Circus History Live! Featuring Maureen Brunsdale Plus the 2023 Thayer Prize Award to Danise Payne - StageLync
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Circus History 

Circus History Live! Featuring Maureen Brunsdale Plus the 2023 Thayer Prize Award to Danise Payne

Chris Berry
This episode of Circus History Live! features Circus Historical Society (CHS) trustee Maureen Brunsdale discussing her new biography of Art Concello, In the Shadow of the Big Top: The Life of Ringling’s Unlikely Circus Savior. Learn more about the book here. 

At the beginning of the program, CHS awards the 2023 Stuart Thayer Prize to Danise Payne for her fantastic autobiography, Elbows in My Ears: My Life with Little People, Tigers, and Wardrobe Trunks. Learn more about this book (and where to purchase it!) at https://www.danisepayne.com/.

Circus History Live! is a free Zoom event open to all CHS members and non-members. Learn more about the Circus Historical Society and join today at circushistory.org.

Want more circus history? Visit the Bandwagon collection on the Internet Archive for over 500 fully searchable issues dating back to the 1940s.

Read CHS President Bruce Hawley’s book reviews on CircusTalk:

Book Review: In the Shadow of the Big Top: The Life of Ringling’s Unlikely Circus Savior, Maureen Brunsdale – (Rowman & Littlefield 2023)

Elbows in My Ears: My Favorite Circus Book of 2022

Chris Berry
Broadcaster, Vice President of the Circus Historical Society -USA
Chris Berry’s two passions are broadcasting and the circus — though not necessarily in that order. Growing up just outside of Sarasota, at an early age Chris had the opportunity to meet some of the great circus stars of the 20th century and the fire was lit. By the time he was 14 volunteer at the old Circus Hall of Fame in Sarasota and a member of the Circus Historical Society, where he now serves as Vice President. His interest in circus history and expertise in the area of circus lithographs blossomed as he learned and was mentored by some of the most respected circus historians of the time. After a career with CBS and ABC where he held executive positions in Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York and Chicago – Chris now is an Executive Vice President at iHeartMedia where he divides his time between gathering and distributing the news of today, and the studying the history of the circus in America.

Editor's Note: At StageLync, an international platform for the performing arts, we celebrate the diversity of our writers' backgrounds. We recognize and support their choice to use either American or British English in their articles, respecting their individual preferences and origins. This policy allows us to embrace a wide range of linguistic expressions, enriching our content and reflecting the global nature of our community.

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Chris Berry

Chris Berry’s two passions are broadcasting and the circus — though not necessarily in that order. Growing up just outside of Sarasota, at an early age Chris had the opportunity to meet some of the great circus stars of the 20th century and the fire was lit. By the time he was 14 volunteer at the old Circus Hall of Fame in Sarasota and a member of the Circus Historical Society, where he now serves as Vice President. His interest in circus history and expertise in the area of circus lithographs blossomed as he learned and was mentored by some of the most respected circus historians of the time. After a career with CBS and ABC where he held executive positions in Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York and Chicago – Chris now is an Executive Vice President at iHeartMedia where he divides his time between gathering and distributing the news of today, and the studying the history of the circus in America.