Snapshots of Mike the Headless Chicken (NSFW, NSFV, previously)
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Dec 11, 2009 - 55 comments

Zoos and circuses in India will no longer be allowed to keep elephants. Elephants in captivity and PTSD. [previously]
posted by MaryDellamorte on Nov 17, 2009 - 20 comments

Charlie Chaplin [previously, except the primary link from blogspot is down] has a grandson, James Thiérrée. Growing up in his parents circus Le Cirque Imaginaire (later, Invisible), the acrobat evolved into performer/director/choreographer of soon to be four full-length works. (Full disclosure: the first three are all from La Veillée des Abysses--Bright Abyss--and the latter is a preview for his upcoming solo act Raoul.) He's also made forays in movies you've probably seen. More? Check out this Au revoir Parapluie (Farewell Umbrella) medley, and how about some trapeze? [more inside]
posted by JaiMahodara on Aug 5, 2009 - 6 comments

Hooping. The hoops adults use to dance and perform tricks are larger and heavier than the children's toy called the Hula Hoop. As hooping becomes more popular, people across the States and across the world are pushing the boundaries of dance and sport with a simple, easily made tool. Hooping for pleasure, exercise, and meditation is becoming a phenomenon. There's even a documentary. [more inside]
posted by fiercecupcake on Jun 16, 2009 - 24 comments

J. Tithonus Pednaud herein presents for your edification and enlightenment a curious collection of human marvels. You may call them oddities, freaks or monstrosities—whatever you will—but I call them incredible, persevering, resourceful and marvelous human beings. I chronicle their inspirational stories of triumph over nature, fate and the judgment of man. [Previously seen here. See also.]
posted by parudox on Jan 3, 2009 - 9 comments

Every trade has a history, a culture and secrets, all most vividly expressed in the special terms used by its workers. The circus is, of course, no different as this handy dictionary of circus slang shows. It contains entries for both American and European circuses, and has a handy list of vaudeville slang words as well. These unique words used on the carnival lot around the world demonstrate a language that defines a world of wonders, and now you can use them to impress your friends and insult your enemies!
posted by Effigy2000 on Sep 25, 2008 - 14 comments

Handbalancing by Russian contortionist Olga Pikhienko. [more inside]
posted by grapefruitmoon on Jul 28, 2008 - 17 comments

The Bindlestiffs - Looks like a show about a crazy traveling circus. I'm not sure cotton candy and elephants are part of their act, but they have a clown!
posted by captaindistracto on Jul 15, 2008 - 11 comments

The Greatest Sideshow Video Ever Made. "The Greatest Sideshow Video Ever Made was shot at the Moore theater in Seattle in 1992. The oddball cousin of Seattle's grunge music scene, the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow mixed vintage sideshow acts with novel stunts never before seen. Previously available only on VHS tape or DVD, this mind-blowing collection of feats of human daring is now available online in six parts for your viewing pleasure: 1 2 3 4 5 6 As an added bonus, watch as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam participates." [via mefi projects] [more inside]
posted by stet on Jul 13, 2008 - 21 comments

I first saw Russian Barre at Cirque du Soleil's Alegria show. I find it an exciting display of acrobatics but the ending of this video is absolutely amazing to me.
posted by CuJoe on Jul 11, 2008 - 25 comments

Tod Browning's 1932 cinematic masterpiece Freaks tells the story of a close-knit group of circus sideshow workers who are wronged and take revenge. The film's use of real-life freaks so disturbed audiences that some ran screaming from theaters, distributors refused to handle the film, and it was banned in Britain for over 30 years. [more inside]
posted by flug on Jul 8, 2008 - 22 comments

The year is 1989, the world of hip hop in mainstream America is dominated by the street hard, in your face West Coast Gangsta Rap genre headed by NWA. And an army of increasingly forgettable imitators as well as genuine ingenuity coming from the opposite coast The pop music market is dominated by the sugary sweet vaguely hip-hopish pop of The New Kids On The Block. And on the corner Crendshaw and Exposition in South Central Los Angeles a group of kids at a health food store called The Good Life Health Food And Resource Center take a weekly Open Mike and turn it into an ongoing hip hop workshop where lyrical prowess, performance, and positivity instead of battling and trash talking was encouraged. In fact, swearing was strictly disallowed at The Good Life. [more inside]
posted by mediocre on May 17, 2008 - 36 comments

One man. Six horses. Together, they do crazy stuff.
posted by oneirodynia on May 3, 2008 - 25 comments

Under the Big Top: Shhhhhh! The Show's about to start*... quick, take your seat, sit down, and don't make a move. It's been going on for centuries, and now--lucky you will be able to be a part of it, if you haven't already as a child (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Honestly, who hasn't thought of running away from home and joining the Circus (but I'd suggest you wait a couple of years, until you're a little older, and a little wiser, to make these decisions). It is tempting though, when they roll into town with their fancy wagons, and their loud music. Although, the circus may not be as prevalent as it once was, there are new acts being created to entice crowds around the world. [previously]
posted by hadjiboy on Mar 31, 2008 - 14 comments

Swan Lake like you've never seen it before.
posted by BuddhaInABucket on Mar 11, 2008 - 44 comments

Calculated to amaze. [more inside]
posted by brownpau on Feb 8, 2008 - 88 comments

With the success of American Gladiators and no writers in sight, tv networks are reaching into the past for ideas. You knew it would happen sooner or later. Yep... they're digging deep: Circus of the Stars is coming back. Could Battle of the Network Stars be far behind? [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Jan 19, 2008 - 60 comments

New Work from artist Mark Bryan's Sideshow [more inside]
posted by hortense on Oct 2, 2007 - 2 comments

Circus History, with photos, logos, show routes, and more. See also Circus World, Circus Web, and Princeton's Circus Poster Archive.
posted by Miko on Aug 28, 2007 - 14 comments

The diminutive but intensely powerful Lillian Leitzel was known for her fiery temper, her flirtatious banter, and her ability to spin her entire body in the air while supporting herself by only one hand upwards of 200 times in a row, much like a human pinwheel. She was one of the Ringling Bros. brightest (and most petulant) stars, famously firing and re-hiring her maid several times a day. She married 3 times - (the second marriage ended after she cut off her husband's finger) but her last marriage was to the purported love her life, trapeze artist Alfredo Codona, a master of the triple back summersault off the flying trapeze who also enjoyed success as a Hollywood stunt double . Their passionate (if mercurial) relationship was cut short when, during a performance, Lillian's ring broke, and she fell 45 feet onto a concrete floor. Two days later she was dead. Alfredo, devastated, became reckless and was injured in a fall of his own, cutting short his career. His subsequent marriage to another performer failed, and while meeting with a lawyer to finalize their divorce, he shot her and then himself. Alfredo and Lillian are reunited in death, buried under a marker of their lives and love.
posted by serazin on May 9, 2007 - 22 comments

Planktoon 3D Animation. [Via Monkey Filter via Ample Sanity.]
posted by homunculus on May 3, 2007 - 5 comments

WARNING: They will resize your browser. (Clever HTML/Javascript. Firefox recommended)
posted by lemonfridge on Nov 16, 2006 - 64 comments

Alexander Calder's Circus. A movie by Carlos Vilardebo, in four parts: one two, three, four, [YouTube]. Calder developed his own one-man circus, with tiny performers made of "cork, wire, wood, yarn, paper, string, and cloth," carefully engineered to walk tightropes, dance, tame lions, lift weights, and engage in gymnastics and acrobatics in and above the ring. Acting as omniscient ringmaster, Calder would manipulate the wire performers while his wife wound circus music on the gramophone in the background. via [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Jun 29, 2006 - 17 comments

Quick change artists David and Dania, who got her start in the Moscow Circus, entertain crowds at NBA half-time shows by performing quick changes of clothing. They've performed on numerous other shows around the world. You can even buy one of David's quick change tophats... (!!!).
posted by saketini99 on Mar 29, 2006 - 31 comments

Theatre History is the Theatre Museum of London's vast online collection of ephemera, containing more than 1500 objects that record the history of the performing arts in Britain since the 1600s. There's lots of goodies, but don't miss the goldmine of fabulous photos, posters, and prints.
posted by madamjujujive on Jan 15, 2006 - 5 comments

LA-DEEEES AND GENTLEMEN! STEP RIGHT UP! THE SHOW IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! The Strange and Unusual, the Freaks of Nature, the Shocking and the Bizarre! YOU won't BELiEVE your EYES!
posted by crunchland on Oct 26, 2005 - 7 comments

Circus Museum : vintage circus posters
posted by crunchland on Jul 9, 2005 - 9 comments

Polish Circus Posters
posted by growabrain on May 4, 2005 - 10 comments

Expensive clowns. Some Wisconsin senators want to "save Milwaukee's Circus Parade by giving $1.5 million in tax dollars to the Baraboo-based Circus World Museum."
posted by Tubes on Dec 9, 2003 - 22 comments

The Circus Trees of Axel Erlandson: In the 1920s Erlandson observed the natural grafting of two sycamores, became inspired, and then fused 4 sycamore saplings into his first successful experiment - a cupola that he named "Four Legged Giant". Using his own techniques, Erlandson went on to fashion zigzags, birdcages, chairs, towers, hearts, loops, baskets, rings, lightning bolts, towers, picture frames, ladders, and spiral staircases by painstakingly threading saplings together. His trees appeared often in Ripley's Believe it or Not during the 40s and 50s. Click, click, click.
posted by iconomy on Aug 27, 2003 - 21 comments

Freakshow In My Pocket is a collection of surreal animated matchbox dioramas (via The Excitement Machine)
posted by turaho on Nov 4, 2002 - 10 comments

So you want to join the circus. Well, it helps to have a speciality. Learn how to swallow swords, twist balloon animals, crack a bullwhip, ride a unicycle, spin plates, breathe fire, go to circus school, throw knives, or get started by street performing. You may make it to the big time, but beware of the consequences, and careers gone awry.
posted by Stan Chin on Oct 6, 2002 - 10 comments

Have you ever dreamed of running away with the circus? Did anyone ever call you a freak? Well, now’s your chance to become one! Coney Island USA is proud to announce its latest program- SIDESHOW SCHOOL! Tuition: $600.
posted by gummi on May 6, 2002 - 11 comments

The Hottentot Venus is going home. An African woman named Saarjite Baartman, apparently EXTREMELY overendowed in the buttock/labia department (second floor, next to men's shoes, watch the doors), she did the freakshow thing in Europe for five years in the early 19th c., was edited down at death to her relevant bits and pickled for posterity. Ever been to an actual state-fair freakshow? I saw the alligator lady in the late 70s somewhere in Kentucky. A morally complicated experience.
posted by luser on Feb 21, 2002 - 19 comments

The Human Blockhead is dead. (NYTimes obit.) Melvin Burkhart, 94, was living in Gibsonton, Florida, a retirement town for sideshow attractions.
posted by pracowity on Nov 18, 2001 - 2 comments

It isn't the circus YOU remember... Why would the head of Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey hire a former top CIA honcho to torment a hapless freelance writer for eight years? Plus, some goodies on the Felds family - makes for a long but interesting read... Interesting... I always knew there was a reason people feared clowns but now it seems you need to fear the circus??? What has the world come to, I ask you???
posted by gloege on Aug 30, 2001 - 7 comments

See this movie. Cirque Du Soleil's Journey of Man in 3D IMAX. See this movie. Do whatever it takes. The most beautiful, jaw-dropping thing I've ever seen is the underwater segment. Simply amazing. See this movie.
posted by MrMoonPie on Dec 15, 2000 - 0 comments

If this happened in the US, then the owners of the circus would be guilty of Manslaughter, at the very least, due to their negligence in not feeding the lions.

Of COURSE a starving lion is going to grab a kid; to a lion a human looks like lunch.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Apr 11, 2000 - 12 comments