Here Comes The Circus: Memories From The Big Top

CIRCUS DAY IN OUR TOWN (1949): There's an old-fashioned sense of community spirit on hand in this 1949 Encyclopedia Britannica short, where the local townspeople help set up the tents once the circus train arrives and then file in to become a rapt audience for the greatest show on Earth.

LET'S GO TO THE CIRCUS (1949): "The magic world of sawdust and spangles" is on full display in another 1949 Encyclopedia Britannica short with acrobats, aerial ballerinas, elephants and - of course - clowns. Encyclopedia Britannica made several circus-related films for teachers to show students on rainy days - though some of the kids may have hit puberty early after seeing the skimpy costumes of the curvy elephant riders.

CIRCUS AT THE ZOO (1950): A circus of trained chimpanzees perform stunts at the St. Louis Zoo - narrated by a talking chimp wearing glasses! After Here Comes the Circus was pulled from Castle's catalog in 1967, Circus at the Zoo became their primary circus-related offering.

BIRD CIRCUS (1951): Parrots, cockatoos, macaws, and magpies perform a variety of tricks for a beautiful woman in a green dress in this short film from Arthur Barr Productions - which, despite the stock footage of people milling about the big top in the beginning, was probably not filmed at a real circus.

CIRCUS DAY (1966): Another Arthur Barr Production that begins with an oddly sedate clown rhapsodizing over how the circus has changed over the years. Then we see a day in the life of the Clyde Beatty Circus, from setting up the tents to the final bravura trapeze act.