 The real star of RING OF FEAR is the Clyde Beatty Circus. (Filming took place at the Beatty winter quarters in Deming, N.M.) Like the DeMille film, RING OF FEAR’s chief asset is its generous use of documentary footage showing the circus unloading and setting up, shots taken in the backyard showing animals and equipment, and performance footage shot before a live audience and featuring actual performers from the Beatty Circus.. Today, 57 years after RING OF FEAR was released, these scenes provide us with an invaluable visual record of the Clyde Beatty railroad show and what it must have been like to have seen it in person.  |
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Ring Of Fear #3
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3 comments:
I believe quite a bit of the filming was done in Phoenix, with some of the train unloading and build-up filmed in Galveston, Texas at the end of the 1953 season. Thanks for starting this interesting series!
Erik Jaeger
On a historical note, the last under canvas circus on rails in the USA. Outlasting RBBB in 1956 by several months. CB was on 15 cars: 9 flats, 2 animal stocks, and 4 coaches.
Erik Jaeger
Pat O'Brien was doing dinner theatre, and day-and-dated us on the Beatty show, in Manassas, Virginia, in '81. He came for the matinee and Jimmy James introduced him at Intermission. With a little help, he clambered up on an elephant tub and greeted the audience, who by then recognized him and responded with an ovation. As he was departing, I met him out front and told him I'd worked for Mr. Beatty. He regaled me with a half dozen stories of the filming, and reminded me he'd delivered the eulogy at Beatty's funeral. When he left for his nap before his show, everyone who had met this gracious gentleman was smiling.
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