Witness the tremendous movement of the circus and experience intimate, unscripted moments with some of the sawdust circle’s brightest stars in this unique historical footage.
Trapeze phenoms The Flying Concellos, animal trainer Clyde Beatty, and cowboy star of the silver screen Tom Mix number among the many circus celebrities captured on celluloid by these early amateur filmographers. Local acts take center stage in four 1930s-era reels of performances at the Bloomington, Illinois YMCA as well as another four films captured in Bloomington’s Ward/Concello Practice Barn.
Digitization of these films was made possible by two federal grants from the National Film Preservation Federation: The Art of the Trapeze (2016) and Concello Troupe Film (2010).