London’s James Harvey British Art gallery is hosting an exhibition November 29th – December 16th titled The Circus to promote a new book by Robert Fountain, who chose artists for the exhibition. Fountain’s new book, The Art of the Traditional Circus, includes 160 illustrations and paintings by 52 different artists. With permission, today HeyRube readers get a sneak peak [...]
In the last post, we heard about Tim Marston’s guide to marketing for freelance performers, How To Sell Your Act. Today, the fire eating, fire breathing, staff spinning and staff juggling performer takes a moment to share his background and inform HeyRube readers about his path to becoming a marketing guru: First off, how did you [...]
As sideshow and circus performers, we are in the business known as show business and recently, Bello Nock reminded me that the business part makes up 2/3 of that title. This is a crucial lesson and one that is easy to overlook while spending countless hours honing new routines, crafting new props and building new [...]
A friend recently brought a fantastically illustrated children’s book, Who Put the B in the Ballyhoo, to my attention and the imagery alone was enough to put this book at the top of my list. Author Carlyn Beccia walks children of all ages, letter by letter, through the whimsical world of the circus, with a cast [...]
I’m currently supplementing my summer’s travel with The Advance Man: A Journey into the World of the Circus, an autobiographical look at one man’s experiences while marketing and promoting the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Although I’m only about 1/3 of the way through this read, I can say this much: What the [...]
Drew Friedman is a pop culture caricature artist who recently turned his talents towards the freakshow community for his illustrated book, Drew Friedman’s Sideshow Freaks. Influenced by his childhood excursions to Coney Island during the 60s and 70s, Friedman breathes new life into these characters by affectionately displaying “50 of his favorite historic human oddities [...]
“In spite of their obvious dangers, fire acts are among the longest-running in show business.” -Ricky Jay, Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women, p. 273 For contemporary audiences, fire performance likely conjures up images of poi spinners, flaming hula hoops and fire eating. While the aforementioned disciplines have survived the centuries, there are many other [...]
Author and illustrator Jane George has recently published The Mumbo Jumbo Circus, a fictional novel following the adventures of a young girl as she journeys into the magical underground world of a traveling circus. Today, Jane has been courteous enough to share some of her illustrations from this book with HeyRubeCircus readers: Jane describes The [...]
In 1958, Al W. Stencell scored a summer job with a traveling carnival at the age of 12, and has been working in the business ever since. He went on to form the The Royal Brothers Circus, and later established two more outfits. After a lifetime of carnie experience, Al’s photos, memorabilia and stories have [...]
Babo is a ten-year-old girl, living in a far off, war-torn country. She seeks shelter in an abandoned circus camp, dodging soldiers and protecting the rest of the orphaned “leftover kid” gang. Life is tough and food is scarce, but she fills her time with imaginative games, reenacting wondrous tales of circus performers with her [...]