Whose Garden? There are, as most of you know, two Gardens putting on circus shows (and I often get them mixed up) -- one fairly respected, the other a shameless shyster who is now tarnishing yet another great old circus name -- Cole. Was he not the one who gave Toby Tyler a bum rap?
King-Cole is, or was, ripping and tearing through,among other victimized communities, parts of Utah, with a "show' from first hand accounts so terrible as to merit infamy in the Guinness Book of Records. One patron, Stephanie Mair, who shelled out $82.09 to get her family in, reported, "It was lies. Promised were camel and pony rides, a kids' fun zone, acrobats and motor cycle stunts. None of that happened."
She added, "It was completely bogus. If you went to a high school to see a talent show, that's what you would have seen here." I beg to differ. Based on a hula hoop work-out and one lone clown in the King Cole ring, as shown on local KTUV in its report, that's an insult to high school productions.
Even the old crooked shows in days gone by front-loaded with pick pockets and card sharks (Daily Bros comes to mind) delivered acceptable if not noteworthy entertainment.
Circus Report, upset over isolated media coverage of King-Cole's brazen con job, wrote. "Our industry does not need this kind of press." No it does not, but I would argue, Bill and Jan, that sometimes facing the truth can have positive long term benefits. And I do gratefully thank you for covering this sordid episode, which I followed all the way to the most despicably cheap set up -- seats and ring -- I have ever seen posing as a circus. Hold your breath!
Is there anyway to shame the offending Garden off the road? Does he hobnob with insiders at the Showfolks clubs in Sarasota? I'd urge them to turn their backs on this traitor. Revoke his pass. Deny him access to any lot.
One woman took her little boy, and he knew he was taken. "My son told me he hates the circus." Another nail in the cross?
Are we in the last days? It feels like how, when a corpse rots, in come the maggots to suck up what's left of it.
A customer seeking a refund shot a video of a staffer shouting him down and asking him to leave. Yelled another staffer, "It's a freaking a circus, and it was cheap!"
Okay, the bitter truth laid bare: First, a King-Cole poster on its website:
And now, what spectators actually got.
Sometimes the bare truth is almost beyond belief. I could never have imagined anything as crummy as this. So here, let us respect and ponder the words of one stunned patron, who was there to witness this wretchedly fraudulent operation.
"This was absolutely the worst circus I've ever been to in my life! Even my 5 yr old daughter got bored and started resting her head on my knee before the 20 minute intermission came up. After that we left. It wasn't worth seeing the second act. Total waste of money. The concessions stand is ridiculously priced for such a horrible show. Here's what we did see and it was not as advertised. We saw two really bad clowns. I mean bad. Trying to act like mimes, but they give mimes a bad name. There was an amateur acrobatic (Only one) who did some hula hoops and hung on a rope for 5 minutes. Separately. She hula hooping and the rope together might've been cool, but no. We weren't that lucky. Toward the end of the first half some dogs came out and did some tricks. The kids play zone was cancelled for the day. So no horse rides or camel rides as advertised. No bounce house. Just a tiny circus act on a tiny mat I can fit in my backyard by 6 people. No lions, camels, horses or elephants. The worst part is my daughter didn't like it. Don't waste your time or money. I wouldn't go see this show again if it were free. Worst circus on Earth!"
"This was absolutely the worst circus I've ever been to in my life! Even my 5 yr old daughter got bored and started resting her head on my knee before the 20 minute intermission came up. After that we left. It wasn't worth seeing the second act. Total waste of money. The concessions stand is ridiculously priced for such a horrible show. Here's what we did see and it was not as advertised. We saw two really bad clowns. I mean bad. Trying to act like mimes, but they give mimes a bad name. There was an amateur acrobatic (Only one) who did some hula hoops and hung on a rope for 5 minutes. Separately. She hula hooping and the rope together might've been cool, but no. We weren't that lucky. Toward the end of the first half some dogs came out and did some tricks. The kids play zone was cancelled for the day. So no horse rides or camel rides as advertised. No bounce house. Just a tiny circus act on a tiny mat I can fit in my backyard by 6 people. No lions, camels, horses or elephants. The worst part is my daughter didn't like it. Don't waste your time or money. I wouldn't go see this show again if it were free. Worst circus on Earth!"
2 comments:
Garden must be older than God by now. He was ripping people off 30 years ago when I was in the biz. Not a new phenomena though. There were scores of shit shows plying their trade with a half dozen bottom of the barrel acts with Names like Royal Olympic Circus (4 acts)Beck's Circorama, John Strong and the list goes on and on.
It's hard to take your John Strong inclusion, in my boyhood at the county fair, he gave a free show and it was a home-made delight. But, yes, especially when John hooked up with a high powered phone promoter who made hay before having to make too many court room appearances, well, you have a point. The seedy 70s. It was John's folksy yet bigger than life personality that made the show.
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