Polly, a star bareback rider in a circus, is injured during a performance. The circus leaves town and she is left behind to convalescence at a local minister's house. During her 11-month stay they fall in love but the disapproval of the town folk causes Polly to rejoin the circus. A month later the circus comes back to town and the minister goes to it in search of Polly. This third act of the play recreates an actual circus on stage, complete with animals, during which the lovers reunite. The final star lit tableau scene has the lovers together watching lights of the circus wagons as they disappear over the hills.[2][3]
Settings
Action takes place in a small mid-western town.[4]
Act I
Scene 1: The minister's study at night
Scene 2: A bedroom above the study the next morning
Act II
Rear garden of parsonage eleven months later
Act II
Scene 1: Behind the scenes at the circus tent.
Scene 2: During the circus
Scene 3: At night in an empty circus lot
Production
Margaret Mayo wrote Polly of the Circus as a novel and adapted it into three act play (her first) for the stage.[5] It was brought to the stage by amusement entrepreneur and showman Frederic Thompson, who previously had been the creator of many world's fair attractions as well as Coney Island's Luna Park and the New York Hippodrome. Thompson had married stage actress Mabel Taliaferro the previous year and produced Polly of the Circus as star vehicle for her.[6][7] The sets and elaborate spectacles seen on stage were designed by Thompson and built at his Luna Park workshops.[8]
In performance
The play opened in New York on December 23, 1907, at the Liberty Theatre at 242 West 42nd Street and was a success, running for 160 performances until May 1908. After that it went on the road and was duplicated into several productions. During its run "Polly" was not only played by Mabel Taliaferro, but also by her sister Edith Taliaferro, and by Fay Wallace.[9]
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