarticles/circushistory. Last accessed 2019.

Dominique Jando. (2017). SHORT HISTORY OF THE CIRCUS. Available: http://www.circopedia.org/SHORT_HISTORY_OF_THE_CIRCUS. Last accessed 2019.

Lyn Gardner . (2009). Theatre should get serious about circus. Available: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2009/apr/27/theatre-circus. Last accessed 2019.

Robert Lewis Parkinson Antony Dacres Hippisley Coxe LaVahn Gerry Hoh A.H. Saxon. (2015). Circus THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENT. Available: https://www.britannica.com/art/circus-theatrical-entertainment. Last accessed 2019.