# That song about the daring young man on the flying trapeze **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919 "2005-01-03T23:45:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/1 "2005-01-03T23:45:56Z")
I don’t know if kids still go through a period of being attracted to the circus, but when I was a kid, most of us still did at some point. As a result, we all knew at least the chorus of that song about the man on the trapeze. Or at least the line that goes: _He flew through the air with the greatest of ease,_ And this song would propagate through generations of children as older ones sang it to younger ones. But does anyone know where this song came from? It’s sung in the 1934 movie _It Happened One Night_, but it seems older than that. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/2 "2005-01-03T23:55:38Z")
The man who inspired the song was Jules Leotard (1838-1870) and the song was written by George Leybourne in 1868. Leotard is also credited with the suit of the same name. Surprisingly, considering his relative youth at the time of his death, he did not die from a fall but from smallpox. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/3 "2005-01-03T23:57:51Z")
I know the rest of the chorus (or maybe it’s a verse): _He flies through the air with the greatest of ease, This daring young man on the flying trapeze. His movements are graceful, all girls he does please, And my love he has taken awa-aaay._ It’s one of the universal Life Experiences, this losing one’s girlfriend to a dashing young trapeze artist. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/4 "2005-01-04T14:52:21Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > I know the rest of the chorus (or maybe it’s a verse): > > _He flies through the air with the greatest of ease, > This daring young man on the flying trapeze. > ._ > > . After a lifetime of only knowing these two lines, it was fun to hear the entire song in _It Happened One Night_, as well as the band arrangement–singer, guitarist, and fiddler. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/5 "2005-01-04T15:59:44Z")
It’s also used in a Popeye short (Fleischer bros. era). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/6 "2005-01-04T16:13:51Z")
It’s also played by the ship’s band in _The Bridges at Toko-Ri_, when Mickey Rooney is being transported to another ship via breeches buoy. James Thurber’s _The Middle-Aged Man on the Flying Trapeze_ is hilarious. [The full lyrics](http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/themanontheflyingtrapeze.shtml) > [@](#): > > This young man by name was Signor Bona Slang, > Tall, big and handsome, as well made as Chang. > Where’er he appeared the hall loudly rang > With ovation from all people there. Um, yeah, okay. Spike Jones’ version is the best. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/7 "2005-01-04T17:46:38Z")
The tune, played on calliope and minus words) showed up a couple of times of the 1960’s show **The Wild Wild West** , as incidental music. Jim West was looking for someone in what I believe was a seemingly deserted carnival. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/8 "2005-01-04T19:35:48Z")
Doodles Weaver’s version (as part of Spike Jones and his City Slickers) is pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/9 "2005-01-04T20:20:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Tall, big and handsome, as well made as Chang. A joke no one gets anymore. From a circus-poster site: “In 1881, when James Bailey and P.T. Barnum entered into their new partnership, they traveled under the title Barnum and Great London Circus. It was at this time that Chang-Tu-Sing, the Chinese Goliath, was an attraction in their combined shows. According to the text which accompanies the Asian titan on the poster, Chang was the most gigantic and finely proportioned man in existence.” ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/10 "2005-01-04T21:00:03Z")
I don’t know what y’all be talkin’ 'bout. It’s DJ Kool. > [@DJ Kool](#): > > Now I’ma rap a rhyme with the greatest of ease > And swing it like the man on the flying trapeze > And if you don’t like it you grab on these > And now I need some help from the maestro please > > Jam, Ha! So look it here check the flavor of the rhythm I wrote > And while I got a chance here, let me clear my throat. Don’t you people know ANYTHING? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/11 "2005-01-04T21:25:34Z")
John Major, a former UK Prime Minister, was considered rather boring. Apparently he ran away from the circus to become an accountant. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Skott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Skott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skott)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/12 "2005-01-04T22:16:21Z")
Royal Crown Review had that line in their song, _Rise and Fall of the Great Mondello_: This cat was flying through with The greatest of ease All of a sudden he missed the trapeze Down and down, down and down Kersplatty on the ground Come and see where Mondello did land The poor fellow is in the Lord’s hands Oh me oh my what a shame Nothing left, just a stain ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-song-about-the-daring-young-man-on-the-flying-trapeze/282919/13 "2005-01-08T19:28:48Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > It’s sung in the 1934 movie _It Happened One Night_, but it seems older than that. Interestingly, the same year as the “Our Gang” short [Mike Fright](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025502/combined).