Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, step right up to the Sarasota Opera House, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Oct.18. The film The Greatest Show on Earth is returning to where it premiered in 1952. It was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, filmed in Technicolor and released by Paramount Pictures. The film premiered at the Florida Theater, formerly A.B. Edwards Theater, and now known as the Sarasota Opera House. The film was shot in Sarasota, which was home at that time to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The movie stars Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde as trapeze artists competing for the center ring and Charlton Heston as the circus manager. James Stewart also stars as a clown who never removes his makeup, and Dorothy Lamour and Gloria Grahame play supporting roles.Besides the actors, the 1951 troupe of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus, 1,400 people, hundreds of animals and 60 railroad cars of equipment and tents, appears in the film. The film features about 85 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus acts, including famous clowns Emmett Kelly and Lou Jacobs. (Jacobs was the father of aerialist Dolly Jacobs, who currently appears with the Circus Arts Conservatory in Sarasota.) John Ringling North plays himself as the owner of the circus.The film includes several cameo appearances including Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Lamour's costars in the Road to ... films; William Boyd, star of the television series,  Hopalong Cassidy; Danny Thomas; and Van Heflin. Cecil B. DeMille, although not credited, is the film’s narrator. The film won two Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Story. It was nominated for Best Costume Design, Best Director and Best Film Editing. It also won Golden Globe Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Motion Picture – Drama. Tickets to The Greatest Show on Earth, at $12 each, are on sale now at the Sarasota Opera Box Office, by phone at (941) 328-1300, in person at 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, or online at https://tickets.sarasotaopera.org.