The opening titles list the director of this short as "Dave" (in quotes). Dave Fleischer was the director on most of the "Out of the Inkwell" films produced by (and featuring) his brother Max Fleischer, but it's curious that this film credits its director in such an idiosyncratic way. One theory is that, given the plot of the film (in which the Clown stages his own cartoon directly from inside the film projector), the "Dave" in the credits is a reference to the Inkwell Clown himself. At this stage in the series, the Clown had not yet been officially dubbed Ko-Ko, and it's possible that Max was toying around with the idea of naming him after his brother, who had inspired the creation of the cartoon character and also provided the live-action reference for the rotoscoped animation. (Dave Fleischer had worked as a clown on Coney Island.) Alternately, the credit could simply be an informal nod to Dave Fleischer, the real-life director of the short. Either way the director credit calls attention to itself. While it's unclear today what the Fleischers' intentions were at the time, at least one contemporary review began calling the clown character "Dave" (perhaps out of confusion).
Likely featured as the cartoon subject of the Goldwyn-Bray Pictograph No. 7037 (also listed as issue #437), which comprised three short subjects: "The Stranger's Friend", a segment on the Traveler's Aid Society in New York City, a "Master Minds of America" segment showing painter Childe Hassam, and a Max Fleischer "Out of the Inkwell" cartoon. This magazine reel is reviewed in the May 23, 1920 edition of Wid's Daily, as well as the May 8, 1920 edition of Motion Picture News, which notes that in the cartoon, "the figures move naturally" and the comedy is derived from the "super-exaggerated antics of a horse". Fleischer's "Out of the Inkwell" cartoons for Bray were notable for the natural movements of the Clown protagonist, produced through Fleischer's patented rotoscope process. The details of the cartoon's content (the antics of a horse), coupled with the approximate release date, seem to fit "The Circus".
In 1920, Chicago-based Moving Picture Age published "1001 Films: A Reference Book for Non-Theatrical Film Users", a film guide for various groups which may want to show movies for educational or entertainment purposes (schools, businesses, churches, community organizations, social clubs, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the Y.M.C.A., etc.). Reflecting certain conservative religious sensibilities, the book's entry for Goldwyn-Bray Pictograph No. 437 (listed under the title of the first subject, "The Stranger's Friend") has this suggestion about showing the "Out of the Inkwell" cartoon: "In cartoon, cut all scenes of horse heaven."
In the cartoonist's hand-written note to Jim the projectionist, it is made clear that Max Fleischer, often unnamed on camera or referred to merely as the Clown's "boss", is playing a fictionalized version of himself. In this "Out of the Inkwell" short, the cartoonist signs the note, "Max Fleischer, Bray Studios".
The May 8, 1920 edition of The Moving Picture World reviews the Goldwyn-Bray Pictograph that features this "Out of the Inkwell" cartoon, as well as subjects about the Travelers' Aid Society and artist Childe Hassam. In her review, Margaret I. MacDonald refers to Max Fleischer's Inkwell Clown as "Dave".