Never Quote the Weather to a Sea Lion (and other uncommon tales from the founder of the Big Apple Circus) is a celebration of Paul Binder's life in and around the circus. Drawing on thirty-five years with the show he created, the Big Apple Circus' founder and founding Artistic Director invites us inside the fence every kid peers through for an intimate look at the uncommon life of circus artists, their animal partners, and the roustabouts who spend their days in a world that is both close-knit and international, high-minded and low comedy, death-defying and ludicrous.

Never Quote the Weather to a Sea Lion (and other uncommon tales from the founder of the Big Apple Circus) balances the weird and the workaday, the curious and the commonplace, the exhilaration and the exhaustion of life in the circus, with simple portrayals of ordinary people going about the business of achieving the extraordinary.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries African and pseudo-African performers were displayed as curiosities throughout Europe and America. Appearing in circuses, ethnographic exhibitions, and traveling shows, these individuals and troupes drew large crowds. As Bernth Lindfors shows, the showmen, impresarios, and even scientists who brought supposedly representative inhabitants of the ""Dark Continent"" to a gaping public often selected the performers for their sensational impact. Spotlighting and exaggerating physical, mental, or cultural differences, the resulting displays reinforced pernicious racial stereotypes and left a disturbing legacy. Using period illustrations and texts, Early African Entertainments Abroad illuminates the mindset of the era's largely white audiences as they viewed wax models of Africans with tails and watched athletic competitions showcasing hungry cannibals. White spectators were thus assured of their racial superiority. And blacks were made to appear less than fully human precisely at the time when abolitionists were fighting to end slavery and establish equality.

It a special day The circus is in town and Pinky's dad is taking her and her brother, Peter, plus her friend Mary, under the big top. The children are awed by all of the wonderful circus acts. From the lion tamer to the high-wire, the trapeze and all the clowns, Pinky and the gang have a great time. Every part of the performance enthralls the youngsters, from beginning to end. When the show is over, the kids are already anticipating going again when the circus comes back to town next year Pinky Visits the Circus will have you recalling your own trips to see the marvelous shows under the big tent

Clowning Glory is the ideal resource book for would-be clowns of all ages - from the youngest tot to the most elderly totterer. With over 200 tips and ideas, from acrobats to zoo games, this A-Z of clowning provides a wealth of material for use in churches, youth groups, children's clubs and street theatre.

For many people, the circus, with its clowns, exotic beasts, and other colorful iconography, is lighthearted entertainment. Yet for Greg Renoff and other scholars, the circus and its social context also provide a richly suggestive repository of changing attitudes about race, class, religion, and consumerism. In the South during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, traveling circuses fostered social spaces where people of all classes and colors could grapple with the region's upheavals.

"The Big Tent" relates the circus experience from the perspectives of its diverse audiences, telling what locals might have seen and done while the show was in town. Renoff digs deeper, too. He points out, for instance, that the performances of these itinerant outfits in Jim Crow-era Georgia allowed boisterous, unrestrained interaction between blacks and whites on show lots and on city streets on Circus Day. Renoff also looks at encounters between southerners and the largely northern population of circus owners, promoters, and performers, who were frequently accused of inciting public disorder and purveying lowbrow prurience, in part due to residual anger over the Civil War. By recasting itself as a showcase of athleticism, equestrian skill, and God's wondrous animal creations, the circus appeased community leaders, many of whose businesses prospered during circus visits.

Ranging across a changing social, cultural, and economic landscape, "The Big Tent" tells a new history of what happened when the circus came to town, from the time it traveled by wagon and river barge through its heyday during the railroad era and into its initial decline in the age of the automobile and mass consumerism.

Covering the years 1870-75, this history celebrates the introduction of P. T. Barnum into circus proprietorship, an episode that connected his name and legend with this American institution for all time. By the middle of this decade, Barnum had become the most recognized personality of the nineteenth century--and a showman who is still remembered today. Complete with index, bibliography, notes, and contemporaneous illustrations.

Step right up to this eye-opening account of how circuses are scouted, produced, directed and ballyhooed - and forever reinventing themselves. Covering them all, from the Kings of the sawdust rings to the bottom feeder big tops, the author's unflinching candor and rich historical grasp may change forever how you view and experience the great spangled parade "Step right up for a visit to the American Circus There could be no finer guide than David Lewis Hammarstrom ... His passion for sawdust and spangles bubbles from every line but - a rarity among circus writers - he's as quick to point out the rubbish and rip-offs as the wonderful" -- THE STAGE, London "Fascinating ... Something we need in these changing times more than anything else." -- PLANET CIRCUS, Germany "Bold and ambitious ... Timely and provocative ... It is difficult to disagree with most of his views." -- CIRCUS REPORT, USA "Once in the audience, how can viewers evaluate what they see? ... A concise guide ... Hammarstrom's memories are vivid, and his enthusiasm is infectious" -- CHOICE "I eagerly read this book - as a circus arts performer and instructor I found it entertaining, and as an academic educator I found it very useful ... strikes a fun balance between history and gossip, critical guide and personal insights into the diversity that is the world of the modern circus show." -- ELSIE SMITH ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, NEW ENGLAND CENTER FOR CIRCUS ARTS "A thought-provoking book... how circus, particularly American circus, has changed and developed over the past 50 to 60 years, this book is packed with information and opinion." -- KING POLE, UK Penetrating ... Informative ... Takes us out of our comfort zones. THE WHITE TOPS "Roll up, while you still can, to the greatest show on earth 'fresh, alive, magical and compelling.' Along with the author of this fine volume, I urge you to buy tickets for the world of sawdust and spangles before it's too late and circuses go the way of steam trains." -- THE DAILY MAIL, London "Pay Attention ... A good show ... This engaging study functions as a sort of everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-circus-business-today-but-were-too-mildly-nostalgic- to-ask." -- SPECTACLE, USA

William L. Slout, circus historian par excellence, here provides six essays on the development of the American circus. "From Rags to Ricketts: The Roots of Circus in Early Gotham" looks at the beginnings of circus entertainment in old New York City during the eighteenth century. "The Great Roman Hippodrome of 1874: P. T. Barnum's 'Crowning Effort'" describes the great showman's grand experiment: the collection and display in the Big Apple of the "largest collection of living wild animals in the world." "The Recycling of the Dan Rice Paris Pavilion Circus" tells the story of an American circus entrepreneur who took his traveling show to Europe in 1867. "Strange Bedfellows: The Pogey O'Brien Interval, 1874-1875" relates how O'Brien partnered with P. T. Barnum to take the circus master's show on the road while Barnum was creating his "Great Roman Hippodrome." "Two Rings and a Hippodrome Track" demonstrates that the first two-ring circus mounted by Barnum (or anyone else) occurred in 1873, and not 1872, as previously supposed. Finally, "The Adventures of James M. Nixon, Forgotten Impresario," describes the career of a major circus manager who worked between the 1843-75, directly competing with Barnum for the same audience--and eventually losing the struggle. Slout's vivid accounts, highlighted by contemporaneous newspaper accounts of the excitement generated locally by these traveling shows, help bring a long-forgotten era alive again.

Semiotics is long on theoretical, often obscure discourses, but short on applications that demonstrate with clarity the applicability of its methods. This book confronts a challenging object, the circus, and endeavors to describe its performances in ways that explain how circus acts produce meaning and cause a deep emotional involvement for their audiences. The approach is not top-down, such as would be a method that would dogmatically apply a particular theory to fully explain the phenomena in terms of this theory alone. Epistemologically, this book is an example of the bottom-up strategy, which consists of considering first the objects and heuristically calling upon methodological resources in a broad theoretical array to come to grips with the problems that are encountered. Any circus act is a complex event that has cognitive and emotional dimensions. It is also a part of a history and an institution, and cannot be abstracted from its cultural and sociological contexts. Thus the range of relevant theoretical and methodological approaches must include structural semiotics, biosemiotics, pragmatics, socio-semiotics, cultural anthropology, the cognitive sciences, the psychology and sociology of emotions, to name only the most important. But the ultimate focus of this book is to enable the readers to better understand the meaning of circus performances and to appreciate the skills and creativity of this traditional popular art, which constantly renews itself from generation to generation.

Follow the adventures, romances, and tragedies of Georgian men and women who were seduced by the promise and opportunity of making a living in America. Their thrilling feats of horsemanship captured the imagination of the American cowboys to become the gold standard of trick riding through today. Join us as we pull back the canvas and peek behind the scenes into the lives of those who felt both honored and cursed. Author Richard Georgian chronicles the the lives of these brave performers, including his grandfather, from 1892 to the Russian Revolution in 1917.

This book is a practical guide for clowning. It is filled with tools and techniques that will help you find your clown and become more open to your creative sources. The author examines and makes use of the powerful qualities that children possess: imagination, innocence, purity, spontaneity and lust for life. A clown is playful and optimistic. From behind world's smallest mask, the red nose, he invites people to drop their own masks and show their true selves. Being very sensitive, he is able to touch them deeply. This so-called contact clown wants to make a connection from heart to heart. Kurstjens is convinced that clowns can play a crucial role in our society: they can bring people together through their open communication. This richly illustrated book comes with 25 practical exercises, and provides useful information about essential themes in life: setting boundaries, overcoming emotional blockades, and daring to be vulnerable. It is not only meant to inspire clowns and clowning instructors, but also coaches, (communication) trainers, and everyone else who is interested in personal development. Ton Kurstjens (born in the Netherlands, 1959) started as an improvising clown in 1983. He played in Duo Het Elftal and Duo Biek and currently he conducts clowning courses for individuals and workshops for businesspeople. He also directs the clowning theatre performance Met de Neus op de Planken (literally: With your Nose on Stage) and he supports clowns and clowning groups.

Mark St Leon presents a comprehensive, entertaining and visually stunning history of circus in Australia. His interest was sparked by his insatiable curiosity about his own familys celebrated past in Australian circus.

The culmination of more than thirty years of research, Olympians of the Sawdust Circle is an attempt to identify every major and minor player in the American circus world of the nineteenth century. This A-Z guide lists: surname, given name, dates of birth and death (if known), type of entertainment (and function) with which the individual was associated, and the companies and dates by whom the person was employed. Every researcher and library interested in American circus history will need this seminal guide. An absolutely astonishing piece of scholarship.

Well-known theatre and circus historian William L. Slout here collects together 29 first-hand accounts of 19th- and early 20th-century popular amusements, including summer resorts, watering places, agricultural fairs, World's Fairs, the circus, vaudeville, theatre, and amusement parks. Complete with index, introduction, and contemporaneous illustrations.