Difference between revisions of "Billy Smart Jr"

Revision as of 22:38, 8 October 2008

Circus Director and Animal Trainer

By Dominique Jando

Born Stanley Smart on October 15, 1934 in a fairground trailer, Billy Smart Junior (1934-2005) was the youngest son of the legendary British funfair and circus entrepreneur, Billy Smart. Billy Junior made his debut in show business in 1946, at age 12, working as assistant to Equestrian Director Frank Foster in his father's newly founded Billy Smart's New World Circus. The following year, billed as "Cowboy Billy," he presented a pony, "Rajah," and began henceforth a long career as animal trainer in his family's circus; Billy Smart Junior was actually the only one of Billy Smart's three sons to pursue a career as a performer. His taste for fast living showed early: in the liberty act he presented a little later, his 12 Welsh ponies were each named after a liquor. He also performed in high-school acts, notably with his sister Rosie and the circus's equestrian stars, Manja and Josi Vinicki. In the early 1950s, he took over the presentation of Billy Smart's Circus's growing herd of elephants, eventually working on occasion with up to 20 performing pachyderms. He was also featured with his elephants in other winter shows: Tom Arnold's Mammoth Christmas Circus at Harringay, Belle Vue Circus in Manchester, Kevin Hall Circus in Glasgow, and in a huge show produced at the Palais des Sports in Paris by Jérôme Medrano in December 1956. That same year, Billy Smart Junior was featured in the family circus's traditional Wild West presentation as Davy Crockett, the American Frontier hero whose popularity had never be so high among young audiences, thanks to Walt Disney's movie, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955).

Billy Smart Junior appeared in two Royal Command Performances, and was seen in three motion pictures shot at Billy Smart's Circus, Circus of Horrors (1960), Berserk! with Joan Crawford (1967), and Circus of Fears (1967) with Christopher Lee—unfortunately three B movies that just used Billy Smart's Circus as a background. His association with movies didn't stop there: he had a well-publicized liaison with Diana Dors and Sabrina, the British bombshells of the 1960s, and Jayne Mansfield, who appeared in his elephant act for a charity event. Another of his famous liaisons was with pop singer Shirley Bassey. After a life of nightclubbing and partying, Billy Smart Junior eventually settled down and married Hanna Magel, an airline flight attendant, in 1973. After Billy Smart's Circus folded its tents in 1971, Billy Junior performed with his elephants on occasional Billy Smart's Circus TV shows, but an injury on an optical nerve during cosmetic surgery in 1978 ended his performing career. In 1969, Billy Smart Junior had begun developing with his brothers, Ronnie and David, the Royal Windsor Safari Park near Windsor. The park was sold to high profit in 1977 (it is today Legoland), and the Smart brothers sold the remaining of their company's assets in 1986. Afterward, Billy Smart Junior developed real estate in England and Spain. He had homes in these two countries, as well as in the US and Monaco. When his brothers revived Billy Smart's Circus in 1993, he didn't participate in the project. Billy Smart Junior died in London on May 23, 2005. His two children, Billy Jay and Baccara, do not work in show business.