This choppy black and white film, an homage to the circus, was assembled by famed experimental filmmaker Craig Baldwin. It features historical images of famed circus entertainers. In particular it contains footage of the Cole Bros. Circus; a medium sized circus founded in 1884. That portion of the film is from a Castle Film entitled “Here Comes the CIrcus”. (Castle was a prominent film company founded by Eugene Castle in 1924 and later acquired by Universal.)

The film opens with footage of circus go-ers moving in for the big show (:07). A woman hands a baby cotton candy (:12). A young boy gulps a classic bottle of Coke in a glass (:15). The announcer addresses the eager crowd (:28) as one woman drapes a snake around her shoulders and another swallows a sword (:37). Within the circus stadium, women parade on horseback (1:04), zebras move in row by row (1:37) and a single woman rides atop an elephant’s head (1:50). Emmet Kelly (1:54); the famed American Circus performer whom created the character “Weary Willie” appears. “Weary Willie” was to represent homeless folks of the Great Depression. Betty Rich Queen of the Air appears swinging and conducting graceful stunts across the arena (2:09). Acrobats fly across screen (3:15). Two clowns play on the sandy ground (5:03). Horses prance around Clyde Beatty; the notable animal trainer and circus mogul (5:31). A horse balks at a large jump with flames burning under it (6:18). Another horse and rider take the plunge (6:21) over the flames. A police clown rings a bell (6:24). Two lions fight before guests (7:10). Acrobats jump and flip into one another (7:36). An elephant swings a woman around as she hangs from his face (8:17). The film then interjects a color piece with an acrobat in a pink leotard (9:37). A black and white segment show men conducting stunts while balancing with one hand (9:38) and juggling (10:29). Encyclopedia Britannica presents “Let’s go to the Circus” (10:39) as the film is spliced again. A clown plays with a small dog (11:06). An elephant approaches a lemonade stand (11:17). Tigers pace in their cages (11:47). A large group enacts a game of cowboys and Indians (12:38). A man’s hand waves guests forward near the side show entrance (13:17). An outdoor performance follows with large human-like cutouts (13:21). Clown’s faces are zoomed in on caked thick with show makeup (13:47). Images are shown from the circus’ back stage as the entertainers wait to be called (14:03). A brass player blows his horns (14:19). A three ring ballet of elephants follows (14:33). A trainer called Margo appears with her horses to put on a show (14:40). A juggler and acrobat rides a high unicycle (15:13). A circus clown dances intensely with his rubber doll (15:49). A massive clown mask appears (16:02) appears prior to women shaping themselves into a pyramid atop horses (16:18). A monkey punches keys on a typewriter (16:48). Another chimpanzee works to pump air into his motorcycle tires (16:57).

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com