422S - HERE COMES THE CIRCUS
(early 1950's?; 10m)

Shown with Movie: 422-The Day The Earth Froze

Short Type: Newsreel

Plot: Watch and enjoy the large variety of circus acts!

Prod: Castle Films (307S-Alphabet Antics; 311S-Snow Thrills)

sad clown / Emmett Kelly*
lion-tamer / Clyde Beatty*
trapeze artist / Betty Rich
blind-folded horse jumper / Dorothy Herbert
horse-trainer / Adolph Del Voss?
elephant rider / Jean Allen
narrator / unknown
grandpa and kids / unknown
plus the many other circus performers
(acrobats, clowns, sideshow freaks, etc.)

Classic Line: "Everyone is headed for the Big Top to thrill to and cheer the fun-makers, daredevils, freaks, and ferocious performing animals!"

Trivia: EMMETT KELLY (1898-1979) also appeared in a few movies: 1951's The Fat Man with Rock Hudson and Julie London; 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth starring Betty Hutton, Charlton Heston and Jimmy Stewart; and 1958's Wind Across the Everglades with Burl Ives and Christopher Plummer. His son, Emmett Kelly Jr., makes a lucrative living selling clown art sculpture depicting his father.

In 1933, lion-tamer CLYDE BEATTY (1903-1965) wrote a successful book entitled "The Big Cage," which would be turned into a movie with the same title with Beatty playing himself. A couple years later, he starred in Republic's first serial, Darkest Africa a.k.a. Batmen of Africa. Beatty would make a few more movies including: 1940's Cat College; 1949's Africa Screams starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello; 1953's Peril of the Jungle; and 1954's Ring of Fear with Mickey Spillane and Marian Carr.

Years after his death, the circus which bears his name (The Clyde Beatty-Cole Circus) would have some serious problems. In 1997, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited the circus for failing "to meet minimum standards for the care of animals used in exhibition," specifically for unsafe travel trailers, failure to provide proper veterinary care, and inadequate enclosures. Since 1983, two people have been killed and over a dozen injured by Beatty-Cole's elephants, and the circus has been repeatedly cited by the U.S.D.A.

Last Updated: 3/28/1999