Wat exactly should I be reporting on?
“Circus,” as defined by Webster’s 10th:
An arena often covered with a tent and used for avariety shows including feats of physical skill, wild animal acts and performances by clowns.
I wonder if the new 12th edition has been revised to read:
A word used by a wide variety of traveling acrobatic troupes that sometimes include animals and/or clowns.
Would this not be as accurate as was the older definition?
We are adrift in a sea of circus show variations, which makes watching and reviewing them a challenge. I see no clear unifying thread relative to the season now ending, so I will asterisk away, first taking the time to thank Don Covington and Alex Smith, on this side of the pond, Douglas McPherson on the other, for helpfully sending me numerous news and feature items through the year. Okay, in no particular order .
* WHO OWNS BIG APPLE CIRCUS? Never in my days of circus going have I not known the name(s) of those who owned every show I followed or read about. Paul Binder's gift to New Yorkers seems to have devolved into a tangle of owners and venture capitalists, once if not still Sarasota based, known as Compass Partners. If only one of them had a compass pointing to successful full season operation.
* A KING DISPOSED? Another dysfunctionally out-of-order curiosity is the Wisconsin Historical Society, now owner of Circus World Museum. They let CEO Scott McDonnell, above, go, and then to replace him, hired and, a few months later, fired Julie Parkinson. When I spoke with Scott, he lent the impression of a conflict with his new overlords at the State Historical Society over future directions and goals for the museum. Why Oh Why?
* BLOOD OVER HUGO; Two tragic deaths in a single season. Traci Byrd allegedly shot dead by her boyfriend, Armando Caceras, he reportedly the prime suspect. Worse yet, tiger trainer Ryan Easley, only 37, mauled to death by one of his tigers in September. My deepest sympathies to Ryan’s family and to the folks of Hugo.
* BAFFLING ZOPPE NO-SHOW. Little Ilario Zoppe, heretofore a gifted clown, this year not making an appearance until the very end of a so-so show, and not in greasepaint. He’s being trained in hand and foot balancing. Why oh Why? I waited to see both him and his brother, Julien, and was stood up. Their absence left a hole in a thin program. Makes no sense whatsoever.
* L0SS OF A WONDERFUL BIG TOP BOSS, Johnny Pugh, February 17. I never met the man, but was lucky to interview him by phone. Talk about warm and caring. A swell down-to-earth guy — heck, the nicest guy who ever ran a circus? Born in the Kennington district of London to showman John "Digger" Pugh, John came to the states as an acrobat, and would help save the Beatty-Cole show. He also served as a judge for Prince Rainier's Monte Carlo Circus Festival. What a pleasure it is to watch YouTubes of Beatty-Cole in the 1980s, during that last great American circus decade. Even through the gauze of crowds streaming down the track during the first displays, action in and over the rings keeps us completely satisfied. Circus straight ahead. It always starts with and comes from the person at the top.
* FINDING BIG STARS UNDER LITTLE TENTS. Rarely am I not wowed by one or two. Happened this past year when You Tube rolled Flip Circus my way, a name new to me. Two standouts: A fellow scaling and body-contorting up and down a Chinese pole, so refreshingly novel an attack. And on the same bill, two dashing jugglers working a brilliantly inventive routine — even with too many flubs. I wold gladly pay to see them again.
MAYHEM IN GLOBES OF DEATH, from Rome to America. I’d never known of a single accident over here. But, as scrupulously researched by Douglas McPherson, turns out it can and has happened to motorcycling daredevils madly circling each other. A few riders over time have not come out alive. At least one this past year, in Italy, and four non-fatal crashes in the UK. Broken bones and dead bodies sustain in the public's mind the element of risk at the circus. And their popularity tells us that the crowds still want risk.
* ONLY IN SAN FRANCISCO Circus Bella, a free summer show at Bay Area parks featuring local talent, turns into Club Bella in December under a 300 seat designer tent, as suave as what might pass for cinema in space. How I’d love to experience it, but not at prices ranging from fifty to eighty bucks. I’ll wait for grass. Sadly, the show's exceptionally talented composer and musical director Rob Reich, 47, passed away earlier this year. He and his band gave the show one undeniably world class attribute. He could have been a giant -- when circuses were giants.
Out, Damn Cirque!
* CIRQUE DU MYSTIFY: Funniest found quote, shuffling through old papers, this from Lyn Gardner of The Guardian, in a 2008 review of OVO: "I know plenty of people who would quite happily pay me not to sit through a Cirque du Soleil show." (Her one-star review of the exhausting Cirque yawner, Amluna --- I gave it a grudging 2), resulted in the Montreal monster revoking her press pass.) I myself loved the first CDS shows, but now, a survivor of too many plodding latter-period duds, I have tittle desire to face the dark existential gloom of ECHO, now emoting to the perfect town for such, San Francisco. I suffered through its tyranny on my flat screen. Maybe it's something about the human figure being turned into abstract body parts. Maybe a primer on group suicide?
* DANCE ON, ZIPPOS! Never have I seen hoofers at a circus carry on as if they were on Broadway and choreographed by the best. In this instance, favoring the contortionesque patterns of Bob Fosse. What a revelation. Called Candyland 2024, from Zippos in the UK. See for yourself on You Tube.
* DOGS R US. And never more so than when a circus comes to town. You can take this sprightly charmer out of the ring, but you'll never take the ring out of its heart. Even Kenneth Fled couldn't resist himself in a wimpy cave to a robotic mutt he calls Bailey. The lone figure of real circus was such a hit with customers that Feld is giving Bailey more to do in New Ringling S2. (see more about this in my post below.) If performing dogs can win TV competitions before millions, what's to stop even our most timidly temporizing owners from granting the audience that which it clearly adores and has few "issues" with?
* DOGS STEAL THE SHOW AT BIG APPLE CIRCUS --- only act on the current bill reviewed by The New York Times. Yes, true, confirmed and certified by cyber courier Don Covington. The honor goes to Olate's capering canines, who had previously won first place --- and one millions dollars ---on America's Got Talent 2019. And what, might I indiscriminately inquire, does this say for the rest? The Times hates to review circuses in the negative. Inexplicably, they ignored New Ringling.
* FANFARE AND FAREWELL How sad was I to learn, from Maureen Brunsdale, that she is leaving her post at Illinois State University, where she oversaw their circus holdings. Health reasons, the cause. So lucky was I when I queried her back in 2011 on taking my papers and interview tapes under he aegis. She, unlike a number of unmovable others, said yes with a glow on her face (or so that’s how it felt.) I can’t think of a more stable or appropriate place for my work to reside. Colleges are not subject to disruptions and fire sales. Maureen landed the Henry Ringling North papers and the massive 250,000-items collection of Herb Ueckert. She authored the eagerly received bio of Art Concello, In the Shadow of the Big Top, for which, The Circus Historical Society awarded her their Stuart Thayer Prize. I will forever miss her.
* ILLINOIS DAVID? My first circus review was set into type at the Hohenadel Print Shop in Rochelle, publisher of The White Tops. In Champaign, the University of Illinois Press published my most successful book, Big Top Boss: John Ringling North and the Circus. And now, my papers will reside in Normal. Bless you, Maureen, for taking them in, and may you find rewarding new subjects to write about in the next chapter of your life.
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