Sunday, July 27, 2014

Super Circus #1 (From Eric Beheim)


Recently when Buckles posted a photo of a toy circus train from the TV show Super Circus, I was quite surprised that no one posted comments about this program. For those of you too young to remember it, Super Circus (which was on from 1949 to 1956) featured some of the top circus acts of that day, performing live in front of a studio audience. (It aired on Sunday afternoons from 5 to 6 p.m. Eastern Time on ABC. The other big weekly circus TV program was the hour-long Sealtest Big Top, which, from 1950 to 1957, aired live on Saturdays on CBS.) I can remember watching both shows – two hours a week of top-drawer circus talent! (Buckles, didn’t your parents appear on one or both of these programs?) A few episodes from both of these shows survive as black & white kinescopes (i.e. recordings of television programs made by filming the picture from a video monitor.) Here are a few frame enlargements from a surviving Super Circus kinescope. 

Posted by Buckles at 7/27/2014 05:55:00 AM

8 comments:

Bob Swaney said...

Ed McMahon was the Sealtest Big Top Clown long before his Johnny Carson days.

27 July, 2014 07:48
Bob Momyer said...

I once tried to bring that subject up when I was working with Ed but he didn't seem anxious to recall his clowning days.
Bob

27 July, 2014 09:13
Unknown said...

SUPER CIRCUS originated from Chicago, while the SEALTEST BIG TOP originated from Philadelphia. For its final season, SUPER CIRCUS moved to New York. Over the years, SUPER CIRCUS’ sponsors included Kellogg's Cereals, Mars Candy Bars, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, and Sweetheart Soap.

27 July, 2014 10:42
Dick Flint said...

I am one of the many right on the cusp of being too young to remember either Super Circus or Sealtest Big Top. I do remember eagerly trying to catch episodes of Circus Boy (1956–1958). It should be noted that television was a small but growing influence during the years of these programs. In 1950, when Sealtest Big Top debuted and Super Circus was in its second season, only 9% of Americans had a television set. By June 1955 it was 65%.

I do have very vivid memories of International Showtime which ran on NBC Fridays at 7:30 pm from 1961-65. The hour-long show presented European circuses, magic, aqua and ice shows all taped abroad and hosted by Don Ameche who would introduce each act from the seats with his souvenir program in hand. It helped broaden my circus interests considerably for it focused on what the performers did with Ameche providing interesting introductory commentary about the act. I wrote about International Showtime with more detail in a contribution to this blog in February 2008.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

27 July, 2014 12:11
Bob Momyer said...

Sealtest Big Top wa produced by a Philadelphia TV station but I believe the actual show as preented at the armory in Camden, New Jersey. I think the Hunt Bros Circus out of Florence, New Jersey was involved in the talent side of the show.
Bob

27 July, 2014 13:41
Mike Naughton said...

In the mid 1980s I was handling the front end for Bob Commerford's Pet Expo and we showed the Philadelphia Armory.

The show worked weekends and on Friday the press was invited to the armory. This was the first time I saw the inside of the building even though I was in town for about 10 days doing the last minute marketing.

The arched ceiling of the armory was easily recognizable as the Sealtest Big Top Circus setting.

Sealtest was a dairy company and their products were considered a top-shelf and of the best quality.

We sold Sealtest products in my father's grocery/deli in The Bronx. There was another dairy, Manchester Farms, and a quart of their milk was 1 cent cheaper than Sealtest. We sold both and the customers were almost religiously loyal to their favorite brand.

When Disney World opened the Sealtest Company products were sold there which only enhanced the Sealtest brand. They made much ado about the Disney connection with their in-store posters.

In the early 1970s, a quart of Sealtest was 27 cents.

Didn't Castle Films use the Sealtest Big Top as a series?


27 July, 2014 15:28
Mike Naughton said...

For clarification.

Bob Commerford would combine all three of his petting zoo units and kiddie land rides into the largest building in town. The tour ran mid-January into late April, weekends only, in the northeast.

I did all the front end for the three winters.
The best boss I ever had in show business and my favorite job besides running Yankee Doodle Circus.

Bob spent money on advertising, big money. Starting 7-10 days prior we had tv commercials running all day long, radio spots on all the morning and evening drive times and large display ads in the major papers.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area had very reasonable advertising rates and I covered every tv program from the Good Morning America to Regis and Kathy Lee to all the soap operas in the afternoon to prime time tv.

I had extra money in the tv budget and said to Bob, "I can't buy any more tv time, everything is covered. The only thing I didn't buy was the televised church services on Sunday morning."

Without missing a beat, "Don't you think church people would like to bring their kids to the Pet Expo on Sunday afternoon."

Without missing a beat I said, "I have to make a phone call to the tv stations."

ha ha ha

Free tickets didn't exist on The Pet Expo when I was there, although my stomach would be in knots knowing the thousand$$$$ he had in advertising.

Bob Commerford, showman A+.

There is a funny story about Bob and the Lucky Ducks at the Danbuy (Ct) Fair that is a classic, I will save that for another day.

27 July, 2014 15:57
Roger Smith said...

Carson knew, of course, that Ed McMahon had clowned in his early career. He sometimes ragged him about it to Ed's discomfort. Being a TV clown wasn't a good fit for a man who had been a Marine Corps Colonel.

30 July, 2014 17:15

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