Each Jerry of the Circus episode was 15 minutes long and the stories were set around characters of the circus and their lives.
There are also quite a few shows about when the circus came to town, and the great showman, P T Barnum. In fact, as well as finding lots of circus related old time radio shows during my research, I also discovered that lots of old time radio stars come from a legacy of circus performing!
- Margaret O'Brien was the daughter of a circus performer.
- Harry James was the son a traveling circus bandleader.
- Arthur and Florence Lake's father toured as a circus aerial act known as The Flying Silverlakes.
- Joe E. Brown joined a troupe of circus tumblers aged 9.
- Dick Lane was doing an "iron jaw" routine in circuses around Europe by his teenage years.
- Red Skelton began his show business career in his teens as a circus clown.
- Mickey Spillane spent a short spell during the summer as a trampoline artist.
- Burt Lancaster was once part of an acrobat duo called Lang and Cravat
- And before Parley Baer began his radio career, he was a circus ringmaster for Barnum & Bailey, where he met his wife - a circus aerialist and bareback rider!
Do you know of anyone else famous, whose career before the radio or silver screen, was that of a trapeze artist or something equally as exciting? Let me know in the comments below, and I'll add them to this list.
Happy listening my friends,
//ff66a717ddc3aee0b5c7230c7d040f74.cdn.bubble.io/f1719899379013x255894341891959700/richtext_content.gif
