Horror movies have long set their action at “The Greatest Show on Earth”, tapping into the tawdrier aspects of circus life while also celebrating the once beloved spectacle.
But the real reason the show must not go on is that kids have too much to distract them 24 hours a day.
Some reacted with cheers, others with hanging heads when, over the weekend, the people at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey announced that their iconic circus would be taking down the tent for good after 146 years in business.
Founded by revered showman P.T. Barnum and death-defying acrobat outfit Ringling Bros., the circus was, once upon a time, the apex of entertainment, with children and other beasts whose place in the circus have long been plagued with controversy.