The Big Circus The Big Circus The Big Circus is a 1959 film starring Victor Mature as a circus owner struggling with financial trouble and a murderous unknown saboteur. It was produced and co-written by Irwin Allen, later known for a series of big-budget disaster films. Hank Whirling (Mature) needs a bank loan to keep his Whirling Circus going. He gets it from a stuffy New York City bank, but only on the condition he take along accountant Randy Sherman (Red Buttons) and publicist Helen Harrison (Rhonda Fleming) to help the circus turn a profit. Hank's top act is the Colino trapeze troupe,
The Circus Is Coming the author, Angela Bull notes that while "most reviewers praised it warmly", the "Time and Tide" reviewer thoroughly disliked Peter and Santa, wishing that Noel had "killed them off, instead of trailing them through the book and nearly spoiling her excellent material". Noel Streatfeild received the Carnegie Medal for "The Circus Is Coming" in the award's third year. Her "Ballet Shoes" had been considered for the medal in the first year, as had Howard Spring's "Sampson's Circus". "The Circus Is Coming" combines the circus setting of Spring's adventure story (which also had illustrations by Spurrier) with the artiste training of