Friday, January 06, 2006

THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH


Once at the Showfolks Club I asked Art Concello what it was like to be manager and have to move this show (110 railroad cars) seven times a week while still in his twenties. He said there was nothing to it, the show had the best department heads in the business and it moved itself.

Posted by Buckles at 1/06/2006 01:15:00 AM

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the most mind boggling statics I ever heard was the Ringling Cookhouse, serving 4500 + meals a day.

06 January, 2006 04:18
Anonymous said...

What the world needs now is a few great circuses. What are those white V things on the side walls and edge of the top? Having the right people in charge of any show can make or break it. Its really funny that none of these people ever got rich. Not money wise anyway. They are remembered with respect and a whole lot more but I can not find my dicanary that I promised I would use this year for making comments. At least I can not get away with signing anonymous. I can spot my comments a mile away with my spelling. If I can find my glasses. Why did the fried eggs and bacon taste so much better under canvas on the circus? Maybe we worked so hard and were hungery at meal time with a healthy appatyte. No vegatarians here.

06 January, 2006 08:04
Buckles said...

North dabbled with an attempt to air condition the tent, the V shaped things were attached to wagons filled with ice from which a large fan would blow the cool air thru.
I have heard that unless you sat directly beneath a vent it provided little comfort.
This picture must have been taken on a cool day since the wagons are no where to be seen and the vents hanging limp.
It was a great advertising gimmick tho and if nothing else provided the personel with ice for their water jugs.

06 January, 2006 08:23
Anonymous said...

I read about Norman Bel Geddes designing a unique tent for the gorillas without poles in the tent. Is that the tent between the menagerie and the big top?

06 January, 2006 08:58
Buckles said...

Yes it is.
The only thing I can't account for is the Horse Fair, in 1941 we were with Wallace Bros. Circus showing nearby and someone (probably Lee Powell) drove us over to the Ringling lot.
I vividly remember the Side Show particularly a man who crammed an incredible number of golf balls into his mouth and even billiard balls. For the grand finale a little white mouse met the same fate and after scrambling around for a while the man puckered up his lips and the little mouse peeked out and looked all around. For a 6 year old it doesn't get any better than that.
From there we passed thru a tent filled with horses (called the Horse Fair)with an arch over each stall which bore the horse's name. The attendants wore jockey uniforms.
Then on to the menagerie, I now know the show carried 47 elephants but it looked like a thousand to me at the time. My dad talked with a group of men, one dressed in white might have been Walter McClain.
At this point my folks had to leave since we had a matinee to do as well but I seem to recall my mother saying I was left with someone there to see the performance but if I did I must have slept thru it.

06 January, 2006 10:05
Anonymous said...

The part that I've never quite understood is that RBBB had great Dept heads moving the show, and great performers but in the 10 years before they folded the tent they couldn't stay in the money. You can't really blame television when you lose money in the early 50's with an army of post-war children out there. I've never heard anybody address the idea of other changes North might have made in 56' or earlier that might have kept the show out under canvas for at least part of each season, without reducing it to a ghost of its former glory.

06 January, 2006 14:33
Buckles said...

As I understnd it from reading Art Concello's interview by Tom Parkinson and printed in Bandwagon, he was frustrated by having to defend the measures he had to take to keep the show within budget.
This led to his resignation following the 1953 season and the die was cast.
Had Concello remained he could have no doubt kept the show under canvas for a few more years but I always thought the thing made the big difference was the construction of new arenas all around the country.
Too tempting to ignore.

06 January, 2006 15:53
Pat Cashin said...

Union troubles had quite a bit to do with it too.

06 January, 2006 18:31
GaryHill said...

OK Buckles, It looks like it's up to you to SAVE the day! You need to get ahold of the "History Channel" and let them do your Blog on cable TV or Direct TV! Then maybe people will remember what a Circus is supposed to be! Watched ABC World News Tonight, last evening and Kenny and his Daughter were trying to defend the mess they have made! Best always, Gary

06 January, 2006 19:58
GaryHill said...

I don't know what made me think of this today Buckles but I laughed when I thought about it! Remember at CW when they had the opening ceremonies for the new rollercoaster the "Zoomarang" ?You had Anna May pull a big fake lever that supposedly started the ride. They had a bunch of fireworks that went off at the same time she pulled it! I remember seeing you getting dragged along as Anna May was in a HURRY to get the Hell out of there! Then at the same time one of the Emu's in the petting zoo jumped the fence and I had to chase it down right though all the people you and Anna May were leaving behind in a hurry! I caught it and had to carry it back thought the crowd and heard alot of people commenting that it was part of the Show! Best, Gary

06 January, 2006 20:12
Anonymous said...

Speaking of the Circus World’s Emus, aside from being tossed down the hill by George, and raked along the fence by WB, and puked on by the karate kicking Dromedary who where frustrated because I wouldn’t let them sink their teeth into me, those stupid stinking birds kicked my butt. One Supper Bowl halftime, at my birthday party at Edge hill, I took a walkie talkie from an abandon security booth at the park. I pretended to be the dispatcher and I broadcasted that the Emus were loose, which was a common occurrence, after I had the guards running around the park, we all heard at my party: “Little John bring back that radio and you won’t get into any trouble.”

06 January, 2006 21:13
Buckles said...

I never had any trouble with Anna May and fireworks but emus are another story. She was no great fan of camels and horses either.

07 January, 2006 13:27
Anonymous said...

Buckles, do you have any idea what year this was taken? Great shot.

10 January, 2006 14:58
Anonymous said...

J. Goodall ---

This picture is the lead shot in the LIFE issue (with Hubert Castle on the cover). If I recall correctly, the shot was taken in New Bedford, MA. It was shot the year the main spec was Old King Cole & Mother Goose.
ToddP

11 January, 2006 08:37
Anonymous said...

Many hanks, that would make it 1941.

11 January, 2006 12:35

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