Wheeler the Clown Presents

Novice Circus Quiz

(medium difficulty)

1.	Everyone is familiar with the circus bigtop. But what is (or was) the littletop?
	a.	*the menagerie (animal) tent*
	b.	the Clown dressing and prop tent
	c.	*the sideshow tent*
	d.	*the cookhouse tent*
	e.	*none of the above*

2.	Before being renamed Gargantua the Great by new owner John Ringling North, the famous gorilla with a definite hatred for men, was known as . . .
	a.	*Kong*
	b.	*Buddha*
	c.	*M'Toto*
	d.	*Mighty Joe*
	e.	*None of the above. He was always called Gargantua.*

3.	The organization now known as Clowns International got most of it's original members from what popular circus?
	a.	*Olympia Christmas Circus of Bertram Mills*
	b.	*Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus*
	c.	*Dibdin & Hughes Royal Circus*
	d.	*Royal Hanneford Circus*
	e.	*Downey Brothers Circus*

4.	*Which of the following real life circus people appeared in the 1952 movie, The Greatest Show on Earth?*
	a.	*Emmett "Weary Willie" Kelly Sr.*
	b.	*John Ringling North*
	c.	*Jackie LeClaire*
	d.	*Paul Jung*
	e.	*All of the above had a role in the movie*

5.	*Which of the following was a sometimes employer / most times competitor of the famous and circus owner Yankee Dan Rice?*
	a.	*P.T. Barnum*
	b.	*Yankee Robinson*
	c.	*The Ringling Brothers*
	d.	*Gilbert Spaulding*
	e.	*James Bailey*

6.	*Which of the following words or phrases does not* owe its existence or popularity to the circus world?**
	a.	*Gargantuan*
	b.	*Jumbo*
	c.	*(S)he's got sawdust in her / his veins*
	d.	*Joey*
	e.	*All of the above have their roots in the circus*

7.	"The Day the Clowns Cried" refers to a tragic example of what event which was common in the days of the tented circus?
	a.	*A blowdown (big top collapse due to high winds)*
	b.	*A circus train wreck with heavy fatalities*
	c.	*The last day of the season for a circus that was in the red (due to poor attendance and ticket sales)*
	d.	*A Fire in one of the major circus tents (big top, small top, or menagerie)*
	e.	*The day a well known circus was shut down due to shady or illegal midway activities*

8.	Which of the following circus greats owned a circus first?
	a.	*The Ringling Brothers*
	b.	*P.T. Barnum*
	c.	*James A. Bailey*
	d.	*Yankee Dan Rice*
	e.	*Emmett "Weary Willie" Kelly Jr.*

9.	*When a circus ringmaster pages "Mr. John Robinson," what does (s)he really mean?*
	a.	*The beginning of a* clown *act*
	b.	*A spectator named John Robinson has an emergency telephone call*
	c.	*The remaining circus acts need to be shortened*
	d.	*The rest of the show is cancelled*
	e.	*Nothing . . . who the heck is John Robinson, anyway?*

10.	Clown and circus owner "Yankee Dan" Rice, at the height of his career, was making around $200 a week more than which of his contemporaries?
	a.	*U.S. Vice-President Andrew Johnson*
	b.	*Theatrical actor Edwin Booth*
	c.	*Civil War Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant*
	d.	*Theatrical actor John Wilkes Booth*
	e.	*U.S. President Abraham Lincoln*

11.	*What is "en ferocite?"*
	a.	*A term for a rogue elephant*
	b.	*A style of wild animal act*
	c.	*A wild paced circus performance*
	d.	*A type of circus spectacle*
	e.	*A fight between two or more circus performers*

12.	In circus terminology, what is a "picture gallery?
	a.	*A historical scrapbook that most circuses keep*
	b.	*A tattooed man or woman*
	c.	*The proofs of the pictures that may go into a circus souvenir program*
	d.	*A circus advertisement that includes shots of current main acts*
	e.	*None of the above*

13.	In the late 1950's, a television series called Circus Boy, starred a young man who would later become famous as a member of a popular rock group. Was it . . .?
	a.	*David Cassidy of the Partridge Family*
	b.	*Mick Jager of the Rolling Stones*
	c.	*Ringo Starr of the Beatles*
	d.	*Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees*
	e.	*Jay Osmond of the Osmond Brothers*

14.	What was the name of Yankee Dan Rice's trained pig that, among other tricks, could sort through a pile of flags to pick the American flag?
	a.	*Amelia*
	b.	*Porky*
	c.	*Knucklehead*
	d.	*Mr. Spaulding*
	e.	*Lord Byron*

15.	Yankee Dan Rice was a circus owner, clown, and accomplished animal trainer. Which of the following did he not do?
	a.	*train an elephant to walk a tightrope*
	b.	*train lions to do various tricks*
	c.	*train a pig to rummage through a pile of flags and pull out the American flag*
	d.	*juggle cannon balls*
	e.	*train mules, which he would then sell to other* clowns

16.	Which of the following does NOT belong in the same grouping?
	a.	*Lord Byron*
	b.	*Amelia*
	c.	*Gargantua the Great*
	d.	*Knucklehead*
	e.	*Aroostook*

17.	*Who is generally acknowledged as the presenter of the first American circus?*
	a.	*P.T. Barnum*
	b.	*Yankee Dan Rice*
	c.	*John Bill Ricketts*
	d.	*Gilbert Spaulding*
	e.	*Buffalo Bill Cody*

18.	Which of the following Danny Kaye films featured the famous comic star as a *circus* clown?
	a.	*The Court Jester*
	b.	*Merry Andrew*
	c.	*The Five Pennies*
	d.	*The Inspector General*
	e.	*None of the above*

19.	*Who was not an actor in the 1959 Disney classic, Toby Tyler?*
	a.	*Kurt Russell*
	b.	*Henry Calvin*
	c.	*Kevin Cocheran*
	d.	*Bob Sweeney*
	e.	*Gene Sheldon*

20.	According to author and former clown Tom Ogden, at the height of the circus sideshow, which "freak" was always the most popular with the public (hence, the highest paid?
	a.	*Hirsuites (bearded ladies, etc.)*
	b.	*Co-joined Twins (billed then as Siamese twins)*
	c.	*Fat Ladies*
	d.	*Tattooed People*
	e.	*Midgets and Dwarves*

21.	Gunther Gebel-Williams, possibly the greatest animal trainer of all times, once was quoted as saying that a certain language was the only one his cats understood. What was the language?
	a.	*Austrian*
	b.	*English*
	c.	*Pig Latin*
	d.	*German*
	e.	*None of the above*

22.	Many countries have permanent buildings dedicated to circus performances. Where is the oldest such permanent circus building located?
	a.	*Moscow, Russia*
	b.	*London, England*
	c.	*Paris, France*
	d.	*Bethel, Connecticut, USA*
	e.	*Vienna, Austria*

23.	Which exotic animal (often seen in circuses) made its appearance in the United States first?
	a.	*Elephant*
	b.	*Camel*
	c.	*Polar Bear*
	d.	*Lion*
	e.	*Gorilla*

24.	Which circus did the great Emmett "Weary Willie" Kelly Sr. not perform for during his career?
	a.	*Hagenbach-Wallace Circus*
	b.	*Moslem Shrine Circus*
	c.	*Bertram Mills Circus*
	d.	*Pickle Family Circus*
	e.	*John Robinson Circus*

25.	What gave the very first batch of pink lemonade its distinctive color?
	a.	*Strawberries*
	b.	*Cherry 7-Up*
	c.	*Clothing dye*
	d.	*Food coloring*
	e.	*an undisclosed secret ingredient*

26.	*Who was not* a firsthand witness of the Ringling Brothers' Barnum and Bailey Circus's tragic Hartford Fire of 1944**
	a.	*Ringmaster Fred Bradna*
	b.	Clown *Emmett "Weary Willie" Kelly, Sr.*
	c.	*Animal Trainer May Wirth*
	d.	*Future Actor Charles Nelsen Reilly*
	e.	*Part Owner John Ringling North*
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     This Page was updated on: 06/05/2004