Man on a Tightrope circus safely escape only to be told that Cernik has paid with his life. Obeying his dying wish, Zama orders the troupe to march on to their next performance. Shot on location in Bavaria, Germany, authentic acts were used, and the entire Brumbach Circus was employed for the production. The original plot to escape in small increments across the border was the actual means used by the Circus Brumbach in their escape. Man on a Tightrope Man on a Tightrope is a 1953 American film directed by Elia Kazan, starring Fredric March, Terry Moore and Gloria Grahame. It was entered
Letter to a Phoenix said that he was "fascinated" by the story, and that it was the direct inspiration for the 1975 story "The Peddler's Apprentice" which he co-wrote with his then-wife, Joan D. Vinge. Letter to a Phoenix "Letter to a Phoenix" is a science fiction short story by American writer Fredric Brown, about immortality. It was first published in "Astounding Science Fiction" in August 1949. A 180,000-year-old man writes a letter to humanity as a whole, explaining the lessons he has learned while observing the rise and fall of multiple civilizations. Literary scholar Jack Seabrook has described it as "(t)hought-provoking rather than