Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

[assault]

This is a random idea I haven't had the time to develop yet. I'll get back to it, but I'm throwing it out here for people to play with.

 

Circuses: Clowns, gorillas, elephants, tigers, freaks, acrobats, mentalists, weapons masters...

 

People outside "normal society".

 

What does this say to you?

[telemachus]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Circuses: What does this say to you?

 

The first two things that come to mind are that great, old Superman cartoon where the giant ape goes on a rampage in a circus, and the other is the Circus of Crime various Marvel Comics titles, in particular, I think, The Incredible Hulk.

[Steve Long]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

If you want to go for an element of occult weirdness, the HBO series Carnivale deals with a traveling circus in the early Thirties; it might provide some inspiration or ideas.

[Supreme Serpent]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Good front for a group of travelling adventurers, certainly.

 

We've used Circuses as parts of origins for several characters in our 1930's supers games. Acrobatics and physical fitness from the acrobats and strongmen, disguise skills, contortion, stage magic and redirection, animal handling, etc etc...lots of great skills that can be learned growing up in a circus! Witness Robin, originally of the Flying Graysons.

[Twilight]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

One of my earliest golden age heroes, the one I created when I first got the 4th Edition Golden Age Champions was a circus performer who used the skills he learnt there to become a flagsuit superhero. He was called either Liberty or Justice.

 

I also had a pulp character named Clay Connoly, who was the junior member of a family of trapeze artists. He was a lad with preternatural agility was Clay, who was often accompanied by his mother [also agile but also possessing a sharp mind and excellent business skills since she helped with the circus' finances], the strongman and the show's trickshot artist.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Category: Circuses

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Circuses

 

Cirque du Soleil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque_du_Soleil

 

Carnivàle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivale

 

Category: Fictional carnivals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fictional_carnivals

 

 

 

Cheers

 

QM

[assault]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Carnivale has been on TV in Australia. Sadly, I ignored it.

 

Another circus related comic character: Deadman. He could work for pulp too - an avenging ghost, a murderer with a hook instead of a hand... The "ghost" would probably take a less active role, or actually have somehow survived...

 

From the Wizard of Oz: Professor Marvel!

"ACCLAIMED BY The CROWNED HEADS of EUROPE"

http://www.un-official.com/The_Daily_Script/ms_wizoz.htm

Aside from the wonderful name, a handy carnival/sideshow charlatan.

 

From the The 39 Steps (1935_film): "Mr. Memory". A musical hall type, but able to be put into a carnival type of setting.

 

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. Spooky.

 

The sleepwalker in this was played by Conrad Veidt, who also starred in The Man Who Laughs. "Veidt's character has been listed as one of the inspirations for Batman's archnemesis The Joker."

 

History sites:

http://www.circushistory.org/

http://www.circusweb.com/circuswebFrames.html

plus whatever you google up.

 

Circus trains:

http://www.rosshorwood.com/RailSiteLinksFiles/circus.html

 

I guess strange animals captured in Lost Worlds could also end up on display in circuses/carnivals.

 

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I tell you any more, I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was a king and a god in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilization merely a captive - a show to gratify your curiosity. Ladies and gentlemen, look at Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World."

[Emerald Mask]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Read Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes for a creepy traveling circus. In the real world - my Dad and a friend found a dead body near a railroad track in 1938 or 39 ,the Police thought it has been thrown from a train-the only train thru had been a circus train on that siding. Speculation was body was shot elsewhere and circus transported it to a smaller city .

[st barbara]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

"The Question Man" has already posted a link (and therefore stolen my thunder somewhat:( ) so i'll just reinforce his recommendation of "Carnivale" for a "Pulp" era circus background.

[cleireac]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Let me also recommend the film version of Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

["V"]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

And for a totally frakked up circus theme can I recommend the following two films (both directed by Tod Browning I believe, though I may be wrong)

 

Freaks - a gold digging, good looking, heartless acrobat in the best traditions of EC Comics pretends to fall in love with a circus performer of less than average height (I'm sure they'd use the term midget in the film, but thankfully we live in more enlightened times) in order to get his money. Meanwhile she's carrying on an affair with the circus strongman. As the other inhabitants of the freak show learn of this betrayal they exact a dreadful revenge on the villainous pair leaving the strongman dead (the original screenplay had him castrated instead) and the beautiful acrobat, in the chanted words of the vengeful 'freaks' "One of us, One of us..." Absolutely chilling film, not least because the most monstrous characters are the two "Normals"

 

The Unknown - a silent classic starring Lon Chaney who, for reasons that will become apparent when you watch the film but are too long winded to go into now, is posing as an armless knife thrower in a circus. He falls in love with another performer who has a phobia of being touched - hence she can tolerate his presence because she believes he cannot touch her. When the criminally minded knife thrower commits murder he decides he can both get a great alibi and the woman he loves by having his arms amputated. Meanwhile the love of his life has got over her phobia & fallen in love with the strongman. Hmm, strongman cuckoldry theme running rampant. Anyway - plot for diabolical revenge involving wild horses and ripping arms off. Ignore my flippant synopsis & watch it - absolutely splendid film.

 

Edit as memory kicked in: The UK TV show "The League of Gentlemen" (ostensibly a comedy, but the nearest I've ever seen to a genuine Lovecraftian feel on screen!) featured a character called Papa Lazarous who was the ringmaster and possibly the scariest TV character I can remember. A sample appearance is here

 

and from the Christmas special... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFwUY0CpkZY

(and, offtopic, doesn't feature the circus but this clip from the series pretty much sets the tone:

)

 

If you get a chance to find some more clips for the feel of things you may well have the perfect archetype for the scary monstrous travelling circus to throw in as bad guys.

[assault]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Freaks

 

A fine film, which I haven't seen for over twenty years.

 

One problem with all of this stuff is the need to make encounters challenging to relatively capable, well-armed, and wary-to-paranoid PC groups. Unfortunately, the "horror atmosphere" is highly vulnerable to gunfire, even if the notional target of that gunfire isn't.

["V"]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

A fine film, which I haven't seen for over twenty years.

 

One problem with all of this stuff is the need to make encounters challenging to relatively capable, well-armed, and wary-to-paranoid PC groups. Unfortunately, the "horror atmosphere" is highly vulnerable to gunfire, even if the notional target of that gunfire isn't.

 

I think I've been blessed with good players - their characters don't tend to wander round toting firearms unless they have a good reason for doing so & there is a concensus that once a fight breaks out that means they've done something wrong. I tend to run games that don't reward "let's solve the problem by fighting better than the other side" tropes. Not that there's anything wrong with that if you're running an adventurous campaign of course - but as you point out it's hard to then down-gear to a "horror" rather than an "action" scenario. It's possible of course - compare Aliens (Action/Horror) to Alien (Horror) - but you couldn't really slip from one to the other & back again in alternate weeks and expect the players to keep up.

[bcaplan]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

A while back a friend of my told me he was organizing a Pulp game (system undisclosed!), and I asked to play a defector from the Moscow Circus. Here's what I sent him:

 

I've got a variety of circus-related skills, most notably my great accuracy with the throwing knife. But maybe I can also do gymnastics, trapeze-type stuff, riding wild animals (Skull Island's got some, I'm told), and vanishing in a puff of smoke. I can't decide if I'm going to be a regular Russian, or maybe a Mongol or other Soviet minority. I'm a survivor, but I've got a soft spot for the underdog - easy to hook me into any plot. I'm also on the look-out for the perfect woman to throw knifes at - maybe fate will intervene? See the sweet little French movie The Girl on the Bridge:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AOKYRU/102-5278080-6098525?v=glance&n=130

 

I might be played by Henri Lubatti from Sleeper Cell. [ATTACH]24220[/ATTACH]

P.S. Unfortunately, my friend has shown an unhealthy obsession with work after he inspired this character concept, so he remains unplayed.

[Narratio]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Although Marvels 'Circus of Crime' was mentioned by Telemachus, nobody else bumped others of Marvels crew who started in Circus's or Carnivals. The Blob and Unus the Untouchable, Hawkeye and the Swordsman all started in these places. Which gives you a lead on, if you would, into the genuiine superhero genre at a later date.

 

As musings, the sideshow Mentalist has been featured in many, many stories, mostly about the powers of hypnosis. The late 50's (or early 60's? I don't remember) US TV had a series called 'Circus Boy' starring a youthful Mickey Dolenz. And circus acrobats were among the first acts to be optioned for the fledgling TV shows of the 40's and 50's. Don't forget the aerial barnstormers of the 20's and 30's, travelling the country giving rides and displays of acrobatics in old WW1 biplanes. There's some skills hidden away there as well.

[telemachus]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Edit as memory kicked in: The UK TV show "The League of Gentlemen" (ostensibly a comedy, but the nearest I've ever seen to a genuine Lovecraftian feel on screen!) featured a character called Papa Lazarous who was the ringmaster and possibly the scariest TV character I can remember.

 

Repped for introducing me to Papa Lazarou. That literally made my skin crawl. Now promise you will never do that again!

["V"]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Hello Dave.

 

Dave?

 

Is that Dave?

 

YouTube may have more clips including a great mindreading act by Papa ("His name is George...") and Papa's dreadful reappearance in the third season when he's masquerading briefly as a young man who works in a charity shop (one of his victims is the implication) and while he is attacking the former husband of one of Papa's new wives, the husband grabs at his assailant's face and wipes off smears of the flesh toned make up to reveal Papa's leering countenance... and they call this a comedy!

 

First ever appearance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYhxFFlibdQ&mode=related&search=

[Basil]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Don't forget: the Criminal Mastermind may have hidden some of his henchmen (esp. dacoits: you can always use a few more dacoits) in some seedy little circus. Great place to hide, and also allows the Criminal Mastermind to move some henchmen (or spies) from place to place.

[Narratio]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Well known fact about circuses. Dacoits are allways hidden among the elephant handlers and other animal minders.

 

Mutants are hidden in with the freaks or solo acts. Many trapeze artists are mutants with very low level flying abilities. And don't discount the jugglers, knife throwers and marksmen using bows or rifles (especially the ones who work blindfolded) they can easily be low level mutants. Oddly enough the strongmen are usually just that, strong men. Don't know why.

 

And if you need super intelligent animals or aliens, where better to hide them?

[ldorn]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

based on previous posts this is list might be a typical PC group

 

Athlete: trapeze artist or high wire walker (or both if a small outfit)

Cowboy: Trick riding and sharpshooting

Gadgeteer/Grease Monkey: Keeps things running

Great White Hunter: Lion (tigers, bears, etc) tamer

Psychic Detective: Side show fortune teller

Two-fisted Hero: The strongman

Wild man: Side show attraction/Animial trainer (if no Great White Hunter)

 

I beleve the serial Daredevils of the Red Circle (unsure if that is the correct or complete title) featured circus perfomers as the lead characters out after a villian who destroyed their circus (not sure as I am working only from memory. The villain was Charles Mittleton (Ming the Merciless, Flash Gordon) though)

 

The suburban version is the vaudville troupe

["V"]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

 

Athlete: trapeze artist or high wire walker (or both if a small outfit)

 

I find the lady acrobats tend to have small outfits.

 

Nice comprehensive post too... I'd love to see the Vaudevillian troupe as a pulp team too - roles are not so obvious as the circus guys (less adventure ready skills) but probably a very interesting campaign idea.

[Doctor Agenda]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

I'm playing in a late 1920s voodoo fest featuring a cardshark, a bouncer/medicine man, a jazz player who went to the crossroads, a hypnotic fan dancer, and a circus-raised stage magician (moi). If zombis won't lure us in, a new speakeasy will. Our current archnemesis is a revenge-obsessed escape artist. We've GOT to take this show on the road.

[Narratio]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

The vaudeville troupe are pretty much the same as the circus acts except the magicians will probably be slightly higher powered illusionists, they work with a closer, more watchful audience after all. Then there's the dance troupes who coul easily be a one person multiform, or telepathic quadruplets, early clones perhaps?

[telemachus]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Hello Dave.

 

Thanks, that's one I missed. Managed to see most of the others (I think) except for the other one you mention, which I couldn't find on youtube for some reason. I found a few drunken "tributes" to Papa Lazarou, too, but this one-

 

 

was really pretty good.

[Narratio]

Re: Hey Rube! Circuses in Pulp Hero.

 

Possible plots for you to consider are, like in the pulps, based around the fact that the Cicus / Carnival etal moves from place to place and the big shows occur at night.

 

So you've got an oriental drug ring making clients and moving on, or the old cover for a group of Vampires perhaps. Taking just enough, but not too much at each town. Then there's the white slavery angle. Lots of stories spring from "Did Billy runaway to join the circus or was he taken?". Plus the "Who did you say teh father was? Bouncy Dan the Rubber Man with the Circus?"

 

Never forget to use both the mobility and the age of the Carnival/Circus. Most of them in Europe had 350+ years of history before the big die off that occurred during WW2. Old circus = lots of history, and that generates stories.