Kelly Miller Circus Website to Runaway Clowns Steve Copeland and Ryan Combs: Come Back, Please! .... Well, How Do You Read it? .... Hey, I've Got More Big Top Bits to Go -- Come Back, Please!

 Not 1, not 2 or 3 or 4, but 10 photos of Steve and Ryan appear on the Kelly Miller website

Something about Kelly Miller’s quirky website, capriciously out of sync with the PRESENT tense, that keeps me wondering why Hugo Central features photos of long-departed jesters Steve Copeland and Ryan Combs?  Hardly a space for the new replacement clown.  Here’s why, guessing:  They’re either falsely luring repeat customers into the tent by promising more antics from the dynamic duo, or this website is morphing into a picture gallery of  K-M performers, yesterday, today, and maybe tomorrow --- or none of the sideways.

Might John Ringling North II rue his having nudged the guys to speak with Circo Hermanos Vazquez about work? That's where they ended up going.  Will be interesting to see if they stay the course next season, or giggle elsewhere.

Okay, so that didn't grab you?  So let me try harder: How deadly the naive assumptions of a school  teacher posing as an animal trainer? She, not named, while taking her students to the Monaco Circus in Cusco, Peru, dared to enter the big cage, intent on demonstrating that the lion in there was not aggressive. Oh, sure, teach!  A big NO. Demonstration turns into horror show when teacher, once inside, gets viciously grabbed by the not-mild beast, dragged out of the cage by its teeth, and dangled around the ring “like a rag doll,”as reported by Chuck Burnes in Circus Report.  Good grief!  A teacher that stupid?  The show's real trainer applied a rod against the overly flirtatious beast  and managed to subdue its terrifying courtship. If only Dr. Phil had been there, all parties might have behaved better. at least until Jerry Springer could intervene ...

Music is in the ear of the beholder, and the bigger the ear, the better.  These elephants are making it their own way, so maybe it's time to revive Johnny North's  whimsical elephant ballet?  This takes us to North Thailand, where sixteen mammoths who make up the Thai Elephant Orchestra play especially designed instruments.  Three CDs released so far.  What next for the prima pachyderms? A stint on Bangkok's Got Talent?  Dancing with the Stars?  Beethoven under the big top?

Big Apple’s date on big screens,  nationwide, is fast approaching.  A goggle search reveals the show will be seen in about 25 movie houses in and around the epi-center of entertainment, that being L.A.  Most venues tape delaying (a wise box office move) rather than streaming live, 9:30 PST.. This is a big excitement, and I can’t wait ...  But, maybe not quite unprecedented, as previously I poised.  In back checking some of my own more sobering work, sans the silly dots, I see that a complete performance of Ringling- Barnum was televised from the Garden in New York in 1948 (and why am I wondering if this really happened?), at the bonny dawn of television.  Most of those tuning in were likely New Yorkers boob tubing it inside bars, where the new magic screens were being shown around then, to jump start early patronage.

END RINGERS: Peter Peke, in exit mode from a visit to Cirque du Soulei’s terrific Varekai, being asked by a fellow, “So, how did you like the plot?”  Pausing, pickled, and by this posting pardoned, a thematically challenged Pepke piped,  “I wasn't aware there was one.”   Neither was anybody else, except for Cirque’s most  self-deluded fans, having to hallucinate in order to find and follow the Big Theme ... Billy Barton's first posting for Circus Report, back in October, 1975, reprinted by the same: “Greetings from the first column by the Rex Reed of the circus.  Nothing is sacred, kiddies, and inasmuch as we all love secrets, I promise not to keep any.”  When reading CR, I always save, for last, the best part, reprints from old Barton columns.

 Swinging singer, Franchesca Cavallini, sings "I am the circus."

...  Carson and Barnes, from reports, surely looks more than one notch higher in creative production, what with a singling aerialist Franchesca Cavallini, and dancers who look like dancers..  I wish the Byrd of Byrds would fly west next season.  I promise to buy peanuts!. ...  Don Stacey thumbs upping a new DVD that sounds divine.  Sixty three minutes of footage, World Circus, from visits by Moon Productions to eleven countries, following “five top international circus acts.”  Interviews, also included, feature the likes of Kenneth Fled, Paul Binder, Tim Roberts, and other big top luminaries.  Here’s a link to buy: www.worldcrcusculture-movie.com 

OFF THE LOT, ACROSS THE STREET: Football Maximus, drop dead and let Big Bang Theory back on Monday Nights! I'll take Sheldon and his goofy friends any day over the sorry spectacle of young "athletes" prepping for a life of brain damage and pain. ... Did you read about those London tunnel thieves, digging holes to reach up into shops bearing ATMs and expensive loot?   They're even "digging" above ground ... .Ooops, there’s my bus!  See you next time! ...

Reading Planet Circus: Yes to Those Resilient Russians, Ring Wizards Who Flourish in Post-Soviet Times

   The Old Circus (aka: Nikulin Circus) in Moscow.

Flaring high over the new issue of Planet Circus is a very fine account by Gregory Ostrowski — Russian Circus - The Long Way in 95 Years.  Ostrowski follows the birth of the Soviet Circus in 1919, and shows how it has managed to grow and flourish over the years, even into the difficult post-Soviet era, when massive government funding dried up, leaving artists to more or less fend for themselves.  Soyusgoscirk (circuses of the Soviet Union) now it calls itself Rosgoscirk, for Russian circuses.

Now, it struggles for other forms of funding.  But now, it still produces world class acts and programs of deft invention.   In many ways, competing principally with China, Russia still leads the way.   Where there were once some 60 plus permanent arenas (spread through the since-disbanded 15 Soviet republics), Russia alone now operates about three dozen venues, and keeps eight tents on hand for touring.  That’s a heartening achievement, given the economic turmoil in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse.  If you love circus art, you have to love these indomitable  Russians.

From Whence the Montreal Monster?

Ostrowski, it would appear, takes on the Cirque du Soleil’s claims of modern-day reinvention by tracing the birth of the modern circus we know today back to 1930s Russia.  He is essentially correct.  It should be no secret to insiders that  Cirque’s founding artistic director, Guy Caron, was swept away, found his muse and his way, at a performance of a touring Moscow Circus troupe in Canada in 1970.   For six years following, he studded circus art in communist block Hungary at the State Circus School.

When I first saw Cirque du Soleil, in its first away-from-Canada date, in Los Angeles in 1987, I knew that its roots were in Russia. 

Quoting Ostrowski

“It is possible to say that in the late 1920s, for the first time in the world, the whole state branch of circus arts was created in Russia.    Nowadays when we create a circus program in many ways we must remember that the origins of this part of circus activity are not the remote past, they arose in the mid 30s of the last century.”

“Then there were the first attempts to create programs with a single thematic content...”  Yes, true, as when they tried rendering revolutionary poet Vladimir Mayakovsky’s “Moscow is Burning” in circus action, only to discover how difficult such well-intended ventures can be, and still are.   But those bold new concepts, drawing from the collective contributions of artists from many spheres,  would come to influence alternative circus programming in venues of higher learning and creative endeavoring. 

Thus, a flavor of justifiable pride rightfully informs Ostrowski's article, though murky it may be on occasion, as when overplaying box office demands (not all the seats in all the outlying regions were ever so easy to fill as he would have us believe), or advancing contradictory stats, to wit, for example, he writes of there being “36 circuses all over Russia,” but he also writes of there being some 3,000 artists who “perform in 24 circus programs.”  What about the other half dozen, I wondered.

Still on Top 

Nonetheless, Ostrowski’s central thesis holds.  The Russians have managed to sustain their artistic dominance.  Consider their showing at the leading circus festivals, or in the rings of major world circuses.

I study the picture, posted above, of the Old Circus in Moscow, focusing in on the small area just below the bandstand, and how fondly I recall sitting there one night, 35 years ago this very month, with my interpreter, Tanya Matveeva, whom I had just met outside the building.   We were embarking on a series of interviews in Moscow for a book I was researching on the history of circus in Russia.  

The thrill of discovery that evening, and of the sharing souls in the days to come who would answer my many questions, would surely mark a high point in my circus-going adventures.

And I got to see the great Karandash!

Say what you may about Russian society and politics.  In rings of wonder around the world, they still take big bold moves.  They still push boundaries.  They sill thrill.

Bad Movies Drive Me Back to TV Land .... Call Me a Born Again Boob Tube Believer

 Judy Dench and Steve Coogan in Philomena, one of only two films nominated for Best Picture  of the year that fully impressed me.

Thanks to Netflix, I was able to watch all of the nine films that were nominated last year for Best Picture.  I could hardly believe how awful most of them are.  What were Academy voters thinking?  There were, to be sure, two outstanding exceptions, shown in these photos, each finely wrought.

Facing a first date:  Joaquin Phoenix in Her.

The two exceptions that won me completely over are Philomena, with Judy Dench, and Her, a brilliant and disturbing look into a future when human beings (what’s left of them) form virtual relationships with Operating Systems -- PC  voices interacting with desperate electronic addicts.  Given the astonishing evidence out there of a preference for digital interactions over in-the-flesh, I can actually see such a thing happening, and it turns my stomach.

Her is a scary, challenging, and provocative flick.

All the other seven, for a variety of reasons, left me bored, exasperated, or thoroughly turned off.  A few, in fact, I did turn off.  Perhaps, it was just a matter of finding them a very difficult lot to sit through.

And the experience made me appreciate what TV has to offer.  Lately, I’ve finally given Big Bang Theory a chance, and what a blast.  Some of the best writing ever for a comedy sit com.  I love the very ordinary characters, even if Sheldon, were he not a sit com icon, would be under 24  hour psychiatric observation.  Will he end up married to the female nerd?  I doubt that.

I just discovered a big reality TV comedy contest called Wipe Out.  Talk about obstacle addicts making ragged Ann and Andy flop dolls of themselves, across a maze of amusing obstacles.   Just watching them, after missing a hurdle, getting tossed into water or mud,  for me, amounts to a howling good laugh.  No brains required.  There’s that big rubbery sledge hammer thing that smacks them good when they fail to avoid it.  And the two narrators sound like low key carnies in a shady penny arcade, providing a satire on sports casters in general.  It's a hoot!

Downton Abby:  Yes!  Finally, I have fallen for Masterpiece Theatre, and in a big way. I rented every episode up to the one that I first saw. I'm also enjoying The Paradise.  And as for Agatha Christie's  Poirot, even though I often get tangled up in trying to keep track of too many characters, David Suchet, above, has created one of the most memorable characters in the history of drama.  Just watching him carry on is a supreme pleasure. 

Jeopardy is kind of interesting, even if I can't answer the vast majority of the questions.  Alex Trevek  should shave his newly acquired mustache, either that, or audition for a role on Masterpiece Theatre.

I imagine that are many more shows I would enjoy, were I to take the time to check them out.  But I resist becoming a prisoner to TV.  And, after all, I still watch movies from NetFlix, even if last year's acclaimed gems left me dumbfounded.

A revolutionary New Day for Watching Circuses: Big Apple Circus LIVE on Big Screens, Nationwide

I am waiting for Saturday morning, November 8,  at 9:30, when I will be inside a movie house in the Bay Area watching a live performance of the Big Apple Circus, from Lincoln Center in New York.

I can’t think of a precedent for this: A complete performance from start to finish, in real time.

We talk about watching a circus in person as being by far the best way to see it.  And, indeed, it is.  But what we are talking about is the very unpredictable nature of circus art itself, such that, sitting there in our seats, we know that at any moment danger or worse could visit the big top.

A missed triple.  A missed connection.  A wild animal going wild on its trainer.  Worse yet, getting lose and running away. 

Do you ever go to a play, a musical, a ballet, the opera, or a pop concert wondering who that day might stumble and fall, get hurt, or face the final curtain?  Do you ever fear for somebody's’ life watching great ballet dancers soaring over a stage? I do not.

And another thing:  The wow factor.  At a circus, we root for the juggler to keep all of the hoops and clubs in motion, the flyer to avoid the net.  Do you root for actors or singers in a like manner?

At a circus, we know of the darker potential realities that lurk in the shadows.  And so, watching circus performers prove their skills in the living present is what gives a circus performance a heightened power, each of the tricks the thrill of achievement before our eyes.   No second takes under the big top.  No editing before or after the act. There it is, in the beauty of indisputable raw truth. 

When Big Apple Circus, Hats off to them! --  hits the screens come November 8, another first for me: Two Big Apple shows in the same year!

Who could have ever guessed that such a day would come?

The crowds, will they come?  Have no idea.   I hope they do.  All of us who do not live in Big Apple’s limited touring range may be able to “go to” this wonderful circus every year.

Now, that’s revolutionary.   And to think, Paul Binder's troupe finally did make it out to the West Coast.

9.23.14

San Francisco in the Movies — Before the Tourists Came and the Families Fled

For me, I much prefer a San Francisco in memory. Real town.  Hard working people.  Families.  Sophisticated shopping for the rich and upwardly striving.  A real amusement park, Playland-at-the-Beach, for the masses.  That gone, too.   Produce and plants and factories.  Ships of the world docking at dozens of mighty piers, offloading and on-loading.  Short line freight trains sharing space with city streets.

Today, I go over there and feel crushed under noise, obnoxious congestion,  and tourism, crushed by more high rise condos going up, still, over land fill by the bay, down there where the wrong earthquake could reap a tragic outcome.  Jackhammers pound incessantly away.  People, struggling to pay rent, are run out of their rent-controlled spaces (evicted) their buildings being converted over for office or retail rising on new technology, or more high rises to favor the rich. Digital dough is swamping this town. Sure, a beautiful city.  But I like it less and less.  Not at all sure, had I the money, that I would even want to live over there. 

Some remarkable photography of the city that was comes through, unexpectedly, in movies made way back when.  Other night, I saw The Lineup, and marveled at black and white images, snapped  off my screen.  This is may give you as flavor of how the city looked and felt before Oakland's deeper water ports stole away San Francisco's shipping trade to containerized ships,  Before Pier 39 turned the place into a Disneyland. 
 

The Ferry building is now a thriving food arcade, pricey and fashionable.

Ships of commerce once docked along the Embarcadero.  

Some forty-plus piers thrived with shipping activity. Now, they house amusements and museums and offices,  or have been demolished to make way for a ballpark and condos.

A short line railroad once used these tracks.  Now,  they run a collection of old city street cars, loaded with tourists, headed for Pier 39's trivial attractions.  Slow as snails.   If you go, walk.

It was a working class town, believe it or not.  In my youth, I was employed for a time as a clerk for Planters Peanuts.

I love this shot, showing the Cow Palace in the background, about ten years after it was built. Ringling packed the arena the first year.  Turnaways.   

The iconic Golden Bridge retains its majesty, but soon, its famed architecture will be compromised by the installation, just under the deck of nets designed to catch and thwart mortals seeking to bring their lives to an end.  

The Palace of the Legion of Honor, intact.

Sutros Baths, just above Playland, was a great place to go, full of atmosphere, penny arcade amusements, old Barnumesque exhibits, model circus wagons by Bill Taggart, an ice rink, and. in its glory days, several giant swimming pools.  It burned down in 1966, the cause highly suspicious.

By the time The Lineup was filmed, the pools had been shut down.  Sutros was nearing its end.  The ice rink was about the only major draw.

One of the best scenes from the film.  The chief gangster, in a wheel chair, left, comes to collect a stolen treasure.   Little does  he know he's about to go ice skating, but on wheels rather than blades

 Oops! Bye, bye!

The Bay Bridge and Treasure Island form one fabulous backdrop.

When asphalt assaulted the city's beauty.  This is probably the Embarcadero freeway.  Below, a rare view of it, still under construction when the film was shot, around 1957.  It was a monstrosity, perhaps, fatefully speaking, the driving reason for the 1989 earthquake, which effectively rendered it inoperable.  And so it was taken down.     

Another thing about going to San Francisco.  And here, you need to listen to me!  I used to love to walk across the city, from the Ferry Building out to Ocean Beach, nearly every week.  But I came close twice to being hit by a car, and learned that San Francisco was the most dangerous city for pedestrians in California (evidently, no longer true).  Still ...

If you go there to walk, revise what I said above -- don't!

Carny Rides To Die For ... Check Out This Wacko Showing Off His Firm's Monster Midway Death-a-Whirls

Centrifuge Brain Project

If you want a good laugh, the Centrifuge Brain Project is a satire on the ultimate lunacy in EXTREME carnival ride design.  These horrific screamers make your common wood roller coaster look like a horse-drawn buggy ride in Amish country.

Sent to me by new nephew, Jeff, at first, I took the thing on face value, wondering where in the world these rides were in actual operation, and wondering if the narrator had spent some quality time in a nut house.   

Second visit, now in on the joke, I laughed my head off!!!!

Fasten your seat belts and sign your wills; you may never return.

here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVeHxUVkW4w

"Ringling Magic," At Last, Under Kelly Miller Canvas

Tonight, just now, seconds ago, I re-watched the Kelly Miller DVD that John Ringling North II had sent me a while back, wanting to take a second look at the sensationally captivating young ball bounce juggler from Ethiopia, Abrham Gebre, making a  "first time in America" appearance on the show.

I was even more impressed, thinking I might have slightly overreacted when first I saw him on the video, his presence lifting the show truly into Ringling territory, far beyond the normal fare of a pleasant JRN II circus program.   He is a fair sensation,  somersaulting into the ring (I hadn't noticed that the first time), grabbing the audience's attention with an ingratiating charm full of a sharing energy, and proceeding to dazzle with his routine, ending up atop a ladder on a table, to produce a neat payoff.  This is the stuff of Gold.

End of act, during moments when I heard a drum roll, and saw blue canvas, I felt almost as if I were back in De Mille's The Greatest Show on Earth under that gorgeous big top.

When North bought the show back in around  2007, he or Jim Royal issued a statement to a press person about wanting to bring a "little Ringling magic" to the show

Well, this is that magic.  Gebre is probably the best act  North & Royal have ever signed, the Poema family coming in a solid second.  There were some African tumblers, I believe, whom some thought were the high point of the edition, one of the first,  in which they appeared.

Perhaps Johnny Come Lately has a way of finding and signing newer talent on the rise, at good terms.  A flair for the foreign.

Here, in the charismatic attack of a great performer and  entertainer (like Brunn, Gebre's body is in constant motion, too, complimenting his diverse repertoire),  North II presents the genuine article.

I could almost hear  Merle Evans' men thundering through, "Sing Hallelujah!" ... the ringmaster shouting high and wide ... the Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat Sebastian!

Sunday Morning with Don Marcks: Concello Gets “Kicked Out” of the Ringling Show... All About that Strange Ill-fated European Tour

 Photos from the program magazine

The recollections of it, depending upon whom to believe, are so wildly variable as to leave one in a complete muddle.  Was it that bad?   Or, no, you say it was quite good, really?  When John Ringling North took Ringling-Barnum  to Europe in 1963, banking on continental acclaim, great business, and  a regular annual our of major Old World capitals, he left virtually all of the planning and delivery to Arthur Concello.  The two had, what would become, a legendary history, something like Barnum & Bailey.

We know the show may have opened in shambles — director Richard Barstow curiously not called over to begin his work until the show was well into rehearsals, under the default direction of Concello’s girl friend, Maggie Smith.  The reviews were good, business fairly good and building.

From Don’s letter to me dated November 13, 1963, when I was in Scotland at the time:

You’ll be interested to learn some information I picked up while visiting James Bros.  Everyone was talking about the fact that North has kicked Concello out of the Ringling organization.  He is reportedly suing Concello for something like $2 million.  As I understand things Concello will manage the New York World’s Fair circus and then his connection with the Ringling show ceases completely.  What has happened or why the sudden outburst I don’t know.  In fact I’m most anxious to learn about this myself, so will surely keep you posted.”

A page from the program magazine. I do not see a dearth of talent.
.

About the “sudden outburst,” years later, while interviewing Mr. Concello, indoor pool side, in his Sarasota home (he was kind to me, always) when the subject of the European tour came up, at one point in the disintegrating relationship between AMC and JRN abroad, Mr. Concello motioned me to follow him around the pool to a closet.  In it, he reached up to retrieve his diary for the year 1963. He thumbed through it to a page, and held it up for me to read;

“North raising hell”.

He stood there looking a little amused by my serious reaction.  But, in fact, I got a distinct feeling that he had felt very very uncomfortable being around North at the time.  He did not know, although he may have suspected, that, upon returning to the states to work on the World's Fair unit, he was about to be fired.

The two men were equally strong willed, from my observations. Concello’s handling of Ringling in Europe seemed engineered to favor choreographer Margaret Smith (the two later married) over the director of record, Dick Barstow.  And here is the strangest part of the story: Barstow kept waiting to be called over to begin his work, and kept being put off.  Finally, he was notified to come, and when he arrived, the show had already opened. Flabbergasted at the chaotic state of the program that he claimed to have found, Barstow bolted up to JRN and demanded that his name be taken off the program, that he was going back to the states.  North talked Barstow out of it. 

Henry Ringling North, in an interview he gave me at the Yale Club in NY, some years later, called the Paris opening “an absolute disgrace.”  Meaning, I think, the program was a mess, as sometimes they can be the first few performances out.   Based on the program lineup, no way can anybody claim that the roster of performers was not generally top drawer.  But, of course, it’s all in how the whole thing is put together. 

They played a few cities.  Photos show most of the seats filled.  Ken Dodd, who has seen a video of the show, thought it looked very good.

John Ringling North let go of his dream, in my opinion, not wishing to harm his high reputation over there, as he had already done in the states when he struck the big top.  He wished more, I believe, to sustain the peace and respect he had found in the Old World.

9.14.14

Struck by Kelly Miller on DVD: A Tale of Two Circuses Under the Same Tent

 First Time in America: Abrham Gebre

It came in the mail, not unexpected, per what seems a friendly tradition, a big envelope which, when squeezed, suggested the inclusion of peanuts. MMM, those I will like, for sure.  It came without a note; perhaps the sender sent it reluctantly, though I have never solicited such.  Perhaps he could still not resist, wishing to maybe tease me with evidence of the kind of a circus he is on record for wishing to produce – the “best” in America.

On the top left of the envelope was one word, written in letters: NORTH.  Of course, we know this to be none other than John Ringling North II.

Inside, a program and a DVD of the 2014 edition, still out there somewhere on the road.

Of course, I would watch it, forever interested in what the House of Ringling may be up to.  At the same time,  I had no intention of reviewing the show on the basis of a DVD.  My thinking along these lines is “evolving,” however, because recorded videos can contain an entire performance, unedited for the most part.

But, at the end of the first half, I knew I would not be commenting at all.

And then, in the second half, came an act so good, it felt like an out-of-body experience at Kelly Miller.  A young juggler from Ethiopia of inventive skill, showmanship, and a fast gripping delivery,  sending me into Ringling or Big Apple territory.  Maybe  not perfect, but Damn good.  This guy would hold his own in any ring.  His name is Abrham Gebre.

 And then yet another act of high-line showmanship, this involving fire, the artist, Lamount, returning for his second year on K-M, and earlier seen on a Lane Talbert You Tube,  but only in a sampling of clips, and no, I do not review clips.  Here, in complete, the act is remarkable in its variation and complexity, in how a series of blazing stage pictures in the dark can build to a mesmerizing climax.

And so, here I am, to a degree commenting on the two circuses I saw in that one tent.  Never have I witnessed a performance so incredibly varied -- from rank amateurism to virtual world class fare.

First off, to a couple of very good new acts that lift the first half into pro territory: Veteran juggler Nicholas Souren, and two finely choreographed Mongolian contortion acrobats, Amina & Zaia, who come with a touch of Vegas razzle dazzle, offering some novel moves on an act we see perhaps too often these days, the public seeming never to get enough of this type of slower moving artistry.  But they give the show class, if only they had a stronger pay off..

So, at Kelly Miller circus 2014, a show otherwise staid. stagnant, and numbingly redundant redeems itself at four intervals with a much higher class of action than we have grown to expect from Johnny North  II’s Cherry Pie Repertory company.

** Juggler Noholas Souren.  He offers a full winning repertory, but what I lacked was a more flashy presentation, perhaps just a more colorful costume.

** The Mongolians.  Lots of meticulous class and styling.  I'd expected something rudimentary, but got a polished frame.

**  Ethiopian ball bounce juggler, Abraham Gebre -- a star in the making, and a credit to North’s potential ability to go after and book some of the best out there. 

**  Biggest surprise: Lamount, The Human Volcano. 

The other circus under the same tent?  I will not dwell, I am not here, believe it or not, to rile those who detest my line of critical prose.   It would be pointless.  But for those ready to claim I haven’t the guts to come clean on what exactly it is I find weak, okay, a few examples:

* Dogs that appear to be in training rather than performing.

* Clowning that falls woefully short of the mark.

* The Carousel "production"  number comes up a blank, a void.   Almost nothing happens, and it was a let down, for I have noted in past comments that JRN II shows a flair for production.  Not here.  The action is pinned on pleasant, slow moving  aerial work of little consequence.

Three examples, there.   The rest of the show, I suppose, is adequate.  Now, please, if you yourself are on fire, ready to fire off hate mail, may I kindly propose a way to cool off?  Consider that Circus Report called the show “the best in America,” and that Spectacle gave it a fairly glowing pass.  Still upset?  I’d suggest ditching this blog for good, pal. That’s what I do when I can’t stand whatever it is I can' stand anymore, like obnoxious talk show hosts -- or critics.

I will not linger.  Sometimes, a first draft is the most honest draft.   I did enjoy a new brand of peanuts, thank you “North.”

And I might now replay the DVD, just to enjoy what there is there to enjoy.  A friendly piece of unsolicited advice: Let go of your comfort zone, Johnny the Sequel, and think NEW.  And if I don't get a big envelope from you  next year, I will understand.  No hard feelings, okay?

End Ringers:  Incredible.  Three of the four acts I mention, all first timers, do not have photos on the show's website.  Steve and Ryan are still there, as are acts from other years.   Go figure.

Sunday Morning with Don Marcks: Ringling Quad Wars Produce Backstage Blood Between Rival Flyers, Charges Filed, Rigging Sabotage Alleged, One Troupe Thrown Off the Lot ...

We all know, I assume, that Miguel Vazquez was and is the undisputed Quad King. It was he who threw the first four somersaults into the hands of his brother-catcher, Juan, during the Tucson, AZ date  on July 10, 1982.  

A few seasons later,  Ringling boss Irvin Feld booked another high-flying troupe, the Caballeros, who had achieved similar quad success with Carson & Barnes.  The Big show now gave the public the spectacle of two quad kings battling it out, show by show, blow by blow.  And  to the latter, it nearly came.

Not sure if this was such a good idea.  Seems, in retrospect, like an insult to Miguel, who had achieved such greatness in Feld’s center ring (excuse me, ring number 2), and who would continue with other circuses, near and far, to sustain a legendary record that nobody since has come even close to matching, those anonymous Russian flyers, The Cranes, perhaps notwithstanding.

Tensions between the two troupes fired jealousies and anger, and led to allegations that somebody was trying to sabotage the other troupe's rigging. 

In his letter to me dated, September 11, 1988, Don Marcks was addressing the subject of Big Irwin being only one of three Pickle Family Circus clowns to achieve first line success on Broadway, in connection with the MacArthur Genius Grant he was awarded, and of the other two — Larry Pisoni and Geoff Hoyle, naturally wanting, but being unable, to match Irwin’s celebrity.  Hoyle came closer, albeit in local regional theatre venues.

Here comes the big shocker, from Don:

“Not sure if you were aware of it or not, but there has been a lot of trouble between the two flying acts on the Blue Unit this year and this has resulted in some fighting backstage, even filing charges against one another, some talk that cables were filed through, etc.  Anyway, it all ended here in Oakland when the Caballeros were fired.  I don’t know where they went, but no doubt they will pop up on some show soon or at least for next season anyway.”

How fitting that the quad was first thrown, and then thrown regularly by Vazquez, during arguably the last great American circus decade --  the 1980s.

Those greater and richer years, and that greatest of all circus achievement, are now history.  Yes, now and then we hear of somebody catching a quad, although  sometimes in an easier manner, thus diminishing the trick's integrity.

Now and then, a quad maybe out there, for one brief shinning moment.

During the 1980s, brief shinning moments were a more regular part of the program.