Sometimes today when we are drowning in AI, bots, and even the "Operator" no longer being there,it is possible to get through. I just start dialing numbers, hoping that one will still work, better yet, might deliver me to a living human being from the age of He and She.
FIRST CALL: Why did CEO Scott O'Donnell, as the official story goes, which he confirmed when I reached him by phone, "resign" from circus world? Scott would only say that he and his overlords (aka: Wisconsin Historical Society) did not share the same vision for the future.
So, dialing for balance by reaching out to WHS and leaving messages with, among others, Colleen in Media Relations, she did return my call! I asked her if she could explain how they had come to loggerheads. She promised to consult with others and get back to me. This she did, but with not a single word answering my specific query. She sent me the same press release that I already had, which I quoted from in the story I earlier posted. An expert in the ways of the business world might be able to decode this, but I am not going there.
SECOND CALL: To Crypto Center (previously Staples) in L.A, about Ringling's recent three day stop there. To the guy, Lewis, who answered the phone, I said that I was hoping to get an estimation from them of the average number of customers in the seats per performance. He did not waste an empty second in evasion or passing the buck, but answered: "Between six and eight thousand." The arena seats 20.000.
Would that have been a disappointment to Crypto, I asked my source. "No," he replied.
You can look at the figure in two ways: What a flop! Not even half houses!
Or, you can look at the figure in context. Is there another circus out there anywhere in the world that draws that number of bodies in the seats?
EYES ON THE SCENE: And how did Ringling show? I have a deep state source who was on the scene and noted that the ends of the arena were blocked out. Pyrotechnics "were greatly reduced" and the large overhead screens were not in use.The show, he reported, was a "scaled" down version of what he had seen at an earlier date months ago, which amounted to him as a "thinning of the herd." (I like that) For example, an Ethiopian father and son foot juggling was not on the bill. Some of those in his party, he noted, were critical of the show, but he stood by the excellent review he had given the show when he saw it earlier in the season.
End of on-the-ground reporting the older fashioned way.
3 comments:
How strange that you revel in the low attendance of shows that are trying to adapt to the modern world. No Dave, 3 rings with elephants are never coming back. We are on our way out. Circus needs to survive past the lives of Circus fans.
"Revel"? I gave high marks, did I not, to the crowd size as likely being far beyond those of any other circus type shows in the world. No?
And, may I ask, since when is the act of trying to report on the actual attendance by going to the source an act of sour grapes? It is merely trying to report the truth. Had the answer from Crypto being closer to full houses, you might have seen a big splashy headline to that affect. I can guarantee you this, I would have reported it.
Attendance as a subject is the third rail of circus reporting. Don’t go there, no, no! I suppose this little bit of digging on my part was a shock to your system? Sorry,
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