Good Fare Provided By Combined Circus

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30593, 9 November 1964, Page 14

Good Fare Provided By Combined Circus

Hundreds of children watched with breathless excitement as the first performer of Sole Brothers and Wirths combined circus stepped into the ring at the opening performance on Saturday evening.

It was an African lion followed soon by four others and their whip-cracking trainer, Mr J. Eroni. Mr Eroni soon became a favourite with the audience as he brought his performing animals into the ring. He is the trainer of the circus’s lions, horses, dogs, monkeys and elephants, and general manager of the circus. The excitement of the circus began long before the performers came into the ring for the children who hurried to buy pop corn and candy floss and stood in awe at the size of the elephants tethered outside the big top. Some of the more daring small boys attempted to feed the elephants while the rest talked and shouted with excitement.

One of the performances which delighted the young audience most was “circus riding exposed.” To show how young circus riders were trained Mr Eroni brought three small boys from the audience into the ring and strapped them into a harness slung from the roof.

While the boys tried to kneel, then stand on the back of a big white horse trotting around the ring they were controlled by the harness. When they were about to fall Mr Eroni pulled the harness and swung them high above the audience. This amateur trapeze act seemed to be enjoyed more by the boys than the riding. The whole performance gave the children no time to catch their breath. The acts followed each other quickly, and when any equipment had to be moved the antics of clowns gave relief to the fear of the lions and the tenseness and thrill of watching the trapeze artists, acrobats, ballancers, and jugglers. The show had everything a child could hope for in a circus, and also provided good entertainment for adults.