Polly of the Circus

A trapeze artist falls for a preacher in this romantic drama starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable, based on Margaret Mayo’s 1907 play.

The circus has come to town and with it aerialist Polly Fisher (Davies), the queen of the air. Distracted during a performance, she falls 50 feet to the ground and is rushed to the nearby house of Rev. John Hartley (Gable), leader of the local parish. Enemies at first, the two soon fall in love and marry, shocking the vestry, which relieves John of his post.

So when no other church will hire him and he’s selling bibles door-to-door, Polly decides to sacrifice her happiness for her husband’s, no matter what the cost.

First filmed by Goldwyn Pictures in 1917, the rights to Polly of the Circus were included in the 1924 merger that formed MGM. The remake would eventually lead to a rare Gable loan-out when he re-teamed with Davies for Cain and Mabel, a romantic comedy released by Warner Bros. in 1936.