Circus Day In Our Town (1949)

[Music] today for circus people just another day but it's different for all of you you just had to be at the station before sunup see us bring your favorite show back to town [Music] hi everybody well here's where circus folks get to work horses out of their cars wagons to unload get out to the circus ground we're used to this do it every day in a different town here goes a load of tent poles gotta be careful getting them down [Music] we can always use more help and here's big flange our largest elephant and leader of our herd these elephants will do tricks later on but right now they are off for the show grounds a mile or so away to help put up the big tent [Music] the biggest pole wagon is just coming onto the circus ground [Music] the elephants are right in time to be put to work [Music] our circus men are on the job too along with a lot of folks from your own town here's big branch raising the center poles for the biggest tent of all the big dots it will tower 55 feet in the air here's one way we drive down stakes for tent ropes [Music] and this machine's another way we need hundreds of snakes to help hold the tent in place and keep them steady when the wind blows [Music] now canvas for the big tent [Music] and watch this blanche is the smartest elephant in the herd she's the hardest worker in the whole show too [Music] can't say that for this fellow these big pieces of canvas will be laced together to make one big dick almost as long as a city block piece by piece the big dent is put together [Music] meanwhile our strong elephants are waiting to be called to their next job up go side pose around the edges here's where the town boys can really help up goes the tent roof to the top and here's where blanche can really help she saves us a lot of time each morning [Music] the rest of the elephant herd is working too [Music] and now the big top is up canvas tightly stretched flags waving up goes the main entrance we'll soon be going through it to the big show [Music] saturday time hear the steam calliope plane here's where the midway begins the street of little tents with candies and sideshows each with its own bark [Music] step up folks buy your ticket there's plenty of time to see the sideshow before the match may goes off all the side shows on just one ticket yes folks it's professor brown and his dixie jubilee show and here's the man who likes swords for breakfast without an ounce of cream or sugar while you were seeing the side shows and buying your tickets for the matinee we are very busy backstage take our head clown for instance his face won't look that way after he's put on his clown thing [Music] now a circus clown likes to have a full half hour for putting on his face it may include a big rubber nose but he can do it all in 10 minutes if he's in a big hurry and we are in a hurry fellas because the big top is filling up with people so in they go big clowns and little clowns they're all different and they're all funny and they're happiest when they hear you laugh the show is on [Music] these are the only basketball playing dogs in the world their trainer is their referee [Music] [Applause] here are the iron jaw roller skaters [Music] he holds her with his teeth alone and here's another kind of fire and jaw stunt that takes place in the big top high over our head [Music] we are proud to have acrobats like these in our circuit [Music] and now watch him do a double somersault into that chair [Music] here come the clouds again say they've changed their costumes lots of clowns to keep us laughing while the three rings are being filled with beautiful prancing horses [Music] they march and drill in twos and threes just like soldiers for their trainers in the circus we call horses like these liberty horses because they run free and perform without a rider [Music] [Applause] here is what we call an aerial ballet [Music] we make these girls practice a lot before we let them go up so high down below our train ponies are having a race around the hippodrome track and here comes a daring rider driving 16 horses while she stands on the last two [Music] [Applause] [Music] lots of action here but this is one of the world's most famous bareback actors [Music] yes this is a clown all right but he knows his way around horses just you wait and see [Music] the clown in a bareback act was first learned to be an extra good rider and acrobat after that he can start clowning around like this [Music] here's a complete somersault [Music] and here's a human pyramid on horseback [Music] you can't do this with just any horse these horses are very carefully trained to canter around the ring at just the right speed [Music] that's important if you're turning a somersault or running to jump up on the horse [Music] so [Music] the tight wire act [Music] he's doing a spanish dance right on the wire a difficult forward somersault [Music] well here they are again same elephants you saw helping us put up the tent this morning but now they're all slicked up to do their tricks [Music] watch them keeping time to the music [Music] now look at this these elephants are playing london bridge it's a tight squeeze but she can make it [Music] we circus folks think elephants like to do drinks and we know they are smart too [Music] hey this elephant weighs almost as much as a fire engine [Music] here come the clowns around once more while our men put up a big net we're coming to the most thrilling of the circus act and it's dangerous too this girl and her brother are loaded just like human bullets into the barrel of the cannon [Music] watch for them look out here they come [Music] now our big show is over and late tonight we will load up hurry away keep a date in another town tomorrow morning you