Circus Memories Under The "Small Top"

The Son Of A Circus Man Remembers His Father

(CBS)  It is the oldest of youthful fantasies: Running away to a life in the circus, playing among the elephants and the acrobats.

More than half a century ago, young Sonny King did just that in the Australian outback. Sonny shared some of those big-top memories with CBS Sunday Morning Correspondent Jerry Bowen.

In the 1940s and '50s Sonny's father, Mervyn King, was "Mr. Circus" in Australia. He was the owner and one of the stars of Silvers' Circus: Ringmaster, horse trainer, lion tamer and more. It wasn't until Sonny was a teenager that he understood his father's life was unusual.

Sonny remembered being asked, "'You mean your father is a lion tamer?'" And he would answer, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. So ... so what?"

Mervyn King was a true son of the circus, literally raised under the Australian big top, and abandoned by his un-wed parents and given away to a small traveling circus when he was just six years old.

As Mervyn King grew, so did his story. A story his son, an artist, believed was worth telling.

It is a story told in a baker's dozen of detailed dioramas that Sonny created from scratch from his childhood memories and is now on exhibition at the Craft and Fold Art Museum in Los Angeles.

There, in handcrafted miniature, is his father in the lion's cage. Just as he looked in the old black-and-white films that captured his act.

Also, there is the jaw-dropping Johnny Zelinsky, holding up a trapeze artist with just his teeth ... an act he kept doing into his eighties!

And there were the amazing Shipway twins, Olympic-class athletes who ruled the horizontal bars ... most of the time.

"And every now and again they'd miss the trick and they'd fly off into the audience and knock about five people out of their seats," Sonny laughed as he told Bowen, "but that was always fun."

And this poignant scene: Peeking through the back of the big top, a juggler warming up to go on ... a clown relaxing ... townsfolk ogling these exciting visitors ... and the woman in the polka dot dress, walking away.

Looking at that diorama, Sonny described the scene: "Well, this one here represents my mother leaving the circus. She left the circus when she was 20 and she took me with her."

His mother Phyllis Perry was from a famous Australian circus family - a star in her own right - and tired of it all.

"She figured that there was a better life somewhere. And my father didn’t know anything else, so he stayed with the circus. That's all he knew."

But starting when Sonny was ten years old, his father pulled him out of boarding school for months at a time, to travel the rough and tumble Australian outback with the circus. It was a little boy's fantasy come true.

"It was a fantasy," Sonny remembered, "It was great. I had my own horse. I'm sure I was very spoiled. I was the boss' son, you know."

When we think of the circus today, we think of "The Greatest Show on Earth" playing to big crowds in big arenas in big cities like Los Angeles. But that is not the circus life that Sonny King remembers.

One diorama depicts rural Waga Waga, a small town typical of the stops made by Silvers' Circus.

"This is the advance man," Sonny said, pointing out one of the characters. "He would go ahead of the show by two weeks. And he would put up what they called 'the bills,' the posters, advertising the circus coming to town."

There was no bigger show, especially in the Australian outback. After the big tent went up, the townspeople would line up and pour in.

As Sonny began to create his father's story, he started with the audience.

"I'll build the audience because it would be disrespectful not to have a full house," Sonny said, chuckling.

King sculpted nearly 400 characters from clay, inspired by those small town circusgoers he saw years ago. Each diorama took up to three months to create.

King's favorite diorama? A place that provoked vivid memories, the men's dressing tent. Where performers would wind down, gear up and let loose. In miniature, his father looks on.

"To go in there was a riot, because they'd be cracking jokes and they'd be playing practical jokes on each other," Sonny laughed at the memory. "You didn't wanna see a lot of this stuff, but it was funny."

What started as a small tribute to his father has become a popular exhibition, says museum director Maryna Hrushetska. "The essence of folk art is storytelling. And you can't look at a diorama and not wonder, 'Who are these people? Who's in the audience? Who are the performers?' You almost get drawn into and hear the excitement and smell what was going on in the circus."

Sonny King discovered he was not meant for the circus life. Instead he found his way to America, as a part-time painter and full-time graphic artist for film and television.

And at age 67, he's found a second career in his dioramas.

His father Mervyn died in 2003 at the age of 95.

Generations of Australians remember Mervyn King. And thanks to his son who never forgot, now others can catch his act ... one scene at a time ... under the "small top" in Los Angeles.

[tnt1954]

if you can deal a yarborough, you can join the
british secret service. refer to moonraker and
policewoman brand''s great act in it. by ian fleming.
through a strange confluence of events, i ended
up dumped off by my mother mona avis, kidnapped
by the cordobas, involved with the bonanno family
and after many adventures ended up back with the
cordobas destitute begging for mercy, praying for
a magician to send betty, the mom i know, to israel
for six years to convert all of the middle east
to mother hen christianity. as a schoolteacher
for 30 years in l.a. unified only she is the woman
for the job. she does believe firmly in the little
red hen story. and then maybe prog and i, her husband
and i can get, just a wee bit of peace, before we
die, without being hen-pecked ever nanosecond.
naggity nag nag nag at nagshead australia. the plan
by fickling''s disease to bankrupt australia and
the united kingdom is going well through chicanerous
channels. poor northern rock. so crocked and
cracked. if the Greatest Depression comes soon,
surely the bolshoi ballet shall celebrate it on
their 90th annivesary on october 17th, 2007. what
great heroes they were. truly following christ''s
admonition to share and share alike. oddly enuff.

[tnt1954]

thanks mr. bowen for that great story. there
are so many rings in the circus now, its too
hard to follow. there are so many channels, and
acts and arts and magic castles, and magicians
i''m overwhelmed. p.t. barnum was mad at the lind
family, because jenny lind wanted too much of the
take. but the lind family continues under other
names. the swedish songbird that she was. phyllis
lind garr is one. eddie garr was her husband.
and teri garr is her daughter. but don''t take my
word for it. i might go right through a collapsing
wall in san francisco''s chinatown and end up in
shanghai, so you have to be careful around magicians and musicians.
you never know what they have up their sleeve.

[zykracosmos]

Dear Circus Reform Now- Reading your comments made me want to remind or inform you that circuses have already been reformed dramatically. The artform most appreciated and popular today is the non-animal format made popular by Cirque du Soleil and now perfected with Cirque de la Symphonie, a fantastic program that shares the stage with the full symphony, a blend of cirque mystique and the majesty of the orchestra. You can see acrobats, aerial fliers, contortionists, jugglers, clowns, strongmen, hand balancers, and magic all performed to the music played by a full orchestra. These are the shows that are selling out the house now, not the old style versions with the air filled with dust and animal dung. We have evolved, and our appreciation for these amazing performers has become even more elevated in the process.

[goodatcare]

While the art was sweet, the silence re: abuse of circus animals screamed out. When will America stop beating wild animals into submission for a few moments of our entertainment. This is banned in Europe and most advanced countries.

From an article in June 2001: "Spikes are used by a circus to control elephants. The tassels conceal the spikes in the ring.

Touring circuses may cover thousands of miles a year, carrying animals from site to site in transporters and cages on the backs of lorries known as beast wagons. Moving location each week means they spend most of the year in temporary accommodation.

The animals may be confined for hours, even days, in their travelling cages, with their only respite being either limited time in an exercise cage, being rehearsed, or performing. It is impossible for a travelling menagerie to provide circus animals with the facilities they need.

Often, animals are kept together in inappropriate groups - for example territorial lions and tigers share the same cages. Zebras and llamas, will form groups or herds in the wild, but will often be solitary, or just in pairs in the circus. Again, they tend to be penned or tethered, rather than given exercise enclosures."

Circus Reform Now