Circus Days.

Photographs by Jill Freedman.

Harmony Books, New York, 1975. English, 128 pp., numerous black-and-white illustrations, 9½x12½x½".

Out of Print.

Signed on the title page by Jill Freedman.

Fine condition; missing dust jacket.

I was that kind of kid who was always waiting to be carried off by gypsies. Unfortunately, I didn't meet any until I was dancing the can-can in a carnival, and by then either I was too old or they were. But the wanderlust has remained, and the mystery, packing up your tent and slipping off into the night. Which is a pretty tricky thing to do these days. Modern times are hard for the free people. You can't camp out on beaches or in woods or fields anymore, because somebody owns them. The hobo camps have long since been re-placed by mobile homes, and that's not the same thing at all. So it happened that one day I realized that I wanted to shoot the circus. Specifically, a tented show, which to me is the circus. Going to a new town each day, setting up, giving two shows, then tearing it all down and moving on that night. I wanted to document the backstage everyday life of this ancient closed society and the people who live in it. Because I am afraid that the circus as a way of life, like the gypsy and the hobo, is dying. Even my show, the Beatty-Cole, which is the largest tented show in the world, is small compared to ten years ago. And each year, some small circus somewhere folds. I wanted to photograph it now, while it still exists. First, as a docu-ment; second, out of curiosity; and finally, in the hope that maybe a few more people will get up from their TVs and come down to look around when it passes through.

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