Circusing Into 2020: As Big Tops Topple, Museums & Movies Keep the Ageless Delight Half-a Delight.... The House of Ringling Stirs Again! ... Could It Be? ..

Originally posted on January 7 

So, why don't we begin the new year on a high note?

BACK TO BARABOO: On good news we lift off.  Ringlinglville spreading its rebounding glories in a glorious 8-sheet brochure, bright and cheery.  Next summer’s non-PC show to be themed, Go West.  Among the rootin’ tootin’ returnees, barnyard magician Jenny Vidbel promising another zany menagerie, including (but not limited to, please) horses, pones, dogs, goats, and two steers. No pig, Jenny? And what about that snippy skunk?   ... “We never know exactly what’s coming until she is here and unloading it,” chirps ringmaster Dave SaLoutos ... Half-white face clowning by goofball reliables Copeland and Combs, heading to Amsterdam for end-of-the year rollick at Wereldkerstcircus, holding court at Circus World for another summer season.  Don’t you just love their ambitious sprits?

CIRCUS WORLD’S  Piper-in-Chief Scott O’Donnell, talking up rising attendance, affirming the “majesty and beauty through the elephants and tigers that shared our summer,” dropping hints of  “live circus performances year around..” ...  New exhibits planned.  More ailing wagons readied for rehab. ((Is my beloved Foley & Burke fun house wagon still rotting away in the nether regions of criminal neglect? )  For me, Baraboo is a dream town, and how I wish Amtrak rumbled through...Does anybody know if  the lady in the grand Victorian still rent rooms, complete with visiting bats, and for breakfast, serves up a Ringling spec of a feast?
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BIG APPLE DREAMS NEVER DIE -- not yet. Post Binder and Christensen, they took the good doctor, Neil Khranvatz, on a rescue ride as mover and shaker — the press bought it --- a ride that lasted but maybe a season and a half.  Into replace the doc came rock-the-tent lawyer Gregg Walker, who’s high on upscale cuisine and a more spicy performance.  He’s cooked up what looks like a good show, and seasoned it with dabs of sleaze and sass. Will mom and dad resist?  Will younger singles and duos take the bait?  I am waiting for the show to play Cunningham Park in May, with or without innuendo.   

CAPTURED, FRACTURED on cinema.  I settled down for another look at the PBS Circus in reruns..   So much brilliant footage to die for, but to muddle through for?  Opens up wondrously, then too soon takes us back in time,  NOT to Philly l792 where the circus in this country started out, but to New York, 1843, site of Barnum’s Museum.  And they can’t let go of Mr. Barnum.   Barnum.  Barnum.  Barnum forever.  Pardon me!  HELLO! That was a bloody freak and oddities show he had up and running. NOT a circus!  Knowing what other agitations lay ahead in this ill-conceived, half-baked tribute that ends up giving up in the most lame fashion in Pittsburgh, 1956, blaming the end of circus on Ed Sullivan,  I tuned out, and, yes okay, I am wasting your time already. Let’s spin a little cotton candy.

CIRCUS IS WHERE YOU FIND IT!  These gloomy days, circus artists, struggling to land  gigs, are finding work in the most unlikely places, concert hall to half-time at football games.  The latter venue conquered with grace, stamina and charm by acrobat Christian Stolinev and Percy, his 7-year-old Mexican born golden Chihuahua. The duo logging in more than 200 shows at pro and college games since 2013.  Percy knocks ‘em dead. “He’s definitely the star,” says Christian, giving his partner credit for the half time payoffs ... Let’s hang the true magic of circus on that little dog, who, midway in Christian’s workout, pops out of a box on onto Christian and stays loyally  upright during his master’s handstands.

FELDISHLY FAITHFUL:  Fallen circus king, Kenneth Feld, in his own words, from the doc he produced about the show’s final days: “Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey will live and at some point in time Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey will reappear, and it will be quite different. It will set the standard for the time and for the future.” Chills   down    my    spine ... This I know. This man CAN be brilliant, CAN adapt, CAN pull in crowds larger than any other top out there on the planet, CDS included,  and HAS millions in chump change to play with.  So, how about it, House of Ringling?  I am in your face, Feld of Felds:  MAKE MY BLOG.

How’s that for a wrap?  Until that magic day, circus is where you find it, so go out and look!

Happy whatever, 2020!

Center ring kudos to cyber courier Don Covington, for keeping me linked in through the year to numerous circus articles and reviews.

posted 1.7.2020