Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: Be a Clown

May 5, 1987

1h 20m

★ 8.0

Life of a clown

Overview

Instructors from the Ringling Bros. Circus Clown College demonstrate juggling instruction, clown acts, special make-up techniques, costume design, and more tips used by some of the world's most famous clowns.

Genres

Documentary

Family

TV Movie

Production Companies

Family Home Entertainment (FHE)

Just Clownin' Around Productions

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: Be a Clown Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Ruth Chaddock

Richard Fick

Lou Jacobs

Scott linker

Glen Frosty Little

Tammy Parish

Steve Russell

Joey Severini

Ron Severini

Steve Smith

Jeffrey Steele

Charles Strachan

Life as the sole sale item in the clearance corner of Eben's Bikes can get lonely. So Red, a unicycle, dreams up a clown owner and his own juggling act that steals the show. But all too soon, the applause turns into the sound of rainfall, as reality rushes back. Red must resign himself to sitting in the corner and await his fate.

6.9

7 Faces of Dr. Lao

Mar 18, 1964

An old Chinese man rides into the town of Abalone, Arizona and changes it forever, as the citizens see themselves reflected in the mirror of Lao's mysterious circus of mythical beasts.

7.6

Cirque du Soleil: Quidam

Dec 26, 1999

A young girl has already seen everything there is to see and her world has lost all meaning. Her anger shatters her world and she finds herself in the universe of QUIDAM, where she is joined by a playful companion, as well as another mysterious character who attempts to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling and the terrifying.

7.4

Cirque du Soleil: Dralion

Aug 4, 2001

The Chinese consider the lion a symbol of good luck, so it's a half-dragon, half-lion – a dralion – that is the symbol of the East-meets-West fusion of this performance in which 36 Chinese acrobats join the renowned Canadian troupe. Celebrating the four elements as represented in four colours – blue (air), green (water), red (fire) and ochre (earth) – Dralion combines ancient Chinese circus traditions with Cirque du Soleil's usual stunning elements: the techno-oriented single ring; the multicoloured lights and costumes; the music that mixes rock, New Age and various world influences (though not Chinese); and the madcap clowns that pull a victim out of the audience.

7.7

Cirque du Soleil: Alegria

Nov 19, 2001

Alegría is a mood, a state of mind. The themes of the show, whose name means "jubilation" in Spanish, are many. Power and the handing down of power over time, the evolution from ancient monarchies to modern democracies, old age, youth - it is against this backdrop that the characters of Alegría play out their lives. Kings' fools, minstrels, beggars, old aristocrats and children make up its universe, along with the clowns, who alone are able to resist the passing of time and the social transformations that accompany it.

7.1

Cirque du Soleil: Saltimbanco

Jan 1, 1997

From the Italian 'saltare in banco' – which literally means 'to jump on a bench' – Saltimbanco explores the urban experience in all its myriad forms. Between whirlwind and lull, prowess and poetry, it takes spectators on an allegorical and acrobatic journey into the heart and soul of the modern city.

7.1

Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man

May 5, 2000

A child is born. We see underwater swimmers representing this. He is young, in a jungle setting, with two fanciful "instincts" guiding him as swooping bird-like acrobats initially menace, then delight. As an adolescent, he enters a desert, where a man spins a large cube of metal tubing. He leaves his instinct-guides behind, and enters a garden where two statues dance in a pond. As he watches their sensual acrobatics of love, he becomes a man. He is offered wealth (represented by a golden hat) by a devil figure. In a richly decorated room, a scruffy troupe of a dozen acrobats and a little girl reawaken the old man's youthful nature and love.

6.8

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical

Nov 25, 2022

An extraordinary young girl discovers her superpower and summons the remarkable courage, against all odds, to help others change their stories, whilst also taking charge of her own destiny. Standing up for what's right, she's met with miraculous results.

6.8

Fast, Cheap & Out of Control

Oct 3, 1997

Errol Morris’s Fast, Cheap & Out of Control interweaves the stories of four men, each driven to create eccentric worlds from their unique obsessions, all of which involve animals. There’s a lion tamer who shares his theories on the mental processes of wild animals; a topiary gardener who has devoted a lifetime to shaping bears and giraffes out of hedges and trees; a man fascinated with hairless mole rats; and an MIT scientist who has designed complex, autonomous robots that can crawl like bugs.

0.0

The Amateur Circus

Oct 11, 2025

Tucked away in northern Indiana, the city of Peru, Indiana is the circus capitol of the world. Thousands of visitors and townspeople come to this town for two weeks to see the annual amateur circus. Performed by only the local kids, fueled with the rich history and culture of the circus in Peru, this show is anything but amateur.

5.6

Air Bud

Aug 1, 1997

A lonely boy befriends a stray dog who has a natural talent for basketball and together they experience the highs and lows of life as their friendship remains solid through a series of escapades.

0.0

Mister Biscuit

Jan 1, 1999

Noel Mason's vaudevillian skills are appreciated by his younger audience, but he is not making enough money at the children's shows to pay his costs, his old car does not go very well, and he is dyslexic and unable to understand the contracts employers give him. The situation starts to look more hopeful when Noel answers a newspaper advertisement to join an entertainment agency.

6.1

Toby Tyler or Ten Weeks with a Circus

Jan 21, 1960

Angered at stern Uncle Daniel, Toby Tyler runs away from his foster home to join the circus, where he soon befriends Mr. Stubbs, the frisky chimpanzee. However, the circus isn't all fun and games when the evil candy vendor, Harry Tupper, convinces Toby that his Aunt Olive and Uncle Daniel don't love him or want him back. Toby resigns himself to circus life, but when he finally realizes that Tupper lied to him, and that his aunt and uncle truly love him, Toby happily returns home once again.

3.0

Going Bananas

Aug 5, 1987

An evil circus owner chases a chimp and his friends through Africa. Not necessarily 'Dyn-O-Mite!', but this silly monkey business is decent family fun.

2.7

Carnival Magic

Mar 4, 1983

A magician in a carnival--who actually can read minds and levitate people and objects--works with a superintelligent chimp named Alex, who can also talk. The magician and the chimp soon become the stars of the carnival, drawing in big crowds. However, the wild-animal trainer, who has been displaced by the team as the carnival's top act, decides to kidnap Alex and sell him to a medical laboratory for experimentation, thereby getting rid of his competition.

8.3

Cirque du Soleil: O

Oct 17, 1998

Join Philemon, a young Sicilian boy whose quest for adventure leads him into an otherworldly realm. This mystical domain, a vivid manifestation of his hopes, dreams, and fears, unfolds as he delves into its deeper, darker waters. As Philemon explores this fantastical world, he encounters a breathtaking array of aquatic performances that captivate and intrigue, each act revealing a new facet of this dream-like expedition.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: Be a Clown

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus: Be a Clown Trailers