Nachdem ich ein wenig gesucht habe, kann ich endlich mit einem Titel aufwarten: Die Szenen mit den Rettungen aus dem brennenden Zirkuszug erinnern mich an Cecil B. DeMille's mit Oscar überhäuften Film
The Greatest Show on Earth (USA 1952) - also vier Jahre nach Billy Jenkins' Brief.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044672/
Der Vorfall, an den sich der Film anlehnt, hat sich allerdings 1944 zugetragen und wird ausgiebig in der englischen Wikipedia gewürdigt.
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Zitat von Wikipedia
The Hartford Circus Fire
The Hartford Circus Fire, occurred on July 6, 1944, in Hartford, Connecticut, and was one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States. The fire occurred during an afternoon performance of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus that was attended by approximately 7,500 to 8,700 people. Emmett Kelly, the tramp clown, threw a bucket of water at the burning canvas tent in a futile effort to put the fire out.[citation needed]
More than 100 people were killed. The great irony of the fire was that the performance took place under canvas. Had the crowd realized it, safety was no farther away than ducking out under the sidewalls of the tent. Some of the dead remain unidentified to this day, even with modern DNA techniques.
One fact that came out in the investigation into the tragedy was that the tent had not been fireproofed. Ringling Bros.' had applied to the Army, which had an absolute priority on the material, for enough fireproofing liquid to treat their Big Top. The Army had refused to release it to them.[citation needed] The circus' management was found to be negligent and several Ringling executives served sentences in jail in connection with the Hartford Circus Fire.
Many claims were brought against The Greatest Show on Earth in connection with the fire. Ringling Bros.' set aside all their profits for the next ten years to pay off these claims and paid off every claim in full.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044672/
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Zu den Zirkuszügen in derselben Quelle:
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Zitat von Wikipedia
Circus trains
Currently, the circus maintains two circus train-based shows, the Blue Tour and the Red Tour, as well as the truck-based Gold Tour. Each train is a mile long with roughly 60 cars: 40 passenger cars and 20 freight.[6] The Blue and Red Tours present a full three-ring production for two years each (taking the month of December off), visiting alternating major cities each year. Each train presents a different "edition" of the show, using a numbering scheme that dates back to circus origins in 1871—the first year of P.T. Barnum's show. The Blue Tour presents the even-numbered editions on a two-year tour (beginning each even-numbered year), and the Red Tour presents the odd-numbered editions on the same two-year tour (beginning each odd-numbered year). The Gold Tour presents a scaled-back, single-ring version of the show, designed to serve smaller markets deemed incapable of supporting the three-ring versions.
The 2009 139th edition Red Tour is entitled "Zing, Zang, Zoom." It features illusions including a disappearing elephant. However, the Red Tour will no longer feature Bello Nock. Although both are credited for production of the show, the Red Tour is mainly under the control of Kenneth Feld while his daughter Nicole controls the Blue Tour.
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