Circus Swings Into Action in Sapporo

They’re all here, long-limbed ladies and lion-tamers, trapeze artists and tightrope walkers, clowns, elephants, acrobats and death-defying daredevils.

But organizers of the first venture outside North America by the “Greatest Show on Earth,” the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, have some pre-opening jitters--will Japanese crowds show up?

“In the United States we have greater name recognition than George Bush and Michael Dukakis,” said Dinny McGuire, ringmaster of the circus, which has a 118-year history.

“We don’t really have to sell ourselves because people know we’re the greatest show on earth,” he said.

In Japan, they fear, it will not be quite so easy.

“You bring in a foreign product, but you have no idea if it will sell,” said Joseph Gold, regional marketing supervisor for the circus. “You can spend a fortune producing a show and it doesn’t sell.”

The three-ring circus and its Japanese promoters, the Japan Educational Corp., are certainly not pinching pennies on the extravaganza, which will run Friday through July 24 in this city on the northern island of Hokkaido and from Aug. 6 to Sept. 30 in Tokyo.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows has invested $10 million in producing the show in Japan.

The Japanese promoters have laid out $8 million just for the site and construction of the Big Top tent under which the 120 circus members will perform--the first time the circus has been under a tent since 1956.

Some circus performers will be working under a Big Top for the first time on the Japan tour. “This is like a dream for me,” said Bob Zraick, a clown veteran. “What I’d regretted most was I didn’t have a chance to work under a tent.”

Some wonder whether their acts will translate. “This seems like a serious culture,” said clown Chuck Sidlow. “In America we take real-life situations and make mockeries of them, but we aren’t too familiar with the culture here.”

While much of the circus’s success here will depend on promotional efforts, performers are also hoping they can touch a universal chord in their audience.

“Comedy has no barriers,” Sidlow said. “It’s all in your heart.”