Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-07-29
THE TOPICAL IALkER.
A Grent Circus Grown Too Big-Observa.
lions OF Various Sorts Upon the Barnum
d Bailey's Wonderful Show.

| A Greut Circus Grown Too Big-Observa.
lions OF Various Sorts Upon the Barnum
N Bailey's Wonderful Show.
| THE Greatest Show on Earth Is too great
There is too much of it. Its communica.
| tion with the effete monarchs of the Old World
has corrupted it. Evil communications have
| made itswell to an unexampled and unnecessary
size There is not any doubt Of this. lhe old
circus with one ring was great deal more sat
isfactory than the immense fve-ring affair to
which Barnum & Bailey have finally come. If
you give man ten one thousand dollar bills and
tell him that he can kave the first thousand he
spends, but must return nine thousand, does
the remainder which he has to give back bene-
Mt him? That's the way with the
five rings-no man gifted with the or
dinary number of eyes can enjoy
more than one at once. You can increase the
number of rings or stages to twenty-five or
nifty, but the spectator who pays fifty cents will
get exactly as much and no more for his half
dollar as If he had but one circle or stage to
gaze at. The tendency to enlarge the circus Is
all wrong. A return to first principles would
be hailed with delight BY nine-tenths of the
public.
THE great tent raised in the Exposition Park
in Allegheny covered more than fourteen
thousand persons in the afternoon and from
sixteen to eighteen thousand in the evening.
From these figures we might argue that more
people will turn out to see circus
than an evangelist or q statesman.
But the pleasantest deduction to be made
from the gigantic attendance is that the num-
Der of persons in this community having money
to spare is unusually large. If the audiences
to-day are as large as yesterdays, and there is
no particular reason why they should not be,
sixty thousand people. chiefly from the two
cities, will have seen the greatest show on
earth.
As to the show itself, no reasonable being
who has proper conception Of the pur-
chaslng power of dollar could grumble. In
quantity and quality the circus programme left
little to be desired. Perhaps there was MOTH
ing strikfngly new, but the performances Of
the elephants, camels, bears, monkeys, horses.
dogs and men were wonderful in
varying degree. If it had been possible to see
all the show at once, to grasp all i've rings
with one pair of eyes, it would have been
better still. Everything went smoothly, and
the races Of horses, two-horse and four-horse
chariots, elephants, camels and dogs. were not
marred by any accidents, as they SO often have
been in the past. The driving of five horses
tandem at racing speed over hurdles was the
most remarkable perhaps of any Of all the
equestrian feats.
TIE novel additiod to the circus, "Nero; or
the Destruction Of Rome" displaying
1mre Kiralfy's inventive genius in the
spectacular field, deserves very hearty
praise. The historical aspect of the
spectacle may be passed over for Of course no
serious claim for truth to antiquity is made.
But the professions and the games in the arena
were picturesque and powerful to a degree as
theatrical productions. The triumph of which |
MIR. K:ralfy may well be proud, however, is
achieved in the combination of color in the
dresses Of the big corps de ballet The
dresses may not be as costly as some that the
atrical spectacles have brought into play, but
they are certainly exquisitely balanced IN
color. TIE idea of continually reinforcing
light colors with darker shades of the same
color. and planning the movements of the bal |
let so as to keep these contrasts continually |
before the eye, is worthy of Imre |
Kiralfy in his best mood. There is |
no denying that in "Nero" he has achieved eff |
fects never thought of before. The long line of |
swaying women in fimy dresses of delicious |
color-two hundred feet of ballet front-and |
the semi-miitary movements necessary to keep |
the various parts of the ballet in harmonious |
action, were all novelties of sort that are ap-
preciated. There was plenty of applause-and |
it would be interesting to know how many peo- |
pie dropped their umbrellas and other loose |
property through the seats at this stage Of the |
game.
The story of Nero's shocking behavior might |
be dispensed with-even If the sale of ten-cent |
books had to be dropped, too. The gentleman |
who plays Nero is large, fnelooking man, |
but nobody cares q button for him, or the |
Christian maid upon whom he has designs, |
after the ballet has swooped down upon the |
foreground.
THE animals in the cages always appeal to
our sympathies IN a piteous sort Of way. |
An African lion shut up in ten by four cage
is not an inspiring spectacle. Nor is the giraffe
a happylooking object with his head and neck
projected through hole in the roof of his
cage. But Gagged animals have the same draw
backs everywhere, and Barnum's wild beasts
are no worse off than most others in captivity. |
1t would be a good idea, however, to put a
few of the wild beasts who oficate about the
entrance of the show back into their cages
We should like to partIcularize If we could
but there are few anthropoid apes acting as
ticket takers who would be far more agreeable
to deal with through the bars.
7 Asst night a great many more seats were
sold than existed. Before the performance
tent by a combined force of infantry and cav
airy. The ousted parties got their money back.
but they and a number of others whose tickets
aggrieved. The mistake of overselling the
circus ought not to occur again.
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