This book is about Soviet Circus artists who have become popular in Britain, France, the U.S.A., Cuba, Japan, China, Belgium, Holland and many other countries. Oleg Popov, the "Sunny clown;" the trainers Vladimir and Yuri Durov; Valentina Surkova the gymnast; The Vlzhanskys tightrope-walkers; the Bubnov sisters known as "the dragon-flies;" Valentin Filatov with his "Bear Circus;" the trainer Margarita Nazarova; and the magician Kio ... all appear in the following pages in their own stories or reminiscences and in articles by well-known writers, producers, and critics.
"The Past Recalled" describes memorable events in the lives of Anton Chekhov, Alexander Kuprin and Maxim Gorky. A. Fevralsky's article on Mayakovsky's circus pantomime "Moscow in Flames" is particularly interesting. This section also contains some of Vsevolod Meyerhold's and Sergei Eisenstein's ideas about the circus.