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==In the Spotlight==
 
==In the Spotlight==
  
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===NEW YORK CIRCUSES===  
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===CYRIL BERTRAM MILLS===  
  
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The following is a list of the various circus structures that were built (or buildings that were adapted) to house New York's resident circuses. Some had a very ephemeral life, other lasted several years or even decades. When they appeared in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century (see [[Short History of the Circus]]), circus performances were originally presented in buildings, either permanent structures, or wooden constructions that were erected in a town, and then dismantled and transported to the next—or simply sold at wood value at the end of the run. Circus in America became an itinerant affair in the first half of the nineteenth century, but major cities, like New York, often retained a resident circus. New York's last permanent circus building, the Hippotheatron, or New York Circus, stood on 14th Street, near Union Square—in what was then the heart of the Theater District—until as late as 1872. But in a country in constant expansion, itinerant circuses were much more profitable, and they quickly prevailed: From roughly 1870 to 1930, they made circus the most popular performing art in America....  ([[New York Circuses|more...]])
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Howard Campbell, a distinguished journalist and a fellow "spook" at MI6 (the British Secret Services) during the Second World War, summed up Cyril Mills as "an enterprising, perceptive, obstinate, opinionated, cheerful, loyal, delightful and wholly lovable man." Praise indeed for one of the greatest circus proprietors of the twentieth century. Cyril Mills (1902-1991) and his younger brother, Bernard (1908-1985), continued, after the death of their father, Bertram W. Mills, in 1938 to direct the great circus he had created in England in 1920—until its closure in 1967. The Bertram Mills Circus was started by Bertram Wagstaff Mills, a former RASC Captain in the First World War, who was a coach builder, an international horseshow judge, and ran a very successful undertaker’s business in London. As the story goes, Mills, who had many influential friends in high places, attended a performance of the Great Victory Circus and Allied Fair at the Olympia exhibition hall in London during the 1919/1920 winter season; when pressed for his opinion of the show, he is recorded as having said, "If I could not give the people a better circus than that for their money, I’d eat my hat!" ...  ([[Cyril Mills|more...]])
  
 
==New Biographies==
 
==New Biographies==

Revision as of 05:51, 3 April 2011

Welcome to Circopedia,
the free encyclopedia of the international circus.
A project of the Big Apple Circus,
inspired and funded by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.


In the Spotlight

CYRIL BERTRAM MILLS

Howard Campbell, a distinguished journalist and a fellow "spook" at MI6 (the British Secret Services) during the Second World War, summed up Cyril Mills as "an enterprising, perceptive, obstinate, opinionated, cheerful, loyal, delightful and wholly lovable man." Praise indeed for one of the greatest circus proprietors of the twentieth century. Cyril Mills (1902-1991) and his younger brother, Bernard (1908-1985), continued, after the death of their father, Bertram W. Mills, in 1938 to direct the great circus he had created in England in 1920—until its closure in 1967. The Bertram Mills Circus was started by Bertram Wagstaff Mills, a former RASC Captain in the First World War, who was a coach builder, an international horseshow judge, and ran a very successful undertaker’s business in London. As the story goes, Mills, who had many influential friends in high places, attended a performance of the Great Victory Circus and Allied Fair at the Olympia exhibition hall in London during the 1919/1920 winter season; when pressed for his opinion of the show, he is recorded as having said, "If I could not give the people a better circus than that for their money, I’d eat my hat!" ... (more...)

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CIRCOPEDIA is a constantly evolving and expanding encyclopedia of the international circus. New videos, biographies, essays, and documents are added to the site on a weekly—and sometimes daily—basis. Keep visiting us: even if today you don't find what you're looking for, it may well be here tomorrow!
Dominique Jando
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