Traditional circuses still crisscross the country, but on a much-reduced scale from when they ruled America as the undisputed “greatest show on earth.”
Sharon Grimberg’s two-part documentary The Circus rewinds to that era of big tops and big crowds that exploded more than 100 years ago. The circus helped knit together a diverse populace spread across a huge expanse.
“Before there was a circus…there wasn’t radio, there wasn’t television, so people were very isolated in these communities, and they didn’t necessarily have common cultural references, but the circus was it, in a way,” Grimberg tells Deadline. “In the late 19th century and early 20th century [it’s] the first form of entertainment that everybody went to, that everyone could afford, and also something that tied the country together.”
Part of the audience appeal was the fleeting nature of the circus experience.
“The spectacle of having this empty field and nothing being there.
Sharon Grimberg’s two-part documentary The Circus rewinds to that era of big tops and big crowds that exploded more than 100 years ago. The circus helped knit together a diverse populace spread across a huge expanse.
“Before there was a circus…there wasn’t radio, there wasn’t television, so people were very isolated in these communities, and they didn’t necessarily have common cultural references, but the circus was it, in a way,” Grimberg tells Deadline. “In the late 19th century and early 20th century [it’s] the first form of entertainment that everybody went to, that everyone could afford, and also something that tied the country together.”
Part of the audience appeal was the fleeting nature of the circus experience.
“The spectacle of having this empty field and nothing being there.
- 6/23/2019
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
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