Friday, August 11, 2006

Charly Baumann 1970 #1


I am impressed on the response to these 1970 RBBB pictures, no doubt because of the sorry state of affairs that exists today and especially the many comments on Charly. I'll call this set "Everything you wanted to know about Charly Baumann but were afraid to ask".
I had just finished scanning some 1947-48 Dailey Show pictures for today when these suddenly arrived from Eric and I thought it just might put the icing on the cake.

Posted by Buckles at 8/11/2006 06:57:00 AM

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jack Ryan:

This is off the immediate topic of Charly but some blog readers seem to be interested in the logistics of the "super sized" Ringling program books.

The first was for the 100th anniversary edition as we've discussed. Every season we actually prepared two books for the new show -- one which was ready and on sale for the Venice opening night and the second (for the rest of the first year tour) usually available about Baltimore.

The "first edition" was no Pulitzer Prize winner but the best we could do. We had nothing of the new show to photograph before it went to press. We used pictures from previous years, act-provided photos and anything else we could find. Of course, one of my biggest challenges was to title and describe the production numbers and write the Program of Displays. This was based on long, rambling conversations with Richard Barstow (and his successors) who were not often sure themselves. Writing about what you have never seen and what really does not exist can be most interesting.

During the Venice opening and in St. Pete (where the circus TV special was usually taped and the lights were good), a bevy of color photographers from NYC documented the new show. Photography of aerial acts usually waited for St. Pete because the ceiling of the Venice buidling was so ugly to shoot.

We had special pages in the second edition book (printers call them signatures)in which to publish the new photos, replacing many of the older ones.

Every night we looked at hundreds of color slides, winnowing down the best stuff for the program. There were many hasty trips up to Milwaukee to the Krueger company where the books were printed for many years.

And, I was constantly meeting and talking to new members of the company to improve on their biographies in the book and to, of course, prepare publicity stories for the press kits.

After the second edition program book came aboard in Baltimore, it stayed pretty much the same until the second season of the tour. Befor year two, we made minor revisions, reflecting acts that left or who were added.

Irvin got his fresh, up-to-date book in Venice at the opening night of every edition. Had he not, believe me there would have been HELL to pay!

11 August, 2006 10:33
Buckles said...

I have Ringling-Barnum programs going back consecuively to 1924 and after reading your message I dug out the 1970 issue and it was indeed an impressive show.
I always wondered who to blame when the programs became so big. Not only do they take up so much more storage space but since acts come and go, two books are required each year.
They became so generic I stopped collecting them about ten years ago.

11 August, 2006 11:03
Anonymous said...

Jack Ryan ---

I always thought you had the best job in the circus. Because you worked with company members on every level, in every department.
You got to meet all the new acts, interview them, learn their stories, their bios --- and then write interesting copy on each.
The copy, the artwork, the photography, the design, the concepts, the four-color printing from front cover to back all made your super-size program books, starting in 1970, much better than anything before. The fact that you often had to write about what you had never seen and you always had tight deadlines --- well, I guess, that's all part of the fun of it.
The terrific program books we all bought on show day remind me of that great old Polaroid advertising line: "Even as the day slips away, you can still hold it in your hand." --- ToddP

11 August, 2006 11:39
Anonymous said...

Jack... I always wondered what you did for a living! Thanks for clearing this up. BTW I would have loved to have been a 'fly on the wall' during those Barstow 'bull-sessions.'

I love the programs... especially the bi-centennial show on the Red. The photography for that show was terrific. The 'Paint Your Wagon' elephant number still cracks me up to this day.

Someone put a bull tub in the wrong place and in the middle of my dance number and a 'spinning' elephant's tail cracked me right across the bridge of my nose. It threw me backwards and I ended up sitting on the ring curb. I was listening to the pretty tweety-birds when one of the shit shovelers ran up to see if I was OK. The ammonia from his heaping turds was just what the doctor ordered. I thanked him, almost vomited from the stench, and finished the number. I looked like a raccoon for the next week! lol

11 August, 2006 11:53
Anonymous said...

Jack Ryan ---

This should warm your heart. My wife does volunteer work at an annual local charity book fair.
People donate all sorts of wonderful old hardcover books to the fair. Recently, I noticed a few people brought in and donated 100th Anniversary Souvenir Programs. Which says to me they've been treating this edition as something special, as a Keeper.
--- ToddP

11 August, 2006 12:49
Anonymous said...

ToddP:

Thanks for telling me that some of my old Ringling souvenir books are still around and getting donated to the Book Fair. I'm touched.

It amazes me that some people have held onto them for so many years. Guess we were doing something right.

-- Jack Ryan

11 August, 2006 14:18
Anonymous said...

Some folks may have been very carried away about being on the Ringling show. Everyone to his own ways. But the Feld facility in Venice was more than ugly, no matter what you're talking about or how you're looking at it.

12 August, 2006 18:50
Anonymous said...

To: Jack Ryan - I was fortunate to have Charlie Smith and Bob MacDougall pick up programs at the opening of the new production in Venice each year. When the show got to Chicago, I purchased a program with the changes. About three years ago, I donated all of the opening night(early edition) programs to the Circus World library for the files as I was sure nobody else bothered to save the early editions. There was a big difference. After reading your comments about putting the opening night programs together, I am glad I saved them for posterity.

14 August, 2006 16:57
Anonymous said...

Hi John,

I have a few of the "first edition" prgrams around here somwhere but I'm glad to hear you have a quantity that you've donated them to the CWM. Not sure of their "historic value" (if any) but it's great to know they found a home. Maybe future circus historians will find them useful.
--Jack

14 August, 2006 17:26

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