Circus Performers

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?

Gary Jennings first made a name for himself in American fiction with "Aztec," a highly imaginative account of the conquest of Mexico as seen from the Aztec side. He followed this with "The Journeyer," a similarly inventive and heavily researched novel about Marco Polo's travels to the Orient. These are essentially fictional exercises in the far away and long ago, somewhat in the manner of Mary Renault's "The King Must Die" and her other re-creations of the classic world.

The circus, by virtue of its extravagance, humor, design and legendary personalities, has provided considerable material for the American musical theater. Moreover, the circus possesses exactly the right mixture of drama and comedy that makes for satisfying musicals. Creators of musical comedies usually portrayed the circus with all the opulence and splendor of its three rings. For Sigmund Romberg's 1927 operetta, "The Circus Princess," set designers constructed a circus on stage.

A bold and familiar voice blared over a loud speaker at the San Diego Sports Arena on Tuesday night. "Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, producer Kenneth Feld is proud to present the 117th edition of The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the Greatest Show on Earth." Ringmaster Eric Michael Gillette had spoken, cuing the 15-piece band to strike up "Come and Join Our Family."

The circus came to town Tuesday, and a few local kids snuck into the tent to get a peek at the original "Greatest Show on Earth." Actually, this being 1987, the kids snuck into the parking lot of the Anaheim Convention Center. And, again, this being 1987, when the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus arrived in Anaheim, it actually had to rent a tent to pitch over its tigers and horses in the parking lot.

They took over a back room of Philippe's, where the walls are decorated with pictures of circus performers. They didn't look much different from other lunch-time diners packed into the sawdust-floored downtown Los Angeles eatery Monday, except for their clothes: blue elephants on a sweat shirt, black panthers running across a white shirt, a silver elephant tie clasp, clown pins.

The circus. Three rings of total wonder. Tigers jumping through hoops, trapeze artists flying through the air, dozens of clowns scampering about, elephants on parade, lavish costumes, a blaring brass band, cannons hurling daredevils toward a distant net. And, drawing the multitude's attention from one marvel to another, that silver-tongued champion of hyperbole, the ringmaster. Then, there's the Pickle Family Circus. One ring. A few clowns, jugglers and acrobats. A woman on the trapeze.

For five weeks, Nikolai Nikolski and his wife, Bertalina Kazakova, walked a perilous high wire here as stars of the visiting Moscow Circus. Then, on their day off, they walked from their room at the Liberty Hotel and asked for political asylum at the American Embassy. The performers, both 35, were flown to Miami on Thursday and were granted asylum. "We didn't come here to buy blue jeans or clothes. We came here for freedom," Kazakova told reporters in Miami. "We want to be free people.