Monday, May 01, 2006

Ringling-Barnum Circus 1941 #2/ It's all been done before


So, History repeats itself, here we see John Ringling North trying to re-invent the wheel by having Norman Bel Geddes re-design something that had been perfected over the past 100 years. After it was all said and done most of the innovations were either impractical, impossible or thrown off the train at night.
In the final analysis, it spite of the fact that a lot of money was wasted, it was a great publicity gimmick and unlike today did not effect the "meat and potatoes" of the show, what the public paid to see, GREAT TALENT!".

Posted by Buckles at 5/01/2006 06:19:00 AM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I once saw a book with a photo of North and Bel Geddes, whom the caption identified as Clyde Beatty. I forget...anyone know what book that was?

01 May, 2006 12:01
Anonymous said...

Richard Reynolds says - -

I saw that redesigned menagerie in 1941 and it was very dramatic. I thought the effect stunning. The row of cages was like shadow boxes with scenery painted on three interior sides to reflect the various habitats. Sideboards dropped down to the ground so that the wagon wheels were hidden. All the cages were connected by art deco panels so you could not see breaks between the cages. The upper sideboards lifted up to a vertical position and the species of the animal and habitat were in large illuminated block letters like a theater marquee. The cage row looked more like permanent cages in a zoo. There was a similar attempt in 1949 but it was puny in comparison.

Now Atlanta (where I saw the show) was only a two day stand and with labor in short supply they did not put up Giraffe Island as they did in Chicago and Los Angeles and other longer stands. When Giraffe Island was up, the three long necks stood on a platform some five feet above the ground. Their pen was atop the platform reaching around its perimeter. It made a dramatic appearance. Zebras ringed the island. Half the cages were arranged in a circle on the other side of the public walkway from the “island.” That was at one end of the tent. A similar arrangement of cages in a circle was at the other end. Originally, in the middle of that circle there was a monkey island. It even had a water filled canvas moat. However, it did not work and was shipped back to WQ after the first stand or two. Circus lots are seldom level and when the moats were filled, all the water ran to the downhill end. Without Monkey Island they tethered the camels in a circle in the middle.

What about the elephants? They were staked out in double rows, one behind the other, on opposing sides of the tent with their backs to the sidewall. The public walked down the middle (where the center poles stood) with a double row of bulls on each side. Blue lights played on the elephants. A visitor went into one end of the tent where one circle of cages was located, then passed between the double rows of elephant (on both sides) and went to the circle of cages at the other end.

There has never, ever been anything like that layout for a menagerie.

At Atlanta the cages were all in a long row along the sidewall in the traditional manner but the shadow box effect was there. The elephants were on the opposite side and the lead stock down the middle as usual.

01 May, 2006 18:13

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