| Following Buck’s suggestion, the Van Beuren expedition footage was edited down into a 7,000-foot feature film running about 70 minutes. Buck himself served as the film’s narrator, using a script prepared by Courtney Ryley Cooper (who also contributed articles to Ringling Circus programs over the years.) Released through RKO, BRING ‘EM BACK ALIVE opened in the Mayfair Theater on Times Square in New York and proved to be a box office blockbuster. Despite the Great Depression, the film went on to gross some 2 million dollars nation-wide (the equivalent of 31 million in today’s dollars. Not bad for a semi-documentary film with no big name stars.) In addition to becoming quite rich from his percentage of the film’s profits, Buck became an internationally-known celebrity who would go on to write more books, star in more films, appear at two World’s Fairs, appear with the Ringling Circus for a season, and continue to add to his personal fortune. |
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Bring 'Em Back Alive: The Movie #2
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Cooper also published a number of great circus books that provide insights on show life of the 1920s-1930s. E. P. Norwood wrote in the same style. If you want some great reading, ask your librarian to order up those books for you. Some are written at a juvenile level, but all of them contain a lot of good history, and illustrations.
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