Not anymore folks.At least the Big ones like Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey.The last Big Circus folded going on 2 years now. As of May,2017. WHY ? Many reasons.Too high operating costs and also Animal Rights groups piling on.Like what happened to Mink Coat sales. I don't buy into some of the cost analysis.Because those Big Tent Tops were very cost intensive,complicated and requring very experienced Roadies.The Big Top moved inside to Stadiums but there still existed the need for a Circus to travel by rail and all the accompanying weight. It eventually became too unfeasible and the weight alone too taxing. Plus circus acts die out and younger members of famous acts get skittish.I was lucky as a kid in the early 60's to see the Great Wallendas. A highwire act. Today Kids no longer have the opportunity of watching a great Circus. Which is an American shame.Circus were a fundamental part of growing up.Like being a Boy Scout or Girl Scout.Or watching or listening to a Nun or Priest or Rabbi.A Minister like Billy Graham. Disneyland did it's part.Then Disney World.But they too are under attack. What does all this mean.As we enter Super Bowl weekend.Which used to be much earlier in days past.Which turned commercial years ago. At times being more about the New TV commercials.Often outlandish. I sense a Pattern here.A pattern of bad karma.As if America and Americans aren't capable of just enjoying good old fashioned entertainment. I'm not asking for Reruns of Lawrence Welk or Hee Haw. But something Gull durnit.We are becoming a nation of survival of the most Unfittest.If there ever was such a word.
You are mourning the loss of times passed. The circus had its day. As did freak shows, Vaudeville, puppet shows, duels, jousting matches, feeding Christians to the lions... Everything is transient. It won't be long before no one knows how to drive a car anymore.
Rubbish.Almost complete pap.What one should expect Millennials to think.The Circus accompanied the Universal appeal like no other venue of entertainment.More than a Big League Baseball game or NFL Football.More than any Championship Boxing match. The Circus knew no peer.From Tots to Teens to Mom & Dad and Grandpa & Grandma to everyone from the neighbor,combined,The Circus was The American tradition.Maybe not among hardened criminals, but I doubt even they would scoff at a Big Time Circus. It was as American as Mom,Apple Pie and Hot dogs. Again ... I don't expect certain sectors of today's society to agree with my assessment as to the Importance of a Big Time Circus in America. No more than some of Todays Moms,would their Having a Baby. Once virtually Everything can be taken for granted,it is no longer The Unites States.The United States of Purgatory ... Maybe.
also if one was not fit to enlist in the military they could have joined the circus for 3 hots and a cot.
Many a Golden age Movie star joined the circus.Like W.C. Fields and Cary Grant and Burt Lancaster.Even Kool guy actor Steve McQueen as a young teen ran away from his Uncle's farm to join the circus.
BTW ... the ending of Cecil B. DeMille's - The Greatest Show on Earth - { 1952 } was about the most splendid example of American Exceptionalism ever filmed.To never say die and keep on going. What literally Built this great country.Rugged Individualism and a Pioneer Spirit.Plus Team spirit.
I'm not a millennial. Everything is transient. I learned that a long time ago. I enjoyed the circus as a kid. But it wasn't THAT big of a deal. Now if you want to talk about tragedies, Radio Shack closing was a tragedy. I remember going to Radio Shack with my dad when I was just a little guy. And I continued using Radio Shack for electronic components for the next 40 years. For every hour I spent at a circus, I spent days at a Radio Shack. No more drawers filled with 2N2222s, LM7805s, IRF840s ... oh the humanity!!!
God said the animals were put here for our pleasures, to be sacrificed for food and entertainment like hunting and circus acts. they closed ringling brothers because the clowns were traumatising the elephants and shamoo from sea world was being mistreated from being well fed.
