Smart, Billy (William), 1894 - 1966
Biography
William 'Billy' Smart was one of twenty-three children born into a fairground family from London. Born in 1894, Smart worked with his family on the fairgrounds of London and the South East from an early age up until his marriage to Dolly in 1925, after which he branched out with his brothers to set up his own fair. Billy and Dolly had thirteen children.
By the 1930s he was an established member of the fairground community in the South East and London area and travelled with up to ten rides, with some of his rides featuring alongside Bertram Mills' Circus at Olympia in 1939. More success followed in the war years when he operated some of London's largest morale-boosting Holiday at Home Fairs, supplying entertainment to a war-weary public.
Although always interested in horses, and interested in circuses for some time, it was not until 1946 that Smart came across Cody's Circus and bought the big top. By the time he opened his New World Circus in 1946 he was fifty-two years old, following P.T. Barnum's example in taking on a second career as a circus proprietor.
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. The circus which he had purchased from Cody was run in conjunction with a travelling fun fair and at first he was seen as an interloper by other more established circus showmen. By 1952, the fun fair, which had been increasingly overshadowed by the circus, disappeared to leave room for a bona fide menagerie. Three years later, the two-poler was replaced by a giant 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.
His greatest innovation was his relationship with the newly established television networks when he agreed for Billy Smart's Circus to be broadcast live by 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'. 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, shortly after conducting the Romford Boys' Band in front of his mammoth circus tent at Ipswich, which had been set up that morning for a two-week stand. With his large Stetson hat, inevitable cigar and unique flair for self-promotion and publicity, Billy Smart was a showman of the highest order. One of his greatest stunts was when he rode an elephant through the streets of Mayfair and parked it at a meter before inserting a shilling.
Billy Smart was such a colourful character that on his death his lifelong friend Sir Billy Butlin described him as the greatest showman of our time and probably the last of the great showmen.
In the 1990s, the Smart circus toured again with Billy Smart's Quality Big Top Show and most recently Billy Smart's Circus has been presented by Tony Hopkins and is frequently on tour across the UK.
Found in 837 Collections and/or Records:
Business Records Relating to Barbara Dawidowicz, 1996 - 1997
Includes work permits, contracts, photocopies of passports and correspondence between Smart's Circus and Barbara Dawidowicz of United Entertainment Enterprises regarding artistes Rudniks and Trufanovi Troupe among others.
Business Records Relating to BBC Enterprises and Time-Life Films, 1979 - 1984
Includes royalty reports and correspondence relating to sales and licences of Billy Smart's Circus video recordings to BBC Enterprises and Time-Life Films.
Business Records Relating to Billy Arata, 1996 - 1999
Includes work permits, contracts, invoices, cost break downs, transportation documentation between Smart's Circus and Billy F. Arata Agency The Circus Specialist for various artists including Miss Nives, Arata's Rollers and Faltyny.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's 50th Anniversary Big Top Slough, 1958
Includes film strips printed in photographic paper and illustrations by Derek Burrell Davis of the BBC.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Big Top Tour 1996, 1996
Includes correspondence with performers and agents, invitations for the Smart family to other circuses and postcards.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Big Top Tour 1998, 1998
Includes a promotional leaflet, advertisement designs, lists of show dates and times, poster printing prices, poster designs, shoot schedule, invitations to performances and press articles.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Big Top Tours , 1993 - 1995
Includes tour schedules, poster designs, programme designs, leaflet designs, tickets, leaflets, correspondence with councils about tour performances, correspondence with printers and Lord Delfont's foreword introducing the 1993 tour.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Big Top Tours 1996 and 1998, 1994 - 1998
Includes list of performance dates, proofs for leaflets and posters, bank account information, seating prices, driving routes and driver information.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Big Top Variety Show, 1978 - 1980
Includes Thames T.V. television work, plans, scripts for Billy Smart’s Easter, Christmas Circuses and Big Top Variety Show, some inscribed Christopher Palmer, press cuttings, production photographs, slides, promotional material, costume sketches, original artwork, viewing ratings.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Christmas Cracker, 1992
Includes correspondence with the Hassani Troupe and Southwark Council, budget, performance list and ticket prices.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Circus, 1990 - 1999
Includes documents about Kay Smart's writing course; Kay Smart's experience of auctioning off circus items; a small notebook; notes on various circus acts; correspondence with Aardvark Publishing regarding a book about Billy Smart and his circus; poetry by Kay Smart.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Circus Christmas Season at Battersea Park, 1991
Includes performance schedules, correspondence about marketing, leaflet designs, a questionnaire and correspondence about a shareholders agreement for letting Battersea Park.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Circus Tour 2000, 1999 - 2000
Includes correspondence, invoices, cheques, insurance documents, press articles, leaflets, posters, applications for circus tour sites to various sites in the UK, employment application for Philip Kenyon and an agreement with Yorkshire Productions Ltd regarding the 2000 tour of Billy Smart's Circus in Blackheath, London. Also includes leaflets, a performance running order and press articles about the Netherlands National Circus which was produced for the UK by Kay Smart.
Business Records Relating to Billy Smart's Road Signs, 1997 - 1998
Includes correspondence with the RAC and applications for them to create road signs for Billy Smart's Circus tours in 1997 and 1998 at various sites in the UK.
Business Records Relating to Billy Wilson-Smart, 1990
Includes correspondence between Billy Wilson-Smart (elephant trainer and nephew of Ronnie Smart), Ronnie Smart and their solicitors about the use of the 'Smart' name.
Business Records Relating to Billy Wilson Smart, 1979 - 1990
Includes correspondence between Billy Wilson Smart, the Smart Family and their solicitors over the use of the Smart name in Billy Wilson Smart's act in Gandey's Circus accompanied by photographs, posters and press articles. Also includes correspondence regarding a Smart elephant truck used by Billy Wilson Smart.
Business Records Relating to Blackheath, London, 1992 - 1998
Includes correspondence with Borough of Greenwich Council about the use of Blackheath as a site for Smart's Circus in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999. Also includes policies, indemnity insurance documents, correspondence about the use of live animals in performances, meeting minutes, licences and costings.
Business Records Relating to Bonbon and Tina, 1996
Includes contracts, correspondence and a photograph of performers Bonbon and Tina for the 1996 season of Billy Smart's Circus.
Business Records Relating to Bournemouth, 1997 - 2000
Includes correspondence between Smart's Circus and Bournemouth Borough Council regarding using Bournemouth as a site for Smart's Circus 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 tours, accompanied by promotional material for Bournemouth. Also includes correspondence with Ross Adam.
Business Records Relating to Bristol City Council, 1998 - 2000
Includes correspondence between Smart's Circus and Bristol City Council regarding using Bristol as a site for Smart's Circus 1999, 2000 and 2001 tours.