This film was made by local mill worker Laurie Chambers. Although on a very modest income, Laurie indulged his hobby of both photography and filmmaking, being a member of both Halifax Photographic Club and Halifax Cine Club. Most of the films he took were of his family and of holidays, but this one stands out as capturing Halifax at time of change. His second cousin, Mary, also took an interest in film and married another member of Halifax Cine Club, Derek Chatburn, who ten years later made...

This film was made by local mill worker Laurie Chambers. Although on a very modest income, Laurie indulged his hobby of both photography and filmmaking, being a member of both Halifax Photographic Club and Halifax Cine Club. Most of the films he took were of his family and of holidays, but this one stands out as capturing Halifax at time of change. His second cousin, Mary, also took an interest in film and married another member of Halifax Cine Club, Derek Chatburn, who ten years later made a lovely film of their family on holiday in Whitby. 

 

The film has a whole gives a portrait of Halifax in the early 1950s, as can be seen from the film description – including a view of the old bowling alley with the wonderful giant pin on top, now gone and replaced by the Electric Bowl. It also shows the demolition of the Palace Theatre, marking an end of an era of vaudeville. It also shows a rare glimpse of Lithuanian children dancing at manor Heath, a group of people arriving in the area as refugees after the war, and working in the local factories.   Many of these people and places can be seen at around the same time in other films of Halifax on YFA Online, especially Saturday Morning Out.

 

Possibly the highlight of the film is the arrival of Billy Smart’s Circus in the second part of the film. The circus is seen making its way across town from the Railway Station to Manor Heath Park, self-advertising itself on its way. Although Billy Smart’s were far from being the only touring circus – there were many others, such as Bertram Mills Circus and Chipperfields – Billy Smart’s name has become almost synonymous with the circus.  However, his New World Circus only started just after the war in 1946, when rules on fairs were becoming prohibitive.  
Billy Smart’s was Britain's largest travelling show, having over 100 animals, including 15 elephants – in fact posters would call it a menagerie. They brought in top circus acts from around the world, and included acts from well known stories of the Arabian Nights, and a Wild West Show, which had become huge in the US and Britain following the success of Bill Cody’s, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show – which first toured Britain in 1887 and lastly in 1902-1904, and became popularised in film and on TV – and its British imitators.


The film shows just how much the circus had come in such a small space of time, as it had to in order to fill itsmassive 5,000 seat Big Top.  It grew in a period after the war when there was a great desire for this kind of entertainment, before the dominance of TV.  On his death in 1966 Billy Smart was described by Billy Butlin – who also comes from a travelling fairground background – as, “the greatest showman of his time – and probably the last great showman.” (Quoted in Toulmin, p 67) Although Billy Smart’s Circus stopped travelling in 1971, it continued on TV as a Christmas special – where it would attract audiences of 21 million – until 1983. By this time it had ceased to have any animal acts. In the mid 2000s it started touring again, taking advantage of the fact that live performance is so much more thrilling for the young than being seen on a screen.

A full history of the circus has yet to be written. One of 23 children, Billy Smart began working as a fairground hand in 1901 at the age of 15 in Slough, before becoming a fairground showman himself in 1914. It was from travelling fairs that circuses drew their inspiration. These originate in the twelve and thirteenth centuries when 1,500 charters were issued granting the right to hold fairs or markets – charters were used to keep them under control.  McCutcheon states that, “In Yorkshire alone, more than 160 charters were granted between 1227 and 1514.” (Quoted in Toulmin, p 5) Fairs become forums for any type of entertainment in the pursuit of pleasure. 
In his history of Bartholomew Fair of 1859, Henry Morley has an account of a visitor of 1685: “The main importance of the fair is not so much for merchandise and the supplying of what people really want, but as a sort of bacchanalia, to gratify the multitudes in their wandering and irregular thoughts.” (Quoted in Toulmin, p 6)   The very first circus appeared in London in 1768, that of Philip Astley who collected together displays of horsemanship with jugglers, acrobats and other acts into a ringed arena.


At first circuses were just part of the fair, together with ghost shows, freak exhibitions and waxworks, before going off on their own and incorporating within them these acts.  Halifax may have a bit part to play in this history as being where the first steam roundabout was introduced (see Toulmin, p 9).  It was from the end of the eighteenth century that menageries came into being, although the use of animals in circuses, such as elephants, came later on in the nineteenth century. This use has had much criticism over the years as involving cruelty and suffering to the animals: in how they are kept, transported and trained. This has led to many circuses, like Billy Smarts, dropping the use of animals altogether. Others, like the Great British Circus continue to use animals extensively, whilst claiming that the animals are properly treated. Organisations such as Animal Defenders International and the Captive Animals' Protection Society dispute this.

 

Nevertheless, circuses remain popular. According to one promotional website, some 23% of Britons watched live circus entertainment as recently as 2004. Perhaps more reliable is a figure given by the Circus Development Agency: “Statistics state that 18 % of the population visited a circus, street festival or carnival in 2000 (Social Survey Division of the Office for National Statistics 2001 - referenced in Arts Council of England Strategy and Report on Circus 2002).” (see References). The Circus Friends Association of Great Britain publishes a King Pin Magazine, which has a Circus Directory of Great Britain.

 

As well as being wonderful places for young children, circuses have been seen as having a darker side; perhaps resulting from the gruesome acts they used to have. The Circus of Horrors, began in Glastonbury in 1995, plays on this history.   Both these aspects are brilliantly combined in Ray Bradbury’s 1962 novel about a travelling fair, or carnival, Something Wicked this Way Comes.  But this seems a world away from the spectacular circuses that can be seen today, such as Cirque Surreal and the Cirque du Soleil.

 

References

 

K.L. McCutcheon, 'Yorkshire Fairs and Markets to the end of the Eighteenth century', Thoresby Society 39, 1940.

Vanessa Toulmin, Pleasurelands, National Fairground Archive, University of Sheffield, 2003.

The Circus Development Agency

Circus Friends Association of Great Britain

British Circus Posters

Animal Defenders International

The Captive Animals' Protection Society

Great British Circus

 

Further Information

 

David Jamieson, Billy Smart's Circus: A Pictorial History, Aardvark Publishing, 2004