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:
Newspaper Cuttings Relating to Billy Smart's Death, 1966
Various British newspaper cuttings announcing the death of Billy Smart at his circus in Ipswich.
Newspaper Cuttings Relating to the Circus, 1957 - 1992
Subject Content: business of the circus, general circus information, circus animal ban, animal trainers, Orange Bowl (American football). Publications: Circus Historical Society, King Pole, Radio Times, New York Times.
Newspaper Cuttings Relating to the Circus, 1959 - 1996
Subject Content: advertisements for the movie 'The Big Circus'; review of circus act; Billy Smart's Big Top returning to Birmingham (cartoon); Gulf War article with a picture of troops and a Billy Smart's diner sign; Royal Windsor safari park cartoon.
Newspaper Cuttings Relating to the Circus and Animal Acts, 1962 - 1992
Subject Content: animal cruelty, banning animals, Billy Smart's passing, general circus information. Publications: Saturday Evening Post, Windsor Express, Evening Argus, Mail on Sunday, Daily Mail.
Newspaper Cuttings Relating to the Circus and Performance, 1946 - 1986
Subject Content: circus performers, the Smart family, vehicles, theme parks and special events. Publications: Sunday Express, King Pole, Daily Mirror, World's Fair, The Commercial Motor, LIFE magazine. Langauges: English, French, German Spanish.
Newspaper Cuttings Relating to the Circus and Theme Parks, 1961 - 1993
Subject Content: amusement parks, theme parks, Safari Park, wild animal ban, circus animals, location for a circus, Orange Bowl (American football game), correspondence about circus in Bournemouth (SEE 178F34.1) . Publications: photocopies & originals, Evening News, Evening Mail, Bournemouth Evening Echo, Daily Express, The Star, Miami Herald.
Nightingale's Courtship, World Clown Congress, Charlie Rivel Film, 1993
VHS. Filmed in Sweden. Note on tape reads 'The Nightingale’s Courtship (Arnaut? Bros), World Clown Congress Harnosand, Sweden 1993 (see programme), Charlie Rivel with daughter and grandson Benny Shumann)'.
Nightwatchman's Report 1960, 1960
Business records related to the Smart family and Smart circus.
Noel Drewe Collection
A large collection of films entitled Circusama containing amateur and professional films on the themes of circus, performing animals and zoos, and edited clips from commercial Western and comedy films. The films are in a variety of formats including 8mm, Super8, 9.5mm and 16mm and contain related correspondence and notes. This collection also contains some sound reels mainly of fairground music.
Norman Family Collection
Notes Regarding Circus Tour Locations, 1953
Business records related to the Smart family and Smart circus.
Nottingham Empire Programme, 1954
Front cover: drawing of various performers on stage. Inside: programme in the centre, commercial advertisements, advertisements for other acts. Back cover: advertisements. 2 pages.
Obituaries, Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates, 2 October 1966 - 17 June 2003
Booklets from various memorial services.
Obituary for Cyril Mills, 1991
Photocopied obituary for Cyril Mills of the Bertram Mills Circus printed in The Daily Telegraph on 22 July 1991 accompanied by a letter of condolence to Mrs Mills from The British Association of Leisure Parks, Piers and Attractions.
Ordering Forms for Billy Smart's Christmas Circus, the World Famous Chinese Circus at Blackpool Tower and Bobby Davro's Laughter Show, 1972 - 1988
Various items of ephemera.
Original Art Work, c1900 - 2002
Works of art collected by the Smart family.
Original Artwork, c1800 - 2000
Original works of art including artists' prints, drawings, watercolours and paintings, and designs for circus posters.
Original Painting from W.E. Berry (Bradford), c1960 - 1969
Gouache paint on cardboard. Painting of an adult elephant bathing their baby elephant who is holding a yellow umbrella. Colours are blue, yellow and pink.
Pad of Complimentary Tickets and Loose Copies, c1900 - 2000
One pad with 18 tickets and 2 loose tickets authorised by Mrs. Billy Smart.
Pad of Vouchers for Billy Smart's Big Top Show, 1994
Various items of ephemera.