Fortunately Bob is able to keep a grip on the trapeze bar
but is left dangling over the steel arena . . .
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Sunday, April 27, 2014
Circus Girl #22
Circus Girl #24
Seeing Bob’s valiant attempts to save himself, Charlie
has a change of heart. Climbing up into the rigging, he throws Bob a rope . . .
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Circus Girl #26
Just as Bob reaches the safety of the opposite platform,
Charlie loses his balance and ends up dangling over the lions’ den, holding on
with just one arm – his bad one.
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Circus Girl #28
. . . and Charlie plunges to a hero’s death in the big
cage. (It is doubtful if Bob and Kay
ever suspected that he was the one responsible for the rope breaking.) One addition scene shows Bob and Kay leaving
on their honeymoon, which ends the film on a happy note.
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1977 Movin' On #1
I wonder how many movies Keenan Wynn made in his career? I saw him in "Annie Get Your Gun" a few days ago and a dance movie last night.
Here he is with "Anna May" checking into the motel on location in Charleston, NC.
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Saturday, April 26, 2014
Circus Girl #1 (From Eric Beheim)
There is evidence to suggest that the character of “the
Great Sebastian” in DeMille’s TGSOE was partially inspired by a
character that appeared in CIRCUS GIRL, a rather obscure B-movie
released by Republic Pictures in 1937.
(DeMille’s writers allegedly screened every circus film they could find
while preparing the script for TGSOE. If that was the case, then CIRCUS
GIRL was probably one of the films they looked at.)
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Circus Girl #2
The star of the Roebling Circus (a railroad show) is Charlie Jerome
(Donald Cook) a daring trapeze artist who works without a net and who has a
reputation for being a ladies man.
Charlie’s current love interest is a young aerialist named Kay Rogers
(June Travis).
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Circus Girl #3
While working aloft, Charlie catches and holds Kay and
then proposes marriage to her, refusing to release her until she agrees. (This
scene might very well have inspired the scene in TGSOE where
Sebastian catches and holds Holly until she agrees to kiss him.)
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Circus Girl #4
Charlie is also involved with Carlotta, a rather
hard-boiled blond who is the show’s tiger trainer.
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Circus Girl #5
Just before the flying act is to go on, Charlie is
confronted by his catcher Bob McAvoy (cowboy star Robert Livingston.) Bob, who is also in love with Kay, has just
learned that she and Charlie have been secretly married. Aware of Charlie’s
involvement with Carlotta, Bob warns him not to be “stepping out” on Kay. Charlie responds by knocking Bob down, giving
him a bad gash just below his eye.
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Circus Girl #6
With Bob temporarily patched up, the flying act goes on,
working as usual without a net. (The
principals in this film were doubled by members of the Escalante
Family.)
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Circus Girl #7
As Charlie prepares to execute his final trick, the gash
on Bob cheek opens up and blood streams into his eye, temporarily blinding
him.
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Circus Girl #9
Although Charlie survives the fall, the doctors tell him that the damage
done to his shoulder and arm is permanent, and that he will never fly
again.
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Circus Girl #10
Hearing of the accident, Carlotta rushes to the hospital,
where she learns that Charlie and Kay are married. In an angry outburst, she reveals to Kay
something of Charlie’s womanizing past.
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