COMMENTARY: The Greatest Show on Earth | Are you Good Circus?
One of the most entertaining films of the 1950s is a Cecil B. DeMille production: “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Starring Charlton Heston, Betty Hutton, Jimmy Stewart, and acts from the Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Baily Circus, it is a melodramatic tale of a season in the circus’ life.
Will people come to the show? Will they make their budget? Can they hold their infrastructure together with wire and faith? Can Brad the tough-as-nails Circus Manager keep them open the full season? Will their relationships in their circus stay strong – or will they be pulled apart by external events??
Sounds a lot like the nonprofit world to me.
We are always worried about revenue streams, holding things together, and creating good experiences. We work in an environment that expects the unexpected and deals with it using the least possible resources. Sometimes it’s construction paper and paper clips but we somehow put on a show.
There is a major disaster in the film: A crash instigated by criminals causes the loss of both circus trains and many of their acts and much of their equipment. Yet, they need to put on a show, or they will be closed by their Board of Directors/investors.
Brad the Circus Manager is seriously injured, so Aerialist Holly takes charge and organizes a “circus performance in the open” – they don’t have their tents so they make do with an open field (talk about leading from the middle). After a parade through town to get the local residents’ attention, the crowd follows them to their makeshift circus grounds and buys tickets, thus saving the rest of the season.
Like the main character Holly the Aerialist, in the nonprofit world we do what we can, when we can, with what we’ve got. And somehow it all works out in the end even if it’s not what we hoped or planned.
One of my favorite scenes in this movie is an exchange between Brad the Circus Manager and a competitor from another circus. It turns out criminals had infiltrated the arcade attached to Brad’s circus, and he rousts them and returns the money to the customers. The competitor is on hand to see this happen (he was always taunting Brad to just give up and close) but Brad never stopped.
The competitor says something like (and I am totally paraphrasing here), “Brad, I will beat you in the marketplace, but I will beat you fair and square. I may not like you, but you are Good Circus.”
“Good Circus” means that you have to be the type of person that fits into the world of the circus. You have to understand the unique nature of the circus world and what it means to be part of it. You need the knowledge of how it works differently from other parts of the world in order to be successful.
I like this scene because it reminds me of the nonprofit world. Many have come and gone because they just don’t get it. They aren’t “good circus” because they think the rules that apply to their part of the world apply here. While we can take some useful ideas from the rest of the world, the nonprofit community is unique, quirky, and sometimes maddening.
But grab some popcorn because the nonprofit world is The Greatest Show on Earth. Why? Because we are about good experiences and helping people. If you don’t get that, then you can’t be Good Circus.
