Great Balls of Fire

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey hoist the big top at Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton.

By: Daniel Shearer

"image"
Mr.


Nock as "Superbello."


   In terms of sheer spectacle, the Globe of Death is a hard act
to top — five motorcycles buzzing around a 16-foot spherical cage at speeds
approaching 60 miles per hour.
  At a show last month at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, the captain
of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey motorcycle team completed the
feat with an unprecedented six motorcycles. Sideways, upside down and criss-crossing,
the bikers executed a carefully choreographed routine, passing each other within
inches.
   The show wasn’t over.
   Charismatic ringleader Johnathan Lee Iverson, presiding over
the organized chaos of the self-billed Greatest Show on Earth from a motorized
podium, told the audience to prepare for "an event of earth-shaking enormity."
As music swelled and an army of Storm Trooper-like characters marched into the
arena, stage hands prepared for Bailey’s Comet — none other than a flaming
human cannonball.

"image"
Comic


daredevil Bello Nock, dressed as "Superbello," directs the high-flying
clown brigade during a stunt of mammoth proportions.


   Yes, flaming.
   In the darkened arena, Brian Mizer emerged from the muzzle of
a futuristic looking white cannon as a streak of light, arcing across the arena
and landing in the middle of a large airbag. The daredevil rolled off the bag,
leaving a trail of flame behind him. He stood by the side of the ring with his
hands in the air for what seemed like an eternity — several seconds, at least
— as a human torch. Children gasped as they attempted to comprehend the events
transpiring before them. Technicians rushed in to douse the blaze with fire extinguishes.
   The lights came up, his mask came off and, voila, Mr. Mizer
emerged from the stunt unscathed, business as usual for the company, now in its
133rd year. One of Ringling’s two touring groups, the red unit, will roll into
Trenton for performances May 29-June 1 at the Sovereign Bank Arena. The group
is on the road for almost 11 months each year, with nearly 90 percent of the production
moving between cities on one of the country’s largest privately owned trains.
   Even the clowns risk life and limb in this production, none
more than the star of the show, Bello Nock, who makes an entrance by bungee jumping
nearly 50 feet from the light rigging down to the floor. Attached to his waist,
he uses the bungees like a giant swing, adding momentum as he returns to a trapeze
platform before launching himself for more acrobatics.

"image"
Chinese


stilts.


   Given his versatility, it’s almost a misnomer to call Mr. Nock
a clown, although the 34-year-old, seventh-generation circus performer does admit
he strives to be "a living cartoon." His crazy red hair, teased into a four-inch
crown with hairspray, certainly lends itself to that assessment, but it’s not
just part of the act. Mr. Nock wears it that way everywhere he goes.
   "I’m just a goofy kid that’s sort of unbreakable," says Mr.
Nock during a phone interview from Rochester, N.Y., where the company traveled
following its shows in Philadelphia. "It’s just stuff that comes naturally to
me. Any 3-year-old can do anything I do, with 30 years practice.
   "Bungees are only as safe as a rubber band. There’s no net,
no airbag. It’s amazing what people will ask after seeing it. ‘Did you have a
net?’ ‘Well, did you see one?’ ‘No. Well, why did you do that?’ It’s not for the
money, it’s not for the contract. It’s because I love doing that stuff."

"image"
Mr.


Nock riding a 6-by-4-inch bicycle across a high wire.


 

   Now in his third year with Ringling Brothers, Mr. Nock joined
the show after spending three years as the star of the Big Apple Circus, which
named its shows after him. With Ringling, he is the glue that holds the production
together, performing an impressive array of feats, including an act in which he
pedals an impossibly small 6-by-4-inch bicycle across a high wire, and an impressive
display of high-flying leaps as he and a cadre of clowns launch themselves from
a platform, soaring over five elephants added in succession.
   "We carry about half as many or double the amount of animals
that we need on the road with us, because every two years there has to be a new
show," Mr. Nock says. "It takes a long time to build a trusting relationship with
these animals.
   "In our big parade, we have a motorcycle, camel, motorcycle,
giant kite, human beings, animals, goats — it goes on and on. And how do
you do that? Man, slowly, slowly and surely. If you scare them one time, and of
course we don’t want to do that to the animals, but forget about ever trying it
again if you scare them. It’s almost like scaring someone in the dark or

"image"
Bailey’s


Comet, otherwise known as a flaming human cannonball. 


hiding behind the door and scaring a little kid. Don’t ever expect them to come
back. It’s serious business. Elephants are unbelievably strong creatures, but
at the same time, they’re graceful and finessful in a lot of their movements."
   Mr. Nock began his career at age 3, when he dressed as a clown
for the first time and acted in a Dumbo circus routine. By age 9, he was walking
a 9-foot low wire as part of the family act, "The Nerveless Nocks."
    "I was the only clown in the family," he says. "I wanted to
be taken serious for a while, but no one ever did, so I forgot about that real
quick. I’ve done stunts my whole life. At 12 years old, I was jumping out of a
helicopter, 30 foot drop with a ski rope in my hand, barefoot skiing away, right
up to land. My brother was the helicopter pilot, and my other brother was the
boat pilot."
   Last year, he continued the family tradition with Ringling Brothers
using his "Sway Pole" act, a stunt pioneered by his father, Eugen Nock.
   "The sway pole is basically a flag pole about three inches in
diameter," Mr. Nock says. "It’s a round tube about 90 feet tall and it would sway
back and forth. I would just

"image"
Ringleader


Johnathan Lee Iverson.


climb it like a monkey would climb a tree. I did it for two years. It was an act
that only about two-dozen people in the world have accomplished, but you gotta
change all the time. That was last year’s tour."
    Amid the occasionally overwhelming spectacle of a three-ring
circus, Mr. Nock shows his true talent with an old Red Skelton gag. For that
bit, there’s no music, no fancy lights. Just Bello the clown holding a suitcase
that won’t move. He looks under it, walks around it, scratches his head repeatedly.
But some unknown force — practiced muscle isolation, actually — prevents
it from moving.
   "If you needed one word to describe me, it would be Jackie
Chan, Charlie Chaplin and an Olympic athlete mixed together," he says. "If I
were born nowadays, they’d probably put me on Ritalin and call me ADD.
   "Just imagine, risking your life, three to five times a show,
three shows a day. Every time I leave the bungee platform, I think, ‘I can’t
believe I’m doing this.’ But at the same time, I’m the one who came up with
it, I’m the one who said I’d do it, and I’m the one who looks forward to it,
every show."
 
The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus visits the Sovereign
Bank Arena, 550 S. Broad St., Trenton, May 29-June 1. Performances: Thurs. 7
p.m.; Fri. 10:30 a.m., 7 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m., 3, 7 p.m.; Sun. 1:30, 5:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $10-$20. For information, call (609) 520-8383. On the Web: www.ringling.com