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:
Correspondence Between Bolton, Colby & Co. and Ronald Smart, 1963 - 1966
Includes receipts and financial records.
Correspondence Between Lord Delfont and Gary Smart, 1988 - 1990
Business records related to the Smart family and Smart circus.
Correspondence Between Marina Ananieva and Ronald Smart, 1995 - 1999
Includes plans, quotations, contracts, photographs, and photocopies of photographs.
Correspondence Between Ronald Smart and Mirella and Aladar Veress from ScanArt Agency, 1996 - 1998
Includes quotations and contracts.
Correspondence Between Ronald Smart and the General Director and the First Vice General Director of The Great Moscow State Circus, 1994 - 1997
Includes quotations, contracts and photographs.
Correspondence Between Ronald Smart and Various Addressees, 1961 - 1962
Business records related to the Smart family and Smart circus.
Correspondence Between Ronald Smart and Various Circus Agents , 1995 - 1998
Correspondence between Ronald Smart and Alex Grimailo, a Russian Circus Agent and Thomas Teibler Hungarian Circus Agent. Includes quotations and contracts.
Correspondence Between Smart Family Circus and Scola Teloni and Canobbio, 1991 - 1994
Financial records, samples of carpets, plans and five photographs.
Correspondence Relating to Bournemouth Site for Circus, 30 October 1993
A letter detailing the location in Bournemouth for holding a circus performance for the Smart circus. Kept in 178G41.2.
Correspondence Relating to the Circus Hall of Fame, 9 May 1970 - 25 November 1992
Correspondence about Billy Smart's induction to the Circus Hall of Fame, business card from the Circus Hall of Fame, and a letter from the Festival International Du Cirque De Monte-Carlo.
Correspondence Relating to the Smart Circus, 18 January 1955 - 2 November 1994
Correspondence about the Smart circus in general from friends and business associates, and five empty envelopes.
Correspondence Relating to the Smart Circus, 3 November 1965 1 August 2013
Two letters thanking and congratulating the Smart family for putting on a wonderful show.
Correspondence Relating to Various Addressees, 11 June 1973 9 July 1975
Includes letter from the Variety Club of Illinois Tent No 26 to Ronald and Kay Smart thanking them for their support of the Variety Club International Convention in London, letter to D. Chipperfield Snr, Esq regarding the passing of his brother in law, card from 'Kid Kanaghau' and postcard from Don and Chris wishing Christmas Greetings to Kay and Ronnie Smart.
Correspondence Requiring Permission for Circus Performances, 1992
Correspondence accompanied by newspaper cuttings and a loose leaf from a magazine.
Correspondence to the Smart Family from Duke of Edinburgh, 26 October 1972
A letter from the Duke of Edinburgh about how he enjoyed his visit to the Windsor Safari Park.
Correspondence with Various Addressees, 1947 - 1949
Correspondence with various addressees some of them signed by the secretary of Billy Smart’s Circus & Amusements.
Correspondence with Various Addressees and Business Records Related to Various Matters, 1959 - 1972
Legal documents including Articles of Association of Windsor Safari Park Limited, answer to Letter of Purchase from Madame Tussaud’s Limited, Tree surveys of Windsor Safari Park, correspondence between Ronald Smart and Blackpool Corporation and Statement of Claim between William George Smart and Dome Press Limited.
Cottle and Austen's Circus and Combined Shows Programme, 1973
Front cover: circus logo, drawing of circus tent with large crowd outside of it, drawings of Cottle and Austen. Inside: programme in the centre, information about the circus, some photos of the animals. Back cover: advertisement for Radio Times. 2 pages.
Cottle Sisters New Generation Circus Handbill, 27 September - Sunday 9 October
Front side: photos of circus acts, title, 1/2 price promotion. Back side: message from Gerry Cottle, information on show times and prices, circus held at Guildford. 1 page.
Crand Cirque de France Programme, 1960
Front cover: drawing of a man holding a radio microphone standing atop of a lion. Inside: programme in the centre, photos and brief description of the acts, commercial advertisements, information on the circus. Back cover: drawing of a horse holding a clown and a lion cub perched on a stool. 20 pages.