Circuses: This Is Old, Pussycat--But It's Fun

Skirts rise, movie screens widen, and astronauts walk in space, but in Manhattan's Madison Square Garden it is 1898—and will be until the circus leaves town. Last week the Greatest Show on Earth came north with the birds, bringing its customary amalgam of animal and human acts from Europe and America. Some concessions are made to the 20th century: there is an elephant production number entitled "This Is New —Pussycat," and 50 sumptuously undercostumed ballerinas go through the Radio City Music Hall bit (step, two, three, whirl, kick) to the tune of What's New, Pussycat? But otherwise the circus...