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:
Circo Americano Programme, 1963
Front cover: a woman in a drum major costume with the American Flag behind her. Inside: programme in the centre, photos and information of the acts, commercial advertisment. Back cover: advertisement for Coca-cola. 8 pages.
Circo Americano Programme, c1976
Front cover: drawings of various circus performers and animals. Inside: programme just before the centre, photos and names of the acts, commercial advertisements, information on the circus in the centre. Back cover: advertisement for tractor company. 6 pages.
Circo di Stato di Budapest Programme, c1990 - 1999
Front cover: a white horse in the centre with a tiger leaping forward and a woman holding the Hungarian flag. Inside: programme in the centre, pictures of the acts, a little information on the circus. 8 pages.
Circo Internacional Programme, December 1960
Front cover: drawing of an all female marching band. Inside: programme on pages 3-4, photos of the acts with blurbs, information about the circus. Back cover: advertisement. 6 pages.
Circo Mundial Promotional Material, c1900 - 2000
Contains colour photographs of the performers with brief information; introduction of the circus on the first page.
Circo Nazionale Orfei Programme, c1960
Front cover: drawing of a tiger jumping through the logo, six horses on the bottom with the drawing of a person's profile. Inside: programme in the centre, photos and names of the acts. Back cover: outside photo of the circus tent. 2 pages.
Circorama from Earls Court Scripts, 22 August 1956
Business records related to the Smart family and Smart circus.
Circorama/Arenascope Audio Recording, c1900 - 2000
1/4 audio reel. Digitised as part of the Unlocking Our Sounds Heritage project by the British Library.
Circus Berlin Poole Tower Park Handbill, 19 August - 1 September
Front side: title, dates, ticket prices, 1/2 price voucher, picture of trapeze artists. Back side: hand written note about the contact at Tower Park. 1 page.
Circus Boy' Comic Book from TV Series, 1957
Colour illustrations. Published in Great Britain by World Distributors.
Circus Carré Programme, 1995
Front cover has colour reproduction of a painting of a clown and ballerina with white show horses in the background signed 'Kenne '95'. Includes handwritten note from Yasmine Smart and Dany Cesar to Ronnie and Kay Smart on a separate document.
Circus Conelli Romantico Programme, 1996
Front cover features colour photograph of Conelli Circus tent.
Circus Film, c1900 - 2000
VHS. Note on tape reads 'taken from 16mm film'. Rastellis, Mr Braun & Dog, Swedish festival with Walter Galetti and Daughter, Gino Donati and Family, The Chickys, George Carl and Cirque Medrano Paris November 1953 with 'Spider' Austin Troupe, Pipo and Dario, Nino and Charlie with Billy Beck and Loriot as 'Plants', John Vrie and Co. Film.
Circus Films, c1950 - 1959
Copy of film on DVD showing circus scenes outside the tent, circus parade, trampoline acts, female aerial acts, acrobatics, clowning, wild animal acts, equestrian acts, dancing, tumbling, slack rope act, animal performance, city views and tents and buildings for Circus Krone, Pinders and Billy Smart Circus. Colour, silent.
Circus Friends Association Collection
This collection consists of a large library of books and journals, as well as archival material including posters, programmes, photographs, films, handbills, research material, scrapbooks, original artwork and many other items of ephemera relating to British, Irish and European circuses
Circus Friends Association of Great Britain Circus Award for Best All Human Circus, October 2004
The Circus Friends Association of Great Britain Circus Award presented to Billy Smart’s Circus by Tony Hopkins for Best All Human Circus. Red type and illustration of a woman standing on a man’s leg stood up on two galloping horses on yellow background.
Circus Friends Association of Great Britain's Notes Scrapbook, 1953 - 1954
Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings and photographs of The Circus Fans' Association Notes by 'Dicky Bird', 'The President' and 'The Hon Secretary', as well as articles on Billy Smart's, Chipperfield's, Rosaire's, Fossett's, Sanger's, Billy Russell's and Bertram Mills, 45p.p.
Circus Hall of Fame Publication, 1971
Designed and printed by Dukane Press, Hollywood.
Circus Krone Programme, 1996
Programme for circus run December 1996 - January 1997. Front cover is black with a golden crown featuring animal circus acts.
Circus No. 1 Film, c1900 - 2000
Approximately 2000 feet. 16mm. Luscan.