Showbiz David

In the Shadowland of Early Hollywood ... the Haunting Genius of "Sunset Boulevard"

2012-01-25T18:50:00.000-08:00

It's probably my favorite all time film. I'm a sucker, you see, for Hollywood mythology. If "humor" is a form of truth, so too are the epic portrayals of faded film stars abandoned by stale dreams who roam the back lots of shadowland.

Hollywood is hardly aberrational. Hollywood is an all-to-accurate exaggeration of American culture. You think they are not you? Maybe, not, but they are many of us.

Dreams of fame, harbored only on sound stages -- are you kidding? "Arranged" love a human equation exclusive to Mulholland Drive? Shall we kindly leave that one alone?

Norman Desmond stalks her memories up there in that great big ridiculously overstuffed mansion off Sunset Boulevard. And while she watches her old silent films night after night, she is hardly the only soul escaping into past glories. All things are relative. We all have memories, real or contrived, of past glories.

The intersection between Hollywood and American culture has always been a perverse act of mutual collaboration. Some would argue destruction. One side teases the other, and together they multiple the exaggerations, back and forth. I have news for you: Infidelity existed long before the first camera and two-man camera crew from Chicago arrived in the City of Angels, seeking adequate sunshine under which to finish a one-reeler.

Nor did the movies invent the other vices, be they drugs or garden variety betrayal, infidelity or extortion. Greed. Incest. Murder.

What draws me to this fascinating place is its genius to lift these sordid aspects of the human condition (along, too, with happy interludes) into cinematic rapture. Rarely does it happen, but when it does, I marvel at the souls so talented who together make it happen.

Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard may be as close to a masterpiece as a film can be, it is so brilliantly and tautly organized, so masterfully wrought in escalating tension, in the impeccable acting and cinematography, all of it forming a weirdly dark comedy -- a bizarre two-faced valentine to the ghosts of a fickle town that treats them like sainted icons -- until the public (and not the studio chiefs) grows bored and turns to the fickle worship of younger icons.

Gloria Swanson delivered the performance of a lifetime. I can't imagine any other actress coming close.

I watched it again last week. And again, I was not let down. So profound is my respect, that I refused myself the risk of going behind the scenes by watching the "Specials features." No, no, not for this one. I wish to preserve my inviolate relationship to a very special movie.

I linked up Rotten Tomatoes to see how the flick fares: 98% positive. By another keystroke, maybe 100%. Sigh and gratitude, and relief. How great the honors from virtually every critic.

The mind is a fantastic instrument of self deception, and the mind is something we all live with. There is a little bit of Norman Desmond in all of us -- whenever we convert an exaggerated memory into total living reality. Beware the dangers that lurk went you can't let go, when you can't quite wake up. Beware your own Sunset Boulevards.

Sneak Peek Inside the Changing Circus: Rocking and Rolling Round the Rings ...

2012-01-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

"Circus music" -- did such a thing, in fact, ever exist? Not to slight the windjammers, but no.

"Entrance of the Gladiators' only codified an American circus music myth -- a myth that rarely acknowledges a greater force -- and one that drove even the maestro of maestros, Merle Evans: the Great American songbook. If Karl King fanfared in the first parade, Cole Porter and George Gershwin, among so many master tunesmiths, paced the program. In fact, circus owners and their directors are forever, those who stay in step, updating the sounds of the big top to underscore traditional tricks with timely tunes that move the masses.

In whose rings and during what season did rock and roll first rock the big top, big time?

Dig Deeper.
Dream Smarter.
$19.95 on Amazon

Hmmm ... Most Visitors Ever Yesterday ... What Was it?

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's stats skyrocketed.

Was it news about Kelly Miller's new opus opulating in Hugo? (no, don't try looking up the word, I just spun it out for effect...)

Or, was it my account of having been lead on and then dumped by NPR-WYNC radio in New York City? (Oddly, that posting is turning into one of the most watched ever, thank you, Ms. Misleading Katie Bishop) ..

Oh, wait, you're waiting for more FREE sneak peeks inside the changing circus? (290 page book is only $19.95 on Amazon -- shameless hint)

This little blog hit an all time-high for visitors (and maybe page views) yesterday. Yes, yesterday. Is John Ringling North II as big a story to you as it is to me?

My oh my, you -- the mini multitudes who gather round my little platform -- are sure a peepless lot. Okay, so it makes it easier for me to keep on pitching, guilt free, my little you know what ...

Enjoy? You have my permission.

Kelly Miller Circus Pirates Up 2012 Opus for Road Departure Feb. 3; Can Production & Fresh Clowning Trump Repetition?

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

New wagon art by Robert Rawls: Is that the face of a certain blogger?

John Ringling North II due into Hugo soon, to join the show for another early opening on Texas lots.

New edition now taking shape under the supervision of Kelly Miller's manager James Royal. ""We have had a very productive winterquarters period and things are looking great."

This year's program brings back many familiar faces. And while it's hard to assess how sponsors will take to the sparse turnover in performing personnel, on paper the layout looks like an inviting package. Overall impression may critically ride on new gags being built and rehearsed by clowns Steve Copeland and Ryan Combs, and by production flourishes linking a set of actions to a pirate themed romp closing out first half. Segment involves sword fighting, knife-throwing, Carolyn Rice's mutes arriving aboard the "SS Salty Dog," dancers and mermaid, North Starlets in the air, Friedman Torales working rolla bolla stop a crow's nest.

Here is where JRN II is showing a flair for theatricality. Not a parade, a spec, or a Cirque concoction, it's an ensemble effort not exactly (maybe never) seen on another circus.

Another display for which North had ordered special choreography will be Mike Rice working camels and a zebra while the Starlets kick it up a "Puttin' on the Ritz" routine.

Recurring comedic intrusions from Copeland and Combs may also bolster overall impact; four fresh gags from the young duo are now being giggled-up in the busy Hugo barns: One has them as angry birds, another as surfers, and another in a hillbilly update on the old washer woman gag.

Other returning features include Ryan Easley with tigers, Raul Oliveras on juggling, and elephant presenter Armando Loyal. Sara Greene and Delayna Fusco are crafting a new aerial cradle duo number.

On paper, shrewdest directing move appears to be the spotting of the Fusco Guachos display just before finale, likely to raise the sawdust for emphatic send-off excitement.

New to Kelly Miller comes single trap and iron jaw veteran Becky Ostraff, who cuts smooth classical posturing, notably sans mechanic, but minus a socko payoff.

Music: The score, in the words of Jim Royal, will be assembled and decided upon as follows: "Marshall Eckelman is our new Musical Director and he will be accompanied by Michael Harber on drums. We will be using music on the computer as well . The artists bring music, JRN II requests certain songs, John Moss suggests songs, and they all work together with Marshall."

The road, hopefully mud free, is waiting. Will the ticket buyers buy? In its theoretical favor, there is something about this show -- a mix of tradition, a warm ensemble spirit, the SS Salty Dog, fresh clowning and choreographic flashes that may lend the illusion of a brand new experience. The story of North's gentle rise to the possible status of a major big top producer continues.

The Sadness of the Passage of Time ... A Pickle Family Circus Alumni Returns to San Francisco

2012-01-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

Lorenzo Pisoni in Humor Abuse at the American Conservatory Theatre, about his days growing up in the Pickle Family Circus. Courtesy photo

Only seems like yesterday (and how many times before have you spoken or heard that phrase?), when I was discovering a delightfully quirky new troupe of acrobats and comedians at Norse Auditorium in San Francisco -- called the Pickle Family Circus, probably the first "circus" ever not to feature a single performing animal.

They went on locally to enjoy maybe a dozen good years, sometimes touring east, never under the tent that founder Larry Pisoni had all along dreamed of having.

In fact, they might have, with less political stridency and more money, turned themselves into the Big Apple Circus of the west.

Might have. So many "might haves" fill up a life. What is left of the Pickle legacy is essentially in glamorous ruins. Nothing in San Francisco, after all, is not glamorous, even the homeless, right? What lingers on is a so-called "circus school" that earns big bucks for the people who run it and teach locals with lots of $ some basic skills and how to become professional performers, which almost never happens. Far away from the city, Gypsy Snyder, daughter of PFC co-founder Peggy, has made something of a name for herself producing take-note fringe shows, such as the critical darling among the theatre set, Traces. (I found it charmingly inventive, if a tad too low key.)

Another dubious residual that lingers on in Bagdad by the Bay is the PC scent of aging Pickles and their acolytes, who, when questioned, rail against animal acts and a grossly distorted history of women in circus rings being confined to sexy prop assistants, much of which gets picked up by media outlets sympathetic to such-ill founded nonsense.

Larry Pisoni himself now teaches drama up in Seattle. His son, Lorenzo, is touring his own stage show, Humor Abuse, about growing up a Pickle, currently playing at the American Conservatory Theatre, where it landed a loving notice from the San Francisco Examiner, calling it "a tender tribute to his irascible, and at times very difficult, father."

Described by reviewer Jean Schiffman as "a wonderful sampling of routines such as juggling and pratfalls, with lots of the latter, each funnier than the last" the piece is also not afraid to slow down in spots "when Pisoni gently, and without rancor, muses upon his unknowable father's idiosyncrasies." Sharing his own lingering sadness with the audience, Pisoni imagines having a talk with his father that never took place, in which he would have asked him, "Why are you always so sad?"

The stage piece is said to have toured "all over the country in recent years," finally arriving in the city that gave birth to the Pickle Family Circus back in 1974. Think of that: Nearly forty years ago! May I shed a tender tear or two?

I kind of remember the kid, dutifully poking about in his dad's shadows, when all the Pickles were hardly more than kids themselves, having fun putting on a show in a humble enclosure marked by a sidewall. A charming afternoon of innocent ambition under sunny Bay Area skies. And even while I was watching the shows, I never imagined a spectacular future. Maybe that was a part of its unique charm and ambiance. For me, it landed my only byline in, of all papers, The Christian Scientist Monitor. In Monitor land, I too had no future.

But, oh, the tender sweet Pickle memories fill me with a sadness for the inevitable passage of time. Circus in slow motion. Laid back jazz scoring. Very funny clowning.

I'm happy for Lorenzo and Gypsy. I'm glad they both made it out of San Francisco. It's a place you need to make it out of, as soon as you can.

And I might have to go back there, just across the bay, just to see the kid on the stage talking about days around a circus that once challenged my own definitions of "circus."

Happy Old Year! ... Highlights and Lowlights of the Season Past

2012-01-18T20:45:00.000-08:00

Thursday Noon: Thank you, whoever bought a copy of my book. I'm back high on Amazon's Hot New Releases -- Number 10 out of 100 in Performing arts, (Number 6 in theatre).
To give you context: Jumbo, This Being, Number 53; When Pigs Fly (Soviet circus history), Number 54; Wild, and Dangerous Performances, etc., Number 83.
So buy me, and buy a winner, haha! (shameless hint: only $19.95 on Amazon)

Tomoko Nakagawa, 1955

Let's give a toast -- and roast a little, too -- to the season about to hit the history books. These informal impressions are drawn from my visits to most of the big tops and to Ringling. They are NOT based upon a careful evaluation of all I've seen.

Randomly speaking ...

Best News: Big Apple Circus is in fine hands, those of new artistic director Guillaume Dufresnoy. He has displayed both a penchant for novelty (porcupine and pig!) and a subtle flair for top-drawer staging. Will this alone turn the corner? Not exactly, but I think BAC has too much going for it to hit the skids. [comments that follow pertain to Dance On!]

Worst News: Continued media-rattling allegations of elephant abuse at Ringling: Mother Jones magazine doing a story on the issue; the show reaching a $270,000 settlement with the USDA, without admitting guilt. Jay Leno making hay of the issue on the Tonight Show. These unwelcome developments, combined with a bill being passed through congress that would curtail performing animals in circuses -- and the mere idea of the Ringling staff being taught how to handle and care for its own animals by USDA outsiders -- may mark the most embarrassing PR setback ever for "The Greatest Show on Earth." Not to mention the negative impact it will have upon public perceptions in general of all circuses. Who is ultimately responsible? Kenneth Feld.

Welcome Return: The aerial ballet, in new diverse forms, as witness wonderful incarnations of it on Cole Bros. Circus of Stars and Ringlings' Fully Charged.

Best act combing acrobatics and comedy: The African tumblers on Circus Vargas. A sly riot.

Most innovative act: The Wuqiao Acrobatic Troupe on Uni-wheels at Big Apple Circus

Best old thrill turn cleverly recycled. The human fuse on Ringling's Fully Charged.

Most delightful animal act: (hope I got this one right): Jenny Vidbel's horse-riding goats.

Best ringmaster (kindly keep in mind, I do not see all shows) Kelly Miller's John Moss III.

Worst ringmaster. Shall we count the blowhards? How about Cole, Ringling (Iverson), Vargas, and Carson & Barnes.

Best band: Big Apple Circus

Best taped score: Cole Bros. Circus of Stars

Worst performance setting (no rings,no respect): a tie between Ringling and Cole Bros. Circus of Stars

Best spectacle: The second half segments of Ringling's Fully Charged

Most Offensive spectacle: Unused ring curbs stacked in clusters on Ringling Fully Charged set. Rub your indifference in our eyes, Feld Family!

Warmest atmosphere: Kelly Miller Circus

Best little house act bordering on the amateur: The modestly delightful dogs on Carson & Barnes.

Most impressive contortion display: the solo contortionist on Carson & Barnes.

Most dazzling young big top star: Adrian Poema, Jr. on Kelly-Miller.

Most hair-raising thriller: As I recall, on Circus Vargas, the separation between the two halves of the Globe of Death when the thing split open was incredibly wide, giving me a chill I rarely get at circuses these safer days.

Most vexingly uneven show: Carson& Barnes, from world class to world crass.

Most remarkably scored big cage act: Cole Bros. Circus of Stars

Worst prop department: Cole Bros. klutzy forklift operations.

Biggest downer of the year: the thoroughly mean-spirited new film Water for Elephants.

Worst show-disrupting spiel: A tie between Kelly Miller's Peterson Peanut plea and Ted McCray's prolonged snake photo grind on Circus Vargas, bloating the intermission for as long as it takes.

Best performance setting: Big Apple Circus

Biggest disappointment: Cirque du Soleil's Totem. Is the world running out of talent enough to stock the CDS franchise? A thousand dry ice machines, a thousand flashing laser beams will not completely disguise threadbare goods.

Most welcome sight: A full house at Circus Vargas in Hollywood. Me wonders if the terrific CV product placement in Water for Elephants caused a minor stamped onto the lot at Sunset Boulevard -- boffo location!

The last word: To Baraboo's perennial booster, the good Doc Bob Dewel, who, like too many "visitors" to this blog, never deposits a single comment here but charms his way in through my e-mail. Bob's latest report on restoration work underway at his beloved Al Ringling Theatre: "Apparently we are never destined to have a sugar daddy with a million bucks or so, but are slowly restoring on our own, with a qualified artist. Outer lobby gleams, inner lobby is nearly done---we spent $1000 just to verify for certain the original colors (Peach and Gold, light and bright). ... All eleven dressings rooms restored, Ladies lounge partially finished ...Rapp and Rapp would be proud. So would Al. Ringling. Incidentally Al’s magnificent mansion is for sale! "

The last photos: Let's bring on Lory Lagoyda, whose mom and dad worked on Ringling 1955-56. Her mother, Tomoko Nakagawa, came over when she was just 18 with the Uyeno Troupe -- eight young ladies --from Japan, imported by John Ringling North to lend additional beauty and charm to production numbers. Lory's dad worked with the elephants. Here are some pics of Tomoko, and how happy she looks to be in the great Ringling chorus!

Tomoko Nakagawa in the Mexicanorama aerial ballet, 1956

One of the Mama's in the Park, 1955

Say it With Flowers, 1956 spec

And that's a Happy Old Year!

12.31.11

My 0 seconds of fame on New York Public Radio: A Curious Tale of Deceptive Solicitation.

2012-01-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

The blog that never was: I was looking forward to appearing on a radio show called Soundcheck that airs on New York public radio affiliate, WYNC, and then blogging about it. I thought they had me slated to participate in a discussion about big top music. The program is set to air this Friday.

Not sure that those of you who listen would have welcomed my presence. I know that for some people, my views can cause heartburn. It seemed to be shaping up to this: the windjammers versus me.

All the excitement started when, from the program’s associate producer, Katie Bishop, came an e-mail: “I just came across your new book [Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic's Guide] and your blog, and I’m wondering if you might be up for doing a segment on modern-day circus music with us.”

How flattering. New York Public Radio — nationwide, maybe! Well no, I would soon figure out. But we are talking Big Apple. The closest I ever got to Gotham was a quote about Charlie Bauman from my book, Behind the Big Top, in a New York Times obit about the tiger trainer; and a review of another book of mine, Big Top Boss, in the Village Voice, which faulted me for failing to explain why John Ringling North was attracted to beautiful woman. Please, do NOT go figure.

Putting my NPR ambivalence aside (where there is PR, there is hope, I, a one time circus flack, shamelessly confess) I answered Ms. Bishop in the affirmative, stating that the invitation sounded challenging and fun. And it did. I love doing radio, shun TV.

A day or so later, by phone we talked. Went well. Ms. Bishop tossed a few off-kilter questions my way, which can, to their credit, stimulate the creative mind. The most unexpected: “what do you expect to see at a circus?” Answered I, “I expect to see whatever they have to show me.” I’ve taught myself not to expect anything, but to be open to the artistry that fills a vacant ring. I hope to see a number of things, but hope is not expectation.

The end-off was affirmative. Ms. Bishop said she would have the windjammers on for the first half hour, and then me as a “critic” (she was obviously drawn to that word in the title of my book) for the second half, to address modern trends in circus music. I had given her a few examples of deft modern scoring, one being a lyrical trumpet solo played during a Ringling tiger act. (In hindsight, I wish I had linked it symbolically to post industrial asexual alienation -- doctoral enough, that?)

They planned to do the program fairly soon, she told me, which sounded like a week or two.

So far, so good. But in NPR land, I was destined to observe, conventional rules and ethics as applied in the private sector are evidently skirted or ignored -- or simply forgotten when inconvenient.

A week later, I followed up with another e-mail, asking Ms. Bishop if she might be able to give me an approximate date as I was planning to go down to L.A. for a few days. (Hmm, I wonder if she has issues with the Little Orange?)

Back she replied, four days later, in the most surprising fashion. Here in part is the gist of her sign off: “We’re only going to have time to talk to two guests: the editor of Spectacle Magazine ... and Janet Davis, a professor of American studies who specializes in the history of circus much.”

Followed, of course, by the usual vacuous thanks, etc.

Ooops, they do operate differently. Never has such a thing happened to me in the land of commercial radio and TV, where people make clear up front if they are considering you, careful not to lead you on. This would apply, from direct experience, to both NBC and The Learning Channel.

And I thought of Juan Williams, and of how he was treated by NPR after being fired, and of how after he told his side of the story to the press, an NPR executive stated, in apparent retaliation, that maybe Mr. Williams should see his “psychiatrist.”

I’m not sure if WYNC will, in reaction to this blog, recommend a head shrink for me. In fact I do not have a head shrink, never have and never intend to. I still old fashionably subscribe to such concepts as "objectivty" and a person's word being "good."

Enjoy the show this Friday. Sorry I won’t be there. It doesn’t sound like the windjammers will, either. But the academics will – to properly guide you.

End of the blog that wasn’t.

Maestro Evans! How many fanfares do I deserve for this one?

Do You Live an Indexed Life Inside the Changing Circus?

2012-01-17T15:50:00.000-08:00

Alphabetically speaking, A-Listers Come From All Over the Lot

From far and wide, high and low came the voices that inform the book, some from right here -- those who have dared to post comments reacting to some of my rants and reviews.

For example, who might be indexed in the book between "Durbar of Dehli" and "Wally Eastwood"?

And who between "Wally Eastwood" and "Justin Edwards"?

And whose name might have indexed itself in spirited counterpoint to my mantra, "I'm cracked as hell, and I'm not going to crack 'em anymore!" Who?

Lastly whom does Guy Laliberte follow and whom does he precede? (or is it "who"?)

So Many Voices.
So Many Stories.
And yours?

Thank You, New York Times, for Giving Oakland a Little Long Overdue Respect!

2012-01-15T05:00:00.000-08:00

Update, Sunday, 1/15: The New York Times today reported on the Great Wall of Oakland, against which, on the first Friday of each month at Art Murmur, videos from around the world are projected. Photo by Sarah Rice for Bay Citizen

Hard to believe. This place where I live, a far cry from the wretched stereotyping it routinely gets (much of it from self-infatuated Bagdad Across the Bay), made Number 5 on The New York Times "The 45 Places to Go in 2012" -- No, not just the U.S. They are talking the world.

Only two other CA places made the list, one, San Diego, the other NOT that city over there where I was berthed, ha ha ha!

To live here is to watch on the morning news the reporting of murders and rapes and pedestrian accidents and assaults -- ALL OVER THE BAY AREA. Yesterday, for examples, two older ladies were beat up, one fighting for her life, in the lovely Sunset District of S.F. Crime in S.F.? Sorry to burst your Bagdad bubble, yes, Dorothy.

Here is what rolled off the Times seven days ago:

"New restaurants and bars beckon amid the grit.

Tensions have cooled since violence erupted at the recent Occupy Oakland protests, but the city’s revitalized night-life scene has continued to smolder.

The historic Fox Theater reopened in 2009 and quickly cemented its status as one of the Bay Area’s top music venues, drawing acts like Wilco and the Decemberists. Meanwhile, the city’s ever more sophisticated restaurants are now being joined by upscale cocktail bars, turning once-gritty Oakland into an increasingly appealing place to be after dark. James Syhabout, the chef who earned Oakland its first (and only) Michelin star two years ago at Commis, followed up in May with the instant-hit Hawker Fare, a casual spot serving Asian street food. Big-name San Francisco chefs are now joining him. Daniel Patterson (of two-Michelin-star Coi) opened the restaurant Plum in late 2010 and an adjacent cocktail bar later, and another restaurant, called Haven, in the recently renovated Jack London Square last month. INGRID K. WILLIAMS"

But, why didn't they mention me? Or my lovely 1-bedroom rental two blocks from one of the best neighborhoods you could find anywhere on the planet, Pidemont Avenue?

So take that, Frisco! And may your little cable cars climb all the way over the stars.

My pic parade continues ...

The Showbiz David world headquarters in Oakland, the town itself termed "so rad and real" by one local artist quoted in the Times Sunday piece.

1.13.12

5 Days to the Auction of Auctions at Monaco! Will Guy Laliberte Bid $1 Million for "Inside the Changing Circus"?

2012-01-14T07:30:00.000-08:00

Author pledges a penny for every thousand dollars from Laliberte

In a letter to Cirque du Soleil founder, guide and intermittent space tourist Guy Laliberte (left, assumed to currently be on planet earth), Showbiz David (aka David Lewis Hammarstrom) challenged the Cirque King to a matching "poor-rich" grant, pledging a penny for every thousand dollars bid by Laliberte for his new book, Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic's Guide.

In his missive to Montreal, the author "directed" Laliberte's attention to a concept he devised in order to explain the often mysterious alleged story elements embedded in the Cirque du Soleil shows:

"I have devised a unique concept in a speculative mode -- drawing upon logic implicit in Plato's Theory of Forms -- to explain the intricate creative processes underpinning many of your shows which, minus narrative or dramatic elements, nonetheless manage to transport your patrons on an emotional journey of sorts. I call this Cirque way, as I have best tried to understand and describe it, 'Subliminal Structure.'"

The concept is introduced in a chapter, "Some Big Top Broccoli, Ma'am?"

Blogger Showbiz David, the author of eight books on entertainment from big tops to Broadway, received a personal invitation to send along a signed copy of his book from the Federation's executive director Laura van der Meer. The silent auction, from January 19-21, covers a two day bidding war. "What a marvelous place to introduce my book on the world stage, at the most respected circus festival anywhere."

Five days and counting.

Why the disparity among the proposed pledges? "My calculations are based upon a rough sense of what we would each respectively consider to be pocket change. Perhaps I should have suggested a penny for every million dollars from Mr. Laliberte, but I did not want to come off looking cheap. I can afford a hundred dollars. It's for a great cause, the fostering of circus arts around the world, sponsored by Princess Stephanie."

Inside the Changing Circus continues to ride high on Amazon's "Hot New [100] Releases in Performing Arts." It held the number 4 position over night, and has ranked as high as number 3. This morning (Sunday), it's holding Number 6 in new Theatre Books, Number 15 in Performing Arts.

Sneak Peak Inside the Changing Circus: The Sporatic Brilliance of the Curious Kenneth Feld

2012-01-12T15:00:00.000-08:00

The Producer as Part-Time Impresario

He can do "art" when he wants to, but he can't break his obsession for a pandering populism, driven by gargantuan greed. His tastes range from Monte Carlo gold to dump trunk pyrotechnics.

His dark side trumps his deft artistic talents, and so he is our smorgasbord showman, drawing a little bit from that show, a little bit from over there, mixing up the styles to stay expediently contemporary, to please the masses and sell them his designer snow cones and floridly overwrought program magazines. To feed his insatiable habit.

Sometimes out of this crude eclecticism comes cutting-edge programing -- might last a whole half show. Usually, brilliance and banality parade side by side. The Great Act followed by the Pedestrian Yawner.

Kenneth Feld, shrewd big top boss, hits the mark often enough to merit degrees of respect, herein officially validated for your consideration.

Sometime back, this Feld of Felds produced a circus spec of exalting operatic grandeur and sweep -- Verdi might weep. The epic scoring, the costumery, the ensemble attack down the track and through the rings transformed common basketball arenas into glorious amphitheaters of triumphal pageantry, and the American circus once more proved its gift for lifting the "act" into glorious imagery and sound.

Name of the production?

Incredible: Bary Lubin's Last Tour as Grandma with Big Apple Circus Ends Before the Tour is Over

2012-01-11T18:37:00.000-08:00

Bary Lubin's last exit from the Big Apple Circus tent at Lincoln Center. Photo by Lore Croghan, New York Daily News.

Last year after my trip to the Big Apple Circus in Queens, across the street waiting at a bus stop, two woman and I shared a few thoughts about the show.

One of them was not happy. "I don't like that other clown," she said. "They are getting him ready to take over for Grandma, who they are pushing out."

I held my opinions.

How did they like the show?

"It was cute," is all they would grant me. "Cute." A totally groundless insult, I thought -- to myself. Obviously, they were smarting over Grandma's diminished ring time, as they saw it.

They did indicate, that no matter the outcome, they would still support Big Apple Circus. Same sentiment expressed to me by a man in the ticket line, telling me he'd seen the show as a kid and was now taking his own kid. I think this show lives deep in the hearts of New Yorkers.

Both parties seem to agree it is for their respective creative health and progress. I have long believed that BAC's chronic dependency on Lubin was unhealthy, no matter his talent. The parting should open wider the doors for both, certainly for new artistic dire Guillaume Dufresnoy, who has demonstrated brilliant showmanship. Lubin enjoyed unprecedented star power for many years, being able practically to come and go as he pleased. What Broadway star can skip numerous performances?

And now, during his last highly reported season, he is already history, having made his last appearance at the last show at Lincoln Center. But the season is far from over.

What will those two ladies in Queens think when they take in the show next Spring? Perhaps I will encounter them at the same bus stop. Will it even matter? Surely it must. They surely will have read about Grandma's last exit, and they will be forced to deal with the reality of his understudy's importance.

This is one of the most interesting tales that the NY press has apparently never tackled. And how will BAC PR handle this one? [I could be wrong, but it seems that sometime last year, "Grandma" made simultaneous appearances with Big Apple up in New England and also down in Sarasota.]

A most curious story.

Lubin, make no mistake, is one of the great American clowns, and I hope to see him again -- or maybe for the first time, for when I have gone, I think one of his understudies -- Matthew Pauli or Josh Matthews, handled the role. I am only sorry that he has apparently been too difficult and/or demanding to pin down to a standard contract. Particularly for this, his last season with Big Apple Circus. Inexplicable!

I hope he makes a grand and glorious return to the Ringling banner, where he began. But I can't see him agreeing to the day to day trouping that virtually all circus performers agree to.

Grandma's bossy eccentricities, I fear, got the best of her.

Water for Circus Vargas, the Second Screening Around: Give Me Fake Good and Thrilling Circus Over Fake Big Top Disaster Flick

2012-01-11T05:00:00.000-08:00

Circus Owner from hell: Christoph Waltz as August powers Water for Elephants.

I wanted to like the film better than when I first saw it in a theater, where I could not hit a pause button and replay to be sure. Since I could in my living room, I'm glad to know that August did not tell his men to red-light vet student Jacob off the train, but "kick him off" at the next station.

Not that I now see August as a nice guy. I see in him the terrific actor (from Inglorious Basterds -- I must check out that flick) who gives Water its most and only intense spine: cruelty to animals and to people.

In fact, the movie is almost relentlessly pessimistic and cruel, forever on the verge of the next August eruption. And when he finally feels the breeze of his wife's sweet eyes for Jacob, all hell breaks lose, and, to that end, the film takes fire.

OK, so The Greatest Show on Earth plotted impossible things too, but by showing Heston throw off the crooked gamers, it was true to history. So why in the world would a circus owner as brutal and barbaric as August NOT have cons working the lot? His envy of the Ringling Brothers and their ethics goads him on, in like manner, to rid the show of the slippery fingered mob. Totally out of character for this king thug. I would love to have seen a real old Hey, Rube! all over the lot in reaction to a towner getting conned.

Most ugly scene of all: Side show men with iron stakes bonking the heads of young kids trying to sidewall in.

Instead of all the historically viable options, this dreary exploitation gives us something that, to my fragile knowledge, has never occurred in recorded circus history: Circus workers themselves throwing open cage wagon doors in the animal tent to let loose the wild ones, a movie aimed at in retaliation, I take it, for August's cruelty to everyone including his own wife.

So, we go from message movie -- sadistic circus owner who, quoting one of his underlings, "shouldn't have the right to be around animals" -- to Hollywood disaster flick when the menagerie is liberated, throwing a tsunami of jungleland vengeance all over the lot.

Circus? Almost nothing. Just snatches of acts. One ring on a railroad show in the 1930s -- are you kidding? Not a single elephant until Rosie arrives ... Are you kidding me again? Topping them all is the idea that Rosie alone(who does things we usually expect to see only in Disney cartons) is going to save the show and give it the pach power to rival Ringling?

Paaaaaaleeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!

What moved me the most this time, a real surprise, was the final scene, back inside the Circus Vargas ticket wagon, with Hal Halbrook as the older Jacob looking back on his years with Marlena and Rosie, both now gone, and wanting to join up, and not "run away with the circus" but "come home."

Boy, how much $ did Vargas have to pay for that prime product placement in the first scene as the camera panned its glorious posters. No wonder last summer in Hollywood, the Vargas show I took in was nearly packed. I've never seen anything close to that in recent one-ring Vargas years.

Some other bits: I did not know elephants could be taught to execute so many movements merely to voice commands. And I still don't believe it. Best of all, and totally fake in my skeptical view, Rosie whacking August with a tent stake is a howler. Although, I loved the scene.

The movie has a terribly superfluous beginning on the Vargas lot, addressing elder abuse and allowing the older Jacob (Hal Halbrook) to set his story in flashback. But all that exposition could have been handled more effectively later into the story when Jacob levels with August about not having finished college; movie should have opened in the dark of night with the lone figure of a young distraught Jacob walking the tracks in limbo, a circus train in the distance coming into view.

Most exciting scene for me was the unloading along the flats, the wagons coming down the runs! Loved the banner lines waving in the breeze, they looked real. (Circus World Museum sure got shorted in the credits, a tiny line at the very end) Why could they not have given us a real rough sounding circus band of the era, I wondered, rather than something approaching Karl King symphonic? Another quibble: The first images of circus acts, in slow misty motion, look more like Cirque du Soleil prepping under a revival tent to bring class to the masses. Excuse me, where did the Great Depression go?

I've not read the book; don't know if I want to. If the movie is true to the book, I'd guess that the book is not well researched, to put it politely.

Water for Elephants is so grim and vicious, so dark and bleak and hopeless, I have no desire to ever see this thing again. And, no "special features" on the DVD; was the cast and crew left just as bewildered and disillusioned as am I?

Here is my greatest circus cinema wish: A movie about John Ringling in the roaring twenties, and then losing power; subplot, the rivalry between Leitzel and the end ring aerialist leading to the latter pushing herself into an affair with Codona. It really happened, kids. There is so much out there under tents of power, magic, intrigue, shame, charisma and corruption to adapt!

End scene: John Ringling a few years later, out of big top power, passed by, sitting in a wheel chair watching a Coles Bros. Circusparade passing him by, tears down his reminiscent eyes.

12.13.11

Sneak Peak Inside the Changing Circus: Stars Lost in Three Rings

2011-12-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

American Circus Showmanship 101

From elsewhere ring stars often hail. In American rings, they are sometimes turned into icons -- or were. When a legendary family act from Europe previewed at Madison Square Garden in the 1920s before the press, it fell flat. Among a couple of glaring deficits, groused circus king John Ringling, "Their costumes are impossible!" Interventionist direction ensued, the act, gingerly coddled, agreed to new wardrobe, and it "arrived" big time opening night.

Can you name the troupe?"**

hint: distantly related to Kelly Miller**

Dig Deeper. Dream Smarter.

Two Circuses in San Francisco ...

2011-12-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

Perrier included

Potable water, maybe

Those Were A Few of My Favorite Things ... One Magical Christmas Many Seasons Ago ...

2011-12-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

When I first heard the song from the original cast album of the Broadway hit, The Sound of Music, I was utterly entranced by its mystical relevance to the Christmas season -- which was, appropriately, then upon us.. It's, I suppose, the rich imagery of Oscar Hammerstein's lyric-- among the gems, "snow flakes that stay on my nose and eye lashes" -- that set the song so hauntingly apart from all others. Only the Great Oscar could craft such magic.

How poignant the stretch of time that has passed, remembering the moment in my bedroom first hearing the song played on a Sunday evening radio show that featured newly released cast albums, and then, a week or so later, playing it on my "magnificent Magnavox" hi fidelity record player. As enchanting then as it remains now.

It became a legendary jazz classic. Lately, it's found its way into the Holiday cannon. Just heard Andy Williams on a Comcast music channel singing it. Wonderful rendition.

It has been sung by millions. One of life's deepest satisfactions is to observe younger generations embracing elements of popular culture that I was there to embrace when they were first introduced.

Pretty Pictures for the Holidays ...

2011-12-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

Courier & Ives by Monet: From Baraboo with Charm: "Happy Holiday from Al Ringling Theatre Friends"

Out to best Cirque du Soleil? Out to trump The Once Greatest Show on Earth? That tent, under which the horse and acrobatic show, Cavalia, is holding court in Atlanta, is claimed to be the "the world's largest touring big top," its height a staggering 125 feet. Its spread -- 100,000 sq. feet. Came in from Montreal on 115 semi-trucks and a work load of 300 people. Took 'em a month to load up out of Montreal (founded by Cirque spin offs, of which there seem to be thousands), move to Atlanta, and spread their gargantuan canvas. Why not a red and silver train, please, Santa -- in three sections? Please, oh please!

Who on earth is funding this monster? Are they hoping to go broke? Show uncorked on December 7, and unless it gets extended, reports What Now Atlanta (yes, indeed), the big top will vanish from Atlanta's midtown skyline after the last show on January 8.

Cavlia is offering a new show titled Odysseo. I saw an earlier edition, ponderously impressive, several years ago and predicted it had no future. How stupidly I predicted. Or maybe it has funding from Canada, something like that. The audacious magnitude of its physical layout trumps (I did not think such a thing was possible until now) the ill-fated Gene Kelly directed Clownaround, whose set was probably heavier and more complicated than the building itself, the Oakland Coliseum Arena, in which it premiered. After moving to San Francisco's Cow Palace, it went from Clownaround to Clownaground. (Well, I did mange to get Mr. Kelly's autograph.)

Let the sunshine back in, Florida! In land of Great Fallen Irvin Feld Dreams, a much smaller dream is taking shape in Disney World's revamped Fantasyland. This new parcel to be called Storybook Circus neighborhood. They're really, it seems, recycling the Dumbo ride and a few other existing attractions, plus adding, in Disneyspeak, "select experiences."

I'd rather go back to soft dreamy Baraboo ...

My New Book is Half Unloaded on the Amazon Lot

2011-12-20T19:23:00.000-08:00

A publication date of December 31 (I saw it on Amazon) for my newly birthed book, Inside the Changing Circus, felt magical. For a few days, I could see treating it as "Santa's sleigh on standby alert for overnight rush deliveries of new book to roll off presses on Christmas eve!" How romantic. How short-lived.

In the publishing world, a date is only a time frame.

So my book showed up on Amazon's lot a few days ago, looking half unloaded. Still is. No image of the cover. It will arrive in a day or ten. And the brief description bears an error for which I plead guilty. I was the one who penned it for a back cover blurb. It reads "from Cirque du Soleil to the bottom feeder big tops," and I've since revised it to "from the Kings of the sawdust rings to the bottom feeder big tops." But it didn't make it to Amazon.

I fear the phrase could easily be construed as placing Cirque high above all the other circuses, the others being bottom feeders. Not my intent. But it does sound elitist.

BearManor Media has dispatched a sign painter out to to the Amazon lot to revise my hasty choice of words . It will read either "Big Apple Circus and Cirque du Soleil" or "the Kings of the sawdust rings." I gave my publisher the option.

Still sorry they could not have raised the curtain on Christmas eve. In the book world once, boxes of new books straggled into book stores days before and after official "publication" dates. Nowadays, they have a way of sneaking into Amazon land before anybody else can see them.

So, I will be far from the first person to see my own published book.

But this can't compare (I trust, UPS ...) to the plight of my first book, Behind the Big Top. It was out floating around for months before I finally received, after intense communication with the publisher, my first copy.

Saturday in Shambles: Bandwagon Rolls Out More Historical Grit ... Grandma Rues Her Last Big Apple Season ... Tom & Suri Cruise Upstage the Show ...

2011-12-17T18:55:00.000-08:00

Nice little kick off: Something about this photo charms me. It does not look exactly to scale and the banner lines give off a wonderfully crude (should I say simple?) technique. Maybe that's why. It's on display at the Penobscot Marine Museum's Main Street Gallery in Searsport -- wherever that is. Up there in Maine. Called Bex Bros. Circus. Sometimes the distortions and/or simplifications of an amateur's hand can reap superior results.

Bandwagon getting stormed by new subscribers, in the lucky dozens! That's the Circus Historical Society magazine, its articles now digging deep into the nitty gritty of fast money moving or dooming circuses. A neat piece in the current issue turning on the lore spun during a 1921 newspaper interview with Governor John F. Robinson, a sampling of which: "Before he got within two feet of the boy he pulled a pistol and shot his father dead. The performance was finished after that, but it wasn't a lively one." And now, THIS: In 1875, about six years before P.T. teamed up with James A. and crowned themselves the Greatest Show on Earth -- well, hold your convictions! Those four fab words were used on John Robinson's Great World's Exposition. yes they were ... Another item here passing my mind: "Children of all ages" is a term predating John Ringling North or Norman Bel Geddes, the latter in some quarters, I think, said to have originated it. I've seen it in old circus programs, for one, Sells-Floto. So now you know.

Tom Cruise Steals the Show at Big Apple Circus: That's what it appears, from a story in the London Daily Mail by one Sarah Bull (and boy, can she dish it up) about Mr. Cruise, wife and 5-year-old daughter, Suri, she decked out in frills that suggest advanced prepping to walk the streets a few years hence for some yet-to-be sanctioned reality show. Not a peep in this flagrantly shallow, fashion-obsessed yarn about the show itself, all about the daughter's little pink dress, et all. Biggest scoop, this: Suri's Santa wish list totals $130,000. "Even though she has everything she could ever want, Suri asked for diamond earrings and beautiful dresses, like a fairy princess gown." Pardon me for throwing up ...

Grandma's Big Apple Circus Good byes: Talking to Scott Simon on NPR, Bary Lubin talks about his career on Big Apple. This his last season. And why not a grand return to the Ringling banner? That's where Lubin developed the character. Only problem -- would he agree to perform it at every show? Perhaps the Feld of Felds would allow him to bring along his regular understudy. I doubt I've even seen Lubin do Grandma at the last few shows I've seen, none at Lincoln Center and none at night. I'm a Grandma fan, but I think its creatively healthy for both parties to part company ... When I see the show in Queens next spring, I'd like to go up to Grandma, shake her hand and in her ear whisper, "Are you my real Grandma?"

And that's dicey disrespectful rap, kids. Blame it on that index for my book, still fogging up my mind.

Wave "Hello" to Little ZaZa!

Circus Book’s World Premiere at Monte Carlo 2012; “Second” Autographed Copy to be Offered in Silent Auction at Famed Festival

2011-12-15T10:21:00.000-08:00

MONTE OAKLAND, CA. Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic’s Guide, by David Lewis Hammarstrom (aka: Showbiz David) will make its debut on the world stage in January at Monaco during the 36th Festival International du Cirque de Monte Carlo.

‘I am gratified by this totally unexpected invitation,” said the author, who received it from the Festival’s executive director, Laura van der Meer. He noted that a previous book of his, Big Top Boss: John Ringling North and the Circus, earned a warm endorsement from the late H.S.H. Prince Rainier III, who established the annual festival in 1974. (Circus impresario Ringling North and Rainer were good friends, and North judged a few of the Monte Carlo meets.)

But why the “second” autographed copy”? Answered the author with a smile, “because I promised the first to my good friend, Boyi Yuan, without whom I would never have traveled to China last year and thus would never have experienced close up the bold artistic advances transforming leading acrobatic troupes in Beijing and Shanghai.”

Prince Rainer’s daughter, H.S.H. Princess Stephanie, now oversees the annual event, which generally draws upon the greatest circus talents and is regarded in circusdom as the international “Academy Awards” of the big top.

“The perfect setting, absolutely, to introduce my book to the world,” said Hammarstrom. “Circus is universal, and however you write about it, you are dealing with its many incarnations throughout history — from Egypt to China, London to Paris to Baraboo and Bloomington, Moscow to Montreal.”

Indeed, this author, who says that “until I can see something for myself, it is not sufficiently real,” has traveled the world rings to get the story. In 1979, he conducted independent research in the Soviet Union. And last year, it was China. In the United States, he says he has walked miles, hopped busses and flagged taxis to take in circuses off the urban trails.

“I am thrilled that my book will be a part of the festival. And I hope it appeals to a younger audience. I have done my best to discuss and illustrate not just ‘the good old days’ but the ‘good new days’”

Sunday Morning in the Ancient Land of Circus Syntax: Which Show? What Year?

2011-12-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

Preface from SD: For a leisurely stroll down memory lane through the floridly comforting verbiage of yesteryear, I invite you to take a trip back to the ancient American circus in its prodigiously peerless prime, sans editorial restraint or spell checking challenges, this being presented to you exactly the way it came forth in, I assume, a circus program magazine.

Display No. 1 --

The Grand Tournament

A GLORIOUS ILLUMINATED PAGE FROM ANCIENT HISTORY.

UNIQUE AND MOST TRANSCENDENTALLY BEAUTIFUL INTRODUCTION TO THE REGULAR PERFORMANCES.

INTENDED SIMPLY AS A PLEASING, PASSINGLY PICTURESQUE TOURNAMENT INTRODUCTION OF THE FEAST OF ARENIC FEATURES TO FOLLOW, AND YET EMBODYING THE RARE AND RADIANT ELEMENTS OF A SUMPTUOUSLY SPECTACULAR TOURNAMENT.

A satisfying, edifying, gratifying, ennobling, superb and sublime spectacular prelude, filling and overcrowding vast areas of the racing-track, the equestrian rings, and even the acrobatic platforms with absolutely the finest, richest, costliest display ever seen. Teeming with life and color and animation, and abundantly replete with all the royal pomp and splendor, magnificence and lavish prodigality characterizing a period of the world's history unexampled for extravagance and riches. Four hundred historical characters correctly costumed, representing Egyptians, Philistines, Phoenicians, Sabaenians, Africans, Arabians, Abyssinians, and others, together with mounted guards, trumpeters, heralds, charioteers, knights, nobles, high priests, foot soldiers, archers, warriors, idol men, banner bearers, dancing girls, fan girls, swaying houris, pages, household servants, slaves, servitors, horses, sacred beasts, train animals, triumphal cars,
floats, peons, choruses, etc. The whole forming a brilliant kaleidoscopic vision of animated and irridescent splendors, with every known human and animal accompaniment in vogue with the people of that age and clime."

Your best guess? Okay, here's the answer:

Barnum & Bailey, 1909
the second season under Ringling ownership
I wonder: Did Alf T. Ringling write this?

Water For Elephants Coming My Way Again -- Tonight ... & My Quck Picks of the Best Looking Circus Blogs, Up Front ...

2011-12-10T09:41:00.000-08:00

I'm looking forward to seeing a movie that didn't much impress me when it came out, Water for Elephants. Maybe the second time around will be a charm. I've grown accustomed, believe it or not, to Ring of Fear.

Heck, man can't live by The Greatest Show on Earth alone.

This morning, piddling around, I was struck by the appealing graphics of a blog I may never have seen before -- The Circus Blog. So I decided to take an immediate first impression look at all the blogs to see how the others measured up in visuals that instantly speak CIRCUS.

Here are my three top picks:

The Circus Blog

The Balloon Man

Crash Moreau's Circus Visits

Amazed at how many blogs out there aren't really all that visually captivating upon first glance.

I should hire a computer nerd off Craigslist to help me update mine.

Still, it's the content that counts. You've no doubt watched, maybe some of you every day, the Steve and Ryan blog. I wouldn't ring any awards around its visuality other than to say it has it's own quirky look. Ironically, I've seen Steve's very attractive website, but I've not been back since my first visit.

Sometimes, the written word still prevails.

Feminist Flash! Women Now Actually "Perform" in Circuses; No Longer Just Sexy Prop Assistants, Says the Wall Street Journal

2011-12-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

La Norma -- before Betty Friedan

"It's a new era," declared Wall Street Journal guest critic of the Big Apple Circus, Sarah East Johnson, moved by the reality of female performers demonstrating male strength and agility at a circus.

Considering a rich legacy of women who have dazzled the sawdust -- among them, Leitzel and Zerbini, Millman and Herbert and Berosini, La Norma, and Gold and so many countless others -- I was awed by the breadth and depth of Ms. Johnson's self-delusional epiphany, not to mention its breathtaking disconnect to history.

She's the artistic director for LAVA, an all-female NY based dance and theatre company. She spent some time with Circus Amok, which pushed the gender-bending envelope. "Pretty radical, queer, feminist with lefty politics," she says.

I smelled a trail leading clear across the country to the boiler room of cultural rethink by the Golden Gate. There, during the modest heyday of the Pickle Family Circus, a bold manifesto denounced, among a slate of No-Nos in modern circus art, the very thought a woman dressing up seductively to assist a male performer with his props. (Never mind that every time Pinito Del Oro swung fearlessly on the single trapeze, her husband stood below, just in case to break a fall.)

Pinito Del Oro, circa 1953

As it turns out, call me an amateur clairvoyant, yes, Ms. Johnson did spend some time out and around the San Francisco Circus Center. Around 1996. I can only imagine the extent to which she was properly apprised by post PFC people on their mythical views.

Evy Karoly

Among Ms. Johnson's comments while watching a performance of Dream Big! with the Wall Street Journal's Lizzie Simon, her "biggest complaint" about circus in general are those rigid gender roles under the big top; they are, she asserts, "really traditional." The female performer's skill is "typically masked, whereas a man's is acknowledged."

At Big Apple, she was delighted to witness the hand-balancer Melanie Chy, who, typical of other women on the show, according to Ms. Johnson, displayed "strength and skill rather than flexibility or sexuality."

Hmmm. How to rethink this. Might it be that all those great female big top divas were really men in drag? I'm now wondering when they will adapt The Vagina Monologues into a circus spec. Starring Grandma.

At Cirque du Soleil's Ploddingly Atmospheric "Totem," The Thrill is Gone -- But S.F. Critics are Wowed

2011-12-07T06:30:00.000-08:00

Circus Review: Cirque du Soleil -- Totem
San Francisco, December 1
Tickets: $49.50 to $360.00

Roller skating in the ancient world at Cirque du Soleil

Totem will not mark a high point in Cirque du Soleil history.

This overly directed effort is so curiously weak on star turns, and so weighted down under extraneous choreography, special effects and clever scenic illusions (creamy white waves rippling across a shoreline) -- that, by the time it has worked its empty course, I was left feeling slightly puzzled by what wasn't there. For starters, a soul.

If, like the lady sitting next to me, you go to Cirque du Soliel because you like the "atmosphere," on that count, you'll get plenty of it here.

Along with all the tedious posturing, such as the prolonged entrance and exit movements of a pair of roller skaters in white, before and after actually doing something on a raised platform. And something rather average at that.

There is a chilly existential feel to this outing that reminded me of something you encounter at one of those cutting edge "performance pieces." Creative highpoint is an eccentric prop-intense display in which a juggler works balls bouncing up and down inside a large hour-glass like object, suggesting a scene from a fantasy yet to be sketched out by Pixar -- or maybe Quentin Tarantino. Odd ball characters on the edges create a brilliantly bizarre stage picture.

Talent wise, I remember exactly one act that took my breath away -- five Chinese woman on very tall unicycles tossing between themselves tin saucers. By degrees of complexity, they built to a breathtaking finish.

The athletic action is vigorous, most of it built on humdrum fundamentals. Pole vaulting here becomes plank vaulting. Perch pole work is anchored to tell-tale mechanics. Native American hoop dancing offers a pleasant cultural diversion, after which, a scene on the beach looks as if Bloody Mary is about to enter followed by the sailors belting out "there is nothing like a dame!"

Ah, there is nothing quite like Totem -- Maybe it's not all the fault of Cirque du Soleil. Maybe all the best talent in the world has already been sucked up into other shows -- by Cirque du Soleil.

Music is a variable pleasure, from lovely tinkle to pounding drums. The hard working clowns win a few laughs in their endless bickering. One of them scores charmingly while trying to fish himself a decent meal from a row boat. And here is where Totem's heart lies, not in the circus at all, but in the theatre. Problem is, stranded between the two disparate forms, it fails to achieve a memorable imprint in either category. But, for ambitiously trying -- YAWN, maybe they deserve a half star higher than what I am inclined to give them, So ...

Overall score (4 stars tops): 2-1/2 stars

End ringers: How wrong might I be? After posting this notice, I searched for S.F. reviews and was fairly shocked to see near-unanimous raves from the local critics. In fact, I hadn't seen a single review anywhere until posting mine .... No-show acts: Two acts pictured in the program magazine(one may have been merely part of an ad) did not appear in the performance I attended ... A very short stay in San Francisco? Usually, Cirque hangs out for up to about three months. This time, they're closing up the tent in mid-December, after having held court for around six weeks. When I saw the show, business was certainly good, but there were plenty of empty seats scattered throughout the tent ... From here, they go to LONDON, then BACK to the Bay Area, to hang their tent down in San Jose ... Time spent: First half: 50 minutes; Intermission: 30 minutes; Last half: 60 minutes. Sell. Sell. Sell. Example: "regular" size popcorn -- $6.26.

From Yelp! The average consumer review on Yelp! -- five stars tops -- is an impressive 4. Many of those have never seen a Cirque show before. Here is one of a number of the dissenters (to make me feel not so stupid) ...

From Hector G. in Burlingame: "Cirque is one of those amazing experiences that I can't compare to anything else. The shows I've experienced have truly blown me away. It's because of my experience with Ka that every other show feels like it doesn't stand up. I have such high expectations for the show now that I've experienced the best show they have, in my opinion.

Totem was flat, slow, boring at times and just didn't do it for me. If you have never watched a Cirque performance, I would highly recommend this show. If you are a seasoned veteran, this show may disappoint.

I found myself looking at my watch, a few different times and that is NEVER a good thing when at a performance of this caliber. I wanted to love this show. I wanted so badly to walk away impressed on all levels as I usually am, but this show was near dreadful.

A few shining moments of course, but there was way too much fluff and not enough money shots."

Due out in January: In Showbiz David's forthcoming new book, Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic's Guide, one of the major topics explored is the phenomenal rise and world-wide artistic impact of Cirque du Soleil.

12.4.11

Jay Leno Rings Jokes On Ringling's $270,000 "Animal Mistreatment" Fine ...

2011-12-06T19:20:00.001-08:00

Two nights in a row now, late night's talk show king has made comedy hay out of Ringling's settlement with the USDA over alleged animal abuse. (The show accepted the hefty fine -- pocket change for the Felds -- without admitting guilt.)

Jay's latest barb : "They [Ringling] promise to change their ways; like, you know the bear that rides the bicycle on the tightrope? From now on he'll be wearing a helmet."

Laughter aside, this is NOT the comedy any circus would pray for.

The INDEX is DONE, and I'm Feeling High on the Price of My New Book --

2011-12-06T11:28:00.000-08:00

What's worse in a book than no index? An index with names but no page numbers! ... I nearly brought this off, minutes before the final version of my Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic's Guide (due out Jan.) was on its way to a print vendor (the soul, I think, who recruits the best press offer, something like that). Doing an index is torturous enough without trying to proof the damn thing. Which I forgot to do. Horror of horrors! Gerard Souls back there, but all by himself, without a page number. And a spec "Old Vienna" and four guys named Dominguez, whose first names were so confusing, I nearly went crazy trying to figure out how to list them (seems three of them hail from the famed family Quiros) ...

Only a primer, that up there, on how comatose indexing can make me feel and act -- and review, read on, though I fully respects its critical usefulness to a book. Much more so than the damned annotation numbers I've been chained to in the last too many books. Not, thank God, on Inside the Changing Circus! I HATE text littered with numbers. Here, I have listed key sources in an informal section back of the book. That I value.

Another thing I love about BearManor Media, whose young publisher, Ben Ohmart, currently hangs out in Japan (he married a Japanese lady a few years back, not indexed) , is this: My book, in paperback at nearly 300 pages, is priced at only $19.95! Good going, BearManor! I've been embarrassed in some recent publishing episodes with books of mine that were priced sky high; might that be why the editors insisted on annotating? To foster a more scholarly image, thus justifying the extreme price? ... Sure, this means I will get less royalties, but so be it. I'd rather write books that people who might want to give them a chance can afford to. ...

Blame it on the index: That review down there about Cirque du Soleil was composed -- or decomposed -- during the final stages of my indexing obligations. I think it managed to be even more a bore than the show -- Tote Tote Totem, Good Bye! -- that it purports to review. So, I've chopped it down to the humdrum essentials, something like I wish Cirque would do.

I might continue this latter. Lots of big top bits backed up in e-mail. Blame it on cyber courier Don Covington for failing to send footnotes.

Top of the Book: How "Inside the Changing Circus" Was Designed ... A Pithy Primer on True Dark Chocolate ... And It's All Free!

2011-12-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

Special impartial consultant Boyi Yuan ponders eleventh hour question: Which photo of Big Apple Circus director Guillaume Dufresnoy should I use in my book?

Really excited about the cover design for my book Inside the Changing Circus, due out around next January. The designer, Brian Pierce, sent it to me last week for comment; my publisher gives author's the rare right to approve cover designs. A FIRST for me. I love the look of the book. And then, I discovered Brian's own blog, where he talks about his thoughts behind the sudden creation of the design.

http://aweekagotuesday.blogspot.com/

Second excitements: Inside my changing frigerator now, there are tons of fabulous turkey, American to Chinese leftovers from a big haul yesterday, first as a guest at the house of my nephew, Jeff, and his lovely wife Gannimed, from the Philippines. While I was there, gobbling down, shamelessly, chocolate chip cookies (well, once a year, right? The others times, functionally delicious 85% cocoa chocolate bars ... ) I got to "skype." Oh, please, don't laugh too hard. I've heard the word, but kept the concept out there, resisting the onslaught of new technology (I am usually 7 years behind the cutting edge). Anyway, call me a Skypester now (had I known, I would have dressed up for the occasion) ... I skyped and skipped all the way across the Big Ocean to talk to Gannimed's sister and brother, and they gave me a virtual Skype tour of their lush green neighborhood in the southern region of the Philippines. Wonderful new experience. Jeff and I discussed my hankering for a smart phone, which I call a "toy," but, heck, we all deserve one of those now and then.

Great old fashioned Thanksgiving day feast, the durables -- starring thick gravy, and Chef Jeff evoked rare insight. "This is American soul food." The absolute best I've had in years ...

I might be the last person on earth to finally give up his land phone. Really, it's about economics, not trying to be eccentric (a bent that comes naturally, I fear). I'm on the verge of hitching my rotary to a droid, because the company I get dumb phone connection from at such flexible rates is now offering to help the dumb set go smart.

Back in Oakland, my friend Boyi came by with a container of more turkey, and oh so delicious, with all the sauces and seasonings his dad, a professional cook, applies so cunningly well. Back to chocolate: I tried a different form of 85% smart dark chocolate on Boyi. It's new from Trader Joe's (it tastes remarkably NOT like the other bars) and he fell for it! When he left later to drive many miles for a midnight whatever on a dark Turkey day sale blowout, he took the complete box with him.

OK, onto my book. Boyi helped me make a critical decision between the straight ahead face shot of Guillaume Dufresony that's in the page proofs, and one that I just got from Phil Thurston at Big Apple Circus, of Mr. D. sitting out in the seats watching the show at the gala opening in Gotham. After serious meditation, lifting my room into Buddhasphere, Boyi broke loose in a bolt of common sense favoring the new image and making me feel a tad off my game. "He is looking at the show!"

And the COVER! Remember the book, The Circus: Garden of Eden to Pittsburgh? (aka: The Circus: 1870-1950, among many changing names, guises and shapes) That book's original cover featured a great Braathen shot of the Ringling-Barnum marquee and ticket wagons. Well, folks, I've also got a shot at Big Book Coffee Table Overkill, too! I've got another image of the same wagons and marquee up in Canada in '53! And, no, not cause I suggested anything; it would be improper for an author to push for photos -- unless asked. Brian had just asked for suggestions from me, but before I could lurch, he jumped off his perch in a flash of creative lightning, and out came a great design. Among its many assets, the type face is NOT the usual old fashioned circus script ...

Boyi, on the subtler side, was nearly as excited as was I. My only quibble when I first saw this draft you will see, if you go there, was that four of the six images are Asian. I suggested it might be better to diversify and sent some ideas. Brian went with one of them, and design looks even stronger. I'm not telling which. Yes, you'll just have to wait and see. By the way, is anybody still reading this?

And Boyi last night rushed off to San Jose to stand in line and play with his new iPhone 4G and maybe spend not a penny, while I am mustering up the nerve to dump my land line from Ma Bell, bury my Dumb phone, and go hi tech all the way ..

After two or three more chocolate chip cookies. True dark chocolate had to wait.

11.25.11

MIDWAY FLASH! MIDWAY FLASH! Ringling's Alleged Animal Abuse Fine Makes CNN Headlines ...

2011-11-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

It flashed across CNN this morning -- jolting me out of my chair as I was slaving heroically over the indexing for my book, Inside the Changing Circus -- a tortuously tedious task taunting my sanity -- a task I do not relish. So, let's take a break, David, I said to myself!

I dug further, and this I struck from the Huffington Post:

"Life's no circus for the Ringling Brothers these days.

The USDA announced Monday that an agreement was reached where Feld Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (Feld), will pay a $270,000 fine for allegedly violating the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).

According to a USDA press release, Feld also agreed to "develop and implement annual AWA compliance training for all employees who work with and handle animals, including trainers, handlers, attendants and veterinarians starting March 31, 2012, and to establish an AWA compliance position on its staff by February 28, 2012."

End of the Huffington.

Am I surprised? In the wake of that horrible PETA undercover YouTube of Ringling elephants being sadistically slapped around by bull hooks and cursed at, no, I'm not.

And certainly not, considering that, as far as I know, the Felds have yet to explain to us how the film footage was, as they claimed when it hit the web, "misleadingly edited."

Mr. Feld? I still await a few peeps from you on the issue. Your explanation, sir?

Why I am so heated over this? Because this kind of news hurts ALL circuses, that's why.

And Ringling Bros. should lead the way, not down into a dark ages ditch, but up onto a higher more enlightened road.

Flying for Gold at Monte Carlo 2012

2011-11-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Jack Ryan, I have a list in Italian of some 26 acts slated to compete for Gold Clowns at the next bash Over There ...

I always look for countries, seeking to confirm or revise my general impression of which nations turn out the top acts. I assume that Princess Stephanie and her crowd are generally fair about international inclusion.

Know what? I think they are, for this is reflected in the talent signed by our U.S. circuses, year after year.

This year's Monte Carlo lineup, no surprise, draws heavily from Russia and its old Communist block associate countries, and from Europe, to the tune of 14 of the acts. China checks in with only two, a real surprise -- unless the Chinese are erring on the side of underexposure. The tent will come alive with horses and ponies, contortionists and jugglers and acrobats -- the usual panoply

And, roller skaters! A good old fashioned roller skating act? No, no, this one's from the center of cerebral contortion -- France!

Now, back to Over Here. Remember, the United States of America? Large expansive sigh ... sigh ... sigh, have we here in Occupied U.S.A. not a single American performer on the bill? Technically, NO.

However, notes Jack -- Thank you Jack -- a Japanese juggler named Ty Tojo carries a strong U.S. connection to the festival. "He was born there [in Japan] but has long lived in Las Vegas with his family." Ty's stepfather, and the man who trained him, is juggler Dick Franco.

Memo to American born performers (are there any out there working still?): Change your names to French, Russian, or Chinese. Or Japanese. Apply for dual citizenships. Get thee to a plastic surgeon for an ethnicity overhaul. And do what the Russian circus wannabes had to do long before they staged their revolution back in 1917. Some changed their names to foster outside affiliations. Suddenly, the local rope walker who got no respect in his home rings, now returning to another part of the country as an "Italian import," drew cheers from the crowds.

Ah, Planet Earth is such a callow shallow place.

[I'm still charmed by my memory of the home-made dog act I saw on Carson & Barnes this last season. For them, let's see -- new wave French minimalism from outer Siberia?]

Circus Knie 2011: A YouTube Review ... Has the Old Europe Big Top Changed?

2011-11-20T17:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Don Convington, for sending me this 8-minute teaser-sampler containing, I take it, the season's highlights from one of the world's most respected circuses.

The show's assets, moderate to outstanding, are pleasantly satisfying. There is, yes, a well honed artistry to much of what you will see, albeit in a rather unimaginative context. Which, once you settle in (as I did, after watching the video a second time), makes for a welcome change from the more overproduced (Ringliing jumps to mind) and over commercialized American shows.

A memorable climax here is supplied by a Chinese group (I assume) demonstrating a terrific ensemble risely. Across the upended feet of five manipulators on their backs, a very young fellow, almost a kid, maintains steady headstand posture as he is bounced from one to the next. It's a wow, but like a few other turns, in slow motion leaves something to be desired.

Three charming guys in striped shirts are mildly amusing. Impressive tricks are delivered by well-drilled horses, acrobats and aerialists.

The variable music, which sounds recorded, is only OK -- once you get used to its not casting any kind of a distinctive atmosphere. But, even given tepid direction, I'll take Knie over Feld. I think. For a while. What do I miss? A certain lack of dramatic momentum. But this is just a sampler; I saw another YouTube of Knie 2011, with the same acts except for the guys in striped shirts missing, in their place two comedians who talk a lot. Hmmmm. Nice laid back evening. Okay, summing up:

It's still old Europe: Respect for the act with little extraneous hoopla gilding the ring.

Showbiz David Gets a Sneak Peak at the Design for His Next Book, "Inside the Changing Circus"

2011-11-16T19:19:00.000-08:00

What a high! It came couple nights ago, PDF of the interior design work in "draft" form (I call it page proofs), for my new book, Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic's Guide, due out next January. Love the strong chapter headings and how the photos, a load of 77, are prominently featured.

Camera masters: I'm happy to have on my side some true shutter stars: Big Apple Circus's Bertrand Guay, who works for Agence France-Presse and photographs circuses all over Europe;" Ted Sato, Big Show photographer during Ringling's' last glory years under canvas; another late great, Sverre Braathen, the attorney-circus fan who snapped wonderful images in Kodachrome of Ringling, and whose work resides at the Milner in ISU. In my book, Braathen's images appear in black and white and yet, sometimes the conversion brings out greater clarity on the faces, which flatters Ben Davenport and daughter Norma, and a very young star who made a one-year cameo on Ringling in 1953 ...

Mister Mistin's day in the sun: Touted to be only 5-years old when he played the xylophone for Ringling, this perky showman sports a pistol on a float in the Candyland spec. The kid's face is full of attitude.

Among others I'm happy to be giving attention to:

Louis Stern: An atypically happy image of this shamefully overlooked giant, from Tegge Circus Archives, on his feet and warmly smiling, his arms outstretched, with Valerie Antalek. He deserved to feel good about himself.

Under the Big Show big top, 1924, during spec. A great image by Charles Clark, the "white" canvas is so dirty and streaked, I can almost feel a warm damp heat in there, it feels so real. I envy everybody who got to see that show!

Ted Sato: One of his which he gave me is of the big top blossoming, surrounded by towners looking on and elephants grazing (do they graze?). A beaut.

The World of Today: Bertrand Guay's work captures the dazzling innovations that mark many of the acts that land on Big Apple Circus.

And so many more. Estelle Butler riding Roman style at the Garden ... Cliff Vargas looking handsomer than you can probably imagine, cropped out (my doing) from other owners, he getting rare placement with a few other passionate producers ... The Logan elephants under the old Al. G. Kelly and Miller Bros. tent ... wry Russian animal turns -- one a cow and a monkey appearing to be playing, well what, ground soccer? ... Asian wizards from Shanhai to Big Apple ... Leitzel and Agee in the backyard ... a young Mistilav Zapasnhy topping a family pyarmid on a trio of horses, his face aglow with the confidence of a benign god ... Tension between Art and Antoinette Concello in the backyard with Eddie Ward, Jr., staying wisely removed ... Griebling and Karandash ... and, yes, Grandma!

On and on and on, those are just a tease of the photography that reflects the ever-changing circus, going back to Circus Maximus, forward to Cirque du Soliel ... Page proofs are a safe thrill, before the thing rolls off the press and gets looked at by strange impartial eyes. But what an update in publishing. So far, only two things have moved between me and BearManor Media in snail mail: the contract and a flash drive of the images to a guy in New York state, Brian, who is designing the book with exemplary flair.

Barbaric PETA Ringling Elephant Abuse Video Makes Mother Jones Magazine Expose; Feld Claims DC Bill Would "Outlaw Circuses"

2011-11-14T18:30:00.000-08:00

If a new bill in congress aimed at banning wild and exotic animals from circuses reaches the White House and gets signed, it would "outlaw circuses," claims a rather hysterical Ringling VP Stephen Payne to POLITICO.

Legislation is being sponsored by Virginia Democrat Rep. Jim Moran. The usual animal-rights groups are gathering around to support. Mother Jones magazine just came out with an article authored by one Deborah Nelson, claiming to detail "harrowing tales of abuse" during a year-long "investigation into Ringling Bros. Circus."

Worst of all, not just for Ringling but for all circuses, the Mother Jones article links to -- guess what? Yes, to that barbaric 2009 You Tube revealing wretchedly cruel treatment of elephants (or the imagery of it) on Ringling . Bull hooks thrash freely back and forth across the bodies of pachyderms assembled backstage and waiting to go on. Mean trainers curse out the elephants. I just watched it again, and I had forgotten how stomach-turning it is.

Memo to the Felds: If this YouTube IS deceptively edited, as you claimed when it hit the internet, WHY NOT, WILL YOU PLEASE, TELL US HOW? I AM MORE THAN READY TO HEAR YOUR SIDE OF THE STORY. Might those lashing sounds, for instance, be sound effects added to the raw footage?

The bill may, of course, bite the sawdust, as congress (whatever legislative skills these whoring hypocrites can muster) tries addressing more pressing national matters. But support in favor of the bill's intent will surely continue to gain traction as long as additional filmed evidence of animal mistreatment gets seen by disbelieving eyes and talked about.

Feld said to have spent $200,000 this year on lobbying efforts in Washington. Heck, that's chump change to Mr. Kenneth. And he, having learned well from his masterfully manipulative dad, is well versed in how to massage the media and slant the story. Whether he can buy his way out of this latest potential PR setback remains to be witnessed.

I await your explanation , Mr. Feld. I know that somebody in your Vienna office reads this blog. Whoever you are, will you kindly pass my request onto the big boss? And please, tell me just how your concern for animal welfare does not apparently have in place a more rigorous monitoring eye on the handlers who direct (polite word, that?) your pachyderms about.

Call me naive. In the end, circuses -- at least yours, sir -- must do better. A LOT better.

Slush Pile Treats & Trash: Out, Damn Items!

2011-11-09T17:14:00.000-08:00

I have here before me a stack of papers, cumulative bits and pieces that need to be posted before a proper trip to the waste basket. Who knows, somebody out there may swoon to an item that did not grab me when it first crashed into my tent. So, here we go, in the absolute order in which these trifles appear:

"We have reached the chill winds of autumn, and there are rumors in the air that the circus will not survive many more. Are we to believe them?" That from an early draft of the chapter, "Cry, Clown, Cry" in my book, Behind the Big Top. Amazing, it made it all the way, word by word, into the final draft, and into page proofs. I think I kept it to demonstrate how we continually are predicting the Last Season, the Last Show, the Last Exit and the Last Load out for the Last Barn.

Yes, yes, at last, you are saying, move on! Okay, okay ...

A list before me of honorees at Peru's version of a Circus Ring of Fame, my notes at the top of names NOT on the list, among the insulted: Art Concello, Faye Alexander, Frank Braden (possibly the most gifted of all syntax spinners), Irving J. Polack and Louis Stern (giants who reinstated American respect for the one-ring circus). No further comment on this, Kids. You go figure. (Notice how I refrained from listing iffy honorees, I need to redeem my precariously questionable attitudes.)

What next, here: "Has Cirque lost its soul," asked one Janice Steinberg, penning a story in a periodical I failed to name. She remembering, and oh how I can relate, Cirque du Soleil's historic invastion of L.A. in 1987, of being, at the show's end, "moved to ears." Me, too.

Something about Teatro ZinZanni in San Francisco losing its lease at Pier 29, and I have little incentive to dig further. Think they are moving elsewhere in, as the locals call it, "The City." Yes, "The" in CAPS. Precious place over there, that, full of precious people the center of their own precious illusions.

Back of a page on which I wrote out scores I gave in rough notes, years gone by to the Carson & Barnes shows I saw, which won me over, some, that is. Out of 4 stars tops, here goes: 1975: 3-1/2 stars; 1978: 3 stars; 1984: 3 stars. During those years, on the few occasions when I saw Beaty-Cole (which I fondly remember for its operational professionalism, despite ...) I never gave the show more than 2-1/2 stars. Okay, go throw up if you wish. Some of the BEST circus shows I've seen in years past, before the coming of the Grand Carny Intermission Rape, were under Dorry Miller's Cracking Good Big Top, when a real live band, some of them cracking hot, played on ... I would like to sponsor a court order banning intermission over there, and requiring the Byrds, in order to get in deeper touch with their artistic sides, to wear berets and spend the off-season in Paris.

Okeedokee, or something like that: Some scribblings (I can't read my own writing, sorry) about John Ringling North II, about the risk of bringing back too much of the same year after year, but, you know what, I'm making that a Big One on this platform in the future. (Keep this note; get somebody to translate it for me)

"What do they fear" in my hand on another slice of paper. Under that, I wrote Ted Chapin (he of Rodgers and Hammerstein), Patricia Ringling Buck, about whom I will hold my testy tongue other than to say: We collided once at the Ringling Museum via letters over a wish of mine to use photos; this I will have fun detailing in book I intend to someday write about my adventures in and out of circus worlds and publishing houses.

Print outs of the fine stories about Kelly Miller and JRN II by Zoe Gorman for the Toledo Blade; no, not the trash can for these. File them in the stuffed metal draw in that old cabinet in my bedroom.

A piece about retired Russian circus bears living in "cramped, stinking cages" in a bus parked along a highway near St. Petersburg. Reprehensible!

Yeah, it's getting bleak down at the bottom here. But here's a nice handwritten note from Mr. North II, last June, sending me the program and inviting me to the show. Classy guy. He might only have seen me were he, whenever I happened to show up which I didn't, selling tickets at the front end. Unless I could risk a backyard walk up to The Jomar. I've grown so backyard shy over the years, and I don't have backyard get-even-with-that-pretentious-critic insurance.

What else, not much: Oh, this tickler. A print out I made of a comment left by Jeff Swanson (thanks, Jeff, for leaving your name, a class act) in which he said, "David, Oh no David, please do stop blogging."

Uh, well, uh, Jeff, I asked the doctor about that. He said I might need a pill if I stopped blogging.

Helplessly I'd rather not stop. I am a pill free "circus critic" freak. See that photo up to your right? That was of me on a brief break from my local nut house re-bonding with my beloved loyal Royal, circa the year Barbette told me that working on the Ringling show was like "a sex holiday."

End of slush pile. Anybody still there?

Broadwayland, Desperate for Tony Nominees, May Feign Respect for Critically Dismissed " Spiderman" ...New Tuners Fizzling Fast.

2011-11-08T15:43:00.000-08:00

The land of blockbusters and blockbuster flops said to be hurting for viable new musicals, needed to bolster upcoming Tony nominations for the Best This and the Best That. They might have to invent a new category -- Best Salvaged Turkey. Best Script Doctor. Best Resuscitation Director.

Experts speculating that Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the aerial intense tuner that was endlessly in previews until its book was gutted for a rewrite, its hazardous aerial segments made safer and blander -- yes, THAT musical may actually snag a few Tony nominations.

Show is doing decent business, slipping south a bit in recent frames. Operating costs are so huge, experts earlier predicted it would take until, well, let's say Armageddon, to turn a profit on this turnaround turkey.

Season so far not too hot. New shows slated for Gotham premieres either flopped out or nixed hitting the Big Boards. Money a problem in some quarters, talented materials in others.

So many classic hits lined up on Revival Row, among them, Evita, that producers of a planned return for Funny Girl decided against taking their chances this season.

Another problem is limited stage space, thanks partly to the long-running shows that keep real estate at a premium. Some producers hoping for the demise of new shows struggling to stay alive. When one hits the dust, there's another waiting to open and test the market.

Anonymous: You Are Such a Coward, and So Pathetic, and You Lighten My Yawn

2011-11-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

I was going to say "laugh," then I revised down to "giggle," but heck, I did NOT giggle. What did I really really feel? Oh about something closer to a meaningful yawn, trenchantly speaking. (If you like that trenchant word, try reading the novel Death with Interruptions, I think you could really really relate.)

And, despite the absence of your victoriously vindictive, and, oh yes, scintillating presence, my traffic continues to rise.

Sorry to burst your fake balloon.

You'll have to hide out elsewhere to get even with the circus that done you wrong, or with me for not having bestowed a fake glowing review upon your secret squeeze, or, what else? Oh yes, or to trash the cats that do things yours never could do, things that even those who stole away your spotlight still can't do.

But, take some heart. You nudged me a little to shovel this lazy post onto the midway. I'm having a mini-riot of impromptu fun. Call it SELF OCCUPY SHOWBIZ DAVID.

Nice feeling, once and a while in Life, clearing the decks, chasing cobwebs into their well deserved anonymity (haha! Clever, that?) doing a little pithy purging (notice how generous I am in avoiding cliches like "spring cleaning"), opening the windows wet and letting fresh stale air inside the tent.

So, Mr. Big Little A, my suggestion is this: Get a life. Or a better Lie. Or Lay.

And if that doesn't work, perhaps a brain transplant?

11.8.11

Amtrak, Change My NY-Bound Train to May! There's a "Singing" Rodent at Big Apple Circus I Just Must See!

2011-11-06T21:35:00.000-08:00

This could turn into a true John Ringling North moment for new Big Apple Circus artistic director Guillaume Dufresnoy,who is standing the menagerie on its head this year. North staged the spectacular, attention-grabbing "Ballet of the Elephants" back in 1942.

Well, the circus has advanced since then onto a more ethereal plane, if you will. Elephants and tigers? Old hay, those. No, bring on the pot-bellied pig from Vietnam, the African Porcupine named Percy (or Porgy, by other accounts), and, last but not least, the grand champion of crooning rodents -- Bob. Yes, Bob.

Described by an enamored New York Times reviewer as a "streamlined woodchuck," the flamboyant South American star, four feet in length, "sings" Taio Cruz's "Dynamite."

These critters are bringing fresh fun into the tent. This new Big Apple Circus outing is titled Dream Big

And it's spicing up the notices with a humor that will, I predict, infect the town. "If you can't offer big cats," noted the Times, "why not go with really big rodents?" Or, to be scientifically accurate, colossal capybaras?

That's what the circus is supposed to be all about. Novelty and surprise, and humor in equal measure. North scored big with his hooky bull ballet; I suspect the PR on Dufresnoy's aberrant barnyard has just begun.

Oh, yes, and several of the regular acts performed by humans sound really boffo, among the treats, comedy illusionists Scott Nelson and Muriel Brugman, called "hilarious" by both the Post and the Daily News. Bring it on, you Big Happy Apple!

Hush, Hush, Anonymous! You Are Now on Sawdust Sabbatical

2011-11-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

And I don't know when you may be coming back.

And if I get less comments, so be it.

I have grown increasingly tired or your profanity, personal insults against others, etc., etc. Some of your views may be spot on, so why not identify yourself? What are you afraid of? After all, the subjects discussed here hardly rise to the level of redacted Wiki-leaks.

This is my way of trying to foster a more comfortable place, where people of ALL views may feel welcome to express themselves without fear of being personally attacked or diminished.

Yes, I realize, there is a fine line between taking issue with the opinions of others and issuing the grand insult, intended or not. To be clear: It is is OK here to counter, even challenge other views in civil discourse. It is NOT OK here to engage in sarcastic, derisive, profane, or belittling language. Remain nameless and you don't have a chance.

Let's face it: No two people see any given circus exactly the same way, which is the same as anywhere across the entertainment spectrum, be it theatre, cinema, pop music, yodeling or TV land. We all have our passions. A circus that satisfies you is your truth.

I am also feeling a respect for contributors who do have the guts to put their names next to their to their words. How daring!

Anonymous, enjoy your sabbatical.

10.30.11

3-Minute Midway: Proposed Bill to Ban Circus Animals Getting Some Traction?

2011-11-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

If a proposed legislative ban on lions, tigers, and elephants from circuses, proposed by House Democrat Rep. Jams. P Moran of Virginia, ever becomes law, look for a rush on dogs, horse drills and performing porcupines of the breed currently stealing the show under the Big Apple big top.

“While the 12-person super-committee holds closed-door discussions, the work of the remaining 523 members [of the] U.S. Congress should not grind to a halt,” Mr. Moran told The Washington Times on Tuesday, believing that the "mistreatment of exotic animals in traveling circuses deserves attention."

According to Animal Defncers International (ADI, a new one to me), the use of circus animals is banned in 34 cities in 17 states.

I wonder if this issue will end up either before the Supremes, in another "super-committee," or on Judge Judy?

Anonymous America: All That Freedom, So Little Courage

2011-11-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

How ironic that in this insanely liberated, some would claim "exceptional" land of the free, a land whose press kit penned by Mr. Jefferson screams out "freedom of speech!!!", so many practicing Americans are so afraid to attach their names to what they have to say.

There was a time, when my Grandma wrote letters to New York papers, when you had to give your name and telephone number, had to be vetted. When those who had something to say were proud to be identified with what they had to say. When the discourse, as a result, was more civil and less hateful. God bless the internet? Perhaps nothing has influenced my life so much as how my grandmother ended one of her published letters, a copy of which she proudly sent to us in California: "Live and let live," she wrote before signing her name. At the age of around ten, I was mighty impressed with her open and tolerant mind. Impressed that the lady who wrote those words was my grandmother.

Whenever I see Anonymous on any blog, not just one of the circus blogs, I see a sad nameless coward. Perhaps I should be kind and consider the voice that of a nameless victim of free-speech backlash, violent in words or assault. But when I see another Little A spewing forth anger or hate, sarcasm or stupidity, I see just that, a great big Little A.

Oh, of course, I could take into account, given the incestuous little circus world in which this blog operates, that there are the professionals out there hiding behind my tent rather than taking to their own platforms, possibly trying to get even with a show or manager who fired them or refused to hire them. I can almost sometimes feel sparks of animosity flying back and forth between ring rivals. I am not totally naive.

Or they-you, yes you, might be shills flaking for one circus, or dissing another, feebly advancing your hidden agendas. I have inside information from past experience to know that I am not imaging things. Sometimes the slant in the comments is so blatant as to make me laugh.

And now, Anonymous is lining up, calling himself one day, P.T. Barnum, another day Joe Blow, and the next, well I won't name that one. Still unwilling to attach his/her name to his words. Telling me that all anybody has to do is fake a name. Well maybe, but maybe not. Too bad, because sometimes he/she has excellent points to make. But I don't care. I'm going to stand behind those who do attach their names. P.T., back to your grave, please! See if you can send up here, say Al Ringling or William Coup, Irving J. Polack or John Strong. Any of them know far more about circus than you ever did.

Somebody a while back asked me in a terse edgy comment, "Who the hell do you think you are?" Kindly, I did not turn the question on him.

Whoever the hell I am, you have my name. You have my bio. Whatever I am, I am not Anonymous.

Al Ringling, are you there yet ... Al?

Kelly Miller 2012 Pushes Nerve Factor Under New, Bigger Big Top: Pirates, Knife Jugglers, Tigers & Slide for Lifers Pace Lineup

2011-10-31T12:50:00.000-07:00

John Ringling North II takes in a performance of the show during the 2011 season. How deep might he go into creative producing?

Knife juggling, gaucho dancing, wild animals in control, pirates on the lose, the "slide for life" and unprotected single trap daring-do promise, on paper, to up the nerve factor at next year's Kelly Miller Circus. Show is now in its Hugo barns, already prepping for the 2012 tour, expected to hit the grass -- or mud -- come February. This I infer from advance information sent my way courtesy of show's general manager Jim Royal. Thank you, Jim.

John Ringling North II's pet circus will sport a brand new big top next season, with "a completely different look," says Royal -- this one designed out of San Francisco by North's designing daughter Katherine, who operates Northbrook Design. As viewed in a photo, tent looks more spacious and roomy.

If the lineup looks a little slim and somewhat redundant on paper, yet the impact might be in the attack, and Kelly Miller requires of its returning performers new routines and novel twists. For example, long-time K-M juggler Raul Oliveras will be spinning objects through a new black light segment, as well as reprising his secondary stint, wind-up dog "Pinky," a perennial favorite with sponsors, according to Royal.

Armando Loyal signed to sustain his fine hold over three elephants. Five tigers from the former Casey McCoy act will be working a revamped repertoire to be hosted by Ryan Easley, marking his second season in the big cage. Show's central production splash in which a number of turns are cast is a pirate themed romp slated to feature knife juggling from Julia and Deya Rosales (new to the show), a slide for life, ensemble dancing and the five North Starlets. Carolyn Rice has a new dog act ready to go; the dogs will enter the tent on the SS "Salty Sea Dog." Sara Greene and Delena Fusco are crafting a cradle turn.

New faces also include smooth single trap diva Rebecca Ostroff, who appeared in the film Water for Elephants, the credit a natural talking point for the show's PR attack. Also new to the North ring will be the Fusco family's seven-person gaucho act. Clowns Steve Copeland and Ryan Combs are developing all-new entrees and walkarounds.

Production flourishes may add additional excitement. Norbert Fusco is adding dance steps to the aerial Starlets, while Carolyn Rice will choreograph for husband Mike's camel carousel, to which zebras have been added.

These various flourishes suggest a creative producer at work.

Although North's old buddie and musician from Ringling days, Captain "Lucky Eddie" Straeffer and his wife Vickie will be out next season on personal matters, the pattern of scoring which they established, tape recordings augmented by drums and percussion, will be followed, says Royal.

If there is detectable weakness here, it would seem to be a lack of acrobatic arts -- those power drives that set the human body into spinning whirling motion.

The impact of any performance, of course, rides as much on how everything is put together, fancied up in lights and costumes, packaged, scored, and paced -- as it does on a raw assemblage of performers. Exactly how John Ringling North II pulls his goodies out of the hat may well spell the difference between also-ran and take-note.

Optimistically, I consider North's personal imprint a promising work in progress.

Gotham Going Gaga Over Big Apple Circus "Dream Big" ... Daily News ... NY Post ... TheatreMania Issue Affirming Kudos

2011-10-24T20:25:00.001-07:00

Update, 10/25, 7:03 AM PST: More boffo reviews, some bordering on raves, are pouring off Gotham presses, from NY Daily News and Theatre Mania, the latter declaring it "a treasure trove of eye candy and entertainment for people of any age." Show looks to be richly stocked with top talent, captivating costumes, and inventive set pieces.

Photo by Bertrand Guay/Big Apple Circus

Here are some highlights from a socko 3- star review by Elisabeth Vincentelli in The New York Post:

“Dream Big may be its most eye-popping production yet, thanks to director/choreographer Renaud Doucet and set/costume designer André Barbe, both of whom have extensive experience in opera.

The concept this time around is that an “imagination machine” allows people to dream up the show’s act. Mainly this is an excuse to have everybody cavort in colorful, downright nutty outfits. Many look straight out of a Tim Burton movie: Russian juggler Dmitry Chernov has an Edward Scissorhands vibe, and China’s Shandong Acrobats look like extras from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.'"

Even the animal routines have a twist. Horses prancing around are fairly common, but when was the last time you saw an African porcupine, a Vietnamese potbellied pig and a capybara do tricks? The last gets the show’s biggest laugh, which involves the Taio Cruz hit “Dynamite.”

End of excerpt.

I predict those quirky animals will draw lively press and word of mouth. The tent should fill up nicely.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/tent_up_creativity_jest_right_for_quxegyt5NOYKwxMN3cqQaL#ixzz1blCi6XeW

The Best American Circuses, 2011: Showbiz David & Others Rank them -- Only One Show Makes Everybody's List

2011-10-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

From Showbiz David, Critical Feedback Division

No two people will ever agree on which show is “best,” and where to place the rest in order of quality. At the bottom of this post, I am pleased to include, in the order in which they were received, the top three picks of other contributors, which makes this so much more interesting.

My ranking criteria

For my money, what separates the best from the least? Surely, the strength of the acts, but that alone is hardly a guarantee for a winning program. Making the biggest difference are production values, from lighting and costume design to music, announcing, pacing and contrasting dynamics.

Some trends, good and ill

Every show offers reasons to go: All of the circuses listed here featured at least one or two — or more — notable acts, and most offered a wide variety of action.

Animal Attitudes: With the one exception of Circus Vargas, all of shows continue to offer the public entertaining animal acts. And the majority of the shows — five — still usually include wild animals in the mix. All of which evidences the public’s continuing preference for the full “traditional” program and the success of circus owners in fostering its confidence.

Ringmasteritis: A disease suffered by hack virtuosos of verbosity (aka: “ringmasters”) who can’t shut up and/or grovel to the crowd for coached applause and cheering. “How are you enjoying the show so far, everybody?!!” Four of the companies — Ringling’s Barnum 200, Cole Bros. Circus of Stars, Circus Vargas, and Carson & Barnes -- all carry verbal blowhards worthy of gag-order restraints.

The carnival in the tent: The crass integration of concession pitches throughout the program and hyper-active intermission rides and photo ops does nothing to enhance a show's artistic impression. Four of the shows listed here continue to pursue this course at their own risk.

Effective tape-recorded musical scores: Two of the companies — Cole Bros.Circus of Stars and Circus Vargas — prove that well constructed musical scores tape recorded for playback can actually be superior to small straining bands. “Live” is no good if your musicians are too few in number or can’t cut it.

The shows considered

I saw five of these circuses in 2011. I am factoring in two others: I caught Kelly Miller in 2010 (quite similar to the 2011 edition), and UniverSoul in 2005. I believe my rankings reflect their general quality. I am including only medium to large sized shows that present fixed programs during a regular touring season lasting many months. Thus, for example, shows like Circus Osario or Circus Bella would not make my list.

The Showbiz David 2011 Picks

1. Big Apple Circus (Dance On!) A nearly perfect performance. Superlative production values, not overly wrought, excellent acts of noteworthy innovation. Excellent music and clowning, a joyful reach. New Artistic Director Guillaume Dufresnoy is good news — the perfect figure to extend the Binder-Christensen legacy.

What to wish for: More substance in the air. If there is to be a ringmaster, let him/her speak a few words.

2. Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey For all that’s been said, the Felds continue to scout some of the best acts in the world, and they experiment with compelling new modes of presentation, even if they can’t resist overplaying their bag of flashy visual tricks. The acts may vary from first rate to forgettable, the music from brilliant to pedestrian, but their costumes and stage pictures are atmospherically outstanding, and they know how to build to a rousing climax.

What to wish for: A more consistently high grade performance, less heavy-handed showmanship. At Coney Island over two summers in a single ring, where they placed talent over fireworks, they produced their best two editions in years.

3. Kelly Miller Circus A promising work in progress from John Ringling North II, who has proved his Ringling credentials revealing a conservative deference to traditional circus while modestly testing the creative waters.

What to wish for: A more frequent turnover in performing personnel. This may be the most critical issue facing North, who at some point will have to let go of favored performers, that is, if he does not wish to alienate his positive relationship with the pubic. He needs a little stronger lineup. And, if he wishes to go the distance as a first-rate showman, he will have to shake off those old show-disrupting Hugo merchandising habits — a direct smear on the House of Ringling. This show has a nice warm feel and a friendly flow, and it covers the solid basics with good music and announcing.. In fact, the two circuses I most looking forward to seeing again are this and Big Apple.

4. UniverSoul Circus A difficult call, because I’ve not seen the show since 2005, but given website information on the current edition, it likely deserves this or a higher slot in my rankings. The funky UniverSoul Circus offers a strong muscular mix, if awkwardly merged, of traditional circus acts (some imported), Afro-centric hip hop routines, wild animals, a quirky character clown named Onion Head, and the oddly incongruous end-of-the-show morality skits.

What to wish for: a smoother integrated program minus the preachy melodramas that can drive customers to an early exit. Truly, these veiled sex, drugs and misogynistic enactments give breathtaking new meaning to the term “Sunday school show.”

5. Circus Vargas A show of moderately engaging action that varies from first rate to acceptably standard. It could and should be so much better, if only the owners would step back, let go and hand over the direction to a strong outside party. Along with evidence of smart staging in precious few spots, there is a lingering air of audience pandering desperation throughout the overly-hyped performance, including the exit path that patrons must take past performers waiting out in the connection to be flattered, smiled at, asked for autographs.

What to wish for: Better comedy, a better presentation. And, irony of ironies, a flying act that actually flies.

6. Cole Bros. Circus of Stars A far cry from the old Beatty-Cole three-ring show (presented in three rings) when the music was live, the clowning strong, the mid-level acts of even merit professionally paced. Cole’s taped musical score, as noted above, is generally excellent. Its lineup is wildly uneven, from charming animal and aerial ballet effects to pedestrian thrill turns rehashed year after year. The rectangular arena-shaped setting gives the performers a semi- stranded look. The excessive announcements grow quickly grating. And the clumsy staging (including a gauche fork lift truck for major prop changes) casts a dreary impression.

What to wish for: This show needs a total rethinking of the performance format. Messrs Pugh and Bale need to focus less on tent-show logistics, more on the performance itself.

7. Carson & Barnes It’s obvious the Byrds, to their credit, are genuinely trying to upgrade the show, what with a few world class acts and a rather expansive spread of action, some of it unfortunately bordering on rank amateurism. Most of their best moves forward are sabotaged by stale production elements they seem unable to retire (a bombastic ringmaster entirely out of place, for example), and the usual crass inclusion of concession pitches throughout the show.

What to wish for: Gutting the intermission, hiring a clown who presents new routines each year, and hiring a new, less talky, less overbearing ringmaster, would work wonders for the lineup. When they ran the show straight through without an intermission, Carson & Barnes now and then produced some of America's most exciting performances. They can easily do it again, but they must make drastic structural changes.

How Others Judge Them

And now, to the rankings of my guest-volunteer judges. After having set my own rankings in stone, I invited others to send in their top 3 favorites. The reason I confined the number to 3 was to make the task as easy as possible. A few of shows listed here do not appear on my rankings; since I have not seen any of them, I was in no position to consider including them on my o1n list.

From Harry Kingston

Says Harry, " I am always in favor of tent shows right or wrong"

1. Cole Bros. Circus of Stars

2. Kelly Miller Circus

3. Carson and Barnes Circus.

From Don Covington

1. Big Apple Circus

2. Kelly Miller Circus

3. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

From Ron Finch, Newark Valley, NY

1. Kelly Miller Circus

2. Billy Martin's Cole All Star Circus

3. Cole Bros. Circus of Stars

From Becky Ostroff

1. Cirque Polynesian

2. Kelly Miller Circus

3. James Cristy Cole Circus

From Charles Hanson

1. Carson & Barnes Circus

2. Kelly Miller Circus

3. Cole Bros. Circus of Stars

Kelly Miller's Rare Popularity

For the fun of it, pooling all the scores -- mine and my five guest judges -- I assigned three points to any show getting a first place ranking, two points for a second, one point for a third. Here is what we get:

1. Kelly Miller Circus (12 points)

2. Big Apple Circus (6 points)

3. Cole Bros Circus of Stars (5 points)

The only show to make everybody's top three list, what is it about Kelly Miller? I believe it has something to do with the intangibles of spirit. Here is what Becky Ostroff said about Kelly Miller in her e-mail to me:

"I felt this gem of a delight flowed and kept my attention and was over before I knew it. What was not to love! All the elements of a classic show, animals, comedy, acrobatic, aerial, clowning and music."

Thanks to all of you, my guest judges!

3-Minute Midway: Once a Crack Kid Ticket Seller for RBBB Under Canvas, Now He's Walking for Walker Bros. He's Bill Taggart, He Is!

2011-10-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

He troupes on, he does, this invincible powerhouse of big top get-it-done. A while back he was driving the big trucks for Cole Circus of Stars. Now he's in-harness (I just love that old phrase) with Walker Bros. There he is, feeling his octogenarian oats, with Timmy Loyal and Loyal's daughter. You look tip top, Bill!

The ageless trouper is 80-years-young (gosh, thanks for making me feel soooo comparatively young), trumping high and checking in. College educated Bill worked in Ringling's yellow ticket wagon through the ill-fated 1956 season. A part of his tell-all memoirs about shady ticket selling on the Big Show landed in Bandwagon, a few years back. Our eyes collectively were opened -- OK, well mine were.

I keep waiting for Bill to take us through the 1955-56 seasons. He'll be getting those notes together, promises he, this winter.

Hurry up, Bill! Talk to us some more from the deep dark "inside." And please, don't forget to recount your day in Pt. Richmond, CA, 1955, when this here kid (me) was on the lot, utterly spellbound, hopelessly sinking into this madly glorious spangle-clad addiction, no meds required. Come to think of it, is that why I take no meds?

In His Own Words: Cirque du Solei's Boss Reveals the Simplicity of a Producing Genius

2011-10-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

Perched on the lofty edge of one of his many world castles, this one atop the Hollywood hills, billionaire big top tycoon Guy Laliberte talked to the the Los Angeles Times' Reed Johnson about his latest offering, Iris, designed to last 10 years at the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Whether audience interest will last ten years in a town famous for turning over product as fast as it can be "wrapped" and sent onto the road, is another matter.

Explained Laliberte on his producing philosophy, "We encourage mistakes because we believe that means they try things. The one thing we're very brutal with is that they [don't] repeat this mistake the second time."

Others on the creative staff of Iris, like prolific Hollywood soundtrack composer and rocker Danny Elfman, noted the generous artistic freedom they have enjoyed in their work "Guy doesn't come in and micro-manage like some producers can, " said Elfman. "They know that their best work comes out of allowing artists to be artists."

Elfman sees a parallel between Laliberte and movie mogul Louis B. Mayer, who would come around to view a rough cut, order cuts and revisions, leave and let the staff continue."

Cirque does "insist," according to the report, that each of its productions contain a "specified number of circus acts" and that it does not adhere to closely to a story line. Which may explain why many of you leave the tent more confused than when you came in.

Laliberte, something of a chain smoker it seems, likens his creative style to that of Pixar, believing they are similar in fostering a healthy "synergy" between artistic and business interests.

And the big boss encourages his staff to spend their off days in regenerative pursuits, such as sharing art works and taking part in charitable activities.

"I know I'm very privileged," said Laliberte to Reed while seated in his bare feet on his outdoor patio somewhere up there in tinsel town heights, "but the concept of people working all their life, seven days a week, piling up money, and dying being rich, I just don't get it."

Somehow, the image of all the smoke he is blowing into the air, not to mention its impact on his lungs, does not jive with his expressed advocacy for a healthy life style away from the bright lights.

The staff should encourage their boss, likewise, to tend to his health. Without him, this amazingly successful enterprise would likely suffer a sure slow death. From the incredible combination of talents that dance somewhere deep in Guy Laiberte's soul, come the Cirque shows, one after another.

Yes, some are floporamas. Others continue to astonish. Just like the top man said,, in order to succeed you've got to be willing and able to fall on your face or, might I add, slip, Banana Shepeel style.

(Note to the Cirque King: Frankly, Guy, that photo of you up there that appeared in the story, credited to your staff, is wretchedly awful. The lighting. Your stilted militaristic stance. Everything! And yet, in my pathetic desperation to illustrate your mug in my forthcoming book, Inside the Changing Circus, I actually contacted the Los Angeles Times about reprinting it. They wanted over $200! No thanks, Hollywood. Your people in Montreal, Guy, did not return my e-mails. No surprise. But you have an open invitation to meet me at my one-bedroom rental in Oakland. I have a balcony. On it, yes, you can smoke if you must.)

3-Minute Midway: Poema-Perfect Landings Seal the Deal

2011-10-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

There's a great You Tube of the Poema act on Kelly-Miller Circus, the act itself finely staged and integrated into what I believe is their western production number. Little dude Adrian Jr., a great showman who has a life of high laughter and applause ahead of him, scores well, all the way through. Loved one of his interactive bits with ringmaster John. Very funny. Direction this year helps deepen the comic character in Adrian's Hannefordian soul. My only quibble with this well developed act -- it needs just a little something more at the very end, a little more punch or zing.

The family's stately risely landings (feet to feet) are what seal the deal. During the copy-editing phases recently for my forthcoming book, Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic's Guide to the Show, I added a paragraph on what I call "precision landings" to a chapter where I discuss the elements of a first rate circus act. Seeing the Poemas makes me glad I did.

Strong precision landings on the feet, when sure and masterfully erect -- do seal the deal. Gusto. Control. Vertically victorious posture ... Yes! They put the frosting on top of the frosting.

Cirque du Soleil's "Iris" Wows L.A. Critics ... Are They for Real?

2011-10-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles Times photo. Photographer unidentified.

It must be a glorious day for Cirque du Soleil down in tinsel town. And deja vu all over again. This is the place where the Montreal Monster conquered the world stage back in 1987 when it gambled all its kitty on a date in Japantown, wowed the entire city and soon after the world, and the rest is phenomenal history.

Twenty four years ago. Then, Cirque came bearing a simple though brilliantly inventive show under a little tent.

Now, 24 seasons later, it has returned full circle, back to the city of it's world birth, bearing a dazzling display of how it has reached into other venues and, finally, onto the stage.

I have felt all along that, in order for this gig to be big and last, it would have to be Cirque Grade A+ Nothing less. And maybe it is. But, even then ...

I am not quite ready to fully believe all of the raves I've read, for three reasons:

1. L.A. shares a special history with Cirque du Soleil, as noted above.

2. L.A. desperately needs a permanent anchor amusement to occupy and make more vital the Kodak Theatre, where previous tenants have failed.

3. The L.A. critics can come off on occasion as cheerleaders, either fooled by what they are watching or lacking in what I'd call New York critical independence. Time and time again, I've observed them to embrace a show, almost unanimously, that just was not that good. Example: The curiously rewritten Flower Drum Song, which premiered in L.A. prior to its "Broadway revival." L.A. reviewers issued virtual raves. Once FDS hit the New York boards, Gotham critics blasted it in a thousand different ways. It flopped within months.

Which is not to say that the critics are wrong on Iris. But I do wonder if some of their enthusiasm is driven by a burning desire, city wide, for the blockbuster draw that can bring much-needed live-entertainment luster to Hollywood and Hyland, where tourists flock to have their photos taken, gaze down upon the stars, buy a few souvenirs and quickly move on. Will Iris convince them to spend another night and a few hundred more dollars?

As one local said to a reporter, "They have no competition!"

For me, this will be a fascinating story to watch. By one account, if they can fill up 65% of the Kodak Theatre seats on average, they can turn some kind of a profit. Show is slated for a 10-year run. No where else in tinseltown do shows last even for a year.

For the moment, there is rare euphoria in the air. This is the town that put Cirque du Soleil on the map, make no mistake, and this is the town that may put them higher on the map. If Iris is as great as the reviews are saying, I can imagine watching it, maybe when I am in a wheel chair, when the ticket prices come back down to earth.

But, I doubt that. I can see discounts in a year or two. Blockbusters rise and fall here as fast as flats on a back lot.

Sunday Morning with Showbiz David: Challenged More Than Ever by "The Ever Changing, Never Changing Circus"

2011-10-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

My soul feels stretched like endless mist across time, by thousands of years as I consider how "circus" has meant so many things to so many different people across time's evolving sweep -- from the blood and thunder of Roman chariot races to the soaring poetry of today's virtual ballets in the sky.

My soul accepts the infinite reality that "circus" will never always be the same, not by a thousand triples or a hundred pratfalls. And so, my spirit surrenders to what is out there now in the ring, coming my way, trying to win me over -- as opposed to what is no longer there and may never return. And in the acceptance of this, I take my seat yet another time, glance upon the ring before me as a blank slate, and hope it will fill and overflow in ways both familiar and fresh, sweep me up on a ride and, at the end, send me out still half-way in the air, cheered, inspired, a believer once more.

I know it may not, but if I do not go, what might I miss?

History shows us, whether we like it or not, that the show is forever changing, as it must if it is to stay alive in the present. Who could have imagined 20-30 years ago that Ringling-Barnum would not always present a flying trapeze act?

Old timers once lamented the passing of the talking clown. They resented the disruptive enormity of "three rings" rather than just a single circle.

Like shifting sand patterns on the beach, so too the shifting patterns of clubs in motion, bodies off springboards, dogs onto horses turning clever tricks ...

I entered the tents barely in time to catch the last act of the old Roman horse races ending the show. Al G. Kelly & Miller Bros. still staged them, rough and real, as late as around 1960.

Midway through my spangled infatuations, the great Ringling ringmaster Harold Ronk, sitting out in the seats with me before a show at the Cow Palace, talked up the "four staples" he firmly believed to be circus essentials: "Elephants, flying acts, wild animals and clowns." How wise was he in his own time. Three of Harold's staples, in fact, match the only acts I can recall from my very first circus experience, around the age of five, at Polack Bros. Possibly Polack did not present wild animals, or they, too, I would have remembered.

Decades have passed. Now there is Cirque du Soleil, minus three of the staples. Now there is the "wheel of destiny," nearly a staple that was no where around when I peaked into the tent; now, dazzling ensemble variations on risley. And now, up there over the ring, young aerialists are carving out captivating new flight patterns in the big top skies.

Author Earl Chapin May called it "the ever changing, never changing circus." Lately, I have started to question his thesis. But then again, maybe in a broader sense he was right. Right if we accept the big top's surviving will and ability to reinvent its power to astound and amuse.

Next show, please! Stretch my soul in another unexpected direction, if you must. It feels more flexible, open, willing than ever. Show me whatever new magic you have that just might astound and amuse me. And renew my faith in the great spangled parade ...

Gavin Berger Reboots Big Apple Circus Big Top: Show's Corporate Funding, Tix Sales, Board Morale Rebound

2011-09-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Update, 9/28: The Washington Post gave Dream Big! a solidly affirmative review.

New Big Apple Boss: Gavin Berger might be the real thing. Photo by Buck Ennis

Show no longer in dread of red, back closer to black. Corporate funding kicking back in, with a matching grant of $1 million met, shrinking a $2.5 million deficit. Ticket sales, down by 20% during the Great Recession, on the rise again. Budget beefed up by $1.5 million. Four recently dropped play dates restored.

Crane Business News credits new exec. director Gavin Berger’s take-charge leadership, eleventh hour corporate funding, and a “re-energized board” for “saving” Big Apple Circus. It’s “back on solid footing.”

Berger was hired on an interim basis only last April. How quickly the board saw in him the perfect mover and shaker to re-boot Big Apple’s world class big top. Four months later, they’ve handed him the “yes and the no.” He apprently brings a welcome bolt of optimism and gutsy in-the trench fund-raising savvy, much needed.

Previously, he directed Lincoln Center concert hall shows, more recently, developmental affairs at Consumer Reports. “We crashed and burned in every direction,” said he to Crane’s Miriam Kreinin Souccar. “But we worked really hard to rebuild.”

It only took Berger a couple of weeks to raise the $1 million needed to match a $1 million grant from the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation.

Berger’s believes that the show’s community outreach programs to hospitals need stronger marketing; If more New Yorkers were aware, more ticket buyers might be turned into private donors as well.

Where it all counts, of course, is in the ring itself, and new artistic director Guillaume Dufresnoy is getting strong support from the Board for his desire to bring in new creative teams each season to keep content and production fresh.

Big Apple's new show, Dream Big!, just now uncorking in DC, offers a promising touch of fresh funny air in the menagerie. Along with the dogs and horses that have become Big Apple staples in the tricky animal-rights era, they've added an African crested porcupine and a Vietnamese potbellied pig.

I’m laughing inside, trying to picture the pig.

Showbiz David to Rank U.S. Circuses .... You Can, Too!

2011-09-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Due sometime in October, a first for this blog, I'll rank seven major touring shows, first to last place.

Plus, year-end commentary on the season just past. Highlights and thoughts.

I'd like to hear from YOU! -- Send me your top three favorite circuses, ranking each from first to third place. I'd recommend you stick to the regularly touring shows with fixed programs, but you can consider outside the envelope if you wish: Shrine dates, smaller shows. You should have seen each of your three favorites within the last two seasons, although I do not require a sworn staement. (Cirque du Soleil does not count; these are U.S. shows we're' rating.) You are encouraged to factor in both content (the acts) and production values.

If you happen to be Anonymous: I will consider including your tabulations based upon my perception of whether or not your remarks bear an obvious hidden agenda.

Step right up! Tell me which show American circus is TOPS and why!

Sunday Morning Looking Back:The Brilliance of Braathen -- World Premiere of Photographer's Color Slides At ISU Puts Milner on the Map

2011-09-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

This first appeared on September 10, 2010

When I first encountered, or should I say wrestled with, the extravagantly overproduced book, Circus: 1870-1950, at the San Francisco Public Library, I was soon swept away by magnificent color photographs I'd never before seen, mostly of floats, costumes, performers and backyard scenes from the John Ringling North era. Such mesmerizing revelations of a circus reinventing its lure in top-of-the-line design art. I could not stop the turning pages.

Many, more likely most, of the more spectacular visuals (can you see a foreshadowing of Cirque du Soleil, above?), are the work of photographer Sverre O. ("Bex") Braathen, and they give this huge, narratively ineffectual volume a clear aesthetic reason for being. They thrill our circus fantasies, bring glory to the big top, especially to the one operated by Ringling-Barnum during the remarkable years of artistic innovation through the 1940s-1950s. In particular, they offer indisputable evidence of the genius of costume designer Miles White; secondarily, of the captivating midway face lifts created by famed industrial designer Norman Bell Geddes.

From whence these heretofore unseen images? I assumed, giving it no thought, oh, from Sarasota or Baraboo, of course. After all, isn't that where all circus illustrations come from?

No! Not anymore. Now, in breathtaking Braathen brilliance, a new gold mine of circus photography is coming to light from out of a place called Normal -- as in Normal, Illinois, home to Illinois State University. The golden goodies, and they number in the thousands, kids, reside in the Special Collections unit of the Milner Library. Their major contribution to the Taschen tome marks a virtual world premiere for Braathen. Before that, though hard to believe, the Kodachrome slides were only viewed when the photographer himself showed them to friends. (Braathan was an attorney by trade, avid circus fan and writer.) Occasionally, some would show up in Bandwagon. Here, through the outreaching generosity of Library Specialist Mark Schmitt, I am posting a sample of the magic.

Best of all, they are now coming to a computer near you, credit the good will of some fine and sharing folks at Illinois State's Circus and Allied Arts Collection, curated by Steve Gossard. You will be able to access a steadily increasing number of Mr. Braathen's shutter delights as they come on line. Here's your link to the inaugural parade:

http://tempest.lib.ilstu.edu/braathen.php

Go ahead, be dazzled. In the current issue of Bandwagon, Fred D. Pfening III, introducing a story written by Mr. Braathen's wife, Faye O., about their 2-week travels with Ringling-Barnum just before its last days under canvas in 1956, ranks the work of Braathen as "only a notch or so below the acknowledged masters of the field, Fred Glasier, Harry Atwell, and Edward Kelty." I'm not completely sure about the sanctity of those names alone. Looking back at old National Geographic magazine stories on circus that featured color plates, several other names standout that I've never heard of. Even Ringling flakmaster F. Beverly Kelley took some superb images that were published by NG. In later years, Ted Sato, serving a brief three- or four-year stint for Ringling, with a superb eye for composition, produced some stellar black and whites; he has yet, in my opinion, to receive the credit his marvelously composed frames truly deserve. But Pfennig, as I see it, is surely correct in placing Braathen near the top.

For color, clarity and the occasional well-framed shot, Braathen is now gratefully engraved in my brain. In essence, his work lends true star power to the Taschen tome, itself essentially a lavish photo showcase with no clear structure to speak of. Mr. Braathen appears to have been particularly adept at grouping performers together in the backyard. For the most part, his camera stayed out of the tent, owing to lighting restraints. I would love to see any action photos he may have taken, but there is no evidence so far that he flourished in this area.

What bothers me the most, among a number of textual sins committed by Taschen's editor Noel Daniel, is that, of the few photo sources acknowledged on jacket copy or in a brief preface, the name of Sverre O. Braathen, is nowhere to be found. Incredible ingratitude --- worse yet, blundering editorial oversight and/or ignorance --- for a photographer whose work gives this sprawling showcase a distinctive recurring luster. Moreover, it seems a crime that photo captions could not have included a code linking each to its respective source.

In one of his e-mails to me, notes Mr. Schmitt,"1/3 of that Taschen book is sourced from our Sverre O. Braathen collection, but we have enough images still to fill, say, 30 volumes set solely devoted to our collection."

Among the gold in Normal, Schmiit estimates they have 3000 COLOR Braathens of Ringling in the 1940s-1950s, approximately 400 of Cole Bros. And for every color shot, Braathen snapped four or five black and whites. He took "thousands" during the 1930s. This epic gold mine has lay unseen for decades.

This 1942 shot of the side show is so quintessential John Ringling North -- the gaudy yet sharply atypical color schemes deliciously seductive. Even theatre critic Brooks Atkinson that spring reviewed the acclaimed Madison Square Garden premiere and issued a raving salute in a special Sunday New York Times piece. The circus of Ringling North had enjoyed a dream season the year before, greeted by one turn-away crowd after another. It's easy to understand how the public was so drawn to and infatuated with the revamped look of the show, from air conditioning units that barely worked to a performance of rare beauty. "It's the best costumed, best lighted and best presented circus in the big show's history," declared The Billboard.

"We also have Arnold Riegger's negatives," writes Schmidt. "Frank Ball's images,and what seems like an endless well of scrapbooks, and loose photographs, not to mention Charles Clark 1922 RBBB images. Thousands upon thousands."

Move over, Baraboo and Sarasota. Normal, you're on.

All photos used with permission from Illinois State University's Special Collections, Milner Library.

From the top:
Antoinette and Arthur Concello
Pocahontas float from "The Good Old Times" spec, Ringling-Barnum, 1952
Midway and entrance, 1941
Henry Ringling North, 1941
Showgirl in tiger spec number, 1944
Lou Jacobs, 1941
The Cristiani Family of bareback riders, 1941
Ringling flat cars loaded, 1941
Side show makeover, 1942
"Hoop De Doo" finale, 1956
Showgirls in spec, 1954

Below: Faye Braathen, Burt Lancaster, and Sverre Braathen.

Luckily for me, a few of Braathen's wonderful images appear in my forthcoming book, Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic's Guide.

9.10.10

Circus by the Slice: Grandma's Last Big Apple Tour ... Felds In a TV Soap? ... PETA Pitching to Seniors ... Bombs Over Bagdad Big Tops? ...

2011-09-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

Barry Lubin. Photo by Kelly Shimoda for The New York Times

Swiftly, beware of muddy rhetoric down the Covington chute! Not too unexpectedly, Barry Lubin as Grandma making his last tour with Big Apple Circus, announced a big New York Times story with fine photos. Now 59 and clear of the cancer he was successfully treated for a few years ago, Lubin revealed that the experience had "deepened" his comedy and inspired him to "reassess" his life and career ... It's time for a change, says the clown, who first appeared with Big Apple in 1982 and has been seen in most of their shows since. New Big Apple Boss Guillaume Dufresnoy agrees, telling the Times in his cool-speak, "Grandma gave us a sense of continuity, and Grandma will be missed, but it's an opportunity for everyone. For the evolution of Barry, and for the evolution of the circus."

Show's new edition, Dream Big!, facing the critics tonight at the Dulles Center in DC, is not being promoted as Gradma's farewell tour, even though that's how the Times is treating it. Explains Dufresnoy, "We are presenting it as our 34th edition -- business as usual." Lubin carved out probably the most memorable modern-era American clown, bar none. And now, "Grandma" is off to my grandfather's homeland, Sweden, to take up residence with his partner, Ann Hageus, where he plans to appear in European circus festivals and work with some of the best clowns on a stage tour. Not totally gone, Lubin has signed on to teach a class in physical comedy next year for the University of Virginia's Semester at Sea ... More about this story in a future post ...

How much Feld can a TV soap take? We might get to see next year if an ABC series, now in development, goes the daunting distance. Said to be loosely based on the life of Nichole Feld growing up in a circus family. Now, if they have the nerve to dig deep, there's plenty of high and low drama to mine -- assuming Kenneth Feld does not pry himself and his attorneys into the picture. Still, it's an intriguing iffy. Notes Hollywood actor and documentary film maker Phil Weyland, no stranger to such projects inside and out, "The producers will get some money from ABC, make a presentation with episodic possibilities, budget, etc, and ABC will tell them to keep going (shoot a pilot) or forget it at a certain point. "

From here to to prime time is a long hard journey. Explains Phil, "very few shows make it through this process to even a pilot." Somehow, myself speaking here, I just can't see Kenneth Feld feeling very easy or smug, proud or boastful about a TV show that might crawl, sneak, lurch ever so close to revealing not-nice things about his family's checkered relationships and history.

Of course, PETA is smearing the series already, predicting it will be a "glamorized cog on the Ringling Bros. PR machine" unless, specifies PETA, the producers illustrate "how baby elephants used by Ringling are taken from their loving mothers, repeatedly slammed to the ground, gouged with bull hooks, and shocked with electric prods to teach them 'who's boss." Oh, is that all? Gosh, PETA, could you be a little more explicit

Feeling the pressure in Sacramento, Ringling's elephants for the first time in history did not make the public walk to the Power Balance Arena. Oh, the heat is not just on over here, no no! In Britain, the Lords defied Prime Minister Cameron in pushing to advance legislation that would ban wild animals in circus shows ... Speaking of which, here comes PETA around yet another creepy corner, this time turning its hate brigades onto seniors, seeking their moral support. They're running ads in AARP.Com They've got 85-year-old actress Cloris Leachman on board, she calling for her class to boycott any circus that features elephants. In a video, cracks the Cloris chorus: "And we thought the hoops we have to jump through for Medicare are a nightmare." That's right, Ms. Leachman, to get proper pachyderm coverage, you gotta jump up and down and all around in spangles and stand on your head ...

Little top Bits: Closer to a merger are Circus Sarasota and Sailor Circus ... Ringling-Barnum pitching two-for-one tickets recently during its Bay Area stops ... Bombs over Bagdad big tops? That's what the Associated Press essentially wonders, reporting on the return of the first circus to the battle-crazed country, first since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Optimistically called the Umbrella Circus, and let's hope it's made of steel. A little lean in the lineup, most artists refuse to sign on, but, as of 9/8, a sword swallower and a sneak charmer were costumed up, ready to make opening spec. Lions and tigers awaiting permission by customs inspectors to snarl on cue. But on went the show, it did, as witness the above photo. One fan willing to risk danger in the pursuit of delight was Alawan Ghazi, who showed up with his three children. "Car bombs and weapons find their way easily to Iraq, " said he. "But bringing circus animals is a more difficult task here." Circus is planning a six month tour of duty.

And to Barry Lubin, embracing a wide-open future, goes the last word: "I've finally accepted that I'm a clown," he told the Times. "That's what I do." And please, Barry, do keep doing it!

All My Children: I thought You'd Always Be There. Nothing Lasts Forever, Not Even A TV Soap

2011-09-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

Queen of Soaps: Susan Lucci. Will she sign on to a projected continuation of "All My Children" on the internet or cable TV?

What a strange poignant sadness I feel. I haven't watched the show seriously in years, other than looking for Erica a few times a year and then rarely finding her. It was she who hooked me, around 1980, her wickedly subtle sense of humor, I swear. Oh, heck, I'm going to make an embarrassing confession here. I once actually sent her a fan letter, but only because I found her so funny and wanted to tell her so. For a time, they treated me as a fan of their club. I did not respond.

Giving birth so many years ago.

For my money, too many of the show's more interesting characters faded away over the years, leaving us with a lot of rather dull posturing studs and dolls. The clever potting that so once compelled me seemed to slacken off. Two of my favorite characters were Palmer and Opal. Palmer is no longer there, it appears. Opal is.

A great actor: David Canary played both the ruthless tycoon Adam Chandler, above, and his lovably innocent pure-as-sunshine brother, Stuart.

Today I had to watch the whole thing, the Grand Inevitable Finale, and Erica did not let me down. Long-time love, Jack, below, vexed again in his latest offer of marriage to Miss Elusive, finally had the guts to tell her, "Frankly, I don't give a damn!" and head for the door. Erica followed after him, stopped with that plotting gaze in her selfish eyes, and had the last word on the last ABC episode of All My Children: "Watch me!"

Lost in a perennial dating game, Erica forever balking at marriage. Jack has had it.

Just the fact that, after 41 years, it's going off the air feels like the end of an era that I once was a part of, and era that I would still like to feel existed.

It feels like a great big death in a virtual family.

9.23.11

Sunday Morning Musings: Remember the "Aerial Ballet"? It's Back, Bringing Fresh Ideas to Stale Air ...

2011-09-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

Time to play taps for single traps?

New life in the air: A duo in Shanghai. Photo by Boyi Yuan.

For a spell of maybe 20 to 30 years, the Felds let it go, and for probably good reason. The aerial ballet, brought to its maturity under John Ringling North, had turned stale and redundant.

Lately, this potentially enchanting form is reasserting its value to the show.

Item: Ringling of late is carving out some wonderfully inventive multi-aerial displays, either intended as aerial ballets or, by accident, taking on their form. The more creative they are, the more welcome.

Item: One of the highlights of this season's Cole Bros Circus of the Stars is its aerial ballet. Like what the Felds are giving us. Johnny Pugh, the same, has the space and he is filling it in a number of ways not uniformly fixed. In fact, the more varied the movements of the individual aerialists, the more interesting are they to watch. You could argue, but what is anybody doing up there that amounts to much? I'd answer, altogether, especially with a variety of movements, their combined efforts create a most pleasing kaleidoscope of poetry in motion.

Item: in the confines of one ring, John Ringling North II offers his four North Starlets, and although they can't compete with the wider spread of action offered on Ringling or Cole, they, too, offer audiences something above the ring decidedly more enchanting than perilous, which may be why the aerial ballet, when presented with inventive flair, may come to actually replace the older era "daredevils." Actually, circus daredevils seem to be on the wane, thanks to their secured counterparts hooked to mechanics whose allusions to danger aloft simply don't fly.

This is my guess: Over the past 20-30 years, as a younger generation took to the fabrics (aka: webs, silks), much of their solo work simply did not generate sufficient excitement. Then came the duos, prominently if I am correct, from China, and also coming out of Cirque du Soleil, who combine strong athletic connections with lovely romantic imagery. They fill the air, unlike the nouveau practitioners of the "static trapeze." In this sense, they, working what they call the "sensual silks, have helped us find a viable new flight pattern back into the air by way of adding more bodies to the display. The result: a new day for the airborne ensemble.

It's the creative staging that is making the difference, setting apart what's new from what had become too predictable and passe. In addition, this less-adventurous form gives audiences a far less hazardous vision, which I suspect is that they have grown to desire.

Is it time to blow final taps for the single traps? For those flyers who rely on lifelines, yes. The safety wires render their routines false, theatrically interesting at best. Without risk, why the wide swinging arcs? Why the sudden dives away from the bar?

In 1948, Barbette had the girls performing on a dazzling array of aerial rigs in his Monte Carlo Aerial Ballet.

In 2011, the Felds set a consortium of Asians into the air, flying on straps, and the effect was perfectly pleasing. It was novel. Different, Enchanting.

What more can one ask of the aerial ballet? Heck, it could soon become one of the most awaited-for items on the program.

More High-Energy Circus Flash from the Felds: Ringling’s "Fully Charged" Catches Creative Fire from China and Russia Down the Final Stretch

2011-09-15T06:55:00.000-07:00

Circus Review: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey -- Fully Charged
Oracle Arena, Oakland, September 10.
Tickets: $15.00 - $100.00

Whenever you go to Ringling these days, you can almost always count on being dazzled by one or two, maybe several acts of remarkable novelty, usually from Russia or more likely China. You can also count on sitting through action that may leave you wanting, on even having to endure the occasional clunker. You'll be assaulted at nearly every turn by sensory overload from hyperactive lighting effects and periodic firework blasts to blaring ringmaster hyperbole approaching the pitch of a high school rally. All of which can make it feel as if the ballyhoo followed you into the tent and you are still being pitched a circus that you have already paid to see.

Fully Charged, the latest offering from the Feld family, delivers on all the above. So much so, that at times it nearly trips over itself in its excessive theatrical trappings. Curiously, it has been set into one of Ringling’s most schizophrenic floor layouts ever. Those ancient ring curbs (remember rings?) of late usually ignored, are this time around not only ignored for the most part, but conspicuously stacked in sections at the edges of the action where, by tradition, they would have been fully assembled, fully charged. Like recycled relics, they have a new calling this visit: to serve as mini bleachers for the adults and kids, probably from the VIP class, who are ushered out onto the arena floor midway through the first half to watch the show close up, virtually inside of it!

The absence of a clearly defined setting only adds to the impression of a traffic jam of half-baked staging concepts. Gosh, folks, when the entrances and/or exits are sometimes more interesting to watch than the actual acts themselves who make them, give Feld Entertainment credit for their trumping eye-candy. Costume design, full of brilliance, deserves special mention.

Okay, the year is 2011, not 1950. The competition out there is terrific, and that long long circus train bearing the words "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey" is not being funded by PBS pledge breaks. The Felds must be doing something right, right? They are reaching a viable demographic with both the old and the new.

For my money (a $25.00 ticket), down the initial stretch I found a number of the acts to be rather uninspiring. Include the tigers, hosted by Tabayara; two rings of pleasant liberty horses, and a pair of Russian strong men of moderately toned obesity who manipulate what is claimed to be a telephone pole. They return later in the program to manipulate each other in a rather gauche attempt at team contortion that may leave you wondering whether to gawk or giggle.

Clowning is a mixed bag as well, full of the acrobatic slapstick favored by the Felds over “character.” Outsiders Stanislav Knyazkov and Vasily Trifonov score nicely in their spoofing the strong man turn. Less amusing is clown alley’s efforts to change a huge light bulb, the angle being just trying to reach the bulb, which struck me as a one-note drill with an ill-placed payoff. I kept waiting for them to try unscrewing the damn thing, which they never did, or did I miss something? And then there's the promise of what initially appears to be an old fashioned clown walkaround. But walk it does not. All eight or nine joeys occupy fixed positions around the track, as if frozen in time, each working his bit(s) in morosely lit shadows. Strange.

Of no help to this mediocre first half onslaught is one of the cheesiest musical scores I’ve yet encountered at a Ringling party, which includes a pedestrian title song. New ringmaster Brian Crawford Scott fills a generically directed role with cookie cutter efficiency.

To be fair, before the interval we have been amply engaged by a winning three-act display of juggling; kept more than awake by the high wire exploits of the Danguir Troupe (if only they weren’t placed along the side of the track, depriving decent sight lines to hundreds of patrons); and given a few goose bumps, I charitably suppose, by a double wheel of death essayed by the Fernandez brothers. By the way, when might this strained ritual be sent on a sabbatical?

Cherry pie charisma? I'll bet this guy comes from a prominent circus family. Photo by Showbiz David

Yes, a bad photo, but look at all those stray lonely ring curbs.

Okay, onto the good news. After a 25 minute intermission, the show finally takes off and delivers, brimming with inventive action and gusto that makes what has already passed seem even more passe.

With the entrance of the Yakubou Troupe of strap aerialists, the show bolts off into a bold creative arc, and the band responds effectively with excellent scoring. The ambitious Asians fill the air with captivating flight patterns. Their tricks might be simple, but they’re fresh to the eye and therefore eye-opening. A visual knockout. Heck, the whole thing felt to me like Barbette-meets-Cirque-du-Soleil- on-acid; it felt like Ringling years ago when production and ring artistry were more perfectly merged and balanced. Another last half highlight are the 20 lithe acrobats of the Tianyicheng troupe from China who work on “bounce stilts” leaping over and around each other, and tossing basketballs into hoops with clever collaboration. Yes, like it or not, even under the big top, China seems more and more poised to rule the world. American “circus schools,” and what are you doing these days?

Elephants win the crowds affection behaving charmingly not inside the ignored rings, but around their residual imagery. And, finally, a third powerhouse rush of true circus energy is thrown up by the Negrey ground acrobats from Russia, who worked on Ringling's Boom-A-Ring! — a socko ending to a show whose final frames catch fire. Literally too, for a part of the blaze is fueled by Brian Miser’s melodramatically staged Human Fuse, a nifty upgrade to the old cannon trick.

As I said in the beginning, under the wearying sledgehammer spell of the Felds, there are crowning benefits. As disorienting as this opus can feel, there is much to recommend here, especially for today’s moppet market raised on sound bytes and flashing i-gadgets.

Overall rating (out of 4 stars tops) 3 stars

Showbiz David explores how circuses are scouted, produced, directed, sold to the public, and too often disingenuously "reviewed" in his forthcoming book, Inside the Changing Circus: A Critic's Guide.

Two TV Land Icons of Rare Indpendence Return: Simon Cowell Next Week, Bill Moyers in January

2011-09-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

I've skipped American Idol lately; It's big hook for me was always, "what will Simon say?" Even then, I only tuned in sporadically because the show is so padded with promos and background stories. And when they dumped emotional Paula, the perfect foil for Simon, it felt like an unnecessary death in the family. Then they brought in all those weird replacement judges; there is something about long stringy hair on an aging androgynous rock musician that gives me the creeps.

Simon returns to the air next week, along with his judging pal Paula, to kick off his new show, The X Factor, and I'm watching.

Better yet, Bill Moyers, who retired from his PBS Friday night slot not so long ago, is coming back, but not exactly on PBS, though his program will be available in syndication for local PBS outlets.

Can you imagine: PBS, a veritable non-stop parade of tired old rock and roll tributes aired over and over again, and all manner of self-help gurus, hasn't an hour a week to spare for one of TV's best-ever journalists? Shame on you, Pledge Break Society!

If the local PBS station that I have sent money to does not pick up Bill's show, not one more cent will they ever get from me. Actually, it's high time that the U.S. Treasury Department, what's left of it, pull all funding for PBS, which was founded to serve as an "educational" network." What an embarrassing joke it has become. Just the other night on CNN, I witnessed a marvelously revealing Tea Party debate moderated masterfully by Wolf Blitzer. I still believe in the free market.

Moyers' sobering reports on the most critical issues facing American life, on politics and culture, international affairs and the American war machine, are virtually unmatched. He makes smarmy Charlie Rose look like Ed Sullivan.

As for Simon and his tart lip, he has a rare gift for saying so much in so few words. Bill, more intellectually expansive, keeps alive the probing spirit of Edward R. Murrow.

Now, if somebody (a computer hacker, maybe?) could only reincarnate Jack Paar and David Susskind, I'd be totally happy in TV Land.

What John Strong Teaches Me About Circus Performance Showmanship

2011-09-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

I was lucky in my boyhood to see circuses so imaginatively directed, from Polack Bros. to Ringling-Barnum, to -- yes, the tiny John Strong Circus that played the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rose for free. How I looked forward to this diminutive delight!

In my forthcoming book, Inside the Changing Circus, there are two chapters that, now I realize, are related. One, "Directing the Impossible" (about the circus being the most difficult form to direct because of how abstract the acts are) appears early in the book. The other, "High Wire Critic," in which I advocate a certain path for reviewing a circus, is the penultimate chapter (ho, ho, you with your dictionary and thesaurus -- have fun looking up "penultimate"!)

What was I saying and where was I going with this?

I envy the circus fan who can enjoy the acts themselves without being bothered or swayed by all of the elements that can turn a random lineup into a cohesive driving performance. I can't. I go looking for presentational values -- the showcase -- as much as I do for the individual artists who supply the critical content.

And so it is always a new challenge for me, facing each new show.

There's a tension I feel in considering the balance between raw content (the acts) and performance showmanship (how they are linked, costumed, scored, paced, presented as a whole).

And how does John Strong fit in here? Remembering him, I was struck by a late-breaking mini-epiphany laying in bed this morning (sorry, just had to use that "e" word). JOHN himself was the production. HIS sparkling presence. HIS smile. HIS hokey mannerisms. HIS announcements. How he would chirp, "Got a great hand, Dixie!" after a lady performed the most basic trap act ... "Hey, Rainbow, listen to that applause! They loved your shenanigans!"

And if you he saw you sitting there in the audience, what a big deal he would make out of it. He once, discovering my skinny figure in the seats, introduced me as if I were the Secretary of State. I was all of maybe 17 years old.

From the simple to the sublime, ever since English equestrian Philip Astley added acrobats and clowns to his horse riding exhibitions to reverse flagging business, the circus has presented itself to the public as a performance. The Europeans did little other than to run the acts one at a time, with a ringmaster stepping into the ring between each, same old same old, to issue an announcement. Stodgy Old World reliable.

We Americans had performance showmanship in spades, and we still do. The Russians possessed it as well. And now, of course, those infuriatingly brilliant mortals up in Montreal.

Maybe because Barbette was on the scene when I, barely into my teens, fell for the big top, I was conditioned to expect production splash.

Summing up a review with a starred rating: A great exercise, for in struggling to commit, I am forced to re-examine my notes. I always list the acts on a piece of paper, next to each, something indicating my reaction. "*"= tops. "so-so" == well, you know what. Keep going back to the list, it's my anchor. No matter how great or lousy was the production, the acts must take precedence.

Sort of.

Did I say "directing the impossible"? Okay, let me add, "reviewing the impossible."

Hopelessly addicted, I plead guilty. Blame Barbette. Heck, blame John Strong.

9.13.11

Coming This Week! Showbiz David Reviews Ringling's "Fully Charged"

2011-09-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

Not spun. Not bought. Not fit for the white tops ...

A real review from a single soul.

Brace yourself for the truth!

Prepare to be incredibly informed!

Here is where honesty trumps sycophancy!

Here is where happy talk falls!

This way to the Big Review!

Sunday Morning with F. Beverly Kelley: The Strange Tale of His Season Trumpeting for Ben Davenport's Notorious Dailey Bros. Circus

2011-09-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

In the right hands, this unlikely association between a gentleman press agent and one of the circus world's most notoriously crooked operators might make for a great film (we are, yes, still waiting for a great circus film). Gradually or maybe not so gradually, F. Beverly Kellley, hired by Ben Davenport to direct his Dailey Bros. Circus press department in 1948, comes to sample evidence all over the lot, front and back, of rampant grift. Whether he expected it or not, he comes clean about this issue in his sporadically informative book, It Was Better Than Work.

Kelley's Alma Matter was Ringling-Barnum, starting out in 1930. During his years with the Big Show, Kelley landed two major National Geographic stories, got Merle Evans and the band onto the Fitch Bandwagon Radio Program, and penned a winning slate of magazine articles tied to his employer's famed circus. Of course, the name of the circus no doubt opened numerous doors for Kelley that might otherwise have stayed shut.

Why he left Ringling in 1947 is one of numerous questions Kelley oddly fails to address. This book is a major disappointment, considering who wrote it, what he knew, and what the book might have been. Possibly at this late time in his life, he lacked the health to give it his all. Or maybe all of those who looked helpfully over his shoulder while he typed away simply failed to challenge his rambling narrative.

During his Dailey days, Kelley observed evidence of old-time circus grift. And, to his credit, he writes about it, which is really why I dug into the book, intrigued to see what he might have to say, if anything, about the issue. Ripping customers off at rigged gambling games or over three shell monte. Slippery fingers all over the lot. On the show itself, red lighting and slot machines conveniently located near the spot where, nightly, staffers were paid, a shrewd move to maximize the immediate return of the payroll back to the payroll. But, yes, yes, yes, old Ben was such a great guy to those who worked for him.

A clever decision was made to keep all of the unpleasant stuff from Kelley's official knowledge of circus life. "I never entered the tent where it took place. This was so that if and when I might be asked ... I could honestly say that I had never seen any dishonest games."

The year was 1948. Kelly was, for reasons never made clear in his murky tome, in between Ringling -- and Ringling. He landed impressive national coverage for Ben by taking a little baby elephant to the Republican national convention. The boffo PR breaks, however, did not lift biz over what it was the previous tour. In an end-of-the-year interview in The Billboard, Davenport still judged the contribution of his Class A press agent a plus, because, as he reasoned, the economy took a dive in '48, and so Kelley was valued for his "helping us keep even with last year."

Declared the big top boss, "Getting Bev was the smartest move I ever made." Kelly had brought with him at least one other ex-Ringling flackmaster, Frank Morrissey. "We hope they will be with us for many years," said the man who hired them.

Well, they weren't. Kelly did not return in '49, nor does he shed much light on why. One can only imagine him rethinking the season just past and asking himself, "Is this what i really want to make of my life life?"

Davenport made hay the next year, in '49, ripping and tearing like he were on a thieves holiday through Canada. In '50 when he returned, Canada failed to to show up at his ticket windows. And that dismal rebuke of 1950 marked the last season for one of the most corrupt circuses that ever hit the sawdust trail. To my knowledge, nobody has since tried to revive the Dailey Bros. title.

Never mind the messy details. Ben Davenport, somewhere, is enshrined at the Sarasota circle of infamy.

And why did F. Beverly Kelly last only a single season? "I had left the Dailey show at the end of the 1950 season." That's all he has to say, although his experiences on the dark side of the midway likely dissuaded him from singing on for another tour. From there, he went to work for Cole. Bros. And then, he drifted back to Ringling-Barnum during the show's slow stumble to big top oblivion in Pittsburgh.

This book is so ill-structured, so lacking in details. Bev tells us nothing of his last years with Ringling in 1954-1955, when there was so much drama to write about. And very little about all of those riotously entertaining Ringling family power wars of the flaming forties.

It's like listening to a friend chat about his life, wandering back and forth between circus gigs and theatre PR work, shifting gears suddenly mid-chapter for no coherent reason, ignoring whole sections of his life with Ringling. He could have said so much more. I wish the right editor or friend could have been there to make the right suggestions.

Bev was a gentlemen through and through, a gifted writer who turned out wonderful magazine stories, graced with inspiring captions. and an even greater human being; I feel nothing but profound respect for the man. I must yet give the well-selling book he co-wrote with Emmett Kelly, Clown, a visit.

How lucky I was to have met him, once in person, across the street from the Geary Theatre in San Francisco where he was working on the PR advance for a play -- many years after that strange season when America's most literate press agent worked for the country's most corrupt circus owner.

What a match. Lights! Action! Roll the cameras!

Sunday Morning on the Dying Greens: "We play until we can't play any longer, then we just have to leave."

2011-09-04T04:00:00.000-07:00

Their numbers are dwindling down to a precious few. One hundred members twenty years ago, I'm told. Now, only 25. When I first discovered them forty years ago, I was entranced by the spiritual sheen of the game. By its soft silent music. Sunshine and grass. The graceful roll of large bowling balls aimed at a small white ball on the other side.

And now, the greens are mostly vacant of competing passengers. Some days, only one game consisting of six players. Five years ago, I'd see three games in play, side by side -- maybe four.

We're at the Oakland Lawn Bowling Club. Some seasons back they gave up on trying to recruit me, when I kidded about maybe posting a sign on my lone bench that would read "Do Not Disturb. Spectator Only." Perhaps I had come to treasure the quietude of patiently watching this very low key form of competitive exercise. Perhaps it helped carve out a minimalist corridor in my soul.

When bowlers come from other Bay Area cities to compete, the greens come alive. The game looks healthy. Then, they all have to wear traditional white.

The young bowler in blue, Jonathan, is a rarity. His dad is a zealot at the game, a near crack-up in his addiction to winning. Jonathan's two younger brothers now also play. In the picture below, there he is six or seven years ago. He's been known to trump a whole lineup of seasoned players decades older than he!

A pity they've been unable to interest younger players. Even sadder is their apparent inability to replenish their dying ranks with older age candidates. Time and time again, when somebody walks by expressing curiosity, that person is handed an information sheet and shown a friendly face. Time and time again, I do not see any of those souls again.

Two generations joined in a common passion.

They each have a rhythm. In my private mind, some are my pet players. But any bowler who is having a good day will charm my attention and respect.

The refreshingly offbeat bandanna bowler (the title I gave him, known only to myself) came for a season or two, down from Canada, I heard, where he played the livelier Italian game of boccie ball. Some days, his friend(s), who struck me as disco drag queens, would saunter dizzily onto the scene to watch, and what a bizarre challenge that was to normal lawn bowling decorum. But the Bandanna Bowler was a good sport, though once, after taking a call on the green, he aborted his participation, dashing over the fence and off to the club house to fetch his bike and peddle away to another destination. I should ask somebody sometime whatever happened to him.

When last week I told Georgia, the lady bowling off, above, how sad it was to see only one game in progress, she agreed. Just across the street there is a high rise for senior living of some kind, and she can't understand why none of its residents will take up the game. She watches the ranks gradually shrink away, owing mostly to health and aging problems. Her late husband was an avid lawn bowler. "We play until we can't play anymore, then we just have to leave."

At Last! A Little Respect for the Ringling Museum of ART -- Yes, I Said "Art" ... Also: Circus Wages & Risks; Enter the Chinese Daredevils

2011-08-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

How pure it felt to hear the words, "The Ringling Museum of Art" unmolested by the grasping inclusion of "circus." No, I am not an anti-circus fan, but I am a respecter of the lovey grounds and the architectural wonders, however garish, willed to the State of Florida by John Ringling, whose vision it was to build and promote a real art museum.

It's been a long time since the "art" part seems to have gone it alone, which was what, in the beginning, Mr. Ringling intended. Just as his brother, Albert, intended would be the exclusive fate of the marvelous grand opera house he built in Baraboo, known to most of you as the Al Ringling Theatre (Are you there, Doc Bob?).

Pledge Break Society (PBS) cameras recently visited the courtyard of Ringling's horseshoe shaped gallery on a lovely summer evening, there to take in a soft performance by the very young opera star, 10-year-old phenom Jackie Evancho, though perhaps not yet a strong enough voice to sustain an entire evening on Great Performances, so I did not stay fully tuned.

But my spirit floated back to a time when I'd enter through the art museum itself, rather than take the tour, as is now the case, past the Tibbals tents and the Tibbals tributes -- perhaps because that's where a Sarasota bus dropped me off. After an obligatory amble through the Rubens, I'd of course wander across the grounds to my favorite spot, a little round French-looking building so discretely tucked amidst the trees -- a little circus museum of refined ambiance -- as if to say, yes, this too was a part of Mr. Ringling's life, just in case you might want to take a little look while you're here. It contained in the back the inspired backyard scene of old Ringling wagons resting on a lot under a simulated early evening sky, by far the most enchanting circus exhibit I will probably ever experience in my life. Credit, silence please, the great curator Mel Miller and his trusted assistant, Joe McKennon -- the man who fessed up to his own role in the land grabbing campaign when he penned Rape of an Estate.

No longer, of course, is it there, for the bureaucrats whose destiny it is to end up running such monumental gifts of death must forever tinker, gut and rethink and rebuild, expand and glorify in order to keep their jobs and add to their powers.

OK: the fun stuff (I know, I've said all that stuff enough already!!!): People who talk freely about circus pay scales (yes, vaguely) sometimes say things that surprise us. Here is clown Steve Copeland, telling the Aurora Advocate how he enjoys the tenting life, compared to those huge arenas, and the comforts it brings him, and then THIS: "The pay is better here than at RB&BB" Now, should we be impressed? Or just happy that, at Kelly Miller Circus, perhaps Steve is getting a decent pay check as opposed to a starvation stipend from the Felds, those "saviors" of the circus who saved it on the backs of countless young Clown College grads eager, for a few moments in the Ringling sun, to entertain the world for peanuts ...

Danger, Be Gone! I only ask, you only decide.... About peril above the ring, from which circus owners are sheepishly retreating, and why? Seems there's a new generation of "aerialsits" willing to go it cold (sans mechanics) only if the pay is right. To Zoe Gorman, who scripted the insightful account of her days traveling with and interviewing K-M staffers, came this sarcastic snap from her Aussie tutor, the "enthusiastic and brusque" Nikki Ogle when the subject of the safety harness worn by Ogle came up: "They don't pay you enough" for the fanciest risks, explained Nikki. ... That's a new angle. Me wonders what the going rate is for a single trap artist to shuck lifelines aside. READ ON!

UPDATE, 9/2, 12:00 PST: Nikki Ogle responds: According to her comment that I have posted, during her interview with Zoe Gorman, the following statement of hers did not make it into the story: "there is not enough pay in the world for me to take that risk." I have reread the Toledo Blade story; in fact, what I quoted her as stating on the issue is exactly all that was printed.

Enter the daring young Chinse man on the high wire: Some guy I saw on a TV news clip scaling a cable 300 feet above the ground, slipping and sparing his life by grasping the wire, etc. Those acrobats are flexing their muscles and magic in so many new directions, pushing daringly skyward while inside the U.S., the "static trapeze" is tepidly on the rise.

Enter Life. Yes, that's who visited me here recently, not the Big A, but Life, a few chic steps above Sir anonymous, who speaks sparely, "I like your site to see." Hmmmm, not a commercial for some other site. Not a rant. Just Life. In reply to a post back there about the hazzards of illustrating a circus book ... Thank you, Like. Sounds like you enjoy exercising your vision ... Do drop by again, tepidly, if you still please ...

New Big Apple Circus Boss Wears His Power with Grace, Cool Confidence ... Reveals Shows Ahead ... Sawdust-Stealing Rodents to Join the Cast

2011-08-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

New Big Apple Circus boss watches the show in Stamford. Photos by Kathleen O'Rourke/Stamford Advocate

At last, we are starting to see his face, hear his voice, get a feel for his vision. Guillaume Dufresnoy, in public interviews, comes across as suavely confident, an authentic leader with a passion to sustain Big Apple Circus standards and keep each year’s show fresh

“I really want each production to be different from the year before,” he told the Stamford Advocate's managing editor John Breunig last month during the circus’s appearance there.

“This year is all about movement and dance. Next year will be all about imagination and dreams ... it will be set in a fantasy land. The year after that will be a period show set in the 19th century (a little Toby Tyler, please!) ... and the one after that will be contemporary.”

Dream Big!, Dufresnoy’s next opus now in rehearsal in Walden, NY and slated to uncork at Dulles Town Center in Dulles, VA, on September 22, is sporting a slightly enlarged menagerie, in which we make take some heart. Per pithy press copy, they've recruited a “capybara and porcupine to perk up the sawdust party!” (Fancy lingo for rodents)

Sounds like the sort of subtle staging imagination I found, to my high delight, at last season's Dance On!, Dufresnoy's first fully produced effort for Big Apple. Indeed, in that luadable outing, I glimpsed ample reassuring evidence that Paul Binder’s protege is fully up to the task of extending the Binder-Christensen legacy well and wisely into the future, assuming, of course, that the organization can restore some of its lost dates once the show leaves Gotham, and re-energize corporate funding.

Born in Bordeaux, France, Dufresnoy caught the circus bug in his boyhood. By the time he was a young adult, no longer was he looking up at aerialists, but now, one himself, down upon audiences looking up at him. By 32, aching shoulders inspired Guillaume to a career make over. He joined the Big Apple Circus in 1990, performed for only a season or two, and then served as performance director. In 1997, he landed the general manager job. Thirteen years were spent as a “wingman” to Paul Binder.

About that strangely ill-defined recent three-part PBS Documentary that left more than a few of us slightly depressed, said Dufresnoy to Breunig, “They did not make it better or worse than it is ... This is a tough life.”

He likes talking to circugoers to get their feedback, and he watches nearly every show, especially near season’s end when younger artists can start to go dull. “They are kids ... We have to battle to keep them from getting ragged.”

Of particular concern to the new boss is the dominant kiddie demographic so integral to American circus promotion. “What we have not been yet able to convince people is you don’t need a kid to come to the circus. I come from Western Europe, where going to circus is something you do on Saturday night with friends the way you to go the movies or go to the theatre. And that is rarely the case here.”

Big Apple’s new artistic director seems to have his priorities perfectly in order. "You cannot rely on production values and themes to satisfy an audience. You must rely on having great acts. And a great act is a great act is a great act.”

Paul Binder should be proud.

Gotham Subways Silenced, Broadway Shuttered, but Kelly Miller Stumbles Safely on through Mud and Sun!

2011-08-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

The Sylvania Glow of Success

Ah, nothing like a full tent! And on a sunny day! As Hurricane Irene roars ominously towards New York city, let us celebrate a rare day under the sun for Kelly Miller Circus. Show, currently trouping through Michigan, appears safely out of harm's way.

Here are a few beaming faces during Kelly-Miller performances recently in Sylvania, Ohio, where the show played to packed houses.

A North Starlet

Upside downer Fridman Torres looping the loops

Reborn juggler Raul Olivares

[all photos by Amye Voigt/Toledo Blade]

Showbiz David Hits Over One Thousand Page Views in a Single Day ...

2011-08-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

That was yesterday, a record for this blog, which reached its five-year anniversary the day before, on August 24.

Lots visit. Few comment.

30% of the eyes are from foreign shores.

Almost nobody "follows." There were 3 for a long time. Recently, the number soared to 7. Perhaps if their names and mugs were strung, somehow, on the sidebar, others would join out.

Most missed visitor is the late Henry Edgar.

Most tolerant visitor, putting up with Showbiz David's critical reviews despite not always agreeing, is kid Harry of Kingston.

The Top three viewed posts of all time on this blog

[a possibly highly misleading stat due to the linking back through saved searches] are:

1. Two views of Carson & Barnes Circus (personal reviews by two followers)

2. Circus Review: Loosening Up, Cirque du Soleil (Kooza) Flirts with the Power of True Circus

3. New Circus Rising in China: Star Acrobats Add Aerial Exploits, Novel Twists, Dazzling Direction and Music; Privately Funded-Produced Another Boon.

Of those who leave comments, special honors to:

The most brilliant visitor: Anonymous.

The most stupid visitor: Anonymous.

The most courageous visitor: Anonymous.

The most cowardly visitor: Anonymous.

The most flattering visitor: Anonymous.

The most profane visitor: Anonymous.

The most faithful visitor: Anonymous

Thank you, Anonymous -- whoever you-they are.

Sunday Morning with Showbiz David: We Were All Young Once ...

2011-08-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

Photo above: Paul Binder, in 1977, only days away from the first performance of his and Michael Christensen's Big Apple Circus. Photo from Big Apple Circus website.
Next photo down: John Ringling North II and his son, John Ringling North III, in 1967.

To live a long life, be prepared to embrace one newfangled technology after another, to accept an ever-changing world that refuses to stand still. I am now wondering, what will follow the cellphone? This last week, I had my own Mark Twain moment, I think. Mark Twain was one of the first writers to use a radical writing device called a "typewriter." America's greatest storyteller lived and penned in the present. The last time I used a typewriter was about two books back.

Once upon a draft, when you wrote a book, the publisher would edit your manuscript (a stack of typed pages sent by snail mail), return it for your approval or counter corrections, and so on. Two days ago, my edited "manuscript" for Inside the Changing Circus: A Critics Guide, came through e-mail on a Word attachment. This has always been the most fascinating phase of the publishing process for me -- like, I suppose, getting back an essay in college to see how covered in red ink it might be bearing an instructor's impatience.

But I can tell you, after many seasons mulling the issue over, "editing" in the book publishing world can vary from questionably severe to nearly non-existent. How important is it, really? Beyond its success in tracking down misspelled words, correcting basic grammar, and toppling typos, I'm still not sure. I won't reveal here how many misspelled words you will find in my first book, Behind the Big Top. But it should earn me a place in the Guinness Book of Unflattering Records. Possibly the Grand Prize.

Quickly, I scanned my Word document, just edited by my publisher BearManor Media, for evidence of corrections, not knowing how they might appear. Quickly, my fears were calmed. Authoritative streaks of red intersected my prose at fairly spacious intervals. The corrections struck me as sharp and savvy. And then, by accident, I discovered how, if I make any more changes of my own, they will appear in yet another color. OK, World of Now, I think I get the idea.

Here is an example of good useful editing: In my manuscript, referring to PETA I used the phrase "hot-headed activists." Now, those words are covered in yellow, and when I move the cursor over them, a tiny window pops up in which an editor's query appears: "Suggest dropping inflammatory adjectives here." Good point, editor, I agree.

Time changes our manner of communication, oh does it ever, considering the ubiquitously fluid internet. Most poignantly, time changes us. In my final reach for the ideal Paul Binder image, while surfing the Big Apple Circus website, I came upon the show's history and photos of Paul and Michael when they were once young, just starting out in Paris -- at a time when a kid with a bike might still pull up to your front door with that magical -- or feared -- telegram in hand. When the IBM Selectric was all the rage on upscale office desks. When the telephone rang out like a real telephone. How touching it is to gaze back upon the face of a young dreamer, like Paul up there, at the outset of a mission destined for great and honorable success.

Only a day before, my friend Boyi, in the photo here, came by with some home-cooked noodles to be warmed up later, and ready to take a look at some photos I intend to use in my book. I had asked him if he would give me his reaction to a few that I am still undecided about -- which image was better, for example, between two pictures of Barbette, and then between three of Steve Copeland and Ryan Combs. I welcomed Boyi's feedback, and went with it. He is not exactly a circus fan, but he has a good eye for photography. I think his picks helped me settle on the right choices.

Then we went out to lunch, and there, by surprise, Boyi referenced my birthday being so close at hand -- on a day when he had to work. He told me that the long noodles he had brought by were a way of wishing one a "long life." Boyi is still young, but age is relative, right? In not many years, he may start prematurely ruing the "good old times" when he was in his twenties ...

Back at my place, we sat in front of my PC, Boyi worked the mouse, and I was whip lashed into elements of contemporary culture that have so far eluded me, into the hyperbolic worlds of two global icons: Lady Gaga, now I know why the world has gone agog over this outrageously amusing entertainer, ingeniously packaged to advance the Madonna syndrome? Better yet, Russian troubadour Vitas who sings like a well tuned siren. Phenomenal! Fantastic! Earth shattering!

They, too, one day will join the ranks of we who were "young once."

In the meantime, until something newer comes along, here I am at my PC, typing this out, after which, I'll return to my Word document and check out the editorial corrections to my manuscript. It should be fun, though, at least the typing out of my final revisions in my favorite hue -- blue!

I wonder how long Mark Twain stuck with the typewriter?

Big Apple Circus Dreams Big ... 75 Steele Years and Still Flying High ... 75 Cent Tix to Ringling ... "I Love You Honey" Author "Loved" Many ?!?

2011-08-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

Soaring Senior: The great Tony Steele. Photo from News Chief.

[Update, 8/15, 1:53 PST. I reported in error that the Flying Caceres will be appearing with Big Apple Circus. I should have said Cortes.]

Flying my way in no particular order, off radar: Big Apple Circus touting its next show, Dream Big! Press release promises more muscle in the air than last year, what with the Flying Cortes, from Columbia, making a return visit and Russian aerialist Anna Volodko also on the bill. Among other fresh features, there's magic and manikin cutups from Holland's Scott Nelson and Muriel Brugman. China is lending their Shandong Acrobats, a large ambitious troupe working ensemble risely. Another Russian contributor is juggler Dimitry Chernov. By golly by giggles, Grandma will be back. And Jenna Robinson is cast as singing ringmistress; I'm sorry I did not get to see more of short-lived ringmaster Kevin Venardos. The operative word, "Big" suggests as much comedy as circus theatrics. I'm looking forward, if only I was a New Yorker. The Big Big Apple Show uncorks in Dulles, VA, on September 22. New artistic director Guillaume Dufresnoy, visibly in command during a Stamford Advocate interview last month, revealed much about his ideas for upcoming shows, about which, more in serious depth later here ...

She may have loved him -- or them -- until her "season" was over: That's the snickering skinny from an inside source recalling how Duane Thorpe, in a near rage, characterized the backyard antics of author Connie Clausen -- "a little first of may...[not a nice word beginning with s]" -- but what a talented [not a nice word] . Connie penned the terrific tome, I Love You Honey, but the Season's Over. According to my source, Clausen, who got cast as a "ballet broad," did not last the season, but whipped up a great deal of nocturnal action as the circus slithered and screamed up and down the rails -- although, whether for personal pleasure or professional gain, details not disclosed. "She had the gall to write about it," quoting my source. Might he/she have simply been jealous of attention that otherwise might have been directed to him/her? Why such ill will? As I recall, this book is absolutely tops, so what "gall" would the writing of it have constituted? Makes me want to re-read; it's now on my make believe reading list (Oakland Library hasn't a copy, drats), just after The Razor's Edge, my current hold.

75 is BIG ... 75 is the age of legendary Tony Steele, first trap wizard to land the then super duper triple-and-a-half, who now lives down in Haines City Florida and is "soaring" again. Profiled recently in the News Chief, Steel's first job was on the Gil Gray Show as a roustabout, but soon he was flying high. In full commercial bloom, Steel flew in Vegas venues for 20 years. He now guest instructs "across America." And what dramatic audience reactions did Steele steal, such a natural born ham was evidently he. Lillian Letizel, you've got competition! (Letizel would sometimes fake fainting spells at the end of her act, complete with dramatic equestrian director rescues and rushed exits) So, here, from Tony, is his baloney: "I would deliberately miss the triple and bounce out of the net," and, then, in came the medics, onto a stretcher was the felled Steel placed, but not for long. Our battered hero would spring back onto his feet, climb high again and "attempt the trick a second time, and it would bring down the house."

Oh, you shameless hams! Somebody should hand this item to Kelly-Miller's Adrian Poema, Jr., who is on my A watch list. That kid's already a seasoned crowd milker ... Back to Tony, now in his 75th year, the still generally fit leaper recently experienced "the most thrilling thing" when participated, successfully, in the passing leap in upstate NY -- without medic intervention. Way to fly, Tony!

75 cents to see the Greatest Show on Earth! That's what a circus ticket cost when P.T. Barnum was born (let's be nice and believe the Felds for a moment), and that's the cost in Pittsburgh when Ringling-Barnum hits Consol Energy Center this Thursday, yes, in the year 2011. Each performance includes 200 seats for only 75 pennies each. Too good to be true? Add an additional "facility fee" of 25-cents. And was ticketmaster around when P.T. was born? Once the lucky 200 are ticketed, the rest can still secure seats for only $10. That to me still sounds grandly generous.

I suddenly have a new idea for ground-breaking showmanship: Why not the return of Tony Steele to the ring, as a gesture of compassionate inclusion, complete with 75 cent tickets for seniors over 75?

Who owns the Kelly Miller tigers? I've confirmed rumors that Casey McCoy is officially off the show, all I had to do was check his blog ... It's conventionally understood that Casey tigers are owned by his wife, she said to have filed for divorce. I said "said." It's also been rumored that John Ringling North II (his name grows in stature by the minute, no?) may be in the process of purchasing the animals. Meanwhile, Radar is presenting them. This kid is a crack photographer. Let's hope he cracks the whip right inside the Big Cage ... BTW: What outstanding coverage the show enjoyed from the Toledo Blade, thanks to an inquisitive young reporter named Zoe Gorman, all of age 20, doing a summer internship, in from New York with tremendous talent. This kid, who traveled with the show for three days, has a future, I do hereby declare. Rare to read anything about the big top in mainstream media so well researched. Gotham, grab her!

Okay, I'm out of the tent. Nobody knows my cell phone number ... because I don't have one (yeah, I'm kidding, kind of)

Sunday Morning, Already Looking Back at the Sonoma County Fair: World's Winningest Jokey Does Not Let Me Down

2011-08-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

It's been many many years since my race track days, betting two bucks to show on the horse with the best odds. This year, the jockey you see lured me back.

The betting bug hit me when I read about the winningest jokey of all time, Russell Baze, who regularly rides at Santa Rosa. Last year at this very track, he won his 11,000th victory.

I found a real live cashier -- what a reassuring pleasure. I longed for an authentic experience, thank you, and made my daring return bet: two dollars to show on number 2 in the second race.

Baze kept his horse (I forgot its name) in the third place position across the finish line. I was banking on a return of $2.20, which is what a similar bet in the first race had reaped.

But, Oh Happy Baze! My new favorite jockey paid me $2.40. In today's sinking economy, a 20% return is nothing to scoff at. Makes good horse sense to me.

Cashier guy told me "the casinos are killing us." It shows in the declining attendance.

This year marked the fair's 75th anniversary, and I'm now an official part of its history. In a special book they printed, they included a reminiscence of mine, originally posted here, about Foley & Burk Shows, the railroad carnival.

The Tilt-A-Whirl, a true classic, lives on!

Foley & Burk carried a rare reverse-direction merry-go-round.

I remember the dapper presence of carnival owner L. G. Chapman, especially when the show returned to Santa Rosa in the fall to winter quarter in the flower show building. He was there supervising the rumble of wagons into hibernation. Once when he spotted me standing next to my bike, watching, he said, "So you think you'd like to be a carnival man?" I nodded yes. He smiled.

Here is my contribution to "A History of the Sonoma County Fair" ...

There's an old ice house -- no, there was an old ice house down Sebastopol Road in Santa Rosa, on whose raised exterior walkway I once stood on enchanted summer days when a carnival train rattled into town and was spotted there. I watched transfixed as a wide array of multi-colored wagons of Foley & Burk Shows rumbled and clattered from flat car to flat car, muscled hands tugging at their tongues, pulling against ropes to guide them onto the runs, down which they bolted with wild force, hitting the pavement for sure, jerking this way or that, getting hooked to tractors and pulled out to the fairgrounds ... Sometimes on my bicycle, I anxiously followed them.

4.27.10

Monte Carlo: You're Going Home. Showbiz David's Circus Festival Photo Search Dumps Princess Stephanie. Next Pic, You're On! Go for it!

2011-08-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

So what do you think, World? Showbiz David's next photo candidate for his upcoming book Inside the Changing Circus, was found on the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain website. Will photographer Christophe Raynaud de Laage, say "Yes"? Or will Showbiz David suffer another humiliating runaround?

Two days ago at 16:36:16 PST Time, I gave the gold clowns at Monte Carlo and their obtuse operatives from Germany to Florida, exactly 48 hours to make up their minds. Just as I expected, these specialists in chic fashion-runway indifference could not be stirred off their precious pedestals.

Fine with me. Absent even an e-mail reply from my letter to Princess Stephanie, I was starting to resent the image of her in the photo that I would like to have used. Starting to feel the absence of a soul behind the face. Perhaps when it comes to a one-on-one (I am the farthest thing from an institution or a committee), Prince Stephanie gets overwhelmed. Her younger years, as I've since learned in googleland, were socially turbulent, to say the least. As they say, money can't buy you everything.

Monte Carlo: Pack your essentials, pick up your courtesy Greyhound Bus through-pass return ticket at the front door, and have a pleasant exit out the tent flap.

OK, let's talk about some of the other circus festivals out there, of which I know virtually nothing. Sorry, but I just don't jump to Academy awards shows of any sort (way too long, boring, and, worse, sacred cows honoring sacred cows). Yes, whoever called them "beauty contests" may have it right. Neither do I feel much for the Rings of Fame, be they in Peru or Sarasota. Not since some very iffy names have been shamelessly enshrined, foremost among them scoundrel Ben Davenport. (Perhaps dear Ben was honored for providing such humane working conditions, even a private car, for his professional con men, thugs, and "red light" pushers.) And certainly not until names like Louis Stern and Irving J. Polack are awarded the respect they well deserve.

Now, as for Monte Carlo: It's been easy for me to default to Monaco. It started out first. It's the Big One. But here is why I am going to take a harder look.

Item: Yes, of course, their astonishing indifference to my letters, e-mails, etc., although I stand on my past assertions that, overall, the hand-outs at Monaco seem to reflect accurately upon the nations that currently produce the best talent. But more important, these little markers:

Item: At the Sonoma County Fair this week, I was handed a free copy of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, in which, on page two, there's a photo of some Chinese "Stackrobats" at a festival underway -- in Havana. Made me wonder if I ever see photos from Monte Carlo in our newspapers? I receive write-ups touting festival winners from Don Covington, but they are, as I recall, press releases from Monaco. This little encounter inspired me to search other circus festival websites for photos; thus, my current candidate at the top.

Item: Potential conflicts of romance in judging festival performers. This from the website, Mad for Monaco: "In 2000 Princess Stephanie began a relationship with the Swiss circus owner and elephant trainer Franco Knie who she met a festival in Monte Carlo when awarding him a prize for Best Animal Tamer (italics, mine). Unfortunately, Monsieur Knie was married and the affair only became known publicly in 2001 when Knie announced that he was leaving his wife for Princess Stephanie. For several months thereafter Princess Stephanie and her children traveled with the circus, living in less than luxurious conditions, and her daughter Pauline became so infatuated with the elephants that Knie included her in the act. However, by the next year that relationship was over as well." End of quote. Princess Stephanie seems to have majored in short-lived liaisons and/or marriages to a number of nefarious characters. I raise this as a credible issue because such a lifestyle has the potential to interfere with act selection and act evaluation.

Item: Judging Animal acts. A couple of months ago while surfing YouTube land, I watched two animal acts at a recent Monte Carlo festival. The 34th, I think. Of high note were Les Elephants, as they were called, three or four pachyderms executing a superlative routine of intimate human-like gestures; as far as I can find, they were presented by Sonni Frankello, and, if this is so, this act earned only a Bronze. But yet, an even more baffling judgment to my eyes was the Gold awarded one of the most do-nothing wild animal acts I've ever suffered, the one hosted by Martin Lacey Jr. Simply inexplicable. However, I did not realize until delving further that lions are a lot harder to train than tigers? Still, what a long boring display, hardly worth a Bronze in my opinion.

Which begs two big questions, who judges this event? And how does an act get included in the first place?

The tiger act I saw at Cole Bros. Circus this year was far superior in shaping, content, fluid presentation, and scoring. The hind leg walking tricks of Casey McCoys tigers that I've seen on You Tube are superior.

So there.

Will the photo above appear in my book? Will there be a photo from ANY festival? Perhaps, if not, I'll ask my friend Boyi to help me stage the first "international" Grand Hula Hoop Hoedown. I already have a picture in my book that will do justice to the event -- a deliciously plain image from Tim Tegge illustrating rambunctious hula hoop overkill. It may give satisfaction both to lovers and haters of the formless form. The whirling exponent seems to have, for a costume, removed her skirt, dress or slacks, and gone with what was left. Not exactly Miles White. More like, Say, Sears.

Will This Photo of Princess Stephanie Appear In My Book "Inside the Changing Circus" ?!?

2011-08-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

Good question, even when I ask it of myself. Don't know yet, but should in a day or two.

I am about to deliver a final ultimatum. In fact, I may deliver it right here on this blog. Pardon me for not having a Park Avenue PR firm to do my messy work.

Whenever I get the feeling that I am grovelling (that usually comes after heroic displays of patience), I get nauseous, loose self-respect, tend to reverse direction and walk away. One of those healthy to-hell-with-convention Krishnamurti moments.

Why do I like the photo? Princess Stephanie, it would appear, is doing a lot to bring attention world-wide to circus arts. I like the happiness and pride of people around her. Is there a crime in that?

What do they want of me? Here is a record of why I feel like I have finally reached the promised land and nobody is there. So very Montreal ...

During mid-June, I sent two e-mails to the Monte Carlo Circus Festival press office. No reply.

On June 27, I sent a formal letter to H.S.H. Princess Stephanie, explaining the book, including a resume of my past seven books -- four of them about circus both here and in Russia -- sharing with Stephanie a good feeling about her father, who penned a wonderful endorsement for my book Big Top Boss: John Ringling North and the Circus. No reply.

On July 12, I contacted via e-mail the editors of the Festival Newsletter. No reply

On July 26, I e-mailed Rodney Huey, who handles Monte Carlo PR, I believe, for North America. I realize his may be a hard job, given how little respect Circus USA gets from France. My question to Mr. Huey, was, may photos that bear the term "hand out photo" be used in a book? In particular, I expressed my interest in the photo you see above.

On August 9, Mr. Rodney replied, advising me that he had forwarded my request to Laura van der Meer, Executive Director of the Federation.

On the same day, Ms. van der Meer e-mailed me that she had forwarded my request on to "the appropriate person," from whom I should expect a response shortly.

I immediately sent her an e-mail, in which I thanked her, attached the above photo, and wrote, "I believe it reflects well on the significant attention given the international circus scene by Princes Stephanie ..." I also attached a copy of my resume and, to flesh out the reality of my current research, a photo of myself and friend Boyi Yuan sitting in our seats at ERA Intersection of Time in Shanghai last year. And I mentioned the endorsement Prince Rainer had given to my past book about his good friend John Ringling North [North had once served as a judge at the festival]

Surely, I assumed, this would more than suffice. Well, no!

This morning from Germany, I received an e-mail from one Sebastian Huchtebrock, "Assistant to Artistic Director" of the festival competitions, asking me, " ... why you want to publish it. Please also let us know why you want to publish the photo of H.S.H. Princess Stephanie and how this photo will be related to the book."

Well, they haven't -- yet -- asked me to walk on water or send my medical records or prove my worthiness as a Pizza delivery guy or Avon Saleslady. No, for the French, I preciously fear, pausing to emit a trenchant sigh, nothing short of a fluffy Proustian thesis will do.

So here I am, withered, weary and whacked out. Yes, Peggy, that's all there was, and what a relief to be bringing this ridiculous ride to closure [I hate that word, Have avoided using it, but here it suits the landscape].

As I write this, I am also finalizing a very short e-mail they will eventually get from me, in which I will direct them to this post: You, whoever you are, HAVE EXACTLY 48 HOURS TO SAY 'YES' if the ABOVE PHOTO is to be published in my book, Inside the Changing Circus.

Frankly, my dear Monte Carlo, I don't give a damn.

John Ringling North II & Kelly Miller Land Major Coverge in Ohio

2011-08-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Update, 8/18: Contrary to my earlier reporting. the Poema family will not be returning to Kelly-Miller in 2012. From James Royal, "Both the Poemas and John and I look forward to them being in a future edition of Kelly Miller."

The House of Ringling is in the Tent: John Ringling North II watches a performance of his Kelly-Miller Circus. All photos by Block News Alliance/Michael Henninger.

It may not be New York City, but neither is it Hugo. The Toledo Blade, which reaches a metropolitan area numbering well over half a million people, lavished an impressive three-part story on John Ringling North II and his Kelly-Miller Circus, complete with a slate of professionally flattering, albeit ill-lit, photos snapped by Michael Henninger. Blade writer Zoe Gorman obviously did not recycle a press kit to produce this stellar report.

It may well mark the most significant coverage yet accorded North II, now in his fifth season running the show. Kelly Miller clown and blogger Steve Copeland has posted links to all four articles. Steve himself gets engaging attention, along with the Poema family, ringmaster John Moss III, and a few other staffers.

Most revealingly, North II speaks of his youth, of scheming to be free of attending all-male prep schools so he could sit in co-ed classrooms, of his circus dreams, duties on the show, learning basic rolla bolla and juggling. Of special interest to doubting circus fans will be John's recollections of his famed uncle, John Ringling North. On that fateful day in Pittsburgh, PA, back in 1956 when North declared the tented circus "a thing of the past," says nephew John, his uncle "was too upset to watch the show." Traditional fan speak has is that JRN was a callously detached "absentee owner," as they believe him always to have been -- despite his having spent much time on or around the show during its last two years under canvas. And despite all of the radical changes he was implementing at the time (many of which were ahead of their time). In deed, North virtually never attended a performance of his own circus once it finished out rehearsals and made it through opening night. A mystery I am hoping his nephew will one day explain.

After Ringling North I sold the circus, then a thriving indoor operation once again in 1967, as remembered by nephew John he "was kind of lost. He used to write the music for the circus and dream up the production numbers, and he had no more circus. He was always planning how he could get it back, but he never did."

The Poema family rehearses backstage, while ringmaster John Moss III stands by, ready to blow the next whistle.

Today, there is a Ringling most definitely inside the tent. John Ringling North II travels with the show for half its season, and when he's on the lot, he takes in virtually every performance. "They put the show on; the least I can do is watch it."

When Kelly-Miller came up for sale five years ago, a key component in North II's sudden decision to make a purchasing offer was his long-time friendship with seasoned trouper Jim Royal, who was, around that time, serving on Big Apple Circus (a very very high class show) as general manager. The two have apparently worked well together. The show is now, said North to reporter Gorman, "breaking even."

Altogether, the three articles project a high morale among company members to be working for a real Ringling, in fact, the first Ringling to run a circus in 40 years. Remarked John Moss III, "It was a great thrill and honor to be the first ringmaster in decades to be able to say the word Ringling and have an actual Ringling in the audience as an owner of the circus."

John II compares an indoor circus to "spending a day in the supermarket." He never felt much magic inside the arenas.

This hardly looks like the flop house we thought this clown was driving! Steve Copeland puts on today's face. And the laugh's on us.

And he may be bringing smiles to the departed souls of not only his father and uncle, but to the Ringling brothers, who started out in 1884 and wound up the undisputed kings of the circus world, envied around the globe. Surely founding brother Albert, who never liked the three-ring set up, would be pleased.

During each performance when he's with the show, North slips out of his seat at a certain point to make an entrance and demonstrate bull whip cracking while the ring is being rigged for the aerial ballet performed by "the North Starlets," John's continuation of the name given them by his Uncle John. Once there were dozens floating in unison over three rings. Now there are only four. But in today's single ring market, no longer are tent size or number of performers -- and elephants -- the makers by which the public judges a circus.

Next year's show, we learn, will carry a pirate theme, and the Poema family will be back with a Russian swing turn. [not so, see update above] That means the House of Ringling, to its sterling credit, is keeping one of Spangleland's most dazzling showman, young Adrian Poema, Jr. under its little big top. This kid lights up "America's One Ring Wonder" with rare charm and humor. He is circus. So, evidently, is his promisingly engaged boss.

Post update: Zoe Gorman followed the show onto Kelly's Island with extended coverage. Describing high points in the show, wrote Gorman, "The energy reached a peak when Adrian 'Gordo' Poema, Jr., danced to 'Gasolina,' -- flipping backwards in the air off his father's feet in a foot-juggling routine and pointed to the crowd."

Art Concello: Did His Crusty Genius Blind Bill Ballantine to the Facts?

2011-08-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

If anybody living — or dead — could shake down this country’s addiction to reckless overspending and set it solvent once again, surely that man would be Arthur M. Concello. He’d clear away the rot, run the lobby lice off the lot, cut cut cut, cut cut cut some more, get back the brightest minds at the cheapest wages, and put the damn thing back on the road, and make it turn out a profit ... Add get a little more than a little respect

Concello, first the great circus flyer and then the great circus manager, was the operational genius behind the conversion of Ringling-Barnum front tent show to arena attraction (Sorry, Feld family). Concello alone engineered, day by day, receipt by receipt, wining stand by losing stand, a gradual rise out of the ashes of Pittsburgh into the eventual glory of indoor salvation, and he did it for John Ringling North. Most of all, for himself.

Not a pretty job. Many early stands, at inglorious ball parks or in front of race track grandstands, were anything but the greatest show on earth. But the steady nuts and bolts man made it happen. He brought off what Irvin Feld would later grab credit for.

AMC -- or "Little Caesar" was so darned colorful, such a crusty Damon Runyon type character, that I suppose it was hard for writer Bill Ballantine not to either believe everything he was told by the Big Show's savior or just too tempting not to gild the story with additional BS.

In this latest (finally arriving) issue of Bandwagon, editor Fred Pfening regales us with our favorite subject, which means anything about Ringling history, pre-Feld. He’s been handed the original manuscript of a yarn penned by Ballantine that, in a shorter version, appeared in the October 1957 issue of Cavalier magazine as “Damndest Showman Since Barnum.” It chronicles Concello’s slow but steady and tenacious guidance of Big Bertha into her new home under the hard tops.

Art Concello gives advice to flyer Faye Alexander, as catcher Yerbe looks on from the trap net.
Top three photos from the Cavalier magazine story.

The article, a copy of which is stapled into one of my boyhood scrapbooks, rolled off the presses soiled with nagging factual errors, so many as to leave me wondering how many more there might be. But never mind, I had the same feeling after reading Fred Bradna's Big Top. In wicked truth, we all make errors; Ballantine’s prose captures so vividly the personality of his subject — I can vouch for this, having interviewed Mr. C. on a number of occasions — that it’s tempting to want to believe everything he tells us. And forget about history or nuance. Even, perhaps, Pfening has been blinded.

Here is what strikes me as the article’s biggest blunder: AMC may well have lusted after a full partnership with JRN when the two eventually agreed, in October, 1956, to work together again, but that he did not get. In spirit, yes. In fact, he achieved absolute dominance in the operational realm, getting North, a shaken and humbled impresario, to stand aside, go away, write more of your songs if you must (Concello was no fan of North originals) and book a few acts, while I get this thing back on its feet, in running gear. Is THAT a deal? What could Johnny say. In one of his most defining moments, John Ringling North, a hands-off showman, walked silently away.

But arguably the story’s principle fantasy is to picture AMC, following North’s return to Sarasota on the ill fated funeral train in 1956, as waiting eagerly in the shadows, ready to pounce upon JRN at the weakest moment and win a way back to the power of “the yes and the no.”

In fact, if anything, in my best view it was the other way around. JRN desperately needed Art to pick up the mess and reassemble it into an indoor-outdoor sans canvas operation. Not only that, but when you delve deeper into the relationship between the two — and this is not to go homoerotic, well, not quite — there is evidence that Johnny adored Art, that he felt a great affection and respect for the man.

After having read a handwritten letter of JRN's to AMC, Circa 1940, found in the Ringling-Barnum Archives at Baraboo (thank you again, Erin Foley) , I felt more drawn to this theory of mine. In the letter, John poured out his affection to Art (signing off with “Love”), taking the little man to task for appearing to side with some strikers while possibly intoxicated. I also know that when JRN would come around the show, according to what AMC himself told me, he, AMC, knew how to duck out of site in order to avoid having to spend time socializing with, technically, his boss. AMC saw in JRN the perfect partner, and it took him a little time to get the partner to stay away form the circus. JRN on the continent “scouting for acts.” AMC on the lot, keeping the forces in check, counting the money and making sure a lot of it landed in his own personal cookie jars. Was this a form of — you fill in the word.

Concello was a wiz at circus logistics, but not a marketing giant. And on his own, not a particularly memorable -- or at least well remembered -- artistic producer. He too experimented with sponsored dates in 1952, which should tell you how well the show was not doing, and when I queried him about this ill-fated episode, in his presence, there by the indoor pool at his house in Sarasota, I drew a complete blank. A blank of denial? Of embarrassment? He refused to acknowledge any such thing. Was everything I read about that season of disappointing sponsorship returns in The Billboard a fantasy? Something concocted by a Bill Ballantine? All I could conclude was that Concello did not want to be associated in history with telephone solicitations. How average that would have made him look. But even giants sometimes look only average. It was not the sort of a Ringling ballyhoo one associated with the greatest show on earth.

In that one telling moment, I felt the pride of “the little man” for his years with the circus that was then envied by the entire world. A pride so deep he could not bring himself down to the level of an average big top boss.

In my forthcoming book, Inside the Changing Circus, this from Bill Ballantine I quote, and I am wondering how true or false it might be. He is talking about elephant handlers:

“The idea that you can’t hurt an elephant because it’s so big and powerful is a popular misconception. Among bull hands, elephants feel even a fly or mosquito on their hides so they feel the hook all right. The trunk is especially sensitive. Any injury to it results in exquisite agony.”

Anybody care to comment on the statement’s accuracy?

Opening night at Madison Square Garden, kicking off the new indoor era: Pat Valdo, left, John Ringling North and Arthur Concello. Photo from Bandwagon.

The Power -- and Hazards -- of Illustrating a Circus Book: How Many Photos Are Too Many? Even Belong?

2011-08-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

Once again, I have visited this highly subjective task in the search for photos to illustrate my latest effort, Inside the Changing Circus.

Strange empty feeling. In a few days I will not be trekking to the post office with a package addressed to my publisher, but sending off the entire manuscript, with captions slotted at photo placement points, via e-mail attachments.

Luckily, you can go photo fishing in the digital age without booking travel. Still, the challenge can be a daunting one when institutions with the goods you seek either don’t respond or place bureaucratic hurdles in your path; when circus companies display equal indifference. Which makes the rare generosity of a primary source particularly gratifying. In this instance, three people came through with flying colors for me, and a perfect storm of access and publisher latitude tempted me to illustrate, illustrate, illustrate!

To start with, my publisher, BearManor Media, placed no limit on the number of photos allowable. Add to this the most agreeable terms offered me by two major sources — the Milner Library at Illinois State University, in particular its Special Collections librarian Maureen Brunsdale and her crack photo fisher wiz, Mark Schmitt; and, secondly, Tim Tegge and his Baraboo-based Tegge Archives. And what a colossal temptation visited me! Free of normal restraints, I, a self-confessed Ringlingphile, have forced myself to err on the side of self-control. Of relevance, not redundancy. In total, there are 74 photographs. Easily, there could have been twice that many. What pleases me the most is that they are fairly spread throughout the entire work.

There is a point of no return, I believe, between a book meant to be read, really read, and one that is so photographically indulgent as to render itself virtually unreadable. Such would be the case with The Circus: 1870-1950 (one of its many titles). Its prose may be fine, for all I know. But under the sheer weight of its museumesque pretensions, and given how tiny the type font is, I haven’t the will to find out.

Some if not most of my favorite big top tomes are hardly illustrated at all: This Way to the Big Show; I Love You Honey, But the Season's Over; Bradna’s Big Top; Taylor's Center Ring; North's Circus Kings.

My personal favorite American circus history book is Earl Chapin May’s The Circus From Rome to Ringling. I think of it as being profusely illustrated in the older black and white mode, but, in fact, it bears not many more than 50-60 images. Numerous pages pass by without visuals. Somehow, its illustrations enliven it in a manner than lends the illusion of a well illustrated tome.

Jerry App’s excellent study of the Ringling brothers, Ringlingville, might have benefited by a third less photos; Some of his choices are so vague as to be barely engaging.

On the other hand, for any die-hard Ringling fan who can't ever get enough quality black and whites, perhaps no other book can touch Chappie Fox's A Ticket to the Circus: A Pictorial History of the Incredible Ringlings. Containing over 300 illustrations, yet thanks to a judicious layout respecting the printed word, the chapters, each addressing a specific topic, do not feel crowded out by photographs. It's compact size, less than 200 pages, makes it a most welcome visitor.

As for my latest, I am excited to announce that most of the Milner’s will be “first time in print” offerings. So, too, for Tanbark Tim’s. And thanks to the gracious cooperation of Phillip Thurstan at the Big Apple Circus; of documentary filmmaker Phil Weyland; and of Kelly Miller's James Royal, the contemporary scene gets fair coverage in some excellent photography.

But I don’t have Cirque King Guy Laliberte. OK, maybe he's not that much to look at, but what a power to behold. You can’t always get everything you want. Not, I suppose, unless you are willing to pay the prohibitively high reprint fees routinely charged by newspapers, magazines and various media. It’s a new world, and therein lies another example of how old media is failing to adapt. “Fair usage,” a legal concept allowing the unsanctioned fee-free publication of a small sampling of a given work, is finally flexing its populist muscles in the age of the internet and against egregiously unfair new copyright extension laws. You will see, if you scroll down through this blog, dozens of photos I’ve taken off newspapers and other media, crediting each. Not once has a news organization contacted me to cease and desist. In Cyber space, fair usage is no longer being silenced by intimidating shake-down lawyers.

Thinking back over my experience illustrating four previous circus books, I gratefully recall a few compassionate souls who made my efforts such a pleasure, who were so generous in the terms of sharing; they no doubt sensed I was not going to get rich, and I did not get rich: the charming John Hurdle at the Ringling Museum; The Russians in Moscow; Tim Tegge; The late Ringling photographer Ted Sato; Erin Foley, formerly with Circus World Museum. Add, now, Maureen Brunsdale.

My favorite photo in this, my eighth book, is a Milner, not before seen, of some young flyers on the platform at the YMCA circus in Bloomington, among them, the lean imperial figure of Bob Fisher and a giddy Gracie Genders, full of the breezy confidence of youth. Perfect find.

Ah, the thrill of the Big Catch when you go photo fishing under the big top!

Monday Morning Takeouts: "Water for Clowns" at NY's Flea Theatre ... Circus Smirkus Goes to Press in Vermont ...

2011-08-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

The recent film fizzle Water for Elephants, a depression-era tale of a young veterinarian student running low on tuition cash and defaulting to a creepy circus, gets attention it may not relish when a depression-era meteorologist, ruing the death of his dog, Biscuit, jumps a train and ends up with Martini Bros Circus. Not a film but a stage show titled Water for Clowns, soon to premiere at the Flea Theatre, the work of New York Goofs, a company consisting of professional clowns and clown teachers. Premise is a doozy. The dog was run over by a car driven by the parents of Water's vet student. Are you laughing? The Martini cut-ups must endure "the harsh reality of show business when a drought prohibits the use of water in their routines." Steve ... Ryan, does that resonate? How to get there if you're a tourist: Your destination is 41 White Street between Broadway and Church. Take subway lines A,C,E,R,N,4,5,6 to Canal. Run is a brief four nights, beginning August 11 ... Show sounds like it could be a comedy riot if they spoof the highly spoofable Water ... Which reminds me to make a note to myself: The next time I do Gotham, since I buy the 7-day subway pass, I'm gonna ride the rattlers all over the town, up and down, getting out here and there for brief look-around peaks, back in for another grinding tear to another Big Apple vista. The Bronx intrigues; never been there.

Speaking of clowns, here's two young jesters whose dedication impresses: Kelly-Miller's Steve Copeland and Ryan Combs have the drive, the passion, and/or the madness that marks the true pro. Not locked into same old same old shtick. No, they turn over their repertoire each season. Already, with hammer, nail, scotch tape and glue in hand, the guys are building next year's props, combing hardware outlets and flea markets, carpentering away to give their big boss, John Ringling North II, new gags and giggles. Way to go, joeys! ... But somebody should tell accident-prone Steve: Please, choose your mud puddles more carefully! It's a medical wonder his unscripted pratfalls have not landed him in reality TV, or on Dr. Oz. Reading Steve's blog, we get the sketchy impression that maybe biz is a little more than, maybe a lot more than decent. ... JRN II traveling with the show in his mobile depression-era version of the Jomar ...

Hold the presses! Extra! Extra! Read all about them! Circus Smirkus, the youth show from Vermont, has hit the summer roads with Front Page Follies: Big Top News. I surfed by serendipity into a charming You Tube of one of their recent shows, almost as much ballet as circus, classically scored, a charmer on its own gentler turf. But they also have a little muscle, yes they do! Heck, they might even possess the "strength" that Anonymous, lurking about this blog, insists is the mark of greatness. Promises press copy (thank you, Courier Covington) you can bank on "soaring flips, graceful leaps and colorful hi-jinks." Big Items include a dueling-typewriters skit (boy does that play to my keyboard addictions), a pair of loony scribes attempting to "out scoop each other." On ice cream? (Laugh, please) ... Premise sounds ingenious. Troupe numbers 29 members, ages 10 through 18. Show is now on New England tour through August, making 70 shows in 14 cities.

Out of towners wanting to see both shows? Check Travelocity for a package deal combining Water for Clowns with Tyepwriters for Tumblers ...

Coney Baloney: KLS Drops "Comp" Word on Vidbel Fizzle; Scream Zone a Riot; Pugh & Bale's Heaviest Show on Earth!

2011-07-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

The Steeplechase at Coney Island's Scream Zone. Coney photos by Librado Romero/The New York Times

A little disoriented with that dizzy headline up there? Coney Island is spinning wildly between turkeys and thrillers these troubled days. First the circus that wasn't. KLS Dad, our NY stringer, sends unvarnished feedback on his trip to the Vidbel Circus. Once he secured his $10 ticket and got up to the front door, via a parched patch of "dry hell," aka: "piles of debris," he settled into the tent, high on watching the advertised riding act with the name "Zoppe." He enjoyed the lyra turn executed by the woman who sold him his ticket in the "guard house," her name Susan Vidbel. In fact, he rather enjoyed a lot of the show, including a spirited singing ringmaster in Mr. Aston -- if only the equestrians he went to see had showed up. Sharing his let down with Sir Ashton, KLS was told there was "no business," (surprise?) . Here comes the kicker, introducing a sobering new question to our on-going wonderment about how circuses fill up the seats ...

When even free tickets will no longer work ... Well, KLS noted, in conversation with Mr. Ashton, that 200 people in the audience was not so bad. No, not at all. That's what I've seen usually at Carson and Barnes and Vargas. "Most of them were comp!" replied Ashton. "WOW. So sad," e-sighs KLS; Yes, I feel your pain, KLS-TV. Our crushed New Yorker reports the show was ill-advertised. But, out at Coney, he came away with a captivating stream of footage making a strong case for the new Scream Zone, about which I knew nothing, having a terrifically perilous pulse, an almost surreal style, a wacky thriller rhythm. "Hey ... I love it all!" says he. And I can see why, says I. Just watching the deviously off-kilter rides makes me want to go out there sometimes and play spooked-out spectator ...

The Soarin' Eagle. Maybe Coney has a new future afterall.

Cole Bros. Pitching Sheer Weight. On a cheerful video put out by Lane Talburt, agreeably narrated by his wife, Martha (great team, they should go out on the advance for a circus!), John Pugh gets a thoroughly postive pass, no uneasy questions asked, on his skill as a survivor. What's so interesting is how he and Elvin Bale seem convinced of their showmanship. Acts that over in Europe take "a half hour" (oh, really?) are trimmed down to a few minutes under the Cole tent, in order to make for a faster show. Or, if I may inelegantly ask, would that be to allow for more time pushing elephant rides and concessions? When I caught the show this year, a crowd of maybe 200 waited for half an hour for the program to begin. We watched a barely patronized elephant ride in Pugh's oddly amorphous non-ring setting. Sorry to pop feel-good balloons, but I long for the older Cole Bros. tent, Jonny -- it had symmetry; it had rings, it had those wonderful, yes, smaller wooden chairs. I'll grant this, that the newer chairs are better, but the seating configuration, almost identical to Ringling's under canvas at Coney, does not encircle the amorphous performance area. Nor do the fork lift operations add any desired atmosphere to the chopped up program. Do these guy share hard hats? ... I just don't get it.

Waiting for the Heaviest Show on Earth to begin: Cole Bros., the first half hour. (Pardon the blurry photo; My camera didn't want to be there.)

John and Elvin seem proud of how heavy their show is. How much "weight" it carries. They evidently love moving a ton of equipment. They claim to have the largest tent of any circus out there. Somebody might inform them that weight does equate with "great," not in the new century. Americans, yes, once counted the number of elephants, of tent poles and wagons. They don't anymore.

I'm sorry the Talburts could not have dug a little deeper. Perhaps Pugh is so protected by the fans from any honest feedback, and never gets objectively reviewed, such that he has little reason to doubt his arguably, how do I say this -- questionable decisions. Even I can be collegial.

Scream Zone is feeling more exciting the more I think about it. Don't know how heavy it weighs in, but it looks like a riot -- oops, not that kind of a riot...

And that's a reckless wrap. Blame it on KLS Dad.

Coney Island, The Ghost, Lingers Sadly On ... and On ...PBS Sheds A Few More Tears ...

2011-07-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

Luna Park

Amazing that any of it is still there. As a wee kid once, when my Mom took us to Brooklyn and we lived with my grandmother on Hart Street for a couple of months, we got to run through the sand, get lifted high over Coney inside the giant Wonder Wheel, feel the sudden heart-pounding drop strapped into a Parachute Jump chair. Thousands of people all around. A real amusement park of major rides, each distinctively different. Production rides. Not the smaller carny ones that came to the county fair.

Years later at Steeplechase Park (1897-1964), I rode a steel horse and tried pretending it was a wild race. The aging apparatus needed more than oil. The park came down in a season or two. Today, minor league baseball games are played in the same space.

On a poignant PBS documentary taking a look at the Coney Island's dim prospects for survival, somebody noted the "diversity" of those old attractions, of the inherent architectural values. Amen to that. Perhaps more than any other amusement park, Coney was a wondrously atmospheric place. Indeed, its architectural charms were as much a draw as were its individual amusements. I grew up on the other coast entranced by glorified images of it on post cards, by the mere sounds of Luna ... Steeplechase ... Dreamland.

But now, irony of ironies, people both older and younger than myself are ruing the recent demise of, yes, the oddly jumbled, hardly memorable Astroland. Atmosphere? Totally not. Perhaps its only redeeming virtue was that it stood in the shadows of the famed Cyclone roller coaster, arguably one of the best ever built. New Yorkers had the savvy and resolve to save this classic wooden thriller. But the claustrophobic carnival package of generic midway rides offered by Astroland, itself ultimately fenced in for security reasons, was no match for today's modern version of an amusement park. Walt Disney changed all that, Brooklyn. At the end of 2008, your Tilt-a-Whirl made its final run.

What had unfortunately followed the faceless Astroland into Coney were years of seedy gang warfare. So eerie was the place, that on visits to the Big City, I would ride out there on the subway, hoping to find what had only even half-way remained when I was a kid, take a brief walk across the street, look around at creepy teenage figures, maybe grab a Nathan's Hot Dog, hurry back across the street for the return to civilization over the mighty Brooklyn Bridge.

Dreamland

Not all seaside midways last. San Francisco's Playland-at-the-Beach, across the street from where I was raised, slowly fizzled away, the Big Dipper coaster condemned in 1956, an inferior set of carnival rides inserted as a last-ditch drive to keep death alive. Playland's own version of Astroland, indeed. Now, where in better days sailors and their momentary girlfriends screamed through the fog down rickety Big Dipper drops into a forest of white lumber, there stands a bland two story condominium complex. Even up the street at the new and "improved" Cliff House, the old commercial museum of Playland-era piano players and slot-machine games, which occupied a space under the old Cliff House, has been 86d. There's not a trace left of the beach side glitter in which I grew up. The Boardwalk at Santa Cruz has been intelligently preserved. The boardwalk at Santa Monica has been "saved," but only a merry-g0-round and a few of the old eatery shacks. The rest is a modern spread of newer rides.

And Coney? Even the Felds could not revive old glories. A two year all-summer stint of Ringling under canvas was a long shot. Circuses don't do well hanging around too long. Ringling has ditched Coney for a new arena under construction near the Atlantic yards.

I feel for those New Yorkers who cry for Coney. But the free market, both beautiful and bitter, ultimately decides. Certainly in the Big Apple. Unless they can get Disney to install its magic, the best they might hope for is a consortium of high rise condos cradling a compact little fun zone featuring the Cyclone and a few other upscale amusements. I can already envision the Museum of Nathans. In it, please, a vast panorama of life-sized photographs of old Coney. That fantastically colorful world was already on the wane when I first experienced a precious few of its residual delights. Oh, what an exciting place it was, and it ain't never coming back.

Encore for Winnie Colleano! ...

2011-07-24T18:20:00.000-07:00

Winnie Colleano, sister of Con (perhaps the reason why she never received the press and fame she deserves) will get an encore from me.

Goaded on by the comment left on my earlier post by "Anonymous," whom I can only guess may be a trapeze performer him/herself, I re-watched the video. Aside from affirming Colleano's heal catches as "fantastic," Anonymous calls the routine "basic trap tricks" the style "pretty much Circus Smirkus." Am I living on the wrong planet?

The essence of great art is simplicity, such that we do not see the actor or the circus artist's technique, but with them we take the journey. In the actor we see only the character. In the trapeze artist, only the gracefully soaring bird, No, not easy, but the greats flirt with this paradigm, and some master it.

Rarely if ever have I witnessed a single trap act so fluidly presented, such that the technical skills. "tricks," if you will, do not project as such, but are transformed by the artist's mastery into a greater impression of continuous motion.

Anonymous: Not only do you, in my opinion, insult Winnie Colleano, you also insult a charming student show, Circus Smirks. Might you be of the San Francisco school?

Perhaps you are of the newer class who fairly shun "tricks" as old circus, favoring excessively detailed choreography, often on a single trap or fabric that does not swing very far in either direction. There is now even a new term for this genre, "static trapeze." I wish those who pursue it more success than I have yet observed; perhaps they will invent something as exhilarating as what a few gifted duos (usually male-female, sometimes same sex) are doing with the "sensual fabrics" over more actively inspired rings, combining romantic imagery with terrific maneuvers aloft. All of which, as I see it, takes them out of the "bed sheets" category. Static they are not. Static, the circus was never.

The evidence on YouTube is irrefutable. There is none of the obvious muscle, of the strained interlocking movements too often the mark of a compartmentalized routine, of the stops and the starts ... Here is a gifted artist continually and gracefully in motion, flowing with a kind of a serene joyful abandon, and finishing her flight with a perfectly climactic jump from bar to vertical pole, down which she slides.

I was about to support my view by posting here similar accolades of others, from Fred Bradna to some comments on the You Tube posting, but it matters not. What matters to me is what I see and feel while watching this magnificent artist at work, who makes it feel not like work at all.

That's the essence, around my ring, of greatness.

Coney Island Big Top Blues: Ringling is Gone, Vidbel Barely Arrived

2011-07-23T00:45:00.000-07:00

Coney Island, a hard sell for big tops: Feld came and went in two seasons, fully charged now to take the new arena under construction. A great two-season era for Ringling under canvas is history. I for a moment fell in love with Ringling-Barnum all over again, 'twas so much better in just one ring, where the Felds, I humbly assume, were forced to contain and curtail, defrock and derail their fireworks showmanship. Out of there, they've got space booked into the new arena going up near the Atlantic yards.

Don't take Coney for granted. Heck, don't take Gotham for granted. A long ambivalent story and review in the blog Travelanche, penned by "Trav SD," rues the super shortened run of Circus Vidbel, originally slated to play through Labor Day. But summer came and went, almost before summer even came. Vidbel is history too. The story offers both praise for the acts and hints at a certain lack of production values, all of it lending the impression that a middle-of-the-road "family circus" hasn't a ghost of a reach by the beach ...

Self-billed as "the original olde tyme circus under the big top," one might wonder, and where was the olde tyme ballyhoo? Seems the media dolled out more attention on Ringling not returning to Coney than on Vidbel being there. But you gotta put the word out, and these free tix tops have gotten lazy on front end hype, settling for peanuts. The show drew out the booster in Trav SD, mystified over the absence of PR, but finding some nice things to say ("several very fine acts"), except for lots lacking, such as: "The ringmaster needs elocution lessons ... Like all the acts in this show, he [vase balancer Guimeng Ming] would benefit from slicker packaging ...." And so on.

About the show's anonymous appearance, might it be that, "the entire news apparatus of New York City actively wanted the circus to fail, which hardly seems likely." No, Trav, not likely. Either that, or they took a look inside the tent and decided to keep their critical chops off. And let kindness tell the story, kindly. The idea of a small family show thinking it could fill a giant gap left by Ringling is mind-boggling. But then again, one thing the American circus has never been short or shy on is optimism.

Okay, here's the not-so-kind from non-circus fan booster Trav: "the grounds around the tent were full of garbage. The ring wasn't swept. It looked like everyone needed a rest. Production values were definitely stretched to the limit. A peek at their website shows much fancier costumes than I saw on view in the tent yesterday. As well as the horses. Their press release mentions an equestrian act, but it looks like the riders have ridden off into the sunset since then."

The tent seated 600. The audience numbered "two or three dozen people."

The show opened on July 4.

The show closed on July 17, one day short of a two week run. Kindly.

Winnie Colleano, I Can't Believe What an Aerial Goddess You Were ...

2011-07-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

Just now, ending up on You Tube -- don't know how, don't know why, that's the way with a computer, most of you will know. But first came Con Colleano, and then there was Winnie from 1939.

Set to lush music, even with the sound off, I was utterly thunderstruck to discover her free flowing single trap, serenely sensational with full swinging reverse heal catches. Not ruthlessly of the daredevil class, but of the class of great circus gods floating through space, complete with a terrific finish, jumping free of the bar to catch a pole and slide back down to earth.

I book marked Miss Winnie. I'm in love with her style, her poetic abandon, yet so finely controlled and formed. I can't believe, I just discovered another MAJOR big top icon.

Circus 1939. Tim Tegge and I were talking about form (talking via e-mail), about Bradna referring to Leitzel's planges as "ugly." Tim noting that she did not tend to point her toes, that perhaps the era was lacking in such polish as it might be today. Then I told Tim about my having seen a You Tube of Tiny Kline and, we'd both marveled at Codona's form and style clear to see on snatches of grainy footage. I remember Tito Gaona telling me about the "elegance" of the 1920s, and Tito Tito was not even a seed, but he found the elegance on his own and how well he knows and respects it.

I got to thinking how, when we see ballet in circus today, we credit Cirque du Soleil or look to the old Soviet Union circus scene. But the performers who came before and during were not dumb or unschooled, or merely athletic. There was always the transit between stage and sawdust, ballet and big top. Don't let the snobs convince you otherwise.

Sometimes the evidence you look for may let you down. Sometimes there isn't as much as you'd like there to be.

Con Colleano to the wrong music looked a bit repetitive in his dancing on the low wire. I recall being mesmerized by his style and dash on the Clyde Beatty show when the band played, I think, a very torrid Latin refrain, if not Ravel's Bolero. His buildup, as now, to the forward somersault was tensely dramatic.

Sometime back, I came across a You Tube of Francis Brunn in his prime, and was afraid to watch it, afraid what I remembered as a kid would not be there now. Surprise. Brunn was even better on You Tube, validating my memory of his incredibly choreographed routine.

Winnie this evening was circus perfect. Check her out for yourself. She has the skill, the interior guts, the exterior poetry. What a star she was. And we -- well I, hardly knew her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DEBzkC3cnE&NR=1

Quad God Miguel Remains Alone in His Greatness; Other Would-Bes Fly Short; Latest Candidate Ivo Silva, Jr., Has 5, Vows to Soar for More ...

2011-07-10T16:16:00.000-07:00

29 years ago today in Tucson, Arizona at 8:44 PM -- Miguel Vazquez accomplished his first quadruple somersault in performance!

Miguel Vazquez returns to flight, Las Vegas, Nevada, October 2010, assisted by David Vazquez. Photo from "The Last Great Flyer," courtesy of Philip Weyland.

They and we waited and wondered, could another trap star achieve those near-impossible four revolutions en route from fly bar to catcher's hands? Seems not to have happened. This was to have been the season of Ivo Silva, Jr. of the Flying Caceres. He flew for the Big Show, landing the quad during the season-opening engagement in Florida land, landing another four across the season, but mostly flirted with an elusive dream. I saw him give it a try when Ringling-Barnum hit Oakland last summer. He did not fly impressively close to hitting the intended target, a firm pair of waiting hands, which left me with a distinct impression of an artist likely chasing an impossible dream. Fate can be cruel. Or maybe it's a matter of "luck," when it strikes, being just as cruel, fooling the recipient into a hopeless addiction, like a slot machine Johnny down to his last penny.

It's not all bleak. Trapeze is being reinvented in China and other lands. Even the Caceres, to their credit, delivered a terrifically rich and varied routine, as I recall. Ivo, who did not enjoy the emotional support and continuity of a family, as do most other great flyers, is Ringling history. He has left the troupe to appear with Cirque du Soleil at Orlando, and he has not given up on his quad quest. Read his comments left here, in his own words!

Phil Weyland, at work on his documentary, The Last Great Flyer, about legendary quad god Miguel Vazquez, need not fret his title being trumped and bumped by the Next Great Flyer, wherever he/she may be.

Maybe it's a matter of context. Aerial art, I fearfully assume, has lost much of its luster here in the U.S. as Americans in general seem to prefer glancing away from hazardous airborne acrobatics. Lots of reasons: mechanics strangling the lifeblood out of daredevilry; a new class of anti-daring circus trick snob; the rise of the sensual silks lending welcome complexity and elevated sparkle to the new school of circus ballet -- nothing potentially messy, please! (We won't discuss how hazardous the bed sheets, too, can be.)

The quad is a "trick" just like the triple. And even three somersaults seem a less sure thing than they were 20 years ago. As often as not, they are dramatically announced, giving the circus who touts them the muscle it may not possess. Which is why, I suppose, rare it is these days to witness a flyer, having failed the first attempt, going for a second. I remember when they ALWAYS went back.

On Circus Vargas, across four visits in recent years, I vaguely recall watching the act it links, in rimgmaster verbiage, to Monte Carlo gold turning a triple just once; every other time, they did not even try to, nor did they try much else. But, oh, can they posture!

Meanwhile, the Weyland interviews continue apace, with more film shoots set for Vegas. Phil estimates a wrap up around this time next year. I'm hoping he can turn his Big Theme into TV documentary gold; and maybe, then, he'll turn his lenses onto other aspects of Spangleland. We got the depressing PBS take on Big Apple Circus realities; we got Arsenic for Elephants. Let's hope here comes something better.

7.10.11

Zarkana Reviewed Looks Like a Winner: Cirque du Soleil Returns, if Submerged in Makeup and Narrative Nonsense, to its CIRCUS Roots

2011-07-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Update, 7/5/11 From the New York Post, this from Frank Scheck's 2-1/2 star review reflects a nagging undercurrent of impatience through most of the notices:

"At this point in our relationship with Cirque du Soleil, familiarity is beginning to breed contempt. "Zarkana," set to occupy Radio City Music Hall until the fall, is the prolific troupe's latest attempt to establish a semi-permanent beachhead here after taking Las Vegas. But while this is no slip-up like the Cirque's "Banana Shpeel," it offers little we haven't seen before.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/cirque_is_too_square_sEYyoNh2eKTXzPuralZPFL#ixzz1REnCLqcu

End of update.

Just a brief update here. I looked at a few major Gotham reviews, Time to New York Times. Usual grumbling about obtuse allusions to a vague story, but overall, the notices I've ready are fully embracing show's solid circus offerings, noting with relief, not another Banana Shpeel.

Next up: Iris in Hollywood.

Sunday Morning with Fred Bradna: No Deadbeats in His Greatest Show on Earth

2011-07-03T04:00:00.000-07:00

"He must be at once a showman, a stage director, a martinet, a diplomat, a family counselor, a musician, a psychologist, an animal keeper and a weather prophet. Since horses are the keystone of circus entertainment, he must be an accomplished equestrian. He must know sufficient about all circus techniques [tumbling to tight wire] to discern at a glance whether specialists in these areas are shirking and, in the case of animal acts, whether the sin of commission or omission is the fault of the human or the animal star.

"This is not just theoretical. A carton by Mr. H.T. Webster, originator of 'The Timid Soul.' was pasted on mirrors in Ringling dressing tents for years. It depicted two aerialists standing on a high platform in the big top. One says to the other: 'If I thought Fred Bradna wasn't looking, I'd skip the next trick.'"

From his book The Big Top. Bradna served as equestrian director for Barnum & Bailey and then Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, retiring at the end of the 1946 season.

Showbiz David Inks Contract for His Next Book as Expert Witness Boyi Makes it Official

2011-06-28T06:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning in the tea tent (L’Amyx), my friend Boyi Yuan joined me for an official contract signing, staged on the spur of the blurry moment, but it’s the occasion that matters, right?

What a rousing crowd was Boyi! Amusingly, he turns into an actor whenever a camera is near, which makes taking photos with and around him such a joy. So true in China last year. Whatever the atmosphere or event, this Boyi will find yet another face on his face to match it.

Here, he’s pushing us all (me, he, and a reluctant camera guy behind the counter) to give the victorious moment a little more fun and fizz. If only we could have rehearsed! (The camera guy Chris, whose day job is tea tending, is not union; in fact, he may never have shuttered a digital until this impromptu event. But he gave it his all.)

The contract had arrived just the day before from BearManor Media, who will publish my next book, Inside the Changing Circus.

Handing the contract to Boyi, I thought he'd want to look it over. “I’ll look it over,” said he, “but I won’t read it.”

More about my new book later. It was a rewarding challenge to work on. Even a breeze. Now I’m in contact with some wonderful sources for photos I hope to obtain. This is the fun part. I will tell myself that over and over again when the worst part — preparing an index — stalks me later in the production process.

Perfect sunny morning along Piedmont Avenue. Hojicha rice tea from Japan in my cup. Ella, her voice missing from the soundtrack for many months, has magically returned, singing classics like “Let’s face the music and dance.”

Thank you, Boyi, for sharing my excitement with your usual class. Soon enough, I will once again be singing to myself, “Let’s face the presses and pray.”

A Break From Heaven For Big Apple Circus: Show Spared the Indignities of Performing at Ball Parks

2011-06-24T06:18:00.001-07:00

What a blessed relief! The ballpark dates have been canceled, part of a bigger promotional package that fell through.

I trust everyone connected to Big Apple Circus is, or should soon be once they come to their senses, elated to be spared such an artistic nightmare. This wonderful circus, a national treasure, deserves so much more than to be cast in a beer can setting.

Call me naive: I feel a better day coming on. Thank you up there, Gods of Higher Circus Art.

The House of Ringling Beckons --- From Northbrook Ireland, From the Lanes of Talburt ...

2011-06-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

From John Ringling North II, now in his fifth season as owner-producer of Kelly Miller Circus, which makes him a graduate student in big top survival, comes the lovely program magazine for the current tour. John personally sent it to me by old fashioned mail from his cow digs in Ireland. By subtle degrees, we may be watching the rebirth of the House of Ringling matriculate.

The North of Norths has opened the tent wide up and let the sun fly in. This edition, as you can see, is bathed in light blue hues (charms more in person), graced with shapes of yellow and some fine photography by Mr. Radar (Ryan Easley). Fine design marks go to Jaklyn Groom,whom I take it arranged the attractively graceful layout.

Circus programs were a threatened species for a season or three. Carson & Barnes still does not carry one. Cole Bros. has reinstated its; Circus Vargas sold a pricey issue at the Hollywood lot. By that measure alone, are we to intelligently conclude that circuses are doing better these distressed days? Hope so.

Now, Mr. John the Sequel is a seemingly cool, laid back dude, sort of the kind of guy I pictured when a number of years ago he let me interview him by transatlantic telephone hookup about his famed Uncle, JRN I -- the two are diametrical opposites.

I've been clued in on the exact dates (am I boasting?) of John's next tour of pleasure with his circus, due to commence in summer, complete with invitation to crack concessions over, I guess, laughs. "We could share a bag of Peterson Peanuts," offered he in his handwritten missive. The House of Ringling remains passive aggressively PC-averse. I can't imagine King Otto tolerating such technological indifference.

More on Kelly-Miller: From Lane Talburt, who spent many years in TV news, at newspaper desks and in public relations, comes a link worth the link -- to a recent interview he did with the show's infinitely likable young clowns Steve Copeland and Ryan Combs. A breezy pair these two laugh makers are. Talked a lot about day-to-day hauls from one lot to the next. My only surprise was the assertion of, I think Ryan, that their routines are set and do not change. Come on, guys! You tell us all the time about revising and tinkering, trying this and trying that, no? Anyway, they strike me as a PR asset for the circus. Referencing Steve's troubled truck history, a wryly humorous Talbert opined, "Maybe they could host a cable channel show on vehicle repair" VERY funny!

So good was the impression left on my eyes and ears by Talbert's seasoned professionalism, allowing his subjects ample time to participate, that I gave his visit to the Alain Zerbini Family Circus a look. Finally, that show has a face to me.

Here's a link to the Copeland-Ryan interview. From there, you'll find other interviews.

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_GPnSneEOA

Maybe roving report Lane can get JRN II to talk. If he resists, Lane, I'd suggest you take issue with his Peterson peanut pitch. You just might get invited in to break nuts together. And talk clown truck repair.