Friday Flip Flops: Spangles to Spandex; Ringling to Rungeling? And the Elephants Stay On Pointe...

Not a Big Apple thrill to everyone: A visitor to this blog who goes by the name of “Big Apple Got My Money”, not tickled over the new Big Apple Circus lineup, barking: “No elephants! No Exotics! Dogs and horses running to live music is not a circus! It’s men in spandex minus all the class of Soleil” I love that, even though, gotta tell you, let it be spandex or polyester as long as BAC goes high with a trapeze act and all the other goodies promised ...

Calling Red State Steady Eddie: Blue State needs you! You’re talking up packed houses for Carson & Barnes, recently of the 3- ring variety, in a June red date somewhere you promoted into a $50,000 bonanza, and nobody not returning after intermission. "We thought the show was great." Congrats, Mr. Natural Born promoter. How about donning a baby blue suit and helping Circus Vargas out of its blue state blues into red state black? "And listen to this," you say, "over 1,000 people showed up for set up." Heck, makes me feel more retrospectively lonely back there on that C&B lot at the dismally grey Cow Palace. Just me, the canvas guys, a few leisurely inclined animals and a stubborn introverted sun holding out until show time. Eddie the Steady, whom I nominate to replace no-show Joe the plumber -- Big Top the Battered needs you!

Unenlightened me: Janet, an avid pro-animals-back-to-the-wilds advocate, commenting here that “enlightened” people are turning more and more to jungle-free rings. She and others, of course, can say what they wish. So can I, and let me point something out, especially to a mean-spirited “Anonymous” back there harboring a fiction that big tops sans exotics do better than those with: Circus Chimera had no animals — no longer on the road. Circus Vargas, without animals, struggling. The Pickle Family Circus, which hatched, chicken free, the “enlightened” concept, has not toured for years. On the other vexing hand, folks, here are some still touring tents that dare to host the animal stars mostly because the public and its children still want them: Big Apple; UniverSoul, New Cole, Carson & Barnes and Kelly-Miller. And did I mention Ringling?

America Talks Back: It’s a pleasure to see some ladies on the other side of the issue shouting back: “You animal rights nuts are not compassionate people. You compare cows to lynched black men. You’ll sooner let monkeys roam the streets of new York than end a pandemic. You are below any level of rational or logical thinking.” And, may I charitably add, your “circus criminals” website attack is below the belt. You’d do your cause better by staying on point and clear of smear ...

Variations on a Household Name: About that secret Feld lawsuit settlement, here’s Neil Cockerline’s line on why John Ringling North II won the right to post his name (well, in certain places). Opines Neil, untangling Ringling-Feld legal history, Feld lost his hold on banning Ringling heirs from flaunting their names when the show went into and out of the Mattel morass, at which point parts of the original contract got red lighted or Barbie Dolled to death ... Are you with me so far, kids? I’m not going any deeper; I feel swamped at a law stand. Anyway, maybe Neil will tell us why on the cover of the program, it’s John R. North II and not the full family fame. I’m waiting, Neil. Also about K-M, Pat Cashin’s all a giggles over JRN II inviting his tiger man, Casey McCoy to hold the line in ‘09. Pat’s also hinting that he knows (could it be him?) who’ll be clowning it up next year for “America’s One Ring Wonder” (Al Ringling should be smiling in his grave over that charmed slogan)...

Why documents thrill: Nobody seemed much impressed when I reported on finding at the Circus World Museum two emotionally charged notes by John Ringling North the Original in his own unmistakable handwriting, one bluntly issuing his opinions of his 1951 opus after opening night; the other; a letter to Art Concello expressing turbulent affection while questioning Art’s talking behind John’s back and stressing that he (John) was the decision maker, yet ending I think with “Love, John." Obviously John valued Art, to whom he meekly turned in his darkest hour just after striking the tents for good in Pittsburgh. Here’s why I swoon over such discoveries: On PBS, presidential historian Michael B. (how could I ever spell his name this late at night?) sharing joy over a just discovered tape of JFK at the outset of his running for president, at his house talking freely about his feelings on many matters and showing altitudes not known until this tape. A note can trump a thousand pictures ...

End Ringers in red and blue: A You Tube delight: Those ambitious and impressively talented Circus Smirkus kids and their show, reminding me of my day on the Circus Kirk lot years ago. Auditions drew thousands and siphoned out a mere 17 for the final cut ... A living Wallenda named Nik, now on Ringling, wire walking for 235 feet high across the Garden State (how ill a choice of settings), and landing national tv exposure, for which Kenneth Feld, about to face court dates for alleged animal abuse, must be smiling.

Spangles to Spandex: So why not Ringling (in instances banned by the Felds) to Rungeling, which is how the family name was originally spelled? I mean like, John Rungeling North II presents Kully Muller? Blame my dizziness on a strain of Taiwanese tea called Jade Spring for the first time tested here at L’Amyx, as, in the background, something vaguely Parisian plays.

Yours the jaded in green state spandex ...