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 1051 Collections and/or Records:
Circus Performer Painting, c1900 - 2000
Oil painting on board. Painting of a circus performer in the centre with audience members and a camera man in the foreground.
Circus Photographic Album, 1952 - 1954
Photographic album containing black and white photographs of circus, including tents, animals, performers, transport and people from various circus including Smart, Bertram Mills, Wilkie's, Chiperfield's and Fossett's and performers including Priscilla Keys, Togare, The Corinthians and The Bakers, some images are missing, 22p.p.
Circus Princess Competition Leaflet, c1900 - 2000
Produced by Billy Smart's Circus.
Circus Renz Promotional Material, 1993
Contains colour photographs and names of the performers; brief information about the circus; hand written notes on the last page. 8 pages.
Circus Roland Programme, 1962
Front cover: painting of a clown atop a camel. Inside: programme in the centre, photos of the acts with a brief description, commerical advertisements, introduction letter. Back cover: advertisement for Volkswagen. 6 pages.
Circus Roncalli Illistrated Programme, 1993
Front cover: drawing of the various Circus Roncalli performers. Inside: programme in the beginning, history of the Circus Roncalli, commercial advertisements, photographs of the circus acts, various photographs of the circus, a section describing the circus acts. Back cover: coffee advertisement. 44 pages.
Circus Roncalli Illistrated Programme, 1993
Loose papers, photo of Joseph Bouglione and Peter Shub, 2 pages spread of photos of the various circus performers and commercial advertisement.
Circus Roncalli Programme, 1994
Front cover: various circus performers. Inside: history of the Circus Roncalli, programme followed by photos of the acts, commercial advertisement, photos of the circus grounds. Back cover: commercial advertisement in German. 44 pages.
Circus Roncalli Programme, 1991
Front cover: red curtain with three circus clowns poking their heads through it. Inside: programme in the centre, history of the circus, commercial advertisements, photographs of the acts with a quick blurb, various photos of the circus. Back cover: commercial advertisement. 39 pages.
Circus Scrapbook, 1949 - 1961
Scrapbook containing newspaper and magazine cuttings on British and foreign circuses in colour and black and white, including Circus Medrano, Hunt Bros. Royal International Circus, Bertram Mills, Smarts, Fossetts, Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey amongst others, some obituaries, wedding news and other articles on performers and circus news, 34p.p.
Circus Strassburger Poster, c1900 - 2019
Named acts include: Regina, Ellyen Karel Strassburger; De Jonghe-Freres, clowns; 2 Wilco's; Borra; Pipo en Rhum, clown; Lai Foun's; 3 Arizona's, juggling act; Karel Strassburger; Polly Orea; Mr Williams, animal act; 3 Vikings, trapeze act; Erika Wyss, John Kok. Colour illustration of Father Christmas holding a Christmas tree and presents with the performers names on them on a ciyscape at night.
Circus Themed Watercolours, 1945 - 1960
Pen and ink and watercolour. Group of watercolours of circus tents and transport, including Fossett's, Rosaire, Reaneys, Reco Bros. Robert Bros., Chipperfields and Billy Smart.
Circus Training Schedules, 1998
Business records related to the Smart family and Smart circus.
Circus Transport Photographs Volume 2 1900 - 2002 by David Jamieson Monograph, 2002 - 2004
Published for the Circus Friends Association by Aardvark Publishing. Accompanied by letter from David Jamieson to Ronnie and Gary Smart sent in 2004 about a visit to the National Fairground Archive at the University of Sheffield for research for his upcoming book 'Billy Smart's Circus: A Pictorial History'.
Circus Traum Conelli Programme, c1900 - 2000
Front cover: illustration of a circus tent floating on a grey cloud with stars in the background. Inside: programme is in the centre, commercial advertisements, photos of acts with a brief description. 20 pages.
Circus USA Promotional Material, 1994
Promotion for Circus USA's three ring circus. Contains a brief history, colour photographs and information about the acts. 2 pages.
Circus van Bever Programme, 1949
Front page: drawing of the circus banner with six horses in the middle and two on either side with men in top hats riding them. Inside: programme and show order. Back page: information about the circus. 2 page.
Circus van Bever Programme, c1900 - 2000
Front page: drawing of the circus from behind the curtain. Inside: programme and show order. Back page: information about the circus. 2 pages.
Circus World Championship London Gold Medal, 1978
Various items of ephemera.
Circus World Championships 1976, 1976
The first ever Circus World Championships. Five great days of circus competition spectacle held in London.