1955
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etlrusvcABo
With Jack Benny in the Act
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISstyvZQah4
Enrico Rastelli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mowNKg1vhl8
Rastelli's clown act.
enormously clever, VERY funny
2012? last 2 non funny music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WkNk3ihg9I
yu have to have merves never people who say they have no nerves,i find out they
have no talent. brunne
rbbb 1931 36 millette spec adler cds clown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7ycZdZBP4
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Sunday, May 01, 2016
What a Joke! Where are the Elephants??
Update: A few hours after the so-called live streaming yesterday, I linked onto it again, and this
time it began with the elephants coming in, and the darkness was no longer there. I am wondering
if we were purposely kept in the dark and forced to endure audio only just BEFORE the last parade of the elephants.
If so, a tacky promotion. The Felds have a way of being brilliant one moment, banal the next.
Posted on May 1:
I've been at the Ringling Facebook page, inviting me to watch the live stream. And I've been in the dark, all the while, listening to Ringling staff members talk about elephant cancer research, about the preservation angle, millions to charity, and about the new show coming up, which sounds quite dazzling -- ice to air to cement, I suppose.
Voices IN THE DARK.
What a fiasco. Were we being teased?
Maybe it's my PC.
I think I missed the Big Show -- or maybe the elephants escaped, too nervous or distraught or depressed to call it a day, a year, a season, a career. Fearing a loss of public attention, of kids and peanuts and fun things to do in bright colored rings.
time it began with the elephants coming in, and the darkness was no longer there. I am wondering
if we were purposely kept in the dark and forced to endure audio only just BEFORE the last parade of the elephants.
If so, a tacky promotion. The Felds have a way of being brilliant one moment, banal the next.
Posted on May 1:
I've been at the Ringling Facebook page, inviting me to watch the live stream. And I've been in the dark, all the while, listening to Ringling staff members talk about elephant cancer research, about the preservation angle, millions to charity, and about the new show coming up, which sounds quite dazzling -- ice to air to cement, I suppose.
Voices IN THE DARK.
What a fiasco. Were we being teased?
Maybe it's my PC.
I think I missed the Big Show -- or maybe the elephants escaped, too nervous or distraught or depressed to call it a day, a year, a season, a career. Fearing a loss of public attention, of kids and peanuts and fun things to do in bright colored rings.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Cole on the Dole: Show Trucks and Tent Leased to Dick Garden for His Big Top Circus ... John Pugh to Manage ... Kelly Miller Grabs Vineland Date
This just in from Don Covington, linking me to the following news, reported in today's Vineland Daily Journal:
It appears that notorious low-end circus producer Dick Garden has leased the Cole Bros Circus equipment from John Pugh, and will take it out under the title Big Top Circus.
Report focuses on Kelly Miller taking over the annual Cole Vineland, NJ date in a 2-day June stand. Cole held the date for 51 years.
What to expect? From Garden, not nearly as much as from Pugh. But Pugh, I have to assume, was out of money and options. Let's hope we can thank our lucky stars that Garden does not have his hands on the Cole title. I'd hate to see that honored name dragged through the dung of a Garden style operation.
Among Mr. Garden's more noteworthy contributions to the American circus scene, you may recall his infamous Toby Tyler Circus and its collapsing seats. He floods the market with free kid tickets, and brings a carny-circus to town. I saw one of his shows, years ago at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. It was so awful, that I fled the scene just as the rides were taking over the rings at intermission time.
More as the story develops -- or devolves. No, I'm not at all thrilled.
It appears that notorious low-end circus producer Dick Garden has leased the Cole Bros Circus equipment from John Pugh, and will take it out under the title Big Top Circus.
According to the report, Pugh will manage. Former Cole spokesman Tim Orris telling the Journal's , "Last Friday I learned of a
resurrection under a new management with the Cole Bros equipment leased
to Dick Garden but managed by John Pugh, who owned Cole Bros for the
last 50 years. I believe they are opening under the name
Big Top Circus."
Report focuses on Kelly Miller taking over the annual Cole Vineland, NJ date in a 2-day June stand. Cole held the date for 51 years.
What to expect? From Garden, not nearly as much as from Pugh. But Pugh, I have to assume, was out of money and options. Let's hope we can thank our lucky stars that Garden does not have his hands on the Cole title. I'd hate to see that honored name dragged through the dung of a Garden style operation.
Among Mr. Garden's more noteworthy contributions to the American circus scene, you may recall his infamous Toby Tyler Circus and its collapsing seats. He floods the market with free kid tickets, and brings a carny-circus to town. I saw one of his shows, years ago at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. It was so awful, that I fled the scene just as the rides were taking over the rings at intermission time.
More as the story develops -- or devolves. No, I'm not at all thrilled.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Big Top Bits: Horror on Ringling BMX Ramps ... A Late Cole Roll, or onto the Dole? ... My Great Nephew Compares Big Apple Circus to Ringling-Barnum ... and MORE! ...
Update, 4/23/16: Cole Bros. Circus has been sold, claims Anonymous leaving a comment here. Real or pipe dreaming?
First draft reckless: Not an easy opening, wondering what went wrong at Ringling in Fairfax VA when a BMX rider was thrown over the handlebars of his bike as it blew a tire and landed on his head The horrifying incident was captured on film and given prime time coverage on ABC. Show was stopped short, patrons instructed to leave. Strangest of all is Feld VP Stephan Payne declining to give out the name of the performer. I still can't find his name on the net. Why? ... Once again, it would seem, our attention falls to a failing prop. Ominous.
Big Show tech blunders, continued: So a bike tire blows -- accident or negligence? This marks the third mishap in recent years at Ringling. Last year, an aerialist suffered injuries after plunging 25 feet to the ground; the season before, you'll recall the collapse of a chandelier rigging, later found to have been ineptly and inadequately rigged, sending nine women to the floor, some seriously injured.
.
Will Cole roll, or go out on the dole? Cole Bros. Circus website back up and in glorious color promising, come June, to present "America's last real 3-ring circus under the big top" But try dialing the phone number listed, and see if you don't get Ma Bell’s dreary, “Please hang up and try dialing again.” Maybe when the world comes to an end, that is what we will hear, over and over again ...
What lurks inside the mind of Johnny Pugh? All one need do is watch the excellent Lane Talburt video visits to the show in 2011, easily findable on the website, to know that Johnny possess the heart of a do-or-die trouper. My speculations: Johnny really wants to go back out, but is hard pressed for money. Johnny sold the property to raise money to for some kind of a Cole roll-out. But why does the website play up animals when Johnny supposedly removed them from a theoretical wish list for the new season yet to possibly be? ... I can see a circus fan behind the scenes struggling to fund Johnny or buy the show himself. Don't count Pugh kaput. He is no stranger to producing on the brink.
END RINGERS: My niece Lisa e-mailing me about her 10-year-old son's reaction to Circus Xtreme: “I forgot to mention that Noah said he actually liked APPLE CIRCUS better in some ways, one being the tent!” ... Interesting story on Douglas McPherson's blog, Circus Mania about how many if not most of the Brit elephants trainers did not use bull hooks for the most part ... The Smithsonian putting together a big circus splash, come 2017, with big top show .. Cirque du Soleil, apparently minus its founder, about to open its 25 million dollar Broadway-or-bust baby, Paramour, this being their fourth attempt to capture Gotham for more than a season or less. Fine story about show in Sunday’s New York Times. Big shots from the new ownership group, (Guy Laliberte’s name no where in the story), looking in on previews and demanding a replacement for the lead actor plus cuts in running order, down to two hours. Wonder if that means two bearable hours? Some noting show’s resemblance to IRIS, the CDS opus that failed to click in LA few years back. ... I’m thinking Smash Hit, I’m thinking Blundering Bomb — Hmm, maybe I should ask my great nephew, Noah, to take a look and report back. ...
Apple Me a Convert: Finally, I am now an Apple person! Had to let go of my very small dumb phone, something to do about 2G going to 4G. So, wanting the lightest weight smart phone out there, (short of a flip job, which looks more like a medical alert device these days), I found it in Apple’s new SE, and what a beaut! Although Steve Jobs seems to have been a son of a you know who many times over (I watched both movies on his miserable life, what a perfectly miserable genius he was) My iPhone is, to quote C-Nets savvy review, a “small wonder.” And I am an iBeliever. What a joy to have something that works so easily and perfectly. And what a camera! That's why I got it over the 5S ... Breathtaking technology ...
Bonus Blather! This just in from Don Convington: Ringling's new show heralding "A Cosmic Family Adventure -- Experience a Circus Light Years Beyond the Expected!" ... Let's see, no elephants,. so what to replace pachyderm power? Monster trucks in space on a mission to save -- what? Come back again, I might have a big iFinish.ur oxxx journey that will let imaginations run wild with unexpected surprises and thrills at every turn. Clib ab
First draft reckless: Not an easy opening, wondering what went wrong at Ringling in Fairfax VA when a BMX rider was thrown over the handlebars of his bike as it blew a tire and landed on his head The horrifying incident was captured on film and given prime time coverage on ABC. Show was stopped short, patrons instructed to leave. Strangest of all is Feld VP Stephan Payne declining to give out the name of the performer. I still can't find his name on the net. Why? ... Once again, it would seem, our attention falls to a failing prop. Ominous.
Big Show tech blunders, continued: So a bike tire blows -- accident or negligence? This marks the third mishap in recent years at Ringling. Last year, an aerialist suffered injuries after plunging 25 feet to the ground; the season before, you'll recall the collapse of a chandelier rigging, later found to have been ineptly and inadequately rigged, sending nine women to the floor, some seriously injured.
.
Will Cole roll, or go out on the dole? Cole Bros. Circus website back up and in glorious color promising, come June, to present "America's last real 3-ring circus under the big top" But try dialing the phone number listed, and see if you don't get Ma Bell’s dreary, “Please hang up and try dialing again.” Maybe when the world comes to an end, that is what we will hear, over and over again ...
What lurks inside the mind of Johnny Pugh? All one need do is watch the excellent Lane Talburt video visits to the show in 2011, easily findable on the website, to know that Johnny possess the heart of a do-or-die trouper. My speculations: Johnny really wants to go back out, but is hard pressed for money. Johnny sold the property to raise money to for some kind of a Cole roll-out. But why does the website play up animals when Johnny supposedly removed them from a theoretical wish list for the new season yet to possibly be? ... I can see a circus fan behind the scenes struggling to fund Johnny or buy the show himself. Don't count Pugh kaput. He is no stranger to producing on the brink.
END RINGERS: My niece Lisa e-mailing me about her 10-year-old son's reaction to Circus Xtreme: “I forgot to mention that Noah said he actually liked APPLE CIRCUS better in some ways, one being the tent!” ... Interesting story on Douglas McPherson's blog, Circus Mania about how many if not most of the Brit elephants trainers did not use bull hooks for the most part ... The Smithsonian putting together a big circus splash, come 2017, with big top show .. Cirque du Soleil, apparently minus its founder, about to open its 25 million dollar Broadway-or-bust baby, Paramour, this being their fourth attempt to capture Gotham for more than a season or less. Fine story about show in Sunday’s New York Times. Big shots from the new ownership group, (Guy Laliberte’s name no where in the story), looking in on previews and demanding a replacement for the lead actor plus cuts in running order, down to two hours. Wonder if that means two bearable hours? Some noting show’s resemblance to IRIS, the CDS opus that failed to click in LA few years back. ... I’m thinking Smash Hit, I’m thinking Blundering Bomb — Hmm, maybe I should ask my great nephew, Noah, to take a look and report back. ...
Apple Me a Convert: Finally, I am now an Apple person! Had to let go of my very small dumb phone, something to do about 2G going to 4G. So, wanting the lightest weight smart phone out there, (short of a flip job, which looks more like a medical alert device these days), I found it in Apple’s new SE, and what a beaut! Although Steve Jobs seems to have been a son of a you know who many times over (I watched both movies on his miserable life, what a perfectly miserable genius he was) My iPhone is, to quote C-Nets savvy review, a “small wonder.” And I am an iBeliever. What a joy to have something that works so easily and perfectly. And what a camera! That's why I got it over the 5S ... Breathtaking technology ...
Bonus Blather! This just in from Don Convington: Ringling's new show heralding "A Cosmic Family Adventure -- Experience a Circus Light Years Beyond the Expected!" ... Let's see, no elephants,. so what to replace pachyderm power? Monster trucks in space on a mission to save -- what? Come back again, I might have a big iFinish.ur oxxx journey that will let imaginations run wild with unexpected surprises and thrills at every turn. Clib ab
Big Tops Tottering a Tad: Ringling's BMX Rider Suffering Accident is Liakable on TV ... A Late Cole Roll, ho ho? ... Mister McFiddle Compares Big Apple Circus to Ringling-Barnum ... and MORE! ...
First draft reckless: Not to in any way disrespect the terrible fall suffered by BMX rider during a Ringling performance, may I constructively wonder if the accident may inflate crowd sizes ahead for the following reasons:
!. The guy, as interviewed in the hospital is quite appealing – the sort of a chap the mid-Americans who patronize circuses warm up to. 2. In this instance, it was not the fault of Ringling prop hands or riggers (well, not that we yet know of) as seems to have been the case with the falling chandelier last year. 3. It was done in the act of genuine risk-taking, but in a modern extreme sport that plays well to the younger crowd. I’m hoping the best for whomever the rider is. I’m hoping for his full recovery, and that his courage and stamina may be a plus, in this instance, rather than recent PR setbacks for the Felds.
Now it gets STRANGE: Why has the show not released the BMX rider’s name? Stephan Payne mum to the press. I did some searching on the net, and could not find it. I could swear I saw him interviewed on TV. A likable lad.
Onward to the views of 10-year-old Mister McFiddle, of Luray VA, I being, I think the kid’s great uncle, for twas who nicknamed him. He’s really Noah Gerrity, and he went with Lisa and his dad Brian to see the Ringling’s Circus xTreme in xxx. My niece e-mailed a little later about our young patron, “I forgot to mention that Noah said he actually liked APPLE CIRCUS better in some ways, one being the tent!” ... The kid is smart and able to think for himself. He, Lisa and I took in a performance of the Big Apple Circus show I think Noah was referring to, two seasons back, and although neither Lisa nor I were persuasively thrilled, we made a point not to rain our reservations on Little Noah, but to ask him to tell us what he liked. He liked a lot. He had also seen the vastly superior (in my opinion) Dance On! from BAC a few seasons before that. So there!
Johnny Pugh, you are so slyly silent, or are you striving for a way back under your imposing big top? Harry Kingston comments about the website promising that the show will be back in some form of action come June. The phone number, when I dialed it, brought on Ma Bell’s dreary, “Please hang up and try dialing again.” Maybe when the World comes to an end, that is what we will hear, over and over again ...
Here are my Cole Roll-or-Dole speculations, partly influenced by having watched some of the excellent Lane Talburt video visits to the show a few years back, all of them easily findable on the beautiful website tease. To repeat, SPECULATIONS: Johnny really wants to go back out, but is hard pressed for money. Johnny sold the property to raise money to for some kind of a Cole roll-out. Why does the message play up animals when Johnny supposedly removed them from a theoretical wish list for the new season yet to possibly be? Oh, yes, that leads to my conjuring up an image of fans close to Johnny working on him for some kind of a show, be it under his tent or out around home plate in ballparks. Those sort of fans would scream Animal Acts with every chance. OR, some aspiring big top boss is scrambling to save the season, unrealistically promising not just animals but "America's last real 3-ring circus under the big top" ... Pugh has been down to pennies before, so he’s no stranger to producing on the brink.
END RINGERS: From Douglas McPherson’s Circus Mania blog, a great story about how many if not most of Brit elephants trainers did not use bu;l hooks for the most part; link to McPherson's blog, listed along the right bar ...The Smithsonian putting together a big circus splash, come 2017, with big top show .. Cirque du Soleil, apparently minus its founder, about to open their 25 million dollar Broadway baby, Paramour along the Great White Way, this being their Number FOUR attempt to capture Gotham for more than a year or two ... Fine story about show in Sunday’s New York Times. Seems some big shots from the new ownership group, (Guy Laliberte’s name no where in the story), looking in on previews and after demanding a replacement lead and cuts in running order, down to two hours. Wonder if that means two bearable hours? Some noting show’s resemblance to IRIS, the CDS opus that failed to click in LA few years back. ... I’m thinking Smash Hit, I’m thinking Blundering Bomb — Hmm, maybe I should ask Mister Fiddle to take a look and report back. ...
Apple Me a Convert: Finally, I am now an Apple person! Had to let go of my very small dumb phone, something to do about 2G going to 4G. So, wanting the lightest weight smart phone out there, (short of a flip job, which looks more like a medical alert device these days), I found it in Apple’s new SE, and what a beaut! Although Steve Jobs seems to have been a son of a you know who many times over (I watched both movies on his miserable life, what a perfectly miserable genius he was) My iPhone is, to quote C-Nets savvy review, a “small wonder.” And I am an iBeliever. What a joy to have something that works so easily and perfectly ... Breathtaking technology ...
SPECIAL AFTER SHOW! This just in from Don Convington: Ringling's new show heralding "A Cosmic Family Adventure -- Experience a Circus Light Years Beyond the Expected!" ... Let's see, no elephants,. so what to replace pachyderm power? Monster trucks on a mission to save -- what? Come back again, I might have a big iFinish.u let imaginations run wild with unexpected surprises and thrills at every turn. Climb aboard and take the helm as a circus star seeker for an unforgettable experience!
Experience a Circus
!. The guy, as interviewed in the hospital is quite appealing – the sort of a chap the mid-Americans who patronize circuses warm up to. 2. In this instance, it was not the fault of Ringling prop hands or riggers (well, not that we yet know of) as seems to have been the case with the falling chandelier last year. 3. It was done in the act of genuine risk-taking, but in a modern extreme sport that plays well to the younger crowd. I’m hoping the best for whomever the rider is. I’m hoping for his full recovery, and that his courage and stamina may be a plus, in this instance, rather than recent PR setbacks for the Felds.
Now it gets STRANGE: Why has the show not released the BMX rider’s name? Stephan Payne mum to the press. I did some searching on the net, and could not find it. I could swear I saw him interviewed on TV. A likable lad.
Onward to the views of 10-year-old Mister McFiddle, of Luray VA, I being, I think the kid’s great uncle, for twas who nicknamed him. He’s really Noah Gerrity, and he went with Lisa and his dad Brian to see the Ringling’s Circus xTreme in xxx. My niece e-mailed a little later about our young patron, “I forgot to mention that Noah said he actually liked APPLE CIRCUS better in some ways, one being the tent!” ... The kid is smart and able to think for himself. He, Lisa and I took in a performance of the Big Apple Circus show I think Noah was referring to, two seasons back, and although neither Lisa nor I were persuasively thrilled, we made a point not to rain our reservations on Little Noah, but to ask him to tell us what he liked. He liked a lot. He had also seen the vastly superior (in my opinion) Dance On! from BAC a few seasons before that. So there!
Johnny Pugh, you are so slyly silent, or are you striving for a way back under your imposing big top? Harry Kingston comments about the website promising that the show will be back in some form of action come June. The phone number, when I dialed it, brought on Ma Bell’s dreary, “Please hang up and try dialing again.” Maybe when the World comes to an end, that is what we will hear, over and over again ...
Here are my Cole Roll-or-Dole speculations, partly influenced by having watched some of the excellent Lane Talburt video visits to the show a few years back, all of them easily findable on the beautiful website tease. To repeat, SPECULATIONS: Johnny really wants to go back out, but is hard pressed for money. Johnny sold the property to raise money to for some kind of a Cole roll-out. Why does the message play up animals when Johnny supposedly removed them from a theoretical wish list for the new season yet to possibly be? Oh, yes, that leads to my conjuring up an image of fans close to Johnny working on him for some kind of a show, be it under his tent or out around home plate in ballparks. Those sort of fans would scream Animal Acts with every chance. OR, some aspiring big top boss is scrambling to save the season, unrealistically promising not just animals but "America's last real 3-ring circus under the big top" ... Pugh has been down to pennies before, so he’s no stranger to producing on the brink.
END RINGERS: From Douglas McPherson’s Circus Mania blog, a great story about how many if not most of Brit elephants trainers did not use bu;l hooks for the most part; link to McPherson's blog, listed along the right bar ...The Smithsonian putting together a big circus splash, come 2017, with big top show .. Cirque du Soleil, apparently minus its founder, about to open their 25 million dollar Broadway baby, Paramour along the Great White Way, this being their Number FOUR attempt to capture Gotham for more than a year or two ... Fine story about show in Sunday’s New York Times. Seems some big shots from the new ownership group, (Guy Laliberte’s name no where in the story), looking in on previews and after demanding a replacement lead and cuts in running order, down to two hours. Wonder if that means two bearable hours? Some noting show’s resemblance to IRIS, the CDS opus that failed to click in LA few years back. ... I’m thinking Smash Hit, I’m thinking Blundering Bomb — Hmm, maybe I should ask Mister Fiddle to take a look and report back. ...
Apple Me a Convert: Finally, I am now an Apple person! Had to let go of my very small dumb phone, something to do about 2G going to 4G. So, wanting the lightest weight smart phone out there, (short of a flip job, which looks more like a medical alert device these days), I found it in Apple’s new SE, and what a beaut! Although Steve Jobs seems to have been a son of a you know who many times over (I watched both movies on his miserable life, what a perfectly miserable genius he was) My iPhone is, to quote C-Nets savvy review, a “small wonder.” And I am an iBeliever. What a joy to have something that works so easily and perfectly ... Breathtaking technology ...
SPECIAL AFTER SHOW! This just in from Don Convington: Ringling's new show heralding "A Cosmic Family Adventure -- Experience a Circus Light Years Beyond the Expected!" ... Let's see, no elephants,. so what to replace pachyderm power? Monster trucks on a mission to save -- what? Come back again, I might have a big iFinish.u let imaginations run wild with unexpected surprises and thrills at every turn. Climb aboard and take the helm as a circus star seeker for an unforgettable experience!
Experience a Circus
Light Years Beyond the Expected!
Prepare
to blast off on a cosmic adventure unlike any other. Join the Circus
Space Fleet on a heroic quest of good versus evil in a journey that will
let imaginations run wild with unexpected surprises and thrills at
every turn. Climb aboard and take the helm as a circus star seeker for
an unforgettable experience!
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
From Luray VA: Niece Lisa Reviews Ringling's CIRCUS XTREME ... About the Elephants Retiring: "They are SO the circus for Brian and I" ...
Photos by Lisa
The last elephant act on Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, only two weeks from retirement. My niece Lisa Gerrity and her family recently went to see Ringling's Circux Xtreme. How I wished I had seen the show when it came to the Bay Area -- blame it partly on a confusing Ringling ad grouping three show dates together. Here is a review of the show which Lisa sent me, and which I am happy to print, because it strikes me as a real review. In Lisa's own words... drum rolls! ...
Brian surprised us and bought tickets to the circus! So we drove an hour
and 15 minutes to Fairfax Virginia, took Noah and his little friend, and
enjoyed the show.
Growing up with the circus, and an uncle (guess who?) who wrote about it, Ive always gotten butterflies in my stomach when the lights came up and the music started. I'm happy to say that this still happens for me even at the tender age of 53. Luckily my husband also loves the circus and the traditional acts that we remember as children.
The show started with the National Anthem with an elephant draped with a sequin red white and blue cape. A woman road on its back and waved to the crowd As we all sang the patriotic song. What a great way to open the circus, God bless America!
The camels were next and failed to entertain us. The theme seemed to be a "travel around the world" theme. We had not seen camels before and although they were interesting to look at, and the ladies on them had pretty outfits on, the ladies just kind of struck different poses as the camels went around in circles for a little too long. We started to lose interest after a while.
Next, onto MT EVEREST and the brief clown act. It was multiple clowns and quite honestly I miss having just one clown do a cute theme throughout the circus and come out with his little suitcase of tricks or something that entertained us in between setting up for the next act.
The Tight rope was exciting and amazing as was the human canon.
The skiing tap dancers act (clowns) was short and sweet to fill a few minutes.
We really enjoyed the Glow in the dark swinging acrobats up high! Does this replace the flying trapeze? If so we missed the traditional act.
Clowns with big balls were just ok.
A big Mongolian man lifted 551 lbs with his teeth, and we wondered if it was real.
The Elephants were brief but entertaining and adorable.
The Mermaids had beautiful costumes but failed to entertain us with the Middle ball with white dancers. Pretty but not impressive at all.
The Spinning wheel is always thrilling and Spectacular.
The Ring of tigers was impressive with 16 beautiful white tigers and a Latin trainer. One hopped like a bunny.
Poodle show... Boring
Overall, we'd give it an 8 and return to see Ringling Circus again!
****
I e-mailed Lisa about the elephants retiring this year. Her reply:
"We learned that they are going to the farm in 2 weeks! We are SO GLAD we got to see them one more time. They are SO the circus for Brian and I. Thanks for raising us to love the big top!!!"
And thank you, Lisa, for sharing your feedback I'm glad you had a good time, especially given recent depressing big setbacks on the American circus scene. The elephants are gone from Ringling, and the entire Cole Bros. Circus is gone. A double bummer!
Our guest critic from Luray, Virginia: Lisa, left, with sister Debbie, the latter about to move with hubby to Alaska. And me in one of my rare selfies. We joined company a few weeks ago when Lis and Deb were out touring these parts. Had a fabulous dinner at a Chinese restaurant, Little Shin Shin on Piedmont Avenue, only a few delicious blocks from where I live. Utter perfection.
Growing up with the circus, and an uncle (guess who?) who wrote about it, Ive always gotten butterflies in my stomach when the lights came up and the music started. I'm happy to say that this still happens for me even at the tender age of 53. Luckily my husband also loves the circus and the traditional acts that we remember as children.
One Ring Fans
One thing that we always agree on is the three ring circus idea. Both
my husband and I get overwhelmed with three rings and always felt like
we were missing part of the show. We were so excited to see only one
ring at the circus this year and enjoyed it so much more.The show started with the National Anthem with an elephant draped with a sequin red white and blue cape. A woman road on its back and waved to the crowd As we all sang the patriotic song. What a great way to open the circus, God bless America!
Refreshing Ringmaster Relief
The Act after that included two horses, dancers, cyclists, and an
"around the world" boat. We really enjoyed the opener. We loved the young ringmaster (David Shipman), who was also a great singer and rolled around on an elevated little platform that raised up really high now and then. I must say he is one of my favorite ringmasters in
recent years. If I had to say why, it would be because of his friendly
face, enthusiasm, wonderful singing voice, and lack of cheesiness that
some ring masters suffer from. We liked him!!
Good Circusy Music ... Ho Hum Camels and Clowns
Costumes were good, not amazing, and music was good, more circusy than
recent years. 😊The camels were next and failed to entertain us. The theme seemed to be a "travel around the world" theme. We had not seen camels before and although they were interesting to look at, and the ladies on them had pretty outfits on, the ladies just kind of struck different poses as the camels went around in circles for a little too long. We started to lose interest after a while.
Next, onto MT EVEREST and the brief clown act. It was multiple clowns and quite honestly I miss having just one clown do a cute theme throughout the circus and come out with his little suitcase of tricks or something that entertained us in between setting up for the next act.
The Tight rope was exciting and amazing as was the human canon.
The skiing tap dancers act (clowns) was short and sweet to fill a few minutes.
They Missed the Trapeze
Clowns with big balls were just ok.
A big Mongolian man lifted 551 lbs with his teeth, and we wondered if it was real.
The Elephants were brief but entertaining and adorable.
The Mermaids had beautiful costumes but failed to entertain us with the Middle ball with white dancers. Pretty but not impressive at all.
The Spinning wheel is always thrilling and Spectacular.
The Ring of tigers was impressive with 16 beautiful white tigers and a Latin trainer. One hopped like a bunny.
Poodle show... Boring
Bike Riders and Acrobats Thrill the Boys
Bouncing acrobats and cyclists at the end were new and exciting! Our two 10-yr-olds said that was their favorite.Overall, we'd give it an 8 and return to see Ringling Circus again!
****
JUST IN TIME TO SEE THE ELEPHANTS ONE LAST TIME
I e-mailed Lisa about the elephants retiring this year. Her reply:
"We learned that they are going to the farm in 2 weeks! We are SO GLAD we got to see them one more time. They are SO the circus for Brian and I. Thanks for raising us to love the big top!!!"
And thank you, Lisa, for sharing your feedback I'm glad you had a good time, especially given recent depressing big setbacks on the American circus scene. The elephants are gone from Ringling, and the entire Cole Bros. Circus is gone. A double bummer!
Thursday, April 07, 2016
Cole Bros. Circus is History. Say Goodbye to DeLand and Johnny Pugh (***)
UPDATE, 4/7/16: 4:40 pm, PST: Yes, what first appeared below, yesterday, and then was rebutted, turns out to have been true, thank you Barry Lipton. Documents discovered, Covington shared and confirmed.
First posted yesterday:
A crusher, this just in from Barry Lipton. The show's Deland winter quarters up for sale. The price tag: $350.000.
And my heart sank. Even I was holding out. And you, too? Tomorrow never dies --- until l it dies.
Go there if you wish:
http://usedrides.com/ViewAd.aspx?Ad=27029&view=i
Know what? I am genuinely depressed. This marks the passing of a great and durable and classy American big top we are likely never to see again.
Remember 1956? So, too, may they one day remember 2016: Ringling retired the elephants. Cole retired itself.
Pray that's all there is to come this season.
And hold onto your old tapes and movies.
(***) Okay, just another hopelessly strained theory: Maybe Johnny is putting up the winter-quarters to raise money and planning to produce without such a home base.
Yes, I know. Send for the clowns in white to usher me out.
4.6.16
First posted yesterday:
A crusher, this just in from Barry Lipton. The show's Deland winter quarters up for sale. The price tag: $350.000.
And my heart sank. Even I was holding out. And you, too? Tomorrow never dies --- until l it dies.
Go there if you wish:
http://usedrides.com/ViewAd.aspx?Ad=27029&view=i
Know what? I am genuinely depressed. This marks the passing of a great and durable and classy American big top we are likely never to see again.
Remember 1956? So, too, may they one day remember 2016: Ringling retired the elephants. Cole retired itself.
Pray that's all there is to come this season.
And hold onto your old tapes and movies.
(***) Okay, just another hopelessly strained theory: Maybe Johnny is putting up the winter-quarters to raise money and planning to produce without such a home base.
Yes, I know. Send for the clowns in white to usher me out.
4.6.16
Sunday, April 03, 2016
On the (Provisional) Fall of Cole Bros. Circus: Some Immediate Thoughts About the Man at the Top
UPDATE, 4/3/16, 7:52 am: For Harry and all Cole Fans, the show has put up a very nice website. It geneally alludes to the show's history. So, shall we say that tomorrow never dies?
There is an almost abstract sadness about the wordless sudden demise, or so it would appear, of Cole Bros. Circus. Words point to a season not to be.
It was there for years, one season after another, the solid stolid show. The one guided by Johnny Pugh, a Class Act all in himself. Season after season, the show threw up its tents, gave a good show, sometimes a very good show, and sustained an old tradition that is gradually dying before our disbelieving eyes.
Pugh’s management style extends back to the old Ringling-Barnum A team. In a manner of perception, the Cole Bros. Clyde Beatty saga completes of an arc of inevitable change and decline traceable back to Pittsburgh, 1956, when John Ringling North struck the big top for the last time and opted into the arena market.
Only a few months later, Clyde Beatty Circus hit the skids, faced bankruptcy, and was reorganized under new ownership, key players from the old Ringling tent show regime. Beatty-Cole kept the big top. Pugh stayed with the show and eventually purchased controlling ownership himself.
North's move indoors proved a smart one. But today, filling up the seats in an arena has become virtually impossible. Circuses no longer attract the same size crowds. Under our tents, which have grown smaller, circuses still struggle to fill up fewer seats. Need I do more to explain it away than drop the word Digital?
In its early years, what I valued most about the Cole show, even though I saw it only maybe once every seven to ten years, was how it sustained, symbolically, a residual Ringling legacy. The 1961 edition, which I was lucky to catch in Richmond, VA, sparkled in its own more modern manner with top line talent, direction and music.
When Johnny Pugh removed his elephants about 10 years ago, buckling under to the mounting demands of the animals rights movement, he was onto something. Open to change as is any smart showman. His patrons were not so open, not then, not yet. And so, a season or two later, he brought back the elephants.
But You Tube and PETA and court room testimony only intensified. And then Ringling-Barnum did what Pugh had done. By summer’s end, all of its elephants will be gone from the ring(s).
Ringling gets all the national publicity. And Ringling will now stand for the Norm. Look for other shows to gradually follow suit.
Cole was rumored ready to hit the trail this year without animals. Basically, the right move. But to go Vargas — no animals at all — is a self defeating measure that makes no sense at all.
After the last Greatest Show on Earth under canvas sixty years ago, the nation wept. Nobody talked down performing animals, or scary daredevil flyers, or creepy clowns. They cried over the death of the tented city, over the grand arrival of the circus train at dawn.
In 1956, nobody went to a circus with “issues.” Everybody went to a circus for guilt-free fun.
Today is a very different today. Today is no longer innocent or guilt-free. One by one, the circuses most powerful features have been talked out of existence by a public so very very different from America sixty years ago. You fill in the rest — if you can spare a free moment away from your iPhone or iLife.
You might say that the soul of the old American circus followed a path into the soul of Johnny Pugh.
One less Johnny is a big loss.
His presence on the lot will surely be missed.
4.1.16
There is an almost abstract sadness about the wordless sudden demise, or so it would appear, of Cole Bros. Circus. Words point to a season not to be.
It was there for years, one season after another, the solid stolid show. The one guided by Johnny Pugh, a Class Act all in himself. Season after season, the show threw up its tents, gave a good show, sometimes a very good show, and sustained an old tradition that is gradually dying before our disbelieving eyes.
Pugh’s management style extends back to the old Ringling-Barnum A team. In a manner of perception, the Cole Bros. Clyde Beatty saga completes of an arc of inevitable change and decline traceable back to Pittsburgh, 1956, when John Ringling North struck the big top for the last time and opted into the arena market.
Only a few months later, Clyde Beatty Circus hit the skids, faced bankruptcy, and was reorganized under new ownership, key players from the old Ringling tent show regime. Beatty-Cole kept the big top. Pugh stayed with the show and eventually purchased controlling ownership himself.
North's move indoors proved a smart one. But today, filling up the seats in an arena has become virtually impossible. Circuses no longer attract the same size crowds. Under our tents, which have grown smaller, circuses still struggle to fill up fewer seats. Need I do more to explain it away than drop the word Digital?
In its early years, what I valued most about the Cole show, even though I saw it only maybe once every seven to ten years, was how it sustained, symbolically, a residual Ringling legacy. The 1961 edition, which I was lucky to catch in Richmond, VA, sparkled in its own more modern manner with top line talent, direction and music.
When Johnny Pugh removed his elephants about 10 years ago, buckling under to the mounting demands of the animals rights movement, he was onto something. Open to change as is any smart showman. His patrons were not so open, not then, not yet. And so, a season or two later, he brought back the elephants.
But You Tube and PETA and court room testimony only intensified. And then Ringling-Barnum did what Pugh had done. By summer’s end, all of its elephants will be gone from the ring(s).
Ringling gets all the national publicity. And Ringling will now stand for the Norm. Look for other shows to gradually follow suit.
Cole was rumored ready to hit the trail this year without animals. Basically, the right move. But to go Vargas — no animals at all — is a self defeating measure that makes no sense at all.
After the last Greatest Show on Earth under canvas sixty years ago, the nation wept. Nobody talked down performing animals, or scary daredevil flyers, or creepy clowns. They cried over the death of the tented city, over the grand arrival of the circus train at dawn.
In 1956, nobody went to a circus with “issues.” Everybody went to a circus for guilt-free fun.
Today is a very different today. Today is no longer innocent or guilt-free. One by one, the circuses most powerful features have been talked out of existence by a public so very very different from America sixty years ago. You fill in the rest — if you can spare a free moment away from your iPhone or iLife.
You might say that the soul of the old American circus followed a path into the soul of Johnny Pugh.
One less Johnny is a big loss.
His presence on the lot will surely be missed.
4.1.16
Thursday, March 31, 2016
MIDWAY FLASH UPDATE! COLE 2016 SEASON CANCELLED! ... THE FAT LADY SINGS? ... MIDWAY FLASH! ... COLE CANCELS HAVELOCK SHOWS! ...COLE 2016 SEASON CANCELLED! ...
UPDATE, 11:40 am PST: Read Harry Kingston's comment below ...
News rushed my way from Barry Lipton ...
April 18-21 shows cancelled.
This from a report in the Havelock News:
More may follow.
News rushed my way from Barry Lipton ...
April 18-21 shows cancelled.
This from a report in the Havelock News:
A frustrated George Cook reported late Wednesday just before press time that the show was off.
“We got confirmation this morning that the circus is cancelling. They are having trouble getting migrant workers to help set it up,” Cook said. They needed 55,000 to get started and they didn’t have it so they just cancelled it for the year. It’s closed for now.”
The show has been off again, on again, this spring. The last word had been that the circus would come without animals, but now the whole show is kaput.
“It’s over. Done,” Cook said.Do I hear the fat lady singing?
More may follow.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
SUNDAY MORNING OUT OF THE PAST: Big Tops Battered Round the World: Ramos Circus Patrons Fire Bombed ... West Bank Clown, a Terrorist? ... Come In at Your Own Peril, and Don't Trust the Popcorn!
Crashing the tent in San Bernardino, 2015: That's where these fanatics took their anger.
War Zone Midways: Customers exciting the big top following a Ramos Bros. Circus show in Las Vegas were forced to dodge a Molotov cocktail lobbed in their direction. Luckily, the fire bomb missed its human targets, hitting a truck and shattering into pieces. The show has been drawing volatile opposition from animal activists, causing cancellation of some dates.
In San Bernardino last year, clowns fought off protesters crashing the tent during a performance. One of the hot heads threw a megaphone in the face of show owner and ringmaster Oliver Ramos, splitting his lip. Two clowns were injured, two protestors arrested. “They’ve been getting more aggressive,” Ramos told a reporter.
Snarling Protests in the Big Cage? Ramos believes he was being harassed by animal fanatics. I have an idea for a new act: Those protesters should hire themselves out to circuses as a new breed of wild animal — ready to hiss and snarl and HAVE AT IT in combat with a trainer’s whip, gun and chair -- and in the big cage, of course while the band plays ''Give Peace a Chance."
According to the website Samidoun, a growing international drive is on to free Abu Sakha. Several European countries are participating.
Closet clown terrorist? On the ever-tranquil West Bank, a Palestinian clown, juggler and rope walker, Mohamed Abu Sakha, detained by Israeli police since last December for “renewed activity” with a Palestinian group fighting for liberation from their overlords in Tel Aviv and opposed to peace with them. Sakha runs a circus school for mentally challenged for kids ... Hard liners seeing more than mirth to his act. Israeli security forces defending their action for dubious associations. “Abu Sakha was arrested because of intelligence about his recent activities on behalf of the Popular Front.”
Incredible to believe that a circus clown would ever be up to undercover mayhem, claim his defenders. But, roared back a realist leaving a comment, “What on earth difference does it make that he worked as a clown??? Are all clowns automatically good people???"
Good question, I suppose. Of late, the answer would have to be NO. Many are the wackos out there who find the funny face a convenient disguise. Stop the show, I want out before my peanuts explode.
No, it’s not funny. Whatever it is, and it never ends, pray that somebody out there with the right brain cells can liberate these groups from their perpetual war, and I will tactfully say no more.
END RINGERS: Will Cole ever roll again? Nothing up there yet to suggest it will. Website still down, waiting word that the Fat Lady won’t be singing any time soon ... Wild speculation: I wonder if some fans close to Johnny Pugh (the website message -- WE'RE NOT DEAD YET! -- suggests a fan at work) are urging him to take the show out on the road, or others are scrambling to raise money to fund a season reboot or take over ownership or management of the circus. Sir Harry of Kingston: Sorry but it doesn't look good ... Here’s what does not make sense: Why Pugh pushed his pachyderms onto an unfriendly public for so long? He endured numerous problems and protests, and had to pay a huge fine for something having to do with the transfer of elephants in or out.
On the big show bandstand, continued: About my item on Merle Evans and his musicians who advanced to other venues as well as those from the outside who sat in as guest players, Don Covington remembers how the Evans band was considered “one of the finest musical organizations for its day.” The maestro, Don tells us, kept in touch with hundreds of musicians in every state, and many of them were “thrilled to play the show when the circus was in town.” ... New York Philharmonic's Buster Bailey spoke of his guest time in the band as "a highlight of his career" on the drums ... How much fun drumming under the biggest big top must have been! ... Looking through my old Ringling-Barnum route books, in a photo of the '55 band I count 26 windjammers .. .
Is that all there is? Or ever was? Let's take a look at Kelly Miller, just for the fun of it: Okay, please, Shirley North II, look the other way. I dunno. The not very new edition, a holder over from last year, itself a holdover from the year before, looks rather thinly rehashed. No? Lots pinned on their new clown in his second tour, the funny to look at (for sure) Fajolino. If only he had a better script writer .. . On K-M's Facebook, I found this photos of the old All G. & Kelly Miller Bros. Circus when it came to my neighborhood in Northern California. How well I recall those festively painted trucks and the dramatic unloading at dawn ...Those were the days -- before circus goers risked fire bombs on their way out, and clowns were not suspected of embarking on suicide walkarounds.
Sorry, Shirley. Ill try being nicer next time.
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