The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-04-01
.iHE MODER.I C|RCQS
Vast and Dazzling, 1t Is Really a
Very Simple Affair.
AN ANALYSIS OF A BIG SHOW.
Four Main Parts, Aerial, Ground,
Equestrian and Hippodrome, to
Which All Else Is Incidental-The
Actual Cost and Press Agent Figures.


Which All Else Is lncidental-The
Actual Cost and Press Agent Figures.
While the performance of the big
modern circus is truly dazzling and
confusing to the average visitor, an
analysis will show it to be very sim
pie affair.
The performance proper consists OF
four parts-namely, aerial, ground,
equestrian and hippodrome. Every
thing else is incidental or udjunctlve.
The menagerie, freaks, curlosities, etc,
make up the remainder of what we
call "the show"
If one will examine the programme
! of the circus performance carefully, 1t
! will be seen that the ground acts al
ternate with, say jockey act an
aerial act, an equestrian act, another
| ground act, another aerial act, and so
on for the entire performance.
The performers are mostly foreign
ers, Japan furnishing the most Of any
particular country. France, Italy and
, Germany give us the most of the ath-
letic artists, while England and Amer
! lea produce the equestrians. But the
! Japanese furnish fully three-eighths of
the whole entertainment.
1 The 'atives of Nippon have never
been equaled by those of any other
country for tricks of the feet and
hands. The Japanese, however, are
never found on the programme as
equestrians, trapeze artists or clowns.
| With these parts eliminated they may
be said to give the greater part of the
performance. Cut the equestrian and
trapeze acts and the Japanese will be
found in almost every number.
A single japanese troupe of five or six
members, costing from $50 to S4OO
week, will thus furnish the most of the
entertainment. AS every circus goer
knows, the Japanese are especially
skillful in every feature of juggling,
balancing by hands or feet, manipulate
ing of objects, wire walking, etc,
which they have carried to such de-
gree of perfection that their acts are
unapproachable by the people of any
other nationality.
The first japanese performer in this
country was a small boy who came
with the first Japanese embassy TO the
United States.
His performance created perfect
furore of enthusiasm, and he attracted
more attention than the novel embassy
! Dinh will hn
membered, though the embassy and its
important mission has long been for
gotten.
The name was acquired from the cir
cumstances that the words "all right
were the only English words the child
knew at the time, and he used to sing
them out in his shrill treble as he fin
! ished what was then deemed re-
markable feat to the intense delight of
the audience.
SO popular was the little chap that
his advent was followed by several
other little "All Rights" from the same
curious country beyond the Pacific un-
til the Japanese performers here be-
came an old story.
The chief reason for the overwhelm-
ing preponderance of foreign talent in
the American circus lies in the practi-
cal exclusion of children from the
stage and ring in the United States.
| So many of the states have laws for
bidding the public appearance of chill
dren under sixteen that theatrical man.
ayers hesitate to produce any play
with child in the cast. AS acrobatic
! feats require early and severe training,
the American is practically cut off
from this way of earning a living.
In present conditions when Little
| Eva in "Uncle Toms Cabin" has be-
come old enough TO marry little "All
Right" would be an ,impossibility, for
not only do these laws prevent the
| training of American children for the
stage and ring. but they prevent the
appearance in this country of some of
the most famous family troupes Of Eu-
rope.
Abroad the show career offers bet
ter means of advancement than the
trades, and poor parents frequently ap-
prentice their children to those who
train them for the stage or ring. In
this country we generously send them
to the cotton mills or the mines.
| The American circus performer has
gradually become restricted to the
equestrian act. and in the act Of riding
he or she is not. excelled, even by the
English, though the latter nation has
produced some fine equestrians, hauts
ecole and daring bareback riders.
| Nine. Dockrill, wife of r. III. Dock
rill, himself one of the best high school
riders of his time, was famous Amer
| lean rider in 1874. She used to ride
four bareback horses abreast, her feet
resting on the two outside horses In
Roman fashion. She also did the Ma
seppa act and other thrilling bareback
feats. Her pretty daughter Rose was
trained in the same act and afterward