Tag: Charlton Heston

The Circus Town’s Been Born

Astley's Amphitheatre
Astley’s Amphitheatre

On January 9 in 1768, the first modern circus was staged in London. Philip Astley, a former cavalry sergeant major, made a ring and invited the public to watch him do tricks on horseback as he rode around the ring.

The Growth of the Circus

Because the public enjoyed the act, Astley then added other riders, a clown, and musicians, eventually putting a roof over his ring in 1770. In 1782, Astley’s Amphitheatre faced competition from a similar act down the road, with the competitor using the name “Royal Circus.” The competitor took the word “circus” from the Roman name for where chariot races were held.

Eventually, the word “circus” would become the generic name for such events. And Astley himself eventually established eighteen more such venues across Europe.

Circuses spread around the world. John Bill Ricketts created the first U.S. circus in 1792 in Philadelphia. In the late 1800s, P.S. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey went into the circus business, as did five Ringling brothers.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Since the invention of the circus, fictional stories have used the circus setting to tell stories too. In 1952, director Cecil B. DeMille and Paramount Pictures released The Greatest Show on Earth, set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The cast included Betty Hutton, Holly Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, James Stewart (as Buttons the Clown), Dorothy Lamour, and Gloria Grahame. Check out the trailer below, where it is funny to hear the narrator’s voice from The Ten Commandments (DeMille) narrating this trailer about a circus.

Springsteen’s “Wild Billy’s Circus Story”

One of my favorite stories about a circus is found in Bruce Springsteen’s song, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story,” from The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle (1973). The song is really an excuse to string together a number of wonderful circus images.  Springsteen’s tale features the barker, the man-beast, the flying Zambinis, the stong man, and others.

Finally, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” concludes with an enticing question that many children have dreamed of being asked.  “And the circus boss leans over, whispers in the little boy’s ear, ‘Hey son, you wanna try the big top?'”

Apparently, I am not the only fan of the somewhat unusual and obscure song. In this video below from July 2013 in Kilkenny in Ireland, Springsteen explains how a fan has been following him around trying to get him to play “Wild Billy’s Circus Story.”

And then the Boss leans over and whisper’s in his ear that the wish will be granted. Or something like that.

What is your favorite circus story? Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo of Astley’s Amphitheatre via public domain.

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    Passover: Moses and the Price You Pay

    ten commandments In popular culture, most references to Moses focus on the high points of his life.  These include him leading the Israelites to freedom by parting the Red Sea and his trip to Mount Sinai to bring forth the ten commandments.  But in the final scene of the film The Ten Commandments (1956), the film ends with a less celebratory scene.  The movie ends with Charlton Heston’s Moses left behind, paying for what seems like a minor transgression.

    I remember watching the movie as a kid, seeing the low-key ending as a letdown after the excitement of the action of the parting of the Red Sea. I also found it confusing because the entire movie shows Moses as special to God and then all of a sudden God is punishing him.

    Perhaps my confusion about the ending of the movie is one of the reasons I immediately fell in love with Bruce Springsteen’s “The Price You Pay.” Springsteen captures the tragic sadness of that moment in his song from The River (1980).

    Little girl down on the strand,
    With that pretty little baby in your hands,
    Do you remember the story of the Promised Land?
    How he crossed the desert sands,
    And could not enter the chosen land,
    On the banks of the river he stayed,
    To face the price you pay.

    Similarly, in “Adam Raised a Cain,” he explains that the notion of sin and punishment is so deep that paying for our own sins is not enough:  “You’re born into this life paying / For the sins of somebody else’s past.”

    But Springsteen, who both embraces and rebels against his Catholic upbringing in his songs, does not let the story of “The Price You Pay” end there. Although there is nothing Springsteen can do about the story of Moses (or Cain and Able), in “The Price You Pay” the singer rebels against the rules that say we must always be paying for sins.

    But just across the county line, a stranger passing through put up a sign
    That counts the men fallen away to the price you pay;
    And girl before the end of the day,
    I’m gonna tear it down and throw it away.

    In some ways, “The Price You Pay” is a sequel to Springsteen’s “The Promised Land” from Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978).  In that song, the singer sang of faith in a promised land and a coming twister that will “blow away the dreams that break your heart.”

    The idea of escape from punishment for sin is present in much of Springsteen’s music. In “The Price You Pay,” though, he connects the past and present in a way where the present-day hero is not crushed by old rules.  Instead, he rises up and rebel not only for himself, but for the sinners of the past, including Moses.  It may be nothing more than tearing down a sign, but he rejects the notion that life is about paying for sin.

    Whether or not you celebrate one of the holidays this month, may you have a year free from the haunting of past sins. And at the same time may you tear down the sign and forgive others for their burdens.

    What do you think is the meaning behind “The Price You Pay”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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