The brass band blares, The naphtha flares, The sawdust smells, Showmen ring bells, And oh! right into the circus-ring Comes such a lovely, lovely thing, A milk-white pony with flying tress, And a beautiful lady, A beautiful lady, A beautiful lady in a pink dress! The red-and-white clown For joy tumbles down. Like a pink rose Round she goes On her tiptoes With the pony under- And then, oh, wonder! The pony his milk-white tresses droops, And the beautiful lady, The beautiful lady, Flies like a bird through the paper hoops! The red-and-white clown for joy falls dead, Then he waggles his feet and stands on his head, And the little boys on the twopenny seats Scream with laughter and suck their sweets.
Friday came and the circus was there, And Mother said that the twins and I And Charles and Clarence and all of us Could go out and see the parade go by.
And there were wagons with pictures on, And you never could guess what they had inside, Nobody could guess, for the doors were shut, And there was a dog that a monkey could ride.
A man on the top of a sort of cart Was clapping his hands and making a talk. And the elephant came- he can step pretty far- It made us laugh to see him walk.
Three beautiful ladies came riding by, And each one had on a golden dress, And each one had a golden whip. They were queens of Sheba, I guess.
A big wild man was in a cage, And he had some snakes going over his feet. And somebody said, "He eats them alive!" But I didn't see him eat.
Ella Elephant's easy to make (Of course, you must use Angel Flake.) Her trunk is long for peanut scooping, Her ears are big and always drooping! The pink elephant circus cake design was published by General Foods Corporation in 1959.
Start with two cooled 9-inch round cakes made from the recipe below. Cut a ring 11/2 inches wide from one layer. Cut out a third of the ring for her trunk.
Divide remaining piece of ring into four equal parts. Place uncut layer on a tray for the body. Use small circle for Ella's head. Add legs and a happy trunk.
Spread a fluffy pink frosting over cake and sprinkle Baker's Angle Flake coconut generously over the elephant. Use a big chocolate cookie for her ear . . . a gumdrop for the eye and a twist of licorice for the tail.
Ingredients:
2.5 cups cake flour
2 tsps baking powder
1⁄4 tsp salt
1⁄2 cup plus
2 tbsp butter
1 1/3 cups Redpath Granulated Sugar
3 tbsps frozen Pink Lemonade
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
Directions: Preheat
oven to 350F. Grease 2 8" round pans and line bottoms with parchment
paper. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter
in mixer until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, scraping as needed. Add
concentrate, zest and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Beat until smooth. On low alternate adding dry ingredients and milk (start and finish with dry ingredients). Bake cakes about 25mins, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool.
Directions:
Water as needed. Whip shortening (and butter, if using). Slowly begin
adding icing sugar. Alternate between icing sugar and concentrate to
keep frosting light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add water if needed for
spreading consistency.
I purchased this book, "Sandy's Circus" as an introductory artifact for future classroom art projects about circus life.
It is the story of Alexander Calder's early life. The book is authored by Tanya Lee Stone and is illustrated
by Boris Kulikov.
Alexander Calder (July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976) was an American sculptor best known as the originator of the mobile, a type of kinetic sculpture
the delicately balanced or suspended components of which move in
response to motor power or air currents; by contrast, Calder’s
stationary sculptures are called stabiles. He also produced numerous
wire figures, notably for a vast miniature circus.
Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania on July 22, 1898. His father, Stirling Calder, was a well-known sculptor who created many public installations, a majority of them in nearby Philadelphia.
In 1902, Sandy Calder completed his earliest sculpture, a clay elephant. Three years later, Stirling Calder contracted tuberculosis, and Calder's parents moved to a ranch in Oracle, Arizona, leaving the children in the care of family friends for a year.
The children were reunited with their parents in late March 1906 and
stayed at the ranch in Arizona until fall of the same year.
After Arizona, the Calder family moved to Pasadena, California.
The windowed cellar of the family home became Calder's first studio and
he received his first set of tools. He used scraps of copper wire that
he found in the streets to make jewelry and beads for his sister's
dolls. On January 1, 1907, Nanette Calder took her son to the Tournament of Roses Parade
in Pasadena, where he observed a four-horse-chariot race. This style of
event later became the finale of Calder's wire circus shows.
In 1909, when Calder was in the fourth grade, he sculpted a dog and a
duck out of sheet brass as Christmas gifts for his parents. The
sculptures were three dimensional and the duck was kinetic because it
rocked when gently tapped.
In 1910, the Calder family moved back to Philadelphia, where Sandy briefly attended Germantown Academy, then moved to Croton-on-Hudson, New York. In Croton, during his early high school years, Calder was befriended by painter Everett Shinn
with whom he built a gravity powered system of mechanical trains.
Calder described it, "We ran the train on wooden rails held by spikes; a
chunk of iron racing down the incline speeded the cars. We even lit up some cars with candle lights". After Croton, the Calders moved to Spuyten Duyvil to be closer to the Tenth Street Studio Building
in New York City, where Stirling Calder rented a studio. While living
in Spuyten Duyvil, Sandy Calder attended high school in nearby Yonkers. In 1912, Stirling Calder was appointed acting chief of the Department of Sculpture of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, California.
He began work on sculptures for the exposition that was held in 1915.
During Sandy Calder's high school years (1912–1915), the family moved
back and forth between New York and California. In each new location,
Calder's parents reserved cellar space as a studio for their son. Toward
the end of this period, Calder stayed with friends in California while
his parents moved back to New York, so that he could graduate from Lowell High School in San Francisco. Calder graduated with the class of 1915.
In 1926, at the suggestion of a Serbian toy merchant in Paris, Calder began to make toys. At the urging of fellow sculptor Jose de Creeft, he submitted them to the Salon des Humoristes. Later that fall, Calder began to create his Cirque Calder,
a miniature circus fashioned from wire, string, rubber, cloth, and
other found objects. Designed to fit into suitcases (it eventually grew
to fill five), the circus was portable, and allowed Calder to hold
performances on both sides of the Atlantic. He gave improvised shows,
recreating the performance of a real circus. Soon, his Cirque Calder (usually on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art at present) became popular with the Parisian avant-garde.
In 1927, Calder returned to the United States. He designed several
kinetic wooden push and pull toys for children, which were mass-produced
by the Gould Manufacturing Company, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. His originals, as well as playable replicas, are on display in the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Throughout the 1930s, Calder continued to give Cirque Calder performances, but he also worked with choreographer Martha Graham, designing stage sets for her ballets and created a moving stage construction to accompany Eric Satie's Socrate in 1936.
"Kids made this incredible art after hearing author Tanya Lee Stone read
her picture book about Alexander Calder's circus made of found
materials. The artist's Cirque de Calder is on exhibit at the Whitney
Museum. Stone's picture book about Calder and his circus is called
Sandy's Circus: A Story About Alexander Calder. Illustrations in the
book by Boris Kulikov. Published by Viking Children's Books. (c) 2008" by goldendoodlerule
The circus strongman is one of many acts found in a modern
circus. The strongman demonstrates great strength, power and agility to
the audience. The strongman and strongwomen were very popular
attractions in the circus in the 19th century.
Early strongmen would usually exhibit their awesome strength by lifting
or moving objects which the audience would believe impossible to move.
They would lift anvils, have anvils placed on their chest, bend metal
bars and some were even reported to hold cannons on their shoulders
while an assistant lit and fired the cannon. What do you suppose your
circus strongman or strongwoman could lift? Perhaps an elephant or two
maybe?
First, either draw a circus tent boarder for your bugs to perform inside or print out our blog's free version below.
Here is a circus tent border for you to use.
Second, select the bugs you like best. Give them names and jobs in your
doodle circus, then design the astounding acts your bugs will perform.
I've linked to some creative cartoonists on the web who doodle bugs:
Below is a film of a real flee circus! Before television people would do
almost anything for entertainment. Your circus is an imaginary one,
however, so no bug will be harmed in order to maintain the performances!
The first records of flea
performances were from watch makers who were demonstrating their metal
working skills. Mark Scaliot in 1578 produced a lock and chain which
were attached to a flea. Flea performances were first advertised as
early as 1833 in England, and were a main carnival attraction until
1930. Some flea circuses persisted in very small venues in the United
States as late as the 1960s. The flea circus at Belle Vue amusement
park, Manchester,
England, was still operating in 1970. At least one genuine flea circus
still performs (at the annual Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany) but most
flea circuses are a sideline of magicians and clowns, they use
electrical or mechanical effects instead of real fleas.
Fleas typically live only for a few months and are not trained.
They are also observed to see if they have a predisposition for jumping
or walking. Once sorted, they are harnessed by carefully wrapping a thin
gold wire around the neck of the flea.
Once in the harness the fleas usually stay in it for life. The
harnesses are attached to the props and the strong legs of the flea
allows them to move objects significantly larger than themselves.Jumping fleas are used for kicking small lightweight balls. They are
carefully given a ball; when they try to jump away (which is not
possible because of the harness) they shoot the ball instead. Running
fleas are used to pull small carts and vehicles or to rotate a Ferris
wheel. There are historical reports of fleas glued to the base of the flea
circus enclosure, instruments were then glued to the flea performers and
the enclosure was heated. The fleas fought to escape giving the
impression of fleas playing musical instruments.
Some flea circuses may appear to use real fleas, but don't. A variety
of electrical, magnetic, and mechanical devices have been used to
augment exhibits. In some cases these mechanisms are responsible for all
of the "acts," with loose fleas in the exhibit maintaining the
illusion.Other "flea circuses" do not contain any fleas at all and the
experience and skill of the performer convince the audience of their
existence. In much the same way that viewers know that a woman
won't really be cut in half, the magician's showmanship allows viewers
to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy the show.
* * * * * *
No "big top" for the Flea Circus! This is the way spectators watch the star actors of Prof. William Heckler's Trained Flea Circus in 1930.
Star Actors of the Flea Circus
by ALFRED ALBELLI
Professor William Heckler’s Trained Flea Circus at Hubert’s Museum on
West 42nd St., New York City, proves a great spectacle for the skeptical
to marvel at, and at the same time the professor shows that he has
bridged one of the gaps between science and practical mechanics.
Recently, in the throes of irresistible curiosity, I stood before the
emblazoned billboards of Hubert’s Museum, which proclaimed the
astounding feats of the flea, better known for its annoying qualities.
Flea pulls a merry-go-round.
A ballyhoo gentleman roared through a megaphone that there was a flea
hotel inside. That fleas would engage in a chariot race. That they
could be seen playing football. Prince Henry, a blueblood among fleas,
would juggle a ball. Flea Rudolph woujd operate a merry-go-round. Paddy,
carrying a flag, would jump through a hoop.
The program ended with the Dance of the Fleas, in costume. Greatest
show on earth! Well, from one observer’s point of view Prof, Heckler can
do anything with a flea he trains, and the chances are he could even
send one down to the corner for a newspaper, if he had a mind to. At any
rate, he has done almost as much.
For over eighteen years Prof. Heckler has been making capital of the
recent discoveries made by J. J. Ward, the famous English entomologist.
The British scholar announced the other day that the earwig, a Samson
among insects, is able to pull a toy railway car 530 times its own
weight or to drag a load of pins twenty-seven times its weight.
Scientists went further. They made computations and adduced that the
average man, proportionately as strong as the earwig, would be able to
haul two freight cars along the street, these weighing nearly twenty
tons apiece.
Prof. Heckler has studied all of the flea’s habits until he has been
able to recruit a troupe for a circus, as it is called. This creation of
his goes back to the days when he ran away from home, from his native
Switzerland, to follow the adventures of the sea.
“My first meeting with the fleas,” he related to me, “was while I was
traveling on the Mediterranean. Many of the boats on which I shipped
were infested with these tiny demons. To the amusement of the crew, I
captured some of these fleas and had them doing stunts for them. As I
had much leisure time in those days, I thought up various freak
performances for the fleas. In time I gave up the life of the sailor for
the flea as a career and opened my first Flea Circus at the St. Louis
World’s Fair. Since then my company of trained flea artists has toured
the globe, playing fairs and expositions everywhere.”
He explained that of the 134 or more species, only the human flea,
the so-called pulex irritans, getting its sustenance from human blood,
is intellieent enough to be trained. He takes the insect at a very
tender age and it is put through a rigid training for its life work.
Captive flea being trained.
The performing flea is found in Europe. But those which have been
imported by Prof. Heckler and bred become easily acclimated. They make
their home in chambers inlaid in mother-of-pearl, with white downy
cot-ton as their sleeping quarters. Everything quite cozy!
Training fleas is very difficult and Prof. Heckler guards his secret
conscientiously. For the first lesson the neophyte flea is put into a
bottle which is almost airtight. This is quite possible as he requires
little oxygen.
In this small vessel, the flea, true to his nature, gets rambunctious
and hits off to a jumping spree. And every time he jumps he bumps his
head. Soon he learns that by ceasing to jump he avoids the bumps, and
thereby he passes his first test.
Next in his training course the flea is attached to an instrument
which looks very much like a gibbet. Here he can hop or do any form of
motion, but he is under restraint, of course. The shackles keep him in
tow. It is in this section that the professor selects the dancers from
the strong men, and classifies them. In turn they are garbed in
miniature costumes, befitting their particular bit.
The fleas in this photo have been enlarged 700 times as
compared with
the human figure. They are shown in action
posses from several of the
stunts they perform in the circus.
