Sunday Scrambler: Cirque Tackles Vaudeville, NY Firemen Carwash an Elephant in Protest ...

New Yorkers getting blitzed by circuses up and down and all around the Big Town: Cirque du Soleil still determined to grab Gotham winter summer spring and fall. Cometh next, Montreal's entry into stage show stuff. They’re calling it Banana Shpeel: A New Twist on Vaudeville, and its hitting the Beacon Theatre next Feb. 11 after a break-in try in Chicago. David Shiner (of Kooza) directing. Cast of 33. Says Cirque big gun Daniel Lamarre, “It is, as the title says, a vaudeville show with a twist.” But don’t count on Gypsy Rose Lee redox. This one’s “a family show with a simple and compact narrative,” and they’re not talking Mae West East South or North. ... Cirque is also mounting, come 2011, an annual 4-month summer splash on the Radio City Music Hall stage. Acrobodies around the world: Start your warm ups!

Speaking of which, here’s cliff taunting acrobat Eskil Ronningsbakken (is that really a name?) doing arm stands on a rig perched over the edge of cliffs. He sees redemptive art, and feels “honored to be an extension of God’s beautiful nature.” The self-described “educated balancing performer” will be appearing at a cliff near you, if you live in greater Europe ... Brings to mind Beethoven light -- that's when orchestras play while acrobats fly high through anchored musicians ...

Not nice for plastering posters on telephone booths and road signs is the Great British Circus. Culture police also on edge over a video showing one of its elephants being hit by a groom ... There was a time in big top history, some of you might know, when there were not yet pachyderms prancing around rings ... Back to New York, sort of, where James A. Bailey's old home at 19 St. Nicholas Place sold for a cool $1.4 million, considered a bargain. Built in 1886, five years after Bailey and Barnum put out the very first three-ring circus, this palace should, I hereby feebly command, be turned into a NY circus museum. Hey, Big Apple folks: do you see what's been going on under your big toppy hats for many years? ...

New York Forever, cont'd: None of the populace too thrilled with firemen taking circus breaks, and against their professional will, to hose down a Ringling Bros. elephant, cleverly hatched for free press coverage, plenty of which it landed. Firemen first refused, and the circus kept moving up the chain of command, finally getting New York city officials to okay the brazen stunt, forcing the men who man red trucks to demean their stations in life which might have been critically needed ... PETA deliriously in there throwing more fire on the heat ... Cliff Vargas once sent a behemoth through the spray line and landed big publicity and nearly overnight discovered a road out of the phone rooms ... Just thought I'd mention that ...

Cooking up a storm of support for Circus World Museum: In Baraboo, chefs in combat to prove their kitchen charisma, and they raised a boffo $149.000. ... 30 eateries entered the tasty and tastifiic tournament. Silver Tray Awards handed out to the top stove stars, whomever they were ...

Artful Images: Princess Stephanie of Monaco hosting a circus photo contest for the young, it's lofty purpose to show “circus as part of our shared culture.” I love Stephanie for taking her father's torch with such dignity and devotion ... Back in biz is Circus Juventas, re-approved to give performances, its precarious sets apparently brought back up to code.

America’s Got Circus, so why not that as a TV show? This country from sea to polluted sea teems with young talent and old talent hungry for exposure, legit or non. So let ‘em all come on and do their thing. And maybe they’ll get more respect than they do on the other "Got Talent" show. Am I running dry here? Okay, tea tent's down, thank you Don Covington ... Try Starbucks across the midway ... And, oh, yes, Krisnamurti channelling in sends minimal regards to all non-non-non believers ...