Bertram Mills performers in the 1950s

The Posters of Bertram Mills

My feature on The Posters
of Bertram Mills in
The Stage

The poster has always been the primary means of publicising a circus. Billed as the Quality Show and the show that put the 'O' in Olympia,  Bertram Mills was Britain's biggest and most famous circus in the first half of the 20th century and produced the finest artwork. Steven B Richley has gathered more than 350 examples of their designs in a new book, The Posters of Bertram Mills. Read my article on the book, the posters, the artists and the acts exclusively in this week's edition of The Stage.

For more circus art, click here.

How to market a circus

The lights are on, the doors are closed and the show has begun...
but what lies in wait inside the big top?

If you read my previous post about Circus Fantasia, you might be thinking: yeah, nice lorries, nice ticket wagon, but what's the show like?

Unfortunately, the posters and flyers give us little idea of what to expect inside the big top. I doubt if their clown looks anything like the generic one on the poster, which gives us no idea what sort of acts they have. Definitely a case of you pays your money and takes your chance!

But shouldn't a circus poster do more to tempt us? Like showing us a must-see act, for example?

It was very different in the days of Bertram Mills, when the show that put the "Oh!" in Olympia would plaster a town with a whole range of posters - often one dedicated to each act and others that listed every act on the bill.

If you fancy treating yourself to a late Christmas present, The Posters of Bertram Mills by Steven B. Richley lets you flip through some of the greatest circus posters ever designed. And if you want insight into how a circus should be promoted, read The Advance Man by Jamie MacVicar. Click here to read my review.

There's a lot in both books that today's circuses could learn from. Because it doesn't matter how good a show may be if nobody rolls up to see it.

For more circus art, click here.

Gerry Cottle says opera is the new circus

The Independent has a new opera critic... in the unlikely form of Gerry Cottle. The irrepressible circus showman had an epiphany after attending the English National Opera's new production of Cosi Fan Tutte, which has a fairground theme. But it was the sheer spectacle of the show that reminded him of being taken to Bertram Mills circus as a child, where he discovered a love of circus that has endured in him to this day.

Circus meets opera in Cosi Fan Tutte

In a glowing review, Cottle writes:

"Cosi Fan Tutte was spectacle, pure and simple: the kind of spectacle that made me join the circus and the kind of spectacle I have been chasing ever since...

"This was a three-ring circus taking place right in front of me and it stirred up so many emotions, with the sets, the scale and the stage-craft making me realise what I have been missing."

Will the ENO inspire Cottle to create his own mixture of opera and circus? With Gerry you just never know!

To read the full review click here.

Gerry Cottle, left, with Circus Mania author
Douglas McPherson, centre, and
Dr Haze from the Circus of Horrors
at the launch of Circus Mania

For the story of how Gerry Cottle ran away with the circus and went on to become Britain's best known circus showman, along with the stories of many more showmen, clowns, trapeze artists and tiger trainers, read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away With The Circus.

Click here to order Circus Mania from Amazon.

DVD Review of The British Circus 1898 - 1972

Ladies and gentlemen... boys and girls... roll up, roll up for a journey through more than 80 years of circus history as captured by the cameras of British Pathe and Movietone News. And what a show this collection of featurettes adds up to.

In the earliest footage, dating from the very dawn of filmmaking in 1898, we see the Barnum and Bailey Circus arriving in Sunderland, crowds lining the streets to watch the parade of elephants, camels and caged wagons full of tigers.

Elsewhere, as this DVD moves forward through the decades, we watch the Bertram Mills circus arriving on its own train, and watch wartime evacuees helping to erect a big top on a village green.

The short films move constantly between behind-the-scenes clips - of Bertram Mills rehearsals at its winter quarters; of a clown applying his ornate make-up; of football-size crowds arriving at the famous Belle Vue circus building - and shots of the action in the ring: a fast-moving parade of clown cars, human pyramids on horseback, polar bears careening down slides and daredevil stunts by trapeze artists and human cannonballs.

The droll commentary, in its clipped pre-war tones, adds a delight of its own. One horse rider is described as being afraid of nothing on four legs, “Unless it’s a couple of income tax collectors.”

Animal antics abound, including footballing dogs - and what a spectacle they make as they leap high into the air to head the ball - platoons of elephants performing a graceful ballet, and a bear circling the ring on a Lambretta scooter.

Rehearsing the horses

Cruel? The sight of a lion on a swing, with its trainer vigorously pulling the animal’s tail to set it in motion may make you wonder. But then, if the lion wasn’t happy, would you pucker your lips and trust it to give you a kiss rather than bite your head off?

The footage dates from an era when the question of animal rights had yet to be raised. As one commentator puts it, “The showman’s creed is to treat his animals well, before even himself.”

The bear who runs along on his back legs, taps his trainer on the shoulder and gives him a kiss, looks like he’s enjoying himself. There appears to be more cruelty in the way the contortionists are trained - just watch the instructor forcing a girl’s foot back past her head. But her big grin suggests she doesn’t mind.

Beginning in black and white, the footage becomes colour as we move into the era of Billy Smart's, but even the grainiest black and white film is full of colour in the sense of entertainment and surprises.

Great moments include a man riding a bicycle across an open-air high-wire, 60-feet up, with a woman hanging on a trapeze from each axle; the thrilling adagio act of Balliol and Merton, which includes a jump from a high pedestal into a one-armed catch; and a trapeze flyer who leaps to a swing that collapses in her hands. As the audience gasps, she plummets towards the ground, then swings upside down from an unseen safety wire attached to her ankle - her hair almost stroking the sawdust.

Although the prime focus is on the British circus, the bonus features take us abroad for a visit to the Cole Brothers Circus in America - including footage of legendary big cat tamer Clyde Beatty - and some hilariously sped-up film of an Australian circus being built.

It all adds up to more than three hours of unmissable big top action that will delight any circus fan.

For more on the history of the circus and life behind-the-scenes in the big top, read Circus Mania - The Ultimate Book For Anyone Who Dreamed of Running Away with the Circus!

Click here to buy Circus Mania from Amazon.

 
"Circus Mania is a brilliant account of a vanishing art form."
- Mail on Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See also: My review of Variety Acts and Turns of the Pre-War Years and Post War Years