THE BALLOON MAN

New exhibition at Big E documents circus life on the road

September 14, 2011 - West Springfield - Staff photo by Michael S. Gordon - Greg Parkinson, right, in the Circus Around the Clock exhibit in the Young Building at the Big E. One of his daughters, Julie Parkinson, left, wipes down a restored original Barnum and Bailey Circus Mother Goose float.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

By Patricia Cahill, The Republican

WEST SPRINGFIELD – Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus toured this country from 1919 to 1956, bringing to a more provincial America a fever-pitch excitement.
It was front-page news when the circus came to town, as a six-column headline in a 1935 upstate New York newspaper illustrates.
The page is part of a new exhibition at the Big E called “Circus Around the Clock,” which shows the massive effort it took to bring magic to the masses in decades past.
Using archival photos, colorful period posters and multiple video screens, “Circus Around the Clock” traces a day in the life of a traveling circus, from the train puffing into town to the tents being collapsed and packed away.
Wayne McCary, president of the Eastern States Exposition, calls the show “a unique opportunity to showcase the golden age of the big, traveling tent circuses.”
Creator of “Circus Around the Clock” is Greg Parkinson of Parkinson Enterprises, a veteran of 24 years at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisc.

September 14, 2011 - West Springfield - Staff photo by Michael S. Gordon - Emily Parkinson Smith, left, wipes down one of the clocks that will highlight the many activities of circus life in the Circus Around the Clock exhibit at the Big E. Her sister, Julie Parkinson, right, hangs pictures and posters in the exhibit space in the Young Building.
“The collection is on loan from all over the world,” said Parkinson as he slaved away last week to get the show up in time at the Young Building
The images in the exhibition are mounted on a series of colored walls, with each wall bearing a clock that shows the time of day at which the activity pictured would have happened.
The hard work behind the glamour quickly becomes evident. A sweating cook flips breakfast on a griddle. Horses drag 62-foot poles. Muscular men raise the center pole for a tent that will accommodate 12,000 people.
“Sledge gangs” pound stakes into the ground. An army of uniformed animal handlers lines up. A clown puts on makeup. A river of humanity pours into the Big Top.
Between the matinee and evening performances, the staff sits down together for dinner. At 2 a.m., the circus is packed up and the train is moving again.
Even while the clocks suggest the passage of time in a day, the photos take viewers back to decades past.
While circus costumes may be timeless, audiences and behind-the-scenes workers help locate the pictures in history with their boaters, fedoras, newsboy caps, cuffed jeans and bobbed hair.
“Circus Around the Clock” also offers activities for visitors, including a live juggler and a Hula Hoop contest.
Mini-exhibits include a 1984 poster showing a wasp-waisted bareback rider, the Hartford Circus Fire of 1944, and a magnificent larger-than-life gilded sculpture of Mother Goose that traveled on European tours.
“The chance to bring a museum-quality exhibit that showcases this historic aspect of circus fits our mission to educate, entertain and create memories,” said McCary, noting that circuses still enchant.
The Big E’s own hugely popular “Super Circus” is seen by about 80,000 people every year, said McCary.