Tag: Jimmy Stewart

The Circus Town’s Been Born

Astley's Amphitheatre
Astley’s Amphitheatre

On January 9 in 1768, the first modern circus was staged in London. Philip Astley, a former cavalry sergeant major, made a ring and invited the public to watch him do tricks on horseback as he rode around the ring.

The Growth of the Circus

Because the public enjoyed the act, Astley then added other riders, a clown, and musicians, eventually putting a roof over his ring in 1770. In 1782, Astley’s Amphitheatre faced competition from a similar act down the road, with the competitor using the name “Royal Circus.” The competitor took the word “circus” from the Roman name for where chariot races were held.

Eventually, the word “circus” would become the generic name for such events. And Astley himself eventually established eighteen more such venues across Europe.

Circuses spread around the world. John Bill Ricketts created the first U.S. circus in 1792 in Philadelphia. In the late 1800s, P.S. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey went into the circus business, as did five Ringling brothers.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Since the invention of the circus, fictional stories have used the circus setting to tell stories too. In 1952, director Cecil B. DeMille and Paramount Pictures released The Greatest Show on Earth, set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The cast included Betty Hutton, Holly Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, James Stewart (as Buttons the Clown), Dorothy Lamour, and Gloria Grahame. Check out the trailer below, where it is funny to hear the narrator’s voice from The Ten Commandments (DeMille) narrating this trailer about a circus.

Springsteen’s “Wild Billy’s Circus Story”

One of my favorite stories about a circus is found in Bruce Springsteen’s song, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story,” from The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle (1973). The song is really an excuse to string together a number of wonderful circus images.  Springsteen’s tale features the barker, the man-beast, the flying Zambinis, the stong man, and others.

Finally, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” concludes with an enticing question that many children have dreamed of being asked.  “And the circus boss leans over, whispers in the little boy’s ear, ‘Hey son, you wanna try the big top?'”

Apparently, I am not the only fan of the somewhat unusual and obscure song. In this video below from July 2013 in Kilkenny in Ireland, Springsteen explains how a fan has been following him around trying to get him to play “Wild Billy’s Circus Story.”

And then the Boss leans over and whisper’s in his ear that the wish will be granted. Or something like that.

What is your favorite circus story? Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo of Astley’s Amphitheatre via public domain.

  • Gary Cooper’s Three Oscars
  • A View from the Rear Window
  • Charles Lindbergh: The Spirit of St. Louis
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  • How Alfred Hitchcock made “Rope” With Only 10 Cuts
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    Gary Cooper’s Three Oscars

    Gary Cooper Oscar

    On May 7, 1901, Frank James Cooper was born in Helena, Montana. After some work as a salesman and promoter, he started working as an actor in 1925, changing his first name to Gary when he signed a contract with Paramount. Reportedly, a casting director suggested the new name after her tough hometown of Gary, Indiana.

    Gary Cooper went on to star in many memorable films including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Meet John Doe (1941), Pride of the Yankees (1942), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), and The Fountainhead (1949). Cooper was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and lost for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Pride of the Yankees, and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

    Cooper’s First Best Actor Oscar

    He received the Best Actor Oscar twice. First, he won the honor in 1942 for Sergeant York (1941).

    Sergeant York features a terrific performance, even if some note that Hollywood may have been motivated to honor the World War I film about a pacifist becoming a soldier to encourage Americans to sign up to fight in the new war. Below is the trailer.

    Cooper’s Second Oscar & The Meaning of High Noon

    More than a decade later, he won the Best Actor Oscar for High Noon (1952), the last time he was nominated for Best Actor. It is hard to pick a favorite Gary Cooper movie, but I am not sure anything tops High Noon (1952).

    We liked Cooper as a hero.

    At the 25th Academy Awards in 1953, Cooper was filming another movie in Mexico and was ill.  So, John Wayne accepted the award for him.

    Below, actress Janet Gaynor announces Cooper’s win, and Wayne accepts the statue.

    Interestingly despite Wayne’s joke wondering why he did not get the High Noon role, Wayne reportedly did not like the movie. There are various theories about why, but Garry Wills in John Wayne’s America explained that Wayne thought the movie ended on a note of disrespect for the law when Cooper dropped his badge in the dirt at the end.

    Like Wayne, a number of people found political messages in High Noon. Some suspected High Noon had a “leftist” message. By contrast, though, others believed the script, written by Carl Foreman, who would later be blacklisted, was not sending a left-wing message but exploring the way people had cowered to the bully Sen. Joe McCarthy.

    Other viewers find in High Noon a conservative message about how one man has to stand up when the justice system breaks down. Or they find an allegory about the Cold War. In Bright Lights Film Journal, Prof. Manfred Weidhorn summed up the contrasting theories about the movie, saying “High Noon, bristling with ambiguity, is a veritable Rorschach test.”

    But High Noon is deep down a great movie, however you want to interpret any messages about the man (and his wife) standing up to the bad guys. And maybe the possibility of so many interpretations adds to its American character.

    Many years ago when I was in college in the pre-Internet days and had some friends visiting from Sweden, I took them to a revival theater to see High Noon.  I thought it was a wonderful example of an American movie, or at least of an example regarding how Americans see themselves.

    Another former actor, Ronald Reagan, recognized how the movie remained in America’s consciousness decades later. He invokes the movie in this clip, discussing what it was like for a Republican to be in Democratic territory.

    Cooper’s Third Oscar

    Nearly a decade after High Noon, Cooper would be awarded a third and final Oscar. In April 1961, the Academy gave Cooper a Lifetime Achievement Oscar for his great career.

    Cooper again could not accept the award.  But this time, unknown to many, it was because of a serious illness.

    When viewers saw Cooper’s friend Jimmy Stewart give an emotional speech at the Oscars, though, they realized Cooper was not well. The news soon came out that Cooper was suffering from prostate cancer.  He died one month later on May 13, 1961, leaving behind a collection of great films that would be the envy of any actor.

    What is your favorite Gary Cooper movie? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    How Alfred Hitchcock made “Rope” With Only 10 Cuts

    Rope Jimmy Stewart Vashi Nedomansky has put together a video examining Alfred Hitchock’s movie Rope (1948), which starred Jimmy Stewart. Chimesfreedom earlier explored the real-life crime that inspired the film, but Nedomansky focuses on an interesting technical aspect of the movie. While watching the movie, one senses there are no edits or cuts. But Nedomansky illustrates how there are actually ten cuts, some less obvious than others.

    If you have never seen the film, note that the following video contains spoilers. If you have seen Rope, or do not mind the spoilers, check out How Alfred Hitchcock hid 10 Edits in Rope.

    How Alfred Hitchcock hid 10 Edits in ROPE from Vashi Nedomansky on Vimeo.

    What is your favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • A View from the Rear Window
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  • Gary Cooper’s Three Oscars

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    A View from the Rear Window

    rear window Filmmaker Jeff Desom recut the scenes from Alfred Hitchock’s Rear Window (1954) viewed out the apartment window into one video. In the original movie, L.B. “Jeff” Jefferies, played by James Stewart, is confined in a wheelchair with a broken leg and spends his time watching his neighbors through the window of his Greenwich Village apartment. Eventually, he begins to suspect that one of his neighbors murdered his wife. Jeff then convinces his girlfriend, played by Grace Kelly, to help him investigate. Did he see what he thinks he saw, or is he imagining things?

    Desom’s complete 20-minute recut of the window scenes from Rear Window, entitled Rear Window Loop, is not online. But a making-of video called Rear Window Timelapse contains three minutes of what Jimmy Stewart saw outside his window in the film. Check it out.

    Desom tells a little more about the process of creating the film in a recent interview. He completed the project by himself in six weeks for a Luxembourg club to show on a screen above the bar. Hopefully nobody gets so drunk they think they witnessed an actual murder.

    What do you think of the Rear Window recut? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Christmas Don’t Be Late
  • The Circus Town’s Been Born
  • Gary Cooper’s Three Oscars
  • How Alfred Hitchcock made “Rope” With Only 10 Cuts
  • Charles Lindbergh: The Spirit of St. Louis
  • The Eyes of Alfred Hitchcock

    • (Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

    Audie Murphy: To Hell and Back to Film to TV to Song

    audie murphy to hell and back On a cold day on this date of January 26 in 1945 in France during a World War II battle, Audie Murphy earned the Medal of Honor when he engaged in a single-handed battle with Germans. His heroic actions would save many of his fellow soldiers, and it eventually garnered Murphy attention from Jimmy Cagney and Hollywood, helping launch a film career.

    Murphy’s Act of Heroism

    In the January 1945 battle, Murphy saw his unit reduced from 128 men to 19.  So, he ordered the remaining men to fall back while he fought the Germans by himself for a period.  He eventually climbed up on an abandoned tank and used its machine gun to enable his comrades to return and organize a counter-attack.

    The counter-attack won back the town of Holtzwihr, France for the Allies. When he later was asked why he took on an entire company of German infantry, Murphy explained “They were killing my friends.”

    Murphy was wounded in the fight, which ended his active duty. Through his military career, he won a large number of medals and decorations, making him known as “the most decorated combat soldier in World War II.”

    Audie Murphy in Hollywood

    After the decorations led to a profile in Life magazine, Hollywood came calling.  The attention eventually led to a film based on Murphy’s war service.

    The movie was called To Hell and Back (1955).  And it starred . . . Audie Murphy.

    Upon seeing a trailer for the exploits of a war hero with the war hero playing himself based on a co-written autobiography, one might conclude that Murphy had a big ego and thought of himself as a great hero. But Murphy originally did not want to play himself.

    The film is largely a tribute to Murphy’s fallen comrades.  The movie highlights the deaths of the fallen, including the dead soldiers haunting Murphy’s award ceremony.

    My favorite film with Murphy is Destry (1954), a remake of the also good Destry Rides Again (1939), which starred Jimmy Stewart. He also appeared in a number of television shows, including a Western, Whispering Smith (1961).

    Murphy’s War Experience

    Murphy was humble about his exploits and realistic about war, as shown by this 1963 radio interview.  In the interview, he explains that the highlight of the war for him was the day he heard the war was over.

    Murphy also became a hero when he helped veterans of the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam by breaking taboos to speak about his own post-war struggles.  He was open about his personal battles, including post-traumatic stress syndrome and addiction to sleeping pills.

    You may see how unassuming he is in this clip from the TV show What’s My Line?, recorded before To Hell and Back hit theaters.

    Murphy the Songwriter

    It was not until I started writing this post that I discovered that Murphy also co-wrote a number of country songs.  His songs were recorded by singers such as Dean Martin and Porter Wagoner.

    Below is one of Murphy’s biggest hits, “When the Wind Blows in Chicago,” sung here by Roy Clark.

    Murphy’s Death and Confusion About His Age

    Murphy died in a plane crash on May 28, 1971. His widow, Pam Murphy, continued to work for veterans until she died in 2010.

    Audie Murphy had been 21 when he risked his life and earned the Medal of Honor. When he died, he was only 45, although many sources like Wikipedia and even his tombstone in Arlington National Cemetery claim he was 46.

    The age confusion was created because this honorable and talented man did lie once. Several months after his mother died, with some help from his sister, the teenaged Murphy falsified his birth certificate.  He lied so he could serve his country when he was only seventeen.

    What is your favorite Audie Murphy film? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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