Life can be a circus at times.
For Elermore Vale's Allan Ward, it literally was. He played the saxophone and clarinet in a 17-piece big band in Michael Edgley's circus events in the 1970s and '80s.
He performed in shows like Circus on Ice, International Circus and Moscow Circus.
One time, the orchestra was set up next to the "steel enclosure for the big cats".
"The first thing the Sumatra tigers would do was pee up against the enclosure, next to the trumpet players. What a smell!" he said.
"The trumpet players were quickly moved back to a more suitable position."
The band usually performed from a platform made of "painter's planks tied together". It wouldn't pass occupational health and safety checks nowadays.
"The band was traditionally placed above the performers' entrance on a very shaky and just big enough platform for the orchestra," he said.
The Edgley circus had two "big tops".
The first would be set up for performances in Perth, for example, while the second one would be set up in Adelaide for the next show. That way, no time was lost setting up tents between cities.
"The Newcastle circus site was on the big gravel car park area on the southwest side of the old International Sports Centre, now McDonald Jones Stadium," he said.
The circus enabled him to work with international and Sydney musicians.
Allan said working with international conductors was "unbelievable".
"The experience was hard work but exciting," he said, adding it was "a great learning environment for a young muso".
He recalled the Bulgarian balancing act requiring non-stop music for about eight minutes, as the performers created a "human spire, five humans high".
"The last little girl was standing on a strong seesaw and shot to the top of the spire, as two of the troupe jumped down onto the seesaw."
He also recalled Russian brown bears being treated badly by their trainers. The Russian musicians were friendlier, but they didn't have much freedom.
"The key Russian players were very friendly and very good. Over the period of a week we became friends and a couple of times we invited them home for a barbecue," he said.
"They did not attend and it was explained to us that they were accompanied at all times by KGB officers in plain clothes. They were not allowed out of the circus perimeter except to go to their motel."
There wasn't much time for the band to rehearse.
"The last circus I played at was only a three-hour rehearsal for 90 sheets of music. The American conductor was told by previous conductors that the musicianship was excellent and the band could cut it in three hours by doing 'heads and tails'. This meant playing the intro and then cutting to the coda [the end].
"Any really difficult part he ran through verbally. We really needed a good memory."
He recalled the trapeze flyers having a platform for four people about three metres above the band.
"We could hear their bodies hitting each other if their timing was out. The ladies were very beautiful and very distracting while we were trying to play."
Allan still plays in a band every fortnight at Elermore Glen retirement village.
Circus Joke
Did you hear about the clown who ran away with the circus? They made him bring it back.
- topics@newcastleherald.com.au
