Unpublished photos from The Greatest Show on Earth
Never-before-published photos from the set of the 1952 movie taken by Rupert Leach, View-Master's Director of Photography.
Last week, I watched the movie The Greatest Show on Earth and discovered that it was clear View-Master’s Director of Photography, Rupert Leach, was in Sarasota, Fla., at the winter headquarters of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus at the same time as the movie crew was way back in 1951. (To clarify: Leach was there to shoot a packet called A Day at the Circus; it was not intended as a direct tie-in to the movie or to Ringling Bros.)
I already did a side-by-side of the published reels and the movie stills. This week, let’s take a look at the never-before-published photos Leach took behind the scenes during the filming of The Greatest Show on Earth!
The movie culminates in a very intense train crash that leaves some dead, many wounded, and rampaging circus animals on the run. For reasons that make thematic but not common sense, the star of the circus, Betty Hutton as Holly, decides the show absolutely must go on—and not eventually but right now, even as her sometime-boyfriend circus manager Brad (played by Charlton Heston) gets a blood transfusion at the site of the crash from Buttons the clown (played by James Stewart)!
The circus folks rush to put together a parade, march through town, and get everybody to follow them back to the crash site in order to put on a show and save what’s left of the circus season. This final sequence makes it clear that Rupert Leach was on set that day!
So, here are the never-before-published photos from Rupert Leach’s personal reels, marked simply as “Ringling Bros., Sarasota, Fla.,” that were clearly taken on the set of The Greatest Show on Earth.
Photos below are scans from Rupert Leach’s personal View-Master reels and are part of my private collection unless otherwise marked.
Recommended Reading/Resources:
“The Greatest Show on Earth” Was Filmed in Sarasota in the ’50s
‘Greatest Show on Earth’ comes home for Opera House screening
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It never occurred to me, until now, that photographers may keep unused commissioned photos in their personal collections. Really makes you wonder what else is in private collections around the world.