Bill Hall of Glenside is a longtime talent agent who has worked with many circus performers since the late 1960s and produced circus shows. George A. Hamid, Sr., interviewed him for Circus World Digital Collections.

Hall — who also authored a regular column for the magazine of the Circus Fans Association of America — saw his first big-top performance before he was one year old.

“My parents took me as a babe in arms in May of 1934,” said Hall. “My father, William B. Hall, Jr., said he couldn’t get a babysitter.”

That latter claim was a ruse, Hall explained. His frugal father knew that audience members with infants were comped admissions. He used the policy, generally reserved for women, to get in free.

Hall visited a circus every year thereafter, incorporating his memories of the performances into his journalism studies. “It captured the interest of the whole class,” he recalled.

He soon landed a job with Indiana‘s Circus Hall of Fame, handling its national publicity.

In December 1968, he became a show producer, an experience he leveraged into his talent agency. Hall also served as longtime coordinator of the annual July 4 parade in Glenside.

Listen to the entire Bill Hall interview at Circus World Digital Collections.

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A look at the Circus Hall of Fame.