THE BIG CIRCUS

Hokitika Guardian, 21 December 1928, Page 8

THE BIG CIRCUS

SCHOLARLY CLOWXS

I'lic Circus Kidd, (TOOTIXU.) Xov. I

J’AIXTIXO TIIK SCENES

li you would come with me behind I lie .scenes of .Sautter’s Circus to sis* the preparations For the afternoon perform ance you must put on your best behaviour and be verv careful how vou

speak. Let me tell you that eii'cus life is not iplite what if was. II you bad seen that man drop bis mallet while creeling the vast tent an hour a {to yon would have- heard him say, “! bee your pardon.” and bis colleague reply. “Xo barm, f assure vou.”

Now that I have your promise* Flint you will la* very t ircuinspect we shall look round. These caravans connected In tie* ro. l'■!}!) spuare feet ol canvas that form the circus, are the dressing-rooms. KulJ-leiigl b mirrows and proper arrangements for ablution, you will notice. They would make many theatre managers fed ashamed.

COLE INC CI,O\YXB

I rushed you out of Ihose caravans ouiekly for a very special purpose. 'llmse scholarly-looking men in plusfour suits are downs. Tliev have spentthe moruiiut golfing with Mr Leslie Sanger, and they cannot vrv well net into to their innlalo'ins with us slar!nit at t hem. Tliev have not had time to cel to their hotels- and believe me. t Ik*v do not lead the caravan lib*. The mail who is having his neck shaved for I lie accommodation of a l ull is a public school hov. Mr Sanger limb him a very ohsinate advocate of Cubist art.

There is another public school hov there opening his {'reuse paints. And the man on the caravan step threw up medicine for downing. Wo must hurry, for Mr Sanger will soon lie declaring the show onen. Yu’* will not hear the “Walk Imp. walk Imp,” of a red-faced old-time showman aml wa in i nyn. 11 is not. done that way nowadays.

Watch the new method. Mr Sanger has walk'd! into that little collection of caravans over there. The sides of »ic caravan, yon will notice, fold over to make walls flint enclose two powerful tractors. Driving belts no from these into a power station on wheels, where two heavy dynamos are already humming.

This is how tin* shows miens. Mi

•'•Vi Hirer asks the electrical manager whether the iMiipcrag'* output has In* n attained. Tin* manager, e'mlidenl tint I lie ‘ID.O-00 candle-power, enough to 1 it'llt a small town, lias been dt'veioped assures him that bo is ready. Mr Sanger informs tin* young woman in tin* box olfiee. The box otliec

four of tin* caravans arc actually !>•*:•: olliees mi wheels is opened, and the shows begins.

WOMAN ARTIST’S AT DIF. NOE

AI l:is:fc Mr Sanger lias lime In teli ns why circus life lias changed. T,i*L us follow him around to whore AI is ■= l.iie.v Kcmp-Weleh. a iin»M\h«*r ol the* Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and one of the l(‘a«li «ii r woiiH'ii painters is at the easel Miss Kemp-Welrh ha.s loured with IhD i-ireiis since it was at Carlisle, and as it only moves from 10 to 00 miles at '' time she has heen with it loop; enough to Ik* regarded as “one ol the party. As the afternoon performance proceeds she sits in her saloon ear painting the whole eireus-lield scene. Her pictures have* their audiences in successive royal academies, the Paris Salon, and manv famous galleries, and two have heen brought by"the trustees of the Chantrey Bequest. To-day tie* small boys of Tooting are ber audience. ()ue famous artist who toured lot many months with tin* circus Ikmseven of his circus pictures hung at the Royal Academy.

PR<)I'T'.SSION r AL MEN'S IIOUIMYS

Manv prolessiona l men have spent their holidays with the circus. A doelor uses his annual vacation ol a month in this way, providing his own caravan and there is a waiting list of people anxious to have circus experience*.

Cannot you understand. Mr Sanger nsks ns now, why public schoolboy arc* anxious to join a circus? They have always wanted to. The boy ol to-day has the courage to follow his ambition.

“Xu these days when dippers and schooners have gone, the hoy uith wanderlust sees in circus lift' tlm oid.v outlet for his adventurous spirit,” he says. “People who join circuses are people who cannot help themselves. Neither education nor lack oi il would change a hoy s mind.

And what a life it is! At ten o'clock last night the circus was performing at Barnet. Actors and net resses slept during the night while the work of transport was in progress or the tent was .being erected. M lien they awake, the manual workers go to bed. ’[•l,o circus never misses a ‘law " always closes at one place at night •mil opens at another the next alternoou. The staff erects in three hours tout seating (i.OIXI people. I nskill,.<l workers could not put it »1> 1,1 three days. Despite all the changes, the* character of the circus is not being altered. One caravan is a complete old-time saddler’s shop. Another is a complete Ninithv. with bellows and anvil. Aui,lhor'ix the wl.edwrigl.t's department, where wooden wheels are mended. The motor-engineer's shop has come, but it does not threaten to destroy any ol Vae old character of the circus.