Like most little girls (and the occasional little boy - hi, Chris), I was obsessed with all things equine, unicorns in particular. I had a vast collection of My Little Ponys. I pretty much wore out our VHS copy of "Legend" (although, to be fair, Tim Curry as Satan almost trumps the unicorn factor on the scale of awesome in that movie). I'm fairly certain at one point I made myself a horn out of an old paper towel tube and some glitter (I mean, really, who didn't?) and wore it around the house.
So you can imagine my utter glee to find out that the big selling point of the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1985 was...are you ready...a real live unicorn. I'm totally not making this up. I was so excited by the mere concept that I almost had a heart attack while sitting in the nosebleed seats at Madison Square Garden, waiting for a glimpse of The Living Unicorn. There is also the distinct possibility that I was wired on the sugar from too many Cracker Jacks. Finally, finally at the end of the whole fiasco, with lots of dramatic fanfare, a single spotlight illuminated a creature in the middle of the center ring - and it was an alpaca with a plastic horn strapped to it's head. I think it was the most anti-climactic moment I've experienced thus far. Would it really have been too much to ask that they use, oh I don't know, a horse? I have been disillusioned with the circus ever since.
Fast forward 20 or so years, and this is kind of like that. Maybe slightly more biologically valid, but come on.
So you can imagine my utter glee to find out that the big selling point of the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1985 was...are you ready...a real live unicorn. I'm totally not making this up. I was so excited by the mere concept that I almost had a heart attack while sitting in the nosebleed seats at Madison Square Garden, waiting for a glimpse of The Living Unicorn. There is also the distinct possibility that I was wired on the sugar from too many Cracker Jacks. Finally, finally at the end of the whole fiasco, with lots of dramatic fanfare, a single spotlight illuminated a creature in the middle of the center ring - and it was an alpaca with a plastic horn strapped to it's head. I think it was the most anti-climactic moment I've experienced thus far. Would it really have been too much to ask that they use, oh I don't know, a horse? I have been disillusioned with the circus ever since.
Fast forward 20 or so years, and this is kind of like that. Maybe slightly more biologically valid, but come on.
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