Buster Bailey was a circus fan, amateur cinematographer and much more. Bailey was a familiar face on the circus lot and was given full access to a variety of circuses, including Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus, AL G. Barnes Circus, Clyde Beatty Circus, Amsterdam Circus, Moscow Circus, Russian Ice Show and Circus Benneweis. These circuses are captured in this film collection.
There is footage of circus life in towns across America, including scenes of winter quarters, trains loading and unloading, the back yard, animal acts, spec productions, tumbling acts, clown gags, trapeze and web numbers, and much more. Bailey’s tours of European circus parks, the circus parades in Baraboo, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois, and the Circus hall of Fame in Sarasota, Florida, are also captured in this collection.
