Cirkus Merano (1975 - 2015)
Dates
- Existence: 1975 - 2015
Biography
Cirkus Merano was established by Knut Dahl on 18 April 1975 in Norway.
Knut fell in love with the circus as a child in his native Oslo. At a very young age, he started to do small jobs every season when the circus visited the city in exchange for a free ticket, and started to collect posters and programmes. At sixteen years of age, he started to travel with Norwegian and Italian circuses on school holidays and learning the business. By the time he was twenty two, Knut opened Cirkus Merano and became the youngest circus director in the world. Although at first the circus was only small, it soon became a success and started to compete with the then popular Cirkus Arnardo. From the beginning, Cirkus Merano presented an innovative programme of acts that delighted its audience with a great parade and finale, which become their trademark.
By the late 1980s Cirkus Merano was touring around Norway and Sweden and in 1990 they incorporated troupes from the Russian State Circus to their shows and started to tour in Poland. The circus and its menagerie continued growing until in 2002 the Norwegian Minister of Agriculture announced that the transport of elephants in country was going to be banned. Knut took this as a personal attack against his treatment of wild animals and a public confrontation between the men arose, after which Knut disheartened briefly closed the circus. He soon returned to business, encouraged by public support and continued running the business until 2015, when it closed permanently. During the forty years Cirkus Merano was operating, it became one of Europe's leading circus companies.
Found in 11 Collections and/or Records:
Christopher Palmer Collection
Circus programmes and VHS tapes from Billy Smart’s Circus and Chipperfields’s Circus collected during the 1970s and early 1980s by the TV producer, Christopher John Palmer. There are also a number of promotional photographs of artistes and other ephemera related to the circus.
Circus Roncalli First 15 Years, Circus Merano, Cirque du Soleil and Archaos: A Circus Spectacular Films, 1985 - 1991
Cirkus Merano Poster, c1980 - 1989
Colour illustration of clown and elephant by Thomas. Left blank for overprinting location and date.
Cirkus Merano Poster, c1980 - 1989
Colour illustration of clown and elephant by Thomas with tear off tickets. Left blank for overprinting location and date.
Cirkus Merano Poster, c1993
Bodo. Colour illustration of clown and elephant by Thomas.
Cirkus Merano Poster, c1984
10 Year anniversary. Colour illustration of clown and elephant and cake by Thomas. Left blank for overprinting location and date.
Cirkus Merano Poster, 1994
Oslo. 20th Year anniversary. Colour illustration of clowns and elephant by Thomas.
Cirkus Merano Programme, 1977
Tito Reyes balance act, Hergotti poodles, Mical Chen trick cyclist, Gerard Edontrapeze, Bocky, Randel and Co. clowns, Burger Sisters aerialists, Martin granger puppets. Contains colour illustration on cover with photos, 16p.p.
Cyril Critchlow Collection
Posters, c1887 - 2010
Circus, variety, pantomime and magic posters including Argyle theatre, Liverpool Empire, Blackpool Tower Circus, Robert Brothers, Austen Brothers, Sorcar, Vesta Tilley, Ken Dodd, Dan Leno, Florrie Forde and others.
Programmes, 1970 - 1981
Programmes for various British and international circuses including Billy Russell's, Blackpool Tower, Fossett's, Chipperfield's and the Toni Boltini's Circus.
Additional filters:
- Type
- Archival Object 9
- Collection 2
- Subject
- Acrobats 5
- Aerialists 4
- Animal trainers 4
- Animals 10
- Business 1
- Clowning 9
- Comedians 4
- Contortionists 2
- Dance 4
- Dwarfs (Persons) 2
- Equestrians 3
- Escape artists 2
- Fakirs 1
- Family 1
- Fire eating 4
- Freak shows 1
- Jugglers 5
- Knife throwing 2
- Magic 4
- Male impersonators 1
- Menageries 1
- Mimes 1
- Minstrel shows 1
- Motion pictures 2
- Music 1
- Music-halls 3
- Musical performances 2
- Pantomime 2
- Performers 8
- Pierrot 2
- Puppets 5
- Ringmaster 1
- Ringmistress 2
- Showman 3
- Showwoman 1
- Singing 3
- Skating 4
- Strong men 2
- Stunt performers 1
- Sword swallowing 2
- Trampolinists 2
- Travel 1
- Variety 3
- Ventriloquists 2
- Wild west 3
- World War, 1914-1918 1
- World War, 1939-1945 1
- Wrestling 2
- Zoos 1 + ∧ less