Circus Day (Rev) 1966

[Music] e welcome to clown alley this is where I get ready for the big [Music] show it's circus day in a big city out front the people are gathering here at the sports arena for the afternoon show today's big circus plays in a building of concrete and steel but when I joined the circus we played under a huge canvas tent those were exciting times the circus day began early in the morning when the circus train pulled into town back then I was traveling with the Cole Brothers show [Music] [Music] a large crew of workers traveled with the show they worked together as a team to unload the train and set up the circus lot the work forces were unloaded first old Tony was a real ham and always greeted the circus fans with a fine bow [Music] they used the horses to unload the heavy wagons come [Music] here [Music] a rope wrapped around a snubbing post kept the wagons from Rolling too [Music] fast over balling [Music] [Music] as soon as the wagons had been rolled from the flat cars they were hustled away to the circus lck there were many animals to be unloaded the elephants were carried in cars that were higher and stronger than the other stock [Music] cars I guess elephants and the circus have always gone together circus people prefer to use Indian elephants because they are easy to train the elephants are called Bulls and the trainers control them with a pointed stick called a [Music] hook we carried animals from all over the world there was a sacred Bull from India and llamas from the high and these mountains of South America there were zebras from the wide grassy Plains of Africa and camels from the plateaus of Central Asia going to get [Music] the signs had been drawn with chalk to direct us to the circus lot as the animals arrived on the lot they were tied to wagons until the managerie tent was ready [Applause] wagon after wagon was pulled into place lots of work had to be done to get ready for the afternoon show the biggest job was getting the canvas into the air hundreds of stakes had to be driven into the ground to tie down the tents some of the stakes were driven by hand but most were driven by machine the center poles had to be threaded with pulleys and ropes and large iron rings to hold the canvas top the first center Pole to go up was called the king pole the king pole was held in place by long gyro and was used to help raise the other center poles one by one the elephants pulled the heavy poles into the air the men had been working since early morning and were sure happy when the blue flag went up on the cook tent to signal that breakfast was [Music] ready we were one big circus family in those days our Cooks prepared only two meals a day but there was plenty of good food and you could have all you wanted to [Music] [Music] eat [Music] after breakfast there was still a lot of work to be done roll after roll of tent canvas was pulled from the wagons the elephants were trained to do many jobs and were a big help in putting up the tents after the canvas was spread some of the workmen tied it to the iron Rings While others laced the sections together when the canvas was ready the men set the side Poes ahead with the B up high to the hole shoot it move along as pole after pole was raised into place the big top was slowly lifted into the [Music] air hit it hit it hit it hit it hold it down St hit it next finally the seats were set up and the sidewalls were hung in place when the tent was in the air it was easy for anyone to see why we called it the Big Top by noon all the tents were ready and the animal were Undercover the heavy work of the elephants was done and they had time for a well-earned rest before the Big Show the Midway was the front door to the Big Show the color and sounds of the Midway were an exciting part of the old circus yes they all lining up all my tiet one TI way to see it all go it's a show for the ladies and gentlemen and the children if you got to see the big side show you're just in time and this is a place H little one ticket P way to see it all no waiting in here boys go in and start the show right now go right in there and start the show there it goes right now if you could to go this is the first Big Show in your city today everything you see pictured and painted after buying your ticket you passed through the managerie tent on your way to the Big Top there were all kinds of sights and sounds here to Thrill the circus [Music] fans [Music] while the crowd was gathering our circus Trumpeter called us to get ready for the show the backyard was a busy place as the performers hurried to get into [Music] [Music] costume by circus tradition each clown has his own special makeup and no one else copies [Music] it the circus animals were dressed with beautiful robes feather plumes and special [Music] harness by Showtime all the performers were ready ladies and gentlemen the circus on [Applause] Parade [Applause] oh la [Applause] [Music] woo woo [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] woo [Music] [Applause] the Golden Light under the canvas and the dust and smells of the old circus are gone but the acts are still pretty much the same oh sure there have been some changes but the circus is still the greatest show on Earth and to have a circus you have to have clowns h