Circus: Barnum's Funundrum

Last night, my parents, Tony and I went to see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. This show was called Barnum’s Funundrum. It was a pretty good show I thought. Something new that they had, which they have never had before were screens along the long portion of the arena that showed different scenes. It would either tell the name of the act, show scenery for the act or in some cases it showed scenes from vintage circus posters and “articles from newspapers” about the act. I put “articles from newspapers” in quotes because it wasn’t from actual newspapers I don’t think, but it looked authentic. I don’t know about everyone else, but I rather enjoyed those screens. They were not distracting nor were they in the way of any of the acts. They were also mesh so you could also see through them when they weren’t on. Not that it was necessary because the screens moved up and down in order to get out of the way of whatever act was performing.


We got there an hour early as always so that we could go down on the floor and see some of the circus people up close and in person. There were lots of clowns around including this on juggling

And this one pictured with me and Tony

We also saw this lady swinging high above on a ring

Then came a group of Asian men who juggled hats (check out that action shot!)

And jumped through hoops

We saw this strong man juggle some large weights. Tony and my dad both held the weight. I guess the performers didn’t want anyone thinking it wasn’t real. The weights were supposed to be 65 pounds, but my dad said it was probably more like 35. I didn’t lift it – I guess they thought it was too heavy for a girl. Later in the show this strong man, The Mighty Meetal, lifted over 1,000 pounds with his legs and feet. I told Tony that the band should get some outfits like these; I especially like the boots. (Note: This is not the Mighty Meetal, but his buddy - The Mighty Meetal's picture did not turn out well).

This guy was not the ring master, but he spoke in the microphone during the pre-show. He also introduced the ring master and opened up the second act where he said something like, “Are you having a good time, Birmingham?” Well, that fired up the natives including my dad who yelled out, “This isn’t Birmingham, bozo!”

My favorite part of the pre-show was these Caribbean stilt walkers – they were SO TALL! When they came out, the one in red gave my dad a high five. Well, I guess it was a low five for Red. They danced around and then each lifted a leg while the other held on and hopped around in a circle, and then the one in blue limboed under red’s leg. It was a lot of fun to watch. There was one time when I thought one of them was going to lose his balance and fall on Tony and another time one of the guys pretended like he was going to fall on some kids. I laughed so hard. After it was over, Blue walked right over me – literally – I was standing under his two legs. It was so fun! I laughed and laughed!

Here’s another photo of Red later in the show:

When the show got started, we were all surprised to find that Candy’s husband, Andrew was working in the circus! Ha, just kidding Andrew, but I think this guy could be your brother. I think ya’ll look alike!

The circus also brought elephants. This is the only elephant picture I have with me today. I copied my pictures to a disk this morning and for some reason the ones took at the end of the show didn’t copy over to the disk and I didn’t notice it until now. So, this is the only elephant picture I have with me. Lisa and Candy, I panned when I took this picture (a little tip from Farley Vaughn).

There were also tigers at the circus. This year the tiger act came early in the first half. There was a white tiger and many other “regular” tigers – you know, the orange ones. They performed some tricks for us, but also seemed stubborn. I should have spot metered these tiger pictures, but I haven’t practiced yet.

There were other animal acts as well, although not a lot. There were a few horses and llamas and only one dog in the whole show. The dog rode in on the back of a horse; and in his act, he sat in a basket lifted by an elephant. I’m pretty sure The Tide would not sit in a basket for me, let alone an elephant. Tony said he wished there were more dog acts, I agree.

There were also the tightrope walkers

And also the flying trapeze and a really cool trampoline act that reminded me of Cirqe du Soleil. I also took pictures of these, but these are some of the ones that didn’t show up on my disk. Ya’ll might be viewing more circus pictures come Monday.

My favorite act of the night was The Globe of Steel, which I have always called The Globe of Death – I think it may have been called that in the past. Anyway, it’s a large steel globe and they lock guys on motorcycles inside and they drive around. They put four, five and then six folks inside driving around! And one of them was a girl! She’s my new hero! I took a picture of her, but guess what? Not on my disk! I’m really perturbed about this disk situation. Here are a couple of photos I did take:

Every year we always are amazed at how much the circus souvenirs cost. You have to be rich to buy any of them! The toys that light up and spin around were $22 this year! The lemonade was $9! The popcorn was $7! The cotton candy was $12! Talk about a profit! I think I’m in the wrong business! The cheapest thing I saw was after the show and it was a coloring book for $5. Of course, they wait until after the show to bring these out. I also saw a DVD for $8, which is a bargain compared to everything else.

This last picture wasn’t part of the show, but it was something I haven’t seen since the 1980s! I though the rat tail was dead; but apparently in Alabama it’s making a comeback. Please pray for us.

May all your days be circus days!