I watched the Ringling Brothers in Madison Square Garden and it was wonderful, despite the Garden being a dump. That circus was the creme de la creme of American circuses.
Another great circus was the Moscow circus with stunning white horses racing around Radio City Hall! I saw this the year the Soviet Union fell and the performers sang the Russian and American national anthem at the finale.
Saw it as a kid in the early 50s at the “old” Garden. Took a girlfriend and her 8 year old son to see it at the “new” one in the mid 70s. Rode the #7 to work throughout the 70s and 80s and would pass right next to the circus train parked in the Sunnyside yards as the el went underground at Hunters Point. Remember always seeing the picture on the front page of the Daily News of the elephants coming out of the Midtown Tunnel on their way into Manhattan? A sign of Spring in Fun City. lol
That must be a great memory about the anthems. I’ve got one also, but it involved Canada.
Had season tickets to the Rangers back when Canada had just changed to “Oh, Canada.” Montreal was in town and one of the guys from my crowd had xeroxed up the words and we passed them out to the whole section (Sec. 421...blue seats) The Garden played an instrumental only version with our section singing rather loudly. When it ended, the Montreal starting line turned around and raised their sticks while the players on the bench beat the boards with theirs.
As the parent of an 8, 11, and 14 year old, I can assure you that the “live event” options for them are nearly limitless now. It’s insane compared to even when I was a kid in the early 80s when it was “Ice Capades, Circus, Globetrotters, and Wrestling.”
My kids do love the zoo, but I think they would feel bad for the animals if they went to some kind of animal act that didn’t involve dogs. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure my youngest even really know what a circus is. It’s just not part of the culture.