Monday, December 11, 2006

Carson & Barnes Circus Indoors #1


At first glance, I thought this was Ken & Nicole in Madison Sq. Garden but after reading further, Mr. Hall explained that this is Carson & Barnes on the indoor tour made at the conclusion of their regular season. This Arena is in Mesquite, Texas and business wise, like Ken & Nicole, it appears they stayed away by the thousands.

(By the way, I hear that Nicole Feld's photo in the new program will be signed (Demographically Yours!)

Posted by Buckles at 12/11/2006 06:09:00 AM

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recall seeing Beatty-Cole in 1980, and Vargas in 1987 in their attempts to become an indoor circus, with much the same results.

11 December, 2006 07:16
B.E.Trumble said...

C & B played four cities indoors to end the season. The traditional indoor date in Tulsa was wonderful, as was the Thanksgiving weekend in Wichita. Mesquite was sparsely attended, coming in the middle of the first big winter storm of the season and marketing to a Hispanic audience while competing against an up cming Garcia show. I think it's a good bet that there will be more and more indoor dates for C & B in future seasons, and when in larger arenas, more elephants than the RBBB shows.

11 December, 2006 07:29
Anonymous said...

I'll add, and it's just my opinion... there's an enormous difference between tented dates and large indoor dates, and a big learning curve is involved. To keep a large show on the road however, it may be necessary to become a triple threat; a show with a smaller indoor "All-Star" unit playing mid-sized towns indoors in winter, the large tented show, and even larger beefed up version of the tent show for half a dozen or more big arena dates. As some of the traditionally large Shrine dates etc grow smaller and shorter, I'm not sure anybody can count on elephant leases etc to always provide the winter income that they have in the past. For C & B it's probably fair to say that the last few years have seen the show exploring what mix of large indoor dates work. I'm pretty confident that in a couple years the show will have that right mix.

11 December, 2006 08:14
Anonymous said...

The Tented Circus is the life of the circus. The Arena dates pay the bills. Its a shame money is the factor and a way of live goes down to history on a blog. THANK GOD we have that history to share with those who never will see this life as it was ever again. The future sucks.

11 December, 2006 08:49
Anonymous said...

My Olympic skills have dwindled, photos of Mesquite show doesn't show all. Had I taken the photos from the back side of the building it would appear that they had a good house. But never the less there was sufficient seating. The lighting and quantity of show they brought surpasses what I have seen in this arena. A three ringer with a three ring show. What I have recently seen of indoor circuses this show gets a two thumbs up. (But Evansville gets four thumbs up!)

11 December, 2006 14:23
Anonymous said...

From the perspective of a complete outsider --- a few days in my travels I reached a town where, great luck! a circus plays tonight! But then I ask at the fast food place where those coupons or posters are displayed, and nobody knows where "the old armory" is, and there's nothing in the ad to give a clue.

Asking at another coffee shop, two gas stations, the hardware store, etc., nobody born in that little town has any idea where to find the circus that night. I check the phone book, study the map, even ask the Chamber of Commerce receptionist.

Only about half the shows with elephants get exact driving directions listed on Peta's Circus Schedules (which, in desperation, yuck, I did check via a public library computer in one town). Motel clerks usually know, but they aren't always the person a local resident would think to go visit and ask.

Add to that, elderly small town people who are all starry-eyed at the idea of seeing their first circus in years don't all believe the show will go on -- like it's too good to be true. They say, "I wonder if they really will come," standing out there at 7:30 in the morning (another town, a better day, obviously).

Not talking about any circus mentioned here this month, but sometimes local hosts may be way too optimistic about what everybody in town knows, and self-defeating in their goal not to pay for enough ad words.

Even the Feld shows sometimes buy six weeks of nice flashy newspaper ads plainly listing showtime half an hour later than their actual start. And if the newspaper's gremlins don't get you, sometimes it seems like the entire ticket office staff of the municipal arena is determined to put the place out of business or get the manager fired, no prejudice against any one traveling show.

We townies are so used to the 10-plex movies, video rentals, and the airline industry -- where no one has that "show must go on" ethic. The transformation of big empty spaces into marvelous shows is always hard to believe, but let the average poor slob feel a little more sure advance tickets aren't a complete hoax.

I'll even suggest some of you stop putting up big signs like CLOSED immediately inside the gate where it blocks view of the ticket wagon. Grown women out there in tears, hustling their kids back to the parking lot, thinking the show is sold out. I grew up buying standing-room tickets to SRO shows, but a few parents will panic rather than go ten yards further to ask.

Walking in through the front gate, or trying to track down your show on the show's own website, are experiences some of you may never have. You may struggle to find a strange lot every day, but you have friends to call, or they'll come searching for you.

You can't turn us dimwits (your esteemed audiences) into detectives. You may only park at that crossroads once in all eternity, but you might as well make it easy to find the show.

Computers should help to check every shred of publicity from now on, and those of you who remember the greatest promoters of the 20th century could help today's whiz kids.

Splintering soap boxes everywhere,
Lotliza

11 December, 2006 15:28
Anonymous said...

this is completely changing the subject, but i seem to remember the cristianis having a white elephant is the 50s. does anyone know anything about her?

11 December, 2006 15:45
Buckles said...

You mean "Emma". She had light pigmentation and even white eyes but a true albino has white hair and pink eyes.
With being that said, neither could easily be picked out of a herd unless you looked closely.

11 December, 2006 17:21

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