This just in from Anonymous A, directing us to the Big Apple Circus website:
The Big Apple Circus has selected a bidder – Compass Partners,
L.L.C., a Sarasota, Florida based investment firm, with a bid of $1.3M –
subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court, before whom we will
make our case on February 14. Our choice was based on Compass Partners
offering the highest bid and making a
compelling case to revive the circus performances consistent with the
original Big Apple Circus mission and values: serving family audiences
in NYC and on tour, sensitive to accessibility and to differently abled
audiences.
Thursday, February 09, 2017
Thursday, February 02, 2017
It Didn't Have to Happen: The Second Rise and Final Fall of Ringling -- from John Ringling North to Kenneth Feld
First in a Series on the sudden death of the Greatest Show on Earth.
When John Ringling North struck the big top for good fifty years ago, he was, overnight, reviled as the man who killed Santa Claus -- the Executioner. An aggrieved nation reacted as if Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey had suffered a sudden death. As if all circuses were doomed.
Nothing of the sort. In fact, North made known that he was moving the show indoors. But to America, how could Ringling be Ringling without the big top? It already could, each spring when it opened at Madison Square Garden, which is what it did the following spring.
North did not send Ringling into the history books, as has, it would appear, Kenneth Feld. North hired back Arthur Concello to oversee a transition into arenas and other tent-less venues, such as ball parks. But soon, other arenas sprang up in cities all over the country. Within a few years, the Big Show had fully rebounded, by 1965 drawing rave reviews and surging crowds.
When North sold the circus to the Irvin and Israel Feld in 1967, I would come to see Irvin as one of North's best talent-scouting finds. A genius at ballyhoo who exuded a more heart felt connection to the circus and its fans, Feld's shows may have been mixed bags, but they gave us major stars, too, like Gunther Gebel Williams and trapeze king Miguel Vazquez. He groomed his son, Kenneth, to take over in time, and when Feld died in the mid 1980s, Kenneth proved himself, in my view, to be a more inventive and adaptable showman. Others saw him as more ruthless and lacking the true passion for circus of his father.
Kenneth gave us some great three-rings shows in his first years, in particular the Chinese edition. He gave us his answer to Cirque du Soleil in the ill-fated one-ring show, Barnum’s Kaleidoscape, hailed by many critics and fans as a superior option to CDS. Declared theatre critic Clive Barnes, "This is the kind of show for which God invented the circus." Still, Feld's showmanship, overall, could be extremely uneven, like that of his father's, from the brilliant to the banal appearing side by side. And yet, he always gave the customer some of the greatest circus acts in the world. And he fostered spectacle of incredibly captivating special effects. Unforgettable, for example, was the 1996 finale, Ariana, with its epic, near operatic score, complete with recorded chanting chorus, and arena-filling pageantry. Feld's exemplary one-ring show under canvas at Coney Island, Boom a Ring, was one of the most focused and satisfying performances I have ever seen. A versatile showman? Very.
Along the way, it seemed that Kenneth Feld became more emotionally connected to the circus. I came to think of the Felds as steady and adaptable producers who would see the circus through the most difficult times. Proudly, they referred to themselves as stewards of the rich Ringling legacy and traditions. And I believed them. The Greatest Show on Earth would always be around, how easily I believed. Even given my occasional misgivings over how some of the shows were put together or over-produced, I admired greatly the man's creative stamina.
Fast forward to 2015. Multi-billionaire Kenneth Feld retires the elephants. The next show will be planned to compensate for their absence. He and his three daughters put theirs head together and brainstorm through many sessions, put the circus over ice and call it Out of This World.
.
But Feld made one strategic blunder by not removing the big cage act. Activists still had plenty to protest. What was he thinking? The new show did not do well, but I had no fear. After all, these were the Felds. They will try something different, that’s how they operate. They had gone from three rings to one, and one of the units, the Gold, had traveled not by train but by truck.
But they didn’t pivot as I had expected. As if, suddenly, everything around them was unraveling into doubt, dismay, and defeat, only two days after rolling out a PR campaign for the first female ringmaster in the show’s history, On January 12, Feld delivered a shocker: Blaming plunging attendance on the absence of the elephants, he announced that he was closing both units of the circus in May. The end of the sawdust trail for Ringling-Barnum was at hand. I was stunned. So many things about what we were told did not make sense. The Felds were effectively removing themselves completely from the big top scene. I could not believe what I was witnessing -- the sudden death of the Greatest Show on Earth. All of which brings us to this.
Back in December, 2015, Kenneth Feld told the New York Times:
“The circus has changed over the years. There’s no entertainment that’s been around for this long that you could name. We’re older than baseball. We’re older than Coca Cola. I don’t know how many times it’s been re-imagined, reinvented, but I know we’ve probably done it six, eight times. We’re going to do it again without the elephants in a whole different way. Then we’re going to do it again and we’re going to do it again and we’re going to do it again."
Do you feel a bit betrayed?
I do.
Next: The Disney Factor
The last Ringling stand under the big top: Pittsburgh, PA, July 17, 1956
When John Ringling North struck the big top for good fifty years ago, he was, overnight, reviled as the man who killed Santa Claus -- the Executioner. An aggrieved nation reacted as if Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey had suffered a sudden death. As if all circuses were doomed.
Nothing of the sort. In fact, North made known that he was moving the show indoors. But to America, how could Ringling be Ringling without the big top? It already could, each spring when it opened at Madison Square Garden, which is what it did the following spring.
Pat Valdo, left, John Ringling North and Art Concello, facing an uncertain future without the big top, opening night a Madison Square Garden, 1957
North did not send Ringling into the history books, as has, it would appear, Kenneth Feld. North hired back Arthur Concello to oversee a transition into arenas and other tent-less venues, such as ball parks. But soon, other arenas sprang up in cities all over the country. Within a few years, the Big Show had fully rebounded, by 1965 drawing rave reviews and surging crowds.
Kenneth gave us some great three-rings shows in his first years, in particular the Chinese edition. He gave us his answer to Cirque du Soleil in the ill-fated one-ring show, Barnum’s Kaleidoscape, hailed by many critics and fans as a superior option to CDS. Declared theatre critic Clive Barnes, "This is the kind of show for which God invented the circus." Still, Feld's showmanship, overall, could be extremely uneven, like that of his father's, from the brilliant to the banal appearing side by side. And yet, he always gave the customer some of the greatest circus acts in the world. And he fostered spectacle of incredibly captivating special effects. Unforgettable, for example, was the 1996 finale, Ariana, with its epic, near operatic score, complete with recorded chanting chorus, and arena-filling pageantry. Feld's exemplary one-ring show under canvas at Coney Island, Boom a Ring, was one of the most focused and satisfying performances I have ever seen. A versatile showman? Very.
Along the way, it seemed that Kenneth Feld became more emotionally connected to the circus. I came to think of the Felds as steady and adaptable producers who would see the circus through the most difficult times. Proudly, they referred to themselves as stewards of the rich Ringling legacy and traditions. And I believed them. The Greatest Show on Earth would always be around, how easily I believed. Even given my occasional misgivings over how some of the shows were put together or over-produced, I admired greatly the man's creative stamina.
Fast forward to 2015. Multi-billionaire Kenneth Feld retires the elephants. The next show will be planned to compensate for their absence. He and his three daughters put theirs head together and brainstorm through many sessions, put the circus over ice and call it Out of This World.
.
But Feld made one strategic blunder by not removing the big cage act. Activists still had plenty to protest. What was he thinking? The new show did not do well, but I had no fear. After all, these were the Felds. They will try something different, that’s how they operate. They had gone from three rings to one, and one of the units, the Gold, had traveled not by train but by truck.
But they didn’t pivot as I had expected. As if, suddenly, everything around them was unraveling into doubt, dismay, and defeat, only two days after rolling out a PR campaign for the first female ringmaster in the show’s history, On January 12, Feld delivered a shocker: Blaming plunging attendance on the absence of the elephants, he announced that he was closing both units of the circus in May. The end of the sawdust trail for Ringling-Barnum was at hand. I was stunned. So many things about what we were told did not make sense. The Felds were effectively removing themselves completely from the big top scene. I could not believe what I was witnessing -- the sudden death of the Greatest Show on Earth. All of which brings us to this.
Back in December, 2015, Kenneth Feld told the New York Times:
“The circus has changed over the years. There’s no entertainment that’s been around for this long that you could name. We’re older than baseball. We’re older than Coca Cola. I don’t know how many times it’s been re-imagined, reinvented, but I know we’ve probably done it six, eight times. We’re going to do it again without the elephants in a whole different way. Then we’re going to do it again and we’re going to do it again and we’re going to do it again."
Do you feel a bit betrayed?
I do.
Next: The Disney Factor
Thursday, January 26, 2017
James Royal on Keeping a Circus on the Road Today
With Ringling about to close for good, the sawdust scene continues to favor smaller, and there is nothing wrong with smaller. Because fewer people are going to circuses than in more prosperous years past does not mean that there is no market for the circus.
A while back, I sent some questions to Jim Royal, who has managed both the Big Apple and Kelly Miller circuses, asking him for any comments he might have on recent closings and the future of big tops. He has kindly taken the time to answer them from his unique vantage point.
Only the sub heads are mine. I've not changed a word of Jim's report.
Like so many others in this business, I wish I had the answers. This thought reminds me of the Kelly Miller season of 2012, a presidential election year. Tradition has it that it would be a poor season business wise due to the election. For us that season, it was the reverse...we had our best season. Did we drastically change the route, no. Did we make big changes in the front end, no. Granted the weather was good for most of the season, but why we had such a great season, I don't have the answer.
A while back, I sent some questions to Jim Royal, who has managed both the Big Apple and Kelly Miller circuses, asking him for any comments he might have on recent closings and the future of big tops. He has kindly taken the time to answer them from his unique vantage point.
Only the sub heads are mine. I've not changed a word of Jim's report.
From James Royal
Like so many others in this business, I wish I had the answers. This thought reminds me of the Kelly Miller season of 2012, a presidential election year. Tradition has it that it would be a poor season business wise due to the election. For us that season, it was the reverse...we had our best season. Did we drastically change the route, no. Did we make big changes in the front end, no. Granted the weather was good for most of the season, but why we had such a great season, I don't have the answer.
Big Apple's Crippling Operational Costs
I
spent just short of 4 years with Big Apple, joining the show in Atlanta
just after the Lincoln Center run. This was in 2003, the 25th
anniversary tour. So, I can't speak of the earlier years. There was
great attention to detail, to make sure that everything about the show
was right. That costs money. So many parts to the puzzle and all had
costs. One example - Moving the show was extremely expensive. In those
days, the show moved on 33 semis, plus vans, pickups and RVs. The air
conditioning for the big top required 2 semis, a special fork lift and a
separate generator. We also had a semi load of heating units for the
cold weather. The show could do good business in a smaller venue such as
Charlestown, RI or Hanover, NH but the cost of getting it there and out
was huge. Getting the show set in Lincoln Center took several weeks,
and intricate planning. The lot was on top of a parking garage and no
stakes were used. This required a special system of very large heavy
concrete blocks and cable.
Gas Pumps are Kinder ... Getting Worker Visas Can be Vexing
Some
shows have done well in 2016, so there is hope. I don't think it is a
bleak picture. There are certainly more challenges these days to
keeping a show on the road. Fortunately fuel costs have come down, but
for how long? That has been a serious issue, for fuel not only moves
the show, but also powers the generators. The number of permits
required and their costs have increased. Even simple circus/carnival
permits in smaller towns have cost more, as local authorities see this
as a way to help their budget shortfalls. Many shows depend on H2B
seasonal worker visas for their workers. This provides a dependable
workforce that gets a show up and down without problems. The government
is continually tinkering with this program and making it difficult to
obtain these legal visas. The visa process costs are considerable. Now
adding to this is the time and resources spent in lobbying Congress
regarding the H2B program. These days, it seems that damn near every
show vehicle requires a driver with a CDL license. Those operating
scales and state DOTs are quick to issue fines. For shows with animals,
the extremists continue to cause problems. Another issue that requires
a great deal of time and resources to combat.
Booking Dates More Time-Consuming. Costly
Circuses
that use local sponsors such as Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs,
Lions Clubs etc., are finding the process of booking dates with them
more time consuming. Many of these groups are "graying", losing members
and not as active. Also, gone are the days when there were agents out
there who could book these dates. The costs of keeping an agent on the
road is certainly more expensive than it used to be.
So Many Ad Outlets, Which Ones to Use?
Advertising
costs have increased as it is harder to reach a broad spectrum of
people. Now we have endless TV channels, radio in its various formats,
podcasts, blogs, and social media. The audience has to be reached
through so many new avenues resulting in a more expensive advertising
budget. The marketing dollar has to cover a larger number of outlets.
Traditional Circus Still a Draw
There
is one bright spot in recent times. I have found that with Kelly
Miller and Culpepper & Merriweather (where I am currently employed)
the customers like traditional circus. It still appeals to people of
all ages and demographic factors. A traditional show with a strong
performance and good customer service pleases the clientele. Getting
them into the tent, now there is the challenge.
Thank you, Jim!
Monday, January 23, 2017
"Hundreds" of Circuses Still Thrive in Europe, Says Bello Nock on Fox, Fighting to Save Big Apple Circus ... Across the Nation, Reactions to the Shocking Collapse of Ringling, Now Headed to the History Books, the Train for Sale
On Fox News, iconic daredevil acrobat and clown Belo Nock claiming that in Italy, there are two hundred circuses, in Germany, three hundred. Nock stressing the two word-phrase "show business," arguing that to put on the show, you must do the business part, too.
.
The sudden shut down for good of the Ringling show has generated mourning and sympathy, however scarce, across the country, one-time Ringling clowns shedding the most tears. From a quick scan of what few comments follow news reports, the majority appear gleeful over the "success" of PETA and others in driving the Greatest Show on Earth off the road. Here is a sampling of what I have found, so far, from those who care about circus. If I find more, I will add.
Sean Davis, who advanced from prop hand to clown over a ten-year period with Ringling: “I cried like a baby last night. I’m not going to lie. I really did. It hurt, just as much as losing someone close to you and your family for me.” Amen, Sean.
Tricia Manuel, another former Ringling clown, to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “We’re a community in mourning. It’s the end of a special era.”
D.J. Weiss, also from the Feld fold. “I’m heartbroken, "but I’m just so thankful to have been a part of it.”
We have a customer. Jodie Januszko of Wilkes-Barre, PA, having taken her her children and grandchildren to the circus:
"I'm kind of shocked. I know they were having problems with protesters about the elephants and everything, but I didn't see this coming ... I think it's sad because it was great family entertainment."
“It's devastating. A lot of our colleagues will be out of work and it’s like a part of Americana is going away ... It’s a form of art and culture that is going to be disappearing and there’s only so much we can do on our end.”
Blogger Douglas McPherson directs our attention to a thoughtful piece written by the UK's last and only still-active tiger trainer, Thomas Chipperfield. You can find a link to it at the right. McPherson adds his own words: "Perhaps one day, when it's their dogs and cats and Big Macs at stake, the world will remember that a lion tamer tried to warn them that it was about much more than circuses all along."
HUGO, OK — The Carson & Barnes Circus family is heartbroken by the decision of the Feld Family to close the Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey units of their corporation. Ringling Brothers has been a household name for more than a century and has been a leading force in the entertainment business.
We extend our gratitude and appreciation to Kenneth Feld and his family for their contributions to the great American Circus. Our thoughts are with not only the members of the Ringling Brothers directly, but with the worldwide circus industry and primarily to our entire nation…for we have truly lost a great American icon.
The circus is woven throughout our American History, bringing thrilling entertainment and family fun to cities and rural communities across the land. Children of all ages have been introduced to the wonder and magic of talent from around the world thanks to the traveling circus."
***
Thanks to Don Covington, who linked me to many of these news reports and others that have informed my coverage.
.
The sudden shut down for good of the Ringling show has generated mourning and sympathy, however scarce, across the country, one-time Ringling clowns shedding the most tears. From a quick scan of what few comments follow news reports, the majority appear gleeful over the "success" of PETA and others in driving the Greatest Show on Earth off the road. Here is a sampling of what I have found, so far, from those who care about circus. If I find more, I will add.
Cry, Clowns, Cry
Sean Davis, who advanced from prop hand to clown over a ten-year period with Ringling: “I cried like a baby last night. I’m not going to lie. I really did. It hurt, just as much as losing someone close to you and your family for me.” Amen, Sean.
Tricia Manuel, another former Ringling clown, to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “We’re a community in mourning. It’s the end of a special era.”
D.J. Weiss, also from the Feld fold. “I’m heartbroken, "but I’m just so thankful to have been a part of it.”
We have a customer. Jodie Januszko of Wilkes-Barre, PA, having taken her her children and grandchildren to the circus:
"I'm kind of shocked. I know they were having problems with protesters about the elephants and everything, but I didn't see this coming ... I think it's sad because it was great family entertainment."
From Katya Quiroga at Circus Vargas
to the San Diego Union-Tribune
Today Ringling, tomorrow your horse, dog, cat and Big Mac
-- The headline on Circus Mania blog
Blogger Douglas McPherson directs our attention to a thoughtful piece written by the UK's last and only still-active tiger trainer, Thomas Chipperfield. You can find a link to it at the right. McPherson adds his own words: "Perhaps one day, when it's their dogs and cats and Big Macs at stake, the world will remember that a lion tamer tried to warn them that it was about much more than circuses all along."
From the Carson and Barnes family:
HUGO, OK — The Carson & Barnes Circus family is heartbroken by the decision of the Feld Family to close the Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey units of their corporation. Ringling Brothers has been a household name for more than a century and has been a leading force in the entertainment business.
We extend our gratitude and appreciation to Kenneth Feld and his family for their contributions to the great American Circus. Our thoughts are with not only the members of the Ringling Brothers directly, but with the worldwide circus industry and primarily to our entire nation…for we have truly lost a great American icon.
The circus is woven throughout our American History, bringing thrilling entertainment and family fun to cities and rural communities across the land. Children of all ages have been introduced to the wonder and magic of talent from around the world thanks to the traveling circus."
***
Thanks to Don Covington, who linked me to many of these news reports and others that have informed my coverage.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Tim Tegge on the Ringling Shocker
Almost by by accident, and luckily so, I came across this on Tim Tegge's Facebook page, and what comfort I take in it. The story is such a painful one. Big Apple, Cole, and now the Big Show itself
I have many many thoughts and questions about Kenneth Feld's sudden move in declaring an end to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. I may turn them into a future post.
Here, Tim eloquently puts it all in a calming and affirmative perspective:
SANTA CLAUS IS NOT DEAD, AND NEITHER IS THE CIRCUS!
Feld Entertainment has made it "official" this evening (1-14-17) that they will pull the plug on Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey, forever, in May of this year. A sad announcement, to say the least, BUT... they cannot pull the plug on the circus! It's really that simple. There IS, indeed, a place in today's world for the traditional circus, and although Barnum coined the iconic phrase, which has been RBB&B's trademark for 146 years, it is the CIRCUS as an entity (not a monster truck show, or Disney on Ice, or any sporting event) that remains the Greatest Show On Earth.
Thank you, Tim.
I have many many thoughts and questions about Kenneth Feld's sudden move in declaring an end to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. I may turn them into a future post.
Here, Tim eloquently puts it all in a calming and affirmative perspective:
SANTA CLAUS IS NOT DEAD, AND NEITHER IS THE CIRCUS!
Feld Entertainment has made it "official" this evening (1-14-17) that they will pull the plug on Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey, forever, in May of this year. A sad announcement, to say the least, BUT... they cannot pull the plug on the circus! It's really that simple. There IS, indeed, a place in today's world for the traditional circus, and although Barnum coined the iconic phrase, which has been RBB&B's trademark for 146 years, it is the CIRCUS as an entity (not a monster truck show, or Disney on Ice, or any sporting event) that remains the Greatest Show On Earth.
Thank you, Tim.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
MIDWAY FLASH! ... MIDWAY FLASH! ... Ringling Folds for Good, Last Shows in May ... Feld Blames Retiring Elephants for Plunging Ticket Sales ...
It must be some kind of a sick joke, I thought, waking up this morning to find on my computer a link from my brother Dick, proceeded by a short note -- "Sorry about that!" -- to a story that Ringling-Barnum is closing down for good and will give its final performances in May in Providence, Rhode Island, May 7, and Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau County Coliseum. May 21.
Some kind of a joke? But no, in another e-mail, this one from Don Covington, came a link to a statement from CEO Kenneth Feld, coming clean on how, since removing the elephants, business has plunged even deeper.
The total collapse of the Greatest Show on Earth? I never could have imagined living to see this. For one reason, the circus is owned by a billionaire.
And, just after landing nation-wide press over the hiring of the circus's first ringmistress in its history?
I still have a hard time believing it.
A while back, I reported on the fall of two of the nation's big three, the two being Big Apple Circus and Cole Bros. Circus.
And, now, the third one has fallen, too. It is so unreal, I feel almost nothing. Perhaps I am in denial.
I never thought I would live to see this. What I've been thinking lately is that they could well phase out one of the two units, and keep only one on the road, even in a truncated operation, no train but trucks. Smaller show. The Feld one-ring unit that played Coney Island (first one to play it) was simply terrific.
Can you believe that the Felds are effectively out of the circus business?
Am I lost in a sick dream?
Is this fake news?
Is there more to the story? The incredible abruptness of Kenneth Feld's sudden decision is itself a rather incredible act. One might wonder what, if anything, possible infra-family squabbles had to do with it.
More to come as I sort out my thoughts. Meanwhile, ALL of your thoughts are welcome here. Please do share ...
BTW: I will be posting a piece by James Royal, this week, about his thoughts on the challenges facing today's circus owners.
With the Ringling exit, count the year 2016 as the worst in American circus history.
Saturday, January 07, 2017
A Big Apple Circus Story on a Sad Day in Oakland
A cold grey empty day here in Oakland, I can’t remember a winter EVER this cold. Even my electric blanket shivers. If the sullen sky would only produce real rain, as was predicted, what poetic relief that would bring. Nothing.
This morning, a discovery on my PC of the full details of the auction to come for everything Big Apple Circus. It brings the truth of what has just happened before our eyes home.
And, then, this email from Gareth Denham, only moments ago. It touched me. So in sync with my mood. I don’t know Garaeth. Maybe some of you do. I'm posting this because it’s part of Big Apple Circus history, and I fear that from now on out, Big Apple Circus is history.
I feel a certain solace in the act of sharing it with you ...
I've suddenly found myself with time to catch up on one of my favorite things, circuses, and thought I'd drop you a short note.
In 1981, I was 16 and living in Baltimore when the Big Apple Circus made one of its first trips out of New York. When they left, I went with them and spent the rest of that summer and the next traveling with them. It was exciting and romantic and I was in awe of the people I met — Buckles Woodcock, Philippe Petite, Michael and Karyn Christensen, John Harriott, Dolly Jacobs, Ben Williams... — late at night I would sit and listen to Buckles tell stories for hours....
One day, though, Michael Christensen sat me down and strongly suggested that I "run away from the circus and join real life". Reluctantly, I did that. I settled down, raised a family. The work ethic I learned from everyone in the circus served me well as I have just retired from a career at UPS. (I delivered packages to Nicole Feld when she was just a teenager living in Maryland!)
So I just wanted to say, to you, thanks for stories, and to Michael and Karyn wherever they are...thank you for pushing me to run away. I did okay with my life, and I hope they would be proud of me.
~Gareth Denham
Thanks, for taking the time to reach out to me-us, Gareth. And congratulations on your life turning out so well!
This morning, a discovery on my PC of the full details of the auction to come for everything Big Apple Circus. It brings the truth of what has just happened before our eyes home.
And, then, this email from Gareth Denham, only moments ago. It touched me. So in sync with my mood. I don’t know Garaeth. Maybe some of you do. I'm posting this because it’s part of Big Apple Circus history, and I fear that from now on out, Big Apple Circus is history.
I feel a certain solace in the act of sharing it with you ...
From Gareth Denham
I've suddenly found myself with time to catch up on one of my favorite things, circuses, and thought I'd drop you a short note.
In 1981, I was 16 and living in Baltimore when the Big Apple Circus made one of its first trips out of New York. When they left, I went with them and spent the rest of that summer and the next traveling with them. It was exciting and romantic and I was in awe of the people I met — Buckles Woodcock, Philippe Petite, Michael and Karyn Christensen, John Harriott, Dolly Jacobs, Ben Williams... — late at night I would sit and listen to Buckles tell stories for hours....
One day, though, Michael Christensen sat me down and strongly suggested that I "run away from the circus and join real life". Reluctantly, I did that. I settled down, raised a family. The work ethic I learned from everyone in the circus served me well as I have just retired from a career at UPS. (I delivered packages to Nicole Feld when she was just a teenager living in Maryland!)
So I just wanted to say, to you, thanks for stories, and to Michael and Karyn wherever they are...thank you for pushing me to run away. I did okay with my life, and I hope they would be proud of me.
~Gareth Denham
Thanks, for taking the time to reach out to me-us, Gareth. And congratulations on your life turning out so well!
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Elephants Returning to Madison Square Garden! ... Surfing Dogs Make Rose Parade! ... Kelly Miller Peanut Sales Sell Out! ... But It's Tough Trouping in Tough Times, Royally Speaking
Welcome to 2017!
Or, should I say 1903?
Why Wait for Puppet Pachyderms
When We Offer You the Real thing!
That should be a banner line on all circus ads for the show(s) still daring to present living breathing elephants. Kelly-Miller Circus, said to have signed on with one of the Friscos working a trio o f Big Guys, might make it work. For, per the show’s former general manager, James Royal, in the small towns were the circus of John Ringling North II likes to pitch canvas, “the customers like traditional circus. It still appeals to people of all ages and demographic factors.”
More from Sir Royal, below...
How authentic, The Circus 1903?
Yes, the posters look very enticing, indeed. But, from one review I read, with high hopes at the start, the stage affair sounds maybe more artsy than authentic. Like, say a, mixture of old time imagery and costumes with new time Cirque du Soleil posturing and contorting, etc. I was set on going down to LA in February to take in a performance at the Pantages Theatre. Not so sure now. They have themselves booked across the U.S. through a slew of big cities, making a 12-day appearance in New York at the Madison Square Garden Theatre, April 5-16.
Puppet PETA Protesters?
Why not. After all, to be true to their progressive opposition to circus animal acts of all kinds, dare such a liberal — the sort to whom, I’d guess, this show is being marketed, patronize a show that celebrates performing elephants in any form? Is such chic patronage, therefore, not an act of philosophical hypocrisy? (Somebody, check the Constitution, please.) If you cheer the imagery of a circus staple fast disappearing, do you not embrace the actuality of it? I take heart in Circus 1903's glowing embracement of elephant acts of yore.
Surfing dogs at the Rose Parade
Yes, and what a hoot, and just another circusy manifestation on the edges, proving the enduring appeal of true circus itself. I’m hoping that President-Elect Tweetie Trump will take in a real circus, make a big Tweet over it, and make it okay once again for the public to do likewise. Do you remember the Trump Tent, as it was called --- when, as I fuzzily recall, Mr. T. funded a new big top for Big Apple Circus?
Royally Speaking ...
James Royal, who has managed both the Big Apple and Kelly Miller tops, had a lot to share with me on the challenges facing today’s owners, and I intend to reprint his full e-mal to me in the coming weeks. For now, suffice it to cover a few points that caught my eye:
Big Apple Circus’s Big Operation: “Moving the show was extremely expensive ... The show moved on 33 semis, plus vans, pickups and Rvs ... The show could do good business in a smaller venue such as Charleston ... but the cost of getting it there was huge."
Did you know they took their air-conditioning units on the road? Now I do. Another two semis, fork life and separate generator, details Jim. Now, do you see why they are bankrupt?
North and Royal. They ended their partnership at the end of 2015
Kelly Miller’s banner season, when? Seems it was 2012, during a presidential election year, when, by tradition, big top biz usually drops. “For us that season, it was the reverse We had our best season.“
How very interesting. The DVD of the 2012 show, which I just reviewed, a few scrolls down, with high marks — might that show have been a big part of the reason? I did not ask Jim.
Jim’s reports that Culpepper & Merriweather Circus, which now employs him, had a good season.
.
The Peterson Peanut Test
I am really stretching it here by making a good sign of the fact that, before the end of the Kelly Miller season just passed, per John II in his note to me,“Petersen Peanut Co ran out of peanuts. So, no nuts." He always enclosed, with his new DVD, a package of Peterson's finest.
Somewhere, somehow, someway, there are evidently still hordes of people with a lingering yen for the common peanut. But not the sparse crowds who turned out to see Kelly Miller in 2016. When I asked Brenda Rawls about how the year had been, by phone — I had called to see how I could send JRN II a thank you note, Brenda answered with a long sigh. “This was a down year”.
And then she added, with a good Hugo Byrd Chirp. “But, we’re going out!”
Read Jim Royal’s full missive in the coming weeks, right here.
Here are some Kelly Miller photos ...
Friday, December 30, 2016
2016 Under Falling Big Tops: How Bad Was it? Can You Spell Catastrophic? Let's Talk Historical Context
In the anxious annals of American circus history, the Big Theme seeming to be — Can The Show Make it Another Week? — two bleak years stick out. 1938 was by far the worst, possibly of all time, for Yankee canvas. By the end of 1938, eight circuses had hit the sawdust, and only two of those would ever live to see another crowd (or a few strays, all with free kid’s tickets) at the ticket wagons.
Advance to 1956: King Bros. fell, its gas-less trucks stranded along a road, home made signs reading “donations accepted.” The mightier Clyde Beatty circus was bankrupt by summer. And, on July 16, John Ringling North declared an end to the tented circus — as it then "existed."
The press reacted as if a cherished American holiday had been mass executed over night. The press ran with gloom and doom. Cartoonists put aside levity to shed tears. Well, they had a pro-circus public to play to. But the press proved premature. Beatty resumed its aborted season under new management. And Ringling would return the following year, as promised by Mr North, to play out its annual opening date at Madison Square Garden followed by a string of stands in tent-less venues. Only did the much smaller King Bros. Circus remain shuttered.
Sixty years later, such a press as the one that properly covered the traumatic 1956 season was not there to make much of what we have lived through: the collapse of two of our nation’s three biggest big tops, both long-stays along the East Coast corridor. To repeat, two of the BIG THREE. But then again, neither was the public there. By now, it had been worn down by pushy progressives seeking to remove the circus from the circus. Activists armed with indisputable visual evidence of extreme animal training that rightfully, I must concede, pushed the skeptical public into a withering state of mounting apprehension.
Thus did the Ringling elephants leave us in 2016. But the Big Show went on, although whether its waning crowd base was lured back in lush turnouts may be hard to know. Lackluster LA biz was not a good omen, kids.
What to say about 2016? On another front, one thing it did give us was a presidential election — this one truly a hell of a circus — the outcome of which, a very red one, may re-embolden populist affections for the real thing, people ready to take in big tops without fear of public humiliation. Mr. Tweety Trump, as daring a political act as ever there was, had a field day trumpeting against PC targets, and this may help the circus, of late, another PC target in need of rescue. Before all the animals and clowns have fled the scene.
Missing in action, 2016: Johnny Pugh’s Cole Bros. did not even get out of the barn. But now, he’s talking of meetings with money people over possible plans to reboot in 2017. I’d put more money on Pugh making a comeback than on the other show that folded in a much more emphatic way. Read on!
Who will buy this beautiful circus? The latest news about the spiraling Big Apple Circus meltdown is that everything is now up for sale at a pending bankruptcy auction, the big top included. Prospective buyers said to be lining up. And then I read something that crashed my hopes of a more practical return, albeit in a scaled down version, smaller tent and band, etc. touring in New York's parks during a spring and summer tour. Seems that the powers still ineptly in charge are wanting to “save” the Lincoln center date. What about just saving the circus itself?
Does anybody back there have one pragmatic brain cell in their head? They want to salvage a winter date lasting three month, the rental tab for which is half a million? Really? In the beginning, Paul and Michael started out under a smaller top in a place called Battery Park. Four years hence, they were opening each October at Lincoln Center. Thanks to lavish Wall Street funding, they never really had to face the forces of a true market.
What circus anywhere plays the same place for nearly three months every year without changing the show during the run? In its heyday, Ringling could pack the 14,000-seat Garden when it opened there every spring, but it never stayed more than five weeks.
Piece by piece, tent pole by ring curb, New York's own circus, in my once idyllic view a national treasure, is sadly being shredded into oblivion. Look for your favorite BAC props and mementos to appear on eBay soon. I had high hopes. Not anymore. Curiously, Paul Binder is mum about this all on his blog.
So, let's shake a little hope into our battered hearts. Neither Kelly Miller nor Carson & Barnes did well at all last year, but I know that Kelly Miller plans to go out.
In regards to which, I got an e-mail from James Royal, telling me in a few words of why his “partnership” with John Ringling North II had been dissolved at the end of 2015 to the satisfaction of both parties, so I guess we won’t be seeing them on Judge Judy. The two were at odds over how to run the front end. And we all know how important the front end is — if you wish to keep your back end off its ....
Signing off, Jim wrote, “The future ...who knows.”
Truer words were never spoken.
In my reaching back, I sent Jim some general questions about the state of our circuses, hoping he might consider answering them He tells me he will, and so, as soon as I have them, I will post them here as an update.
Surely 2017 can’t get any worse than it now is? Right?
Other than that, have a HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!
Advance to 1956: King Bros. fell, its gas-less trucks stranded along a road, home made signs reading “donations accepted.” The mightier Clyde Beatty circus was bankrupt by summer. And, on July 16, John Ringling North declared an end to the tented circus — as it then "existed."
The press reacted as if a cherished American holiday had been mass executed over night. The press ran with gloom and doom. Cartoonists put aside levity to shed tears. Well, they had a pro-circus public to play to. But the press proved premature. Beatty resumed its aborted season under new management. And Ringling would return the following year, as promised by Mr North, to play out its annual opening date at Madison Square Garden followed by a string of stands in tent-less venues. Only did the much smaller King Bros. Circus remain shuttered.
Sixty years later, such a press as the one that properly covered the traumatic 1956 season was not there to make much of what we have lived through: the collapse of two of our nation’s three biggest big tops, both long-stays along the East Coast corridor. To repeat, two of the BIG THREE. But then again, neither was the public there. By now, it had been worn down by pushy progressives seeking to remove the circus from the circus. Activists armed with indisputable visual evidence of extreme animal training that rightfully, I must concede, pushed the skeptical public into a withering state of mounting apprehension.
Thus did the Ringling elephants leave us in 2016. But the Big Show went on, although whether its waning crowd base was lured back in lush turnouts may be hard to know. Lackluster LA biz was not a good omen, kids.
What to say about 2016? On another front, one thing it did give us was a presidential election — this one truly a hell of a circus — the outcome of which, a very red one, may re-embolden populist affections for the real thing, people ready to take in big tops without fear of public humiliation. Mr. Tweety Trump, as daring a political act as ever there was, had a field day trumpeting against PC targets, and this may help the circus, of late, another PC target in need of rescue. Before all the animals and clowns have fled the scene.
Missing in action, 2016: Johnny Pugh’s Cole Bros. did not even get out of the barn. But now, he’s talking of meetings with money people over possible plans to reboot in 2017. I’d put more money on Pugh making a comeback than on the other show that folded in a much more emphatic way. Read on!
Who will buy this beautiful circus? The latest news about the spiraling Big Apple Circus meltdown is that everything is now up for sale at a pending bankruptcy auction, the big top included. Prospective buyers said to be lining up. And then I read something that crashed my hopes of a more practical return, albeit in a scaled down version, smaller tent and band, etc. touring in New York's parks during a spring and summer tour. Seems that the powers still ineptly in charge are wanting to “save” the Lincoln center date. What about just saving the circus itself?
Does anybody back there have one pragmatic brain cell in their head? They want to salvage a winter date lasting three month, the rental tab for which is half a million? Really? In the beginning, Paul and Michael started out under a smaller top in a place called Battery Park. Four years hence, they were opening each October at Lincoln Center. Thanks to lavish Wall Street funding, they never really had to face the forces of a true market.
What circus anywhere plays the same place for nearly three months every year without changing the show during the run? In its heyday, Ringling could pack the 14,000-seat Garden when it opened there every spring, but it never stayed more than five weeks.
Piece by piece, tent pole by ring curb, New York's own circus, in my once idyllic view a national treasure, is sadly being shredded into oblivion. Look for your favorite BAC props and mementos to appear on eBay soon. I had high hopes. Not anymore. Curiously, Paul Binder is mum about this all on his blog.
So, let's shake a little hope into our battered hearts. Neither Kelly Miller nor Carson & Barnes did well at all last year, but I know that Kelly Miller plans to go out.
In regards to which, I got an e-mail from James Royal, telling me in a few words of why his “partnership” with John Ringling North II had been dissolved at the end of 2015 to the satisfaction of both parties, so I guess we won’t be seeing them on Judge Judy. The two were at odds over how to run the front end. And we all know how important the front end is — if you wish to keep your back end off its ....
Signing off, Jim wrote, “The future ...who knows.”
Truer words were never spoken.
In my reaching back, I sent Jim some general questions about the state of our circuses, hoping he might consider answering them He tells me he will, and so, as soon as I have them, I will post them here as an update.
Surely 2017 can’t get any worse than it now is? Right?
Other than that, have a HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!
Monday, December 19, 2016
Thinking Kelly-Miller Circus: Then and Now ...
So, big big relief in my mail box a few days ago. Came a parcel from Ireland. Yes! he hasn't forgotten me! A DVD of this year’s show from Johnny Come Lately. He's been sending me one for the past several seasons.
Elated to be in receipt, I looked forward, more than I now look backward, to watching the DVD. I hate to spread even a sliver of doubt during these difficult times, so let me merely say that, of course there are some good acts -- the dancing elephant is back, but on balance, I was rather disappointed in what I saw and heard.
I should hasten to add two big drawbacks to watching it: First of all, the tent is nearly empty, most of the front rows filled, and without an audience, a key component is missing. Secondly, unlike the previous DVDs I’ve received from the generous John in charge, the cameras on this show do not roll continuously, but after each act, there is pause in darkness with the name of the next act appearing on the screen. Thus, one is deprived of a sense of watching a show as the audience does.
BACK TO 2012
Be that as it may, wanting to reboot my confidence in the House of Ringling, the next night, I decided to go back in time and watch the first DVD that John II had sent me, of the 2012 show filmed at Mendon, MA on June 26, not remembering what I had thought of it.
a screen shot of the DVD
* John Moss III, for performance direction and for tip top to-the-point ringmastering with command and restraint. A class act all the way.
* Music. Two musicians, Michael Harber and Marshall Ekleman produce a terrific score, most of it of course pre-recorded. Likely the best scored JRN II edition. And what impressively in-sync sound effects, most of them for ...
* Clowning by Copeland and Combs. They’re many rambunctious comedy bits give the show more cohesion. I was made to reflect that clowns as characters and in conflict are what give circus its most human side, lending a sense of theatre.
* Danny and Tavina Brown, creators of the Pirates of Kellybean production number.
* Norberoo Fusco, for Pirates production choreography.
* Pirates itself, an ingeniously staged production combining circus action, a little dance and pantomime, and rich in exotic atmosphere. Here, John Ringling North II reveals his most creative hand. Indeed, these mini production numbers, rather unlike anything I have ever quite seen, mark his most distinctive contribution to circus performance art. Not all achieve lift off, but when they do, they transport us into another more enchanting sphere.
My favorite acts:
* Ryan Holder’s masterfully crafted tiger act, the smooth executions of it all a work of art. Yes, he's an understated showman, but he reveals a subtle command. Maybe the way to go given today's hypersensitive audiences.
* Carolyn Rice’s doggie romp in Pirates. Considering everything that goes on, non-stop, the dogs are jump happy and how they surprise me with so many tricks, this is simply heaven. I could watch it over and over.
* Another Pirates asset: Fridman Torales’s nerve-wracking work building a stack of planks and cylinders atop the rola bolla onto which, each time, somehow he manages to balance himself.
* Raul Olivares’s knockout juggling. In scope, zip, and showmanship, his wide-ranging repertoire is a fair sensation The more I see of his work, the deeper goes my respect. He nearly brought down the house, clearly its favorite.
* Armando Royal's three winningly talented elephants,
* Finale: Near the end of the Fusco Gauchos dancing, the lights go dark with neon objects twirling about, and I am waiting, for what? Suddenly, the house lights come back on, and the entire cast is out there in the ring. Tremendous surprise staging.
The other acts? Good enough to keep the show in the winning category. For example, the camels and little zebra of Mike Rice offer a simple yet fundamentally pleasing routine, its charming little star, the little zebra, tagging along like a little kid wanting to belong. Touching.
Joy under that big top. Had I seen this show and reviewed it, likely I would have given it three stars (out of four)
That was then.
And now is now. Most of the people who helped make 2016 a year to remember are gone.
Another name is missing, and perhaps this is a reason for the show’s shifting personnel?
James Royal. In the beginning, he would be, as he joked with me in an e-mail, North's "Concello." In real life, the original John Ringing North and Art Concello split at least once, and at least once, got back together. Maybe there is at least an at least once, too, for North and Royal?
I have no idea. I only wonder as I wander
My deepest thanks to John II for sending me the current DVD and the earlier ones.
First posted December 19, 2016
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