The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-12
STAGE.NANAGTNG THB CIRCUS
PROBLEM or DIVIDING 200 ACTORS
AMONG FOUR RINGS

structing the Circus Programme
-Changcd Duties Of the Ringmaster.
Have you ever sat comfortably In the
Madison Square Garden. watched the great
kaleidoscope OF life and color shift from
scene to scene and failed TO wonder how
all this vast and complicated machinery
was operated without the slightest mishap'
One turn-and they're all good turns this
year, like those In the proverb-follows an
other with the precision OF clockwork
One literally fades away as another comes
| into view.
Take the seventy horses, for instance,
after they have revo lived on the pedestal
that twirls them through the air. They can
| ter at full speed down the outside ring, run
through the great open gates and sho uld,
In accordance with every human proba-
bility. run down the troupe Of acrobats
who are Just at that minute coming into the
| amphitheatre.
But nothing Of the kind happens. The
| two parties keep on their way undisturbed
and thus for three hours, the circus moves
swiftly and exactly through every one OF
its eighty separate acts.
And how complicated all this vast mech
anism Is nobody fully realizes until some
principles Of the way In which circus pro-
gramme Is arranged are made clear TO
him. Action Ia just as much the keynote
to the successful circus as to the successful
play. Nothing must drag.
A time limit is fixed on every act, what
ever It's nature may be, and that 10 rigidly
adhered to, even II the performer be one
of the corps Of clowns or the most expen-
siye woman rider ever imported from Ger
many, where most Of them are trained.
No turn Is allowed to continue more than
seven minutes.
The day before the circus opened, sad
Englishman returned to his home after
stay Of only q week here. He had been
engaged until next November at salary
Of $50 q week. But II took him twenty
minutes to reveal his fun. and he could
not do II In less time try as he might. That
went thirteen minutes over the allowance.
There are never thirteen idle minutes for
anybody In Barnum 4 Bailey programme.
SO the disconsolate importation had to
take two weeks salary and his passage
home.
Before the first programme Of the season
is given, the most important task In the ar
ranRement OF the circus is the allotment Of
the performers to the time and place in
which they are to appear. There are three
small rings, for instance, and one large
one. And there are nearly two hundred
performers.
1t seems easy enough to say that four into
two hundred goes fifty times, thus leaving
1 fifty performers for every ring. But there
are many more important details.
There are all kinds Of acts for instance
! .,l -, IN ar, Aisf ri nd that the
spectators see no monotony In the pro-
erammes. There are equestrians and
acrobats, aerialists and jugglers. trained
chickens and rope walkers. They must be
revealed in the way that will show every
one to the best advantage.
| And they must appear In a way that
allows time for the preparation OF all the
apparatus. While the fences are built up
| be something to direct the interest Of the
spectators. When the pyramid Ia con-
nructed for the horses there must be an
act that lasts just long enough to keep
| the audience 40 engrossed that 1t overlooks
| the building and preparation.
| All this planning must be done before
| the first performance. for, strangely enough.
| there is no dress rehearsal for the big cir
Gus. The performers 20 to the Madison
Square Garden or TO the ring at Bridgeport
and do their individual practice. But
there is no general dress rehearsal at which
all the turns are given so that 1t can be
ascertsined whether or not the performers
| are all shown to advantage; whether the
different aerislists all swinging. above the
| heads Of the spectators are well suited 10
the clowns who are disporting themselves
on terra TRINA and whether the horses are
allotted their right place on the programme.
And above all would rehearsal seem neces-
sary TO show the length Of the performance.
! But James A. Bailey, who attends TO
says that he doesn't need any rehearsal,
Before the performers engaged for the
4 circus season have started from Europe.
\ he has arranged the programme Tor the
first performance In New York, and that
is used until the last performance given
! in the autumn. .-
| Mr.. Bailey has had 80 much experiences
\ in making circus programmes that he ~
| able now to calculate the length one will
last TO within a quarter OF an hour, before
is going to take part. And his associates
| at the Garden always hold the watch on
| him at the first performance to see whether
there will he a deviation from the time ne
/ set when he allotted the turns TO their places
/ two months before.
! And they have never yet been able TO
| get more than fifteen minutes variation:
More often 1t has been between five and
ten.
| His method OF making the circus pro-
/ gramme before he has seen the turns is
almost mathematical In its exactness.
He knows the character OF every turn,
| which is, Of course, carefully investigated
| before the performers are engaged. He
has his diagram Of the rings before him.
| and he groups the varied acts In the way
his experience has taught him will make
them most attractive.
| BY allowing approximately seven min
| utes for every turn he Is able to estimate
the length Of the programme. which act
shall 20 to this or that small ring, and which
Is shown in the large ring outside, are ques-
tions that he IL able TO decide even when he
has not seen every particular turn. through
his long experience. And from the reputee'
| II not the salaries, Of the pcrformen, he ID
able to tell the order In which they must
appear to create q steady crescendo OF
Interest that will carry the spectators up 10
| 4 certain point and then let them down
not too far down. but merely contented 10
90 home.
Then II must be remembered that wher
| the great acts OF the show are on--such a.
the wonderful Clarkonians, for instance
those that are simultaneously revealed
must be interestng-but not too interesting
to divert attention from the greatest feature
OF the circus.
All OF these things must be thought Of
| ~, NJ u.ilav uhon he sats ont TO arrnn ~