Billy Smart's Circus (c1946 - 2006)
Biography
Billly Smart's Circus was established by William 'Billy' Smart (1894-1966). Billy came from a fairground family from London with an interest in horses and circuses. In 1946 Billy came across Cody's Circus and bought the big top.
Billy Smart's New World Circus made its debut at Southall Park, Middlesex, on 5 April 1946, for the first full season after the end of the war. Initially, Billy run his circus in conjunction with his fun fair, which was being run by his children, but by 1952 the fun fair, which was overshadowed by the circus, disappeared. The success of the circus side of the business however continued to increase and in 1955, Billy Smart's Circus grew from its two-pole tentto a 6,000 seat, four-pole round big top with a hippodrome track around the ring, and a vast entrance tent, thus enabling the staging of spectacular parades, which became a Billy Smart's Circus trademark.
Billy's greatest innovation, however, was his relationship with the newly established television networks when he agreed to broadcast his circus live on the BBC in 1947. Over the years, Billy Smart's Christmas Spectacular became a BBC holiday tradition, which ITV took over in 1979 and carried on until 1982. The BBC's first-ever colour broadcast was a 'Tribute to Billy Smart', while Royal Performances took place in London, raising thousands of pounds for charity.
A large part of the success of the circus was the showmanship that Billy brought to the operation of the circus, the large family he could draw upon to run the shows and his ability as a showman to market and capture opportunities to advertise. Whilst other circus proprietors were threatened by the rise in popularity of television and shunned the cameras, Billy Smart embraced them. Smart's Circus grew to be one of the largest in the world, touring every part of the British Isles, and with permanent quarters and an associated zoo at Winkfield, Berkshire, not far from where Smart began his fairground career. His success took the circus through twenty-six tenting tours, winter seasons, frequent TV appearances and the provision of animal acts to other circuses.
Billy died in his caravan on 25 September 1966 and the circus passed onto his sons Ronnie, David and Billy Jr. who continued travelling Billy Smart's New World Circus until around 1971.
In the 1990s Ronnie and his sons Gary and Lord revived the Smart Circus and started to tour a smaller scale version of the original circus. However, the Smart Circus was never the same after the dead of Billy and soon after, the Smart name was rented out to other circus operators until it stopped operating in the early 2000s.
Found in 1058 Collections and/or Records:
Business Records from W.E Berry Printers, 1993 - 1998
Includes quotations, copies of posters, invoices, statements of account, samples of printing paper and sketches.
Business Records Related the Court Case with Sheffield City Council, 1994
Includes legal documents, Sheffield City council documents, photocopies of newspaper clippings, listing of events held in Sheffield parks, letters with Sheffield City Council, Yorkshire police, and solicitors.
Business Records Related to a Cancellation of a Circus Performance in Rotherham, 1992 - 1995
Includes letters between Billy Smart’s Circus and the Centenary Market Hall, a map of Rotherham and a 1994 copy of 'The Star'.
Business Records Related to Health and Safety in the Billy Smart's Circus, 1997 - 1998
Includes Health and Safety Policy Statement, risk assessment, fire risk assessment, 15 certificates of attendance to emergency firs aid course, brochures, and certificates of test of equipment.
Business Records Related to Irina Moiseeva and Work Permits for the UK, 1998
Includes photocopied flight tickets; work permits, work contracts; printed photo of the Russian performers; letters between Moiseeva and the Smart Family; correspondence with Overseas Labour Service.
Business Records Related to La Rioja Trailer House Company, 1996
Includes brochures, one circulation permit and one business card.
Business Records Related to Olympia Exhibitions Limited, 1965 - 1980
Includes correspondence between Earls Court and Olympia Limited and Ronald Smart, quotations, newspaper cuttings, two seating plans and one business card.
Business Records Related to Portable Toilets, 1993
Includes correspondence with Midland Transformer Design Ltd and Beaumont Engineering; design plans, transaction reports and a newspaper clipping.
Business Records Related to Purchasing the Seats for the Big Top, 1992 - 1997
Includes seat labelling stickers; photocopies of invoices; seating design plans; hand written plans and cost chart; magazine clippings; correspondence with Chichester Paper Bag Co, Blackdown Press, B.H. Auston Limited, Little Hampton Welding Inc..
Business Records Related to Requiring Permission for Circus Performances in Brighton, 1994 - 1995
Documents relating to a request of permission to present circus performances in Brighton, including correspondence between Brighton Council and Gary Smart, brochures, magazines and newspaper cuttings as well as the rules and regulations issued by The Brighton Council.
Business Records Related to Royal Windsor Safari Park, 1970 - 1977
Includes invoices, quotations, accounts report for the year ended 28th February 1975, site plan of the Safari Park and documents relating to the sale of the park.
Business Records Related to Stromeyer & Co., 1992 - 1996
Business records including correspondence, contracts, quotations, plans, calculations, photographs and booklets.
Business Records Related to the Design of Posters for Billy Smart's Circus, 1992
Includes sketches, samples and quotations.
Business Records Related to the Purchase of Carpets, 1996
Includes plans, quotations and three samples of carpets.
Business Records Related to the Recruitment of Rene Alberto Alegria Servin, 1996
Includes contract, copy of passport, work permit issued by the Overseas Labour Service of UK, and four photographs.
Business Records Related to the Structure of the Big Top, 1989 - 1993
Includes entrance measurements, drafting plans for the tent, fire safety report (multiple pages) and structural report (multiple pages).
Business Records Related to Tickets for Big Top Shows, 1994 - 1998
Includes ticket samples and designs, correspondence with Kalamazoo Security Print, GMS Tickets Ltd, Henry Booth & Company, Tungate Forms & Labels, business leaflets about printing and a poster for Bolshoi circus.
Business Records Related to Trailer Information, 1997
Includes fax from trailer company, trailer layout plans, leaflets for trailer company.
Business Records Related to Use of Animals in the Circus in the City of Aberdeen, 1994 - 2006
Includes typed script letters of correspondence between Billy Smart's Circus and the City of Aberdeen, Scottish Kennel Club, Dundes and Wilson solicitors, City of Edinburgh, and Edinburgh International Festival; photocopy of a newspaper clipping; hand written notes.
Business Records Relating to 50 Golden Years Artwork, c1996
Photographs of a painting of a harlequin clown with the words '50 Golden Years' which was created for the 1996 tour of Smart's Circus promotional material. Photographs are annotated with Gary Smart's thoughts on each one.