A sucker for circus movies
GORDON FREIREICH
I'm a sucker for circus movies.When most kids got angry at their parents they threatened to "run away to the circus." I always tried to run away to a circus movie.
And I've been hooked on circus movies ever since.
Even though the advertisements make it look very much like a "chick flick," I went to see "Water for Elephants" last week. I knew from the television ads that the male star is the guy from the "Twilight" series (none of which, I am proud to say, I have seen). The female lead is the perky blonde from "Legally Blonde."
What the film does have -- as indicated by the title -- is elephants. Or, to be more exact, an elephant. In my book, "Rosie" was the star of the film, not the humans.
I go bonkers over elephants. They are big and graceful and loveable. Perhaps I project what I want to be on the elephants.
Blame that fixation on "The Greatest Show on Earth." The 1952 film would be considered hokey by today's standards (a dramatic and climactic train crash now looks as if it were filmed at a Lionel convention). However, director Cecil B. DeMille pulled out all of the stops -- and the elephants -- when it came to spectacular circus acts. And I was hooked on pachyderms. (By the way, one of the lead players in the film was a young Charlton Heston, years before DeMille cast him as Moses in "The Ten Commandments.")
I clearly remember sitting through two showings of the film at a first-run theater in downtown York and then going to see it again when it played the second-run Hiway Theatre.
A few years after that, I saw a film titled "Trapeze." The film was notable for the fact that it had elephants -- and a new Italian transplant, named Gina Lollobrigida. I don't remember much about the film, other than the elephants and Miss Lollobrigida in a spangled, tight outfit. (I was maturing rapidly by then.)
That was followed by a musical film, "Billy Rose's Jumbo," which was notable for me because of the elephants. Heck, I even watched a movie titled "Elephant Walk," just to see the animals rampage through a home and scare the living daylights out of Elizabeth Taylor.
All those elephantine memories got me to thinking about when I was a child and the circus came to York.
As I recall, the circus would set up shop in the field next to Veterans' Memorial Stadium. That was a time when most of the shows were literally under the "Big Top."
Since the field was in roaming distance of my home on South Duke Street, I could easily walk to the location and watch the circus take shape. And yes, there was the smell of sawdust -- and animals -- hanging in the air.
And, of course, there were elephants.
Much later, when I went to college in Florida, the arrival of the circus train was followed by a circus parade -- including elephants -- to the indoor convention center.
Those are all warm thoughts I like to pack in my elephant trunk of memories.
Gordon Freireich is a former editor of the York Sunday News.
And I've been hooked on circus movies ever since.
Even though the advertisements make it look very much like a "chick flick," I went to see "Water for Elephants" last week. I knew from the television ads that the male star is the guy from the "Twilight" series (none of which, I am proud to say, I have seen). The female lead is the perky blonde from "Legally Blonde."
What the film does have -- as indicated by the title -- is elephants. Or, to be more exact, an elephant. In my book, "Rosie" was the star of the film, not the humans.
I go bonkers over elephants. They are big and graceful and loveable. Perhaps I project what I want to be on the elephants.
Blame that fixation on "The Greatest Show on Earth." The 1952 film would be considered hokey by today's standards (a dramatic and climactic train crash now looks as if it were filmed at a Lionel convention). However, director Cecil B. DeMille pulled out all of the stops -- and the elephants -- when it came to spectacular circus acts. And I was hooked on pachyderms. (By the way, one of the lead players in the film was a young Charlton Heston, years before DeMille cast him as Moses in "The Ten Commandments.")
I clearly remember sitting through two showings of the film at a first-run theater in downtown York and then going to see it again when it played the second-run Hiway Theatre.
A few years after that, I saw a film titled "Trapeze." The film was notable for the fact that it had elephants -- and a new Italian transplant, named Gina Lollobrigida. I don't remember much about the film, other than the elephants and Miss Lollobrigida in a spangled, tight outfit. (I was maturing rapidly by then.)
That was followed by a musical film, "Billy Rose's Jumbo," which was notable for me because of the elephants. Heck, I even watched a movie titled "Elephant Walk," just to see the animals rampage through a home and scare the living daylights out of Elizabeth Taylor.
All those elephantine memories got me to thinking about when I was a child and the circus came to York.
As I recall, the circus would set up shop in the field next to Veterans' Memorial Stadium. That was a time when most of the shows were literally under the "Big Top."
Since the field was in roaming distance of my home on South Duke Street, I could easily walk to the location and watch the circus take shape. And yes, there was the smell of sawdust -- and animals -- hanging in the air.
And, of course, there were elephants.
Much later, when I went to college in Florida, the arrival of the circus train was followed by a circus parade -- including elephants -- to the indoor convention center.
Those are all warm thoughts I like to pack in my elephant trunk of memories.
Gordon Freireich is a former editor of the York Sunday News.
Read his blog at yorkblog.com/yorkatheart. E-mail: gordon@newtongroup.com.
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