Tue, 09/10/2013 - 22:35 by Natasha Neale
The Encyclopedia Hearsay was founded on four principles: misinformation, rumours, half-remembered conversations and outright lies. Anyone can contribute so long as articles are written with no research whatsoever. If you are citing The Land Before Time as a source or abusing footnotes like David Foster Wallace, you are on the right track.
The Circus began sometime in the 1800s when America really needed some entertainment. Television didn’t exist yet, movies were still years away and people thought animals being prodded by chairs and clowns piling out of cars was the height of human ingenuity. Circuses have evolved since those early days to cover different types of shows; freak shows, Cirque du Soleil, mostly everything in Las Vegas and gypsy carnivals (1). Let’s be real, though. Circuses are basically the organized torture of hobos (2).
In the early days of circuses, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey set up circuses to travel across America. These would have trapezes, tightrope walkers, creepy-ass clowns and a bunch of animals (3). The people who would be in the circus were, what I assume, convicts, hobos and people with no other options. “Running away to join the circus” was a common 1920s saying (4). These guys would be forced to dress up as clowns and interact with children and wish they were dead (5). Then some of them would get paired with lions and elephants that were trained to walk around in a circle after being cattle-prodded in the nuts. Circuses basically began the Great Depression (6).
Eventually circuses had to up their game. People quickly bored of elephants and hobos. This is where freaks came into play. Popular freaks included the bearded lady, conjoined twins and people with microencephaly (7). People love feeling better about themselves so freak shows became pretty popular. Quick tangent: A movie in the early 1930s was made about a regular carnie (8) marrying a freak and meeting his entire circus freak family (9). This movie is remembered, if for nothing else, for popularizing the phrase, “One of us! One of us!” which gets said a bunch during one memorable dinner scene in the movie (10). Anyways, the point is people love sideshows. Modern sideshows included the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, which toured with Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson for a while in the mid-nineties. It featured a dude who lifted luggage with a dick piercing.
Modern circus is basically just Cirque du Soleil. There are probably some knock offs as well. I haven’t actually seen any of them, but I watched some highlights from one on television one time and it seemed neat. But it also basically seems like gypsies torturing themselves to make some money and travel the world. I’ve heard there’s some adult erotic Cirque shows, but can only guess what they can actually get away with. All the performers are probably banging each other anyway, so it’s no big deal.
1. Though let’s be honest, 95 per cent of circus folk are gypsies.
2. Or is this supposed to be ‘hoboes’?
3. With a master of ceremonies who was the torture ring-leader, pun intended.
4. I mean, it had to have been.
5. Themselves and the children.
6. Because, obviously.
7. Pinheads, for those of you who didn’t pay attention in school.
8. I think a trapezer.
9. The movie was called Freaks, obviously. I think she tries to kill him for his huge inheritance.
10. And gets referenced literally everywhere. This movie is probably worth your time. It is nuts.
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