Circus Sarrasani - Revision history

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-06-14T03:55:29Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-06-14T02:01:57Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Image Gallery */

2025-06-13T22:33:12Z

‎Image Gallery

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2025-06-12T22:41:37Z

‎Image Gallery

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2025-06-12T22:40:54Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* The Maharajah */

2025-06-12T22:18:44Z

‎The Maharajah

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2025-06-12T22:09:04Z

‎Image Gallery

Djando: /* Sarrasani in South America (1924-1925) */

2025-06-12T21:55:30Z

‎Sarrasani in South America (1924-1925)

Djando: /* Sarrasani’s Zirkusbau: Circus-Theater der 5000 */

2025-06-12T21:51:48Z

‎Sarrasani’s Zirkusbau: Circus-Theater der 5000

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 File:Sarrasani_Sticker.JPG|Sarrasani Sticker (1912)
 File:Sarrasani_water_pantomime.jpg|Water pantomime at Circus Sarrasani, colorized (c.1912)
 File:Circus_Sarrasani_Poster.JPG|Sarrasani Poster (1913)
 File:Dresden_Zirkus_Sarrasani_1914.jpeg|Circus Sarrasani in Dresden (1914)

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 File:Sarrasani_Dresden_-_Inside.jpg|Interior of Circus Sarrasani in Dresden (1912)
 File:Sarrasani_Dresden_color.jpg|Interior of Circus Sarrasani in Dresden, colorized (1912)
 File:Sarrasani_Front_Section.jpg|Circus Sarrasani - median section (1912)
 File:Sarrasani_Cross_Section.jpg|Circus Sarrasani - cross section (1912)

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 File:Circus_Sarrasani_Poster.JPG|Sarrasani Poster (1913)
 File:Dresden_Zirkus_Sarrasani_1914.jpeg|Circus Sarrasani in Dresden (1914)
 File:Sarrasani_Clown_Poster_1915.jpg|Sarrasani Poster (1915)
 File:Torpedo.jpg|Postcard for Sarrasani's pantomime ''Torpedo... Los!'' (1918)

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 File:Circus_Sarrasani_1912.jpg|Circus Sarrasani in Dresden (1912)
 File:Sarrasani_Dresden_1912.JPG|Circus Sarrasani in Dresden (1912)
-File:Sarrasani_Dresden_-_snow.jpg|Circus Sarrasani in Dresden, clorized (c.1912)
+File:Sarrasani_Dresden_-_snow.jpg|Circus Sarrasani in Dresden, colorized (c.1912)
 File:Sarrasani_Dresden_-_Inside.jpg|Interior of Circus Sarrasani in Dresden (1912)
 File:Sarrasani_Dresden_color.jpg|Interior of Circus Sarrasani in Dresden, colorized (1912)

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 File:Zirkus_Sarrasani_Vignette_1912.jpg|Sarrasani Vignette (1912)
 File:Sarrasani_Sticker.JPG|Sarrasani Sticker (1912)
 File:Circus_Sarrasani_Poster.JPG|Sarrasani Poster (1913)
 File:Dresden_Zirkus_Sarrasani_1914.jpeg|Circus Sarrasani in Dresden (1914)

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 He called in circus librettist and director [[Adolf Steinmann]], the creative mind behind Berlin’s Circus Busch’s legendary pantomimes, to stage patriotic spectaculars in Dresden’s circus building. The first one was ''Europe in Flames'' (1914), followed each year by pantomimes of a similar vein up to 1918. (Some of Sarrasani's pantomimes, such as ''Torpedo... Los!'' in 1918, were also presented at Circus Busch.) The traveling unit, with its important menagerie, tried to survive in neutral countries&mdash;such as Denmark where, in 1915, an event was to inform Sarrasani’s future aesthetics: A collaboration with the celebrated Nordisk Film company, famed for its cinematic theatrical storytelling: "...an aesthetic system, based on the idea of the shot as a rich totality… " (David Bordwell).
-Nordisk Film employed the circus's elephants, zebras, and camels in a few shots for Robert Dinsen’s oriental melodrama ''The Maharajah’s Favorite Wife'' (''Maharadjahens Yndlingshustru'', 1917). The Maharajah’s outfit worn by its leading actor, Gunnar Tolnaer, apparently left such strong an impression on Hans Stosch-Sarrasani’s imagination that he would switch after the War his trademark cowboy outfit for the elaborate costume of a Marharajah&mdash;certainly more attuned to his newly reached status of "Zirkus-König" (Circus King).
+Nordisk Film employed the circus's elephants, zebras, and camels in a few shots for Robert Dinsen’s oriental melodrama ''The Maharajah’s Favorite Wife'' (''Maharadjahens Yndlingshustru'', 1917). The Maharajah’s outfit worn by its leading actor, Gunnar Tolnaer, apparently left such strong an impression on Hans Stosch-Sarrasani’s imagination that, in the ring, he would switch after the War his trademark cowboy outfit for the elaborate costume of a Marharajah&mdash;certainly more attuned to his newly reached status of "Zirkus-König" (Circus King).
 Thereafter, and until his death, Hans-Stosch Sarrasani would be known in the circus world as ''The Maharajah''. It is in a Maharajah costume, replete with elaborate turban and jewelry, that Hans Stosch-Sarrasani would henceforth present his huge elephant act, and appear on advertising photographs and posters. (In 1921, Sarrasani's vast menagerie was used again for an exotic German film classic, ''Das indische Grabmal'' (''The Indian Tomb'', 1922), featuring Conrad Veidt as a Maharajah.

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 The circus Hans Stosch had taken to South America was not as important as the pre-war Circus Sarrasani, and its show was neither as big nor elaborate, but it was very respectable by any European standards, with many group acts and large "exotic" troupes filling the ring. It was crowned by Hans Stosch-Sarrasani’s big elephant act, which was undoubtedly the largest ever seen in South America. The [[Reinsch Troupe]] of jockeys, the clowns [[The Babusios|Babusio]], the [[The Lorch Family|Lorch Family]]’s famous risley act, the [[Rikoku Family|Rikoku]] Japanese family (a Sarrasani fixture for many years), and [[The Artonis]] on the flying trapeze topped the bill, as well as [[Tilly Bebé]]’s famous lion act that appeared at the beginning of the tour only, before returning to Germany due to personal disagreements with the circus’s management.
-There were a few "exotic" tableaus, as was then the fashion in German circuses and especially at Circus Sarrasani; an oriental display featured Sarrasani’s corps de ballet, the Ben Saïd troupe of Moroccan tumblers, and a group of camels, zebras and other exotic animals. During intermission, a swaypole act performed outdoors (a good publicity for the passersby), and beside the menagerie, one could visit a sideshow of "female oddities" such as a bearded lady, a fat woman and a "hermaphrodite", which was advertised "For Adults Only"…
+There were a few "exotic" tableaus, as was then the fashion in German circuses and especially at Circus Sarrasani; an oriental display featured Sarrasani’s corps de ballet, the Ben Saïd troupe of Moroccan tumblers, and a group of camels, zebras and other exotic animals. During intermission, a swaypole act performed outdoors (a good publicity for the passersby), and beside the menagerie, one could visit a sideshow of "female oddities" such as a bearded lady, a fat woman and a "hermaphrodite", which were advertised "For Adults Only"…
 It was at any rate a much more lavish and spectacular show than anything that was usually seen in South America at the time, and it met everywhere with tremendous success. In Argentina, local performers acting popular comedies and dramas in the ring were added to the circus fare. Sarrasani’s tour had political undertones: State and local officials greeted the circus and attended the show in their official capacity, and the German's president, Friedrich Eberd, had heralded Circus Sarrasani as a "German Cultural Ambassador".

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 The building prided itself on its advanced fire-safety features and numerous technical refinements&mdash;among which a steel cage for cat acts that could be pulled up under the cupola (a system that would be adopted after WWII by Paris’s [[Cirque Medrano (Paris)|Cirque Medrano]]). In addition to the dressing rooms, offices, and various rental spaces, the building housed a restaurant for the performers, an "American Bar" and another restaurant in the basement for the public, as well as three buffets-bars used at intermission. Behind the circus itself, a vast connected annex housed the menagerie and stables (which could accommodate 130 horses).
-[[File:Sarrasani_Dresden_-_Inside.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Interior of Sarrasanibau in Dresden (1912)]]Although it was heralded as the "''Circus-Theater der 5000"'', Sarrasani’s circus could actually accommodate 3,860 spectators&mdash;short of the number advertised, but impressive nonetheless. It was not, either, "Europe’s largest": Open in 1906, Paris’s [[Cirque Metropole]], with its capacity of 6,000 spectators (a good portion of which stood in a promenade gallery) had indeed a claim to the title. However, the Cirque Metropole, too big and badly designed, was neither profitable nor successful, and was eventually demolished in 1930. Circus Sarrasani, on the other hand, was truly the world’s most modern circus building, and would be Europe’s (and the World’s) largest circus building after the Parisian circus’s demise; it would remain successfully so until the carpet bombing of Dresden by the British and American Forces in 1945.
+[[File:Sarrasani_Dresden_color.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Interior of Sarrasanibau in Dresden (1912)]]Although it was heralded as the "''Circus-Theater der 5000"'', Sarrasani’s circus could actually accommodate 3,860 spectators&mdash;short of the number advertised, but impressive nonetheless. It was not, either, "Europe’s largest": Open in 1906, Paris’s [[Cirque Metropole]], with its capacity of 6,000 spectators (a good portion of which stood in a promenade gallery) had indeed a claim to the title. However, the Cirque Metropole, too big and badly designed, was neither profitable nor successful, and was eventually demolished in 1930. Circus Sarrasani, on the other hand, was truly the world’s most modern circus building, and would be Europe’s (and the World’s) largest circus building after the Parisian circus’s demise; it would remain successfully so until the carpet bombing of Dresden by the British and American Forces in 1945.
 Dresden’s Circus Sarrasani was inaugurated on December 22, 1912 with a sumptuous show given in presence of the German Royal Family. A special souvenir program was printed for the occasion on white silk framed in green&mdash;the colors of Saxony’s flag, which would soon become Sarrasani’s colors for its fleet of vehicles. (At the time of the building's inauguration, Circus Sarrasani’s vehicles were still painted in red, an unusual circus color at the time in Europe, which became known in the circus community as ''Sarrasani red''.)