The First Circus

[485FourEightFive]

really lovely

[Upritebass]

The mermaid of Fiji .....eeewwwwwe! Don't think I'll ever forget that one. Eveyone knew it was made of wires, but audiences were still enthralled by it. lol!

PT Barnum knew that even though the people knew it was phony, the sense of wonderment would keep them coming. Interesting way of becoming rich. Maybe I should try that. :-)

[dorkydoright]

Super cool! What a find. : D

[Upritebass]

@dorkydoright Shhhhh! I live in PT Barnum's hometown. :-) His museum is only a few blocks from me. His mansion used to be on Iranistan Avenue (an old local joke about Iranistan Avenue: "I ran, I stand" lol!)

That stonehenge circus looks a little dangerous. Where did they get that Brontosaurus? (It's not called a Brontosaurus anymore since they discovered they put the wrong head on the body, so now it's called something else. Apt ..... something-a-saurus or the like).

[armadillozenith]

I love this and have been sharing it around. There are details that repay repeat viewings! The animation AND the music together are an absolute dream.. a perfect little gem, a triumph!

[woodears]

This film is by Tony Sarg, who created brilliant silhouette animation before designing the original Macy's Thanksgiving parade floats.

[NordicByNature1]

Guess they didnt know the right proportions of a CAMARASAURUS back then. The tails way to long lol

[654zns]

Say isn't this a film by Tony Sarg? He used to do shadow puppets as well as creating the first character balloons for the Macy's parade.

[bloodasek]

Thanks! :) Its good.

[OndTomat]

Circuses freaks me out.

[dre38w]

That was soo kool! When was this made?

[BlueUmbrellaStudios]

1921, I think. The band, supposedly, took the work of Herbert Dawley and added music to it. As you might have guessed, Dawley animated a short called "The First Circus". This is exactly it. The background colour is different, I think, but that's most likely to give it an emotion of some sort.

Dawley has also worked on other projects, some of which were Grimm Fairy Tales. Personally, I'd like to see more silhouette animations these days than any other form of animations.

[SanctusNex]

At first I thought it was sad because the animals looked like they were in pain (Facial expressions? lol) but when the ending hit it was like dayum, talk about pay back!>:D Even though I'm pretty sure if they were real they would do that just because they are wild animals... Great video though! Really unique

[baragon2001x]

love it the song and cartoon transport me to a magical place in my mind

[farnium]

Great video! I hope more old reels are re-scored like this!

[Pr1mobmx]

awesome!

[agentsh]

Where ever do you find these weird, ancient cartoons?

[HeatherShow]

I would love to be able to go back in time to witness the audience's reaction to this when it first came out. It's so easy to forget how magical things like this would have seemed.

[DareDarlington]

This is SO cool!!! Thanks!! I'm putting it on my blog!

[LordSusan]

greatness