Friday, October 19, 2007

From Bob Cline #1


RBBB Hippo cage, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

RBBB Hippo Cage

The Green cage was the RBBB hippo cage if I understand this correctly. I believe it was at Circus World in Florida and Allen C. Hill ended up with it. This photo was taken in 2004 at Circus World Museum in the old elephant barn. It now sits outside in the yard all summer. The second photo is one of two ammo cages at Circus World Museum. This photo was just taken three weeks ago. I believe both of the ammo cages came from Allen C. Hill by way of Circus World in Florida also.
Bob

Posted by Buckles at 10/19/2007 06:08:00 AM

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Richard Reynolds says - -

This does seem to be the 1944 hippo cage - -believe I can see the bathing tank to the left. But what in the world is it doing with a number 80 on it. It was always #85 in its operating days with RBBB, and I thought CWM was into accuracy.

19 October, 2007 15:07
Anonymous said...

Come on, the CWM hasn't given a damn about accuracy for a long time. Poor management continues to this day.

19 October, 2007 19:35
Anonymous said...

Richard,
This indeed is the #85 hippo cage that you mentioned.
The number 80 on it was not the CWM's idea. This is how they received it from Allan Hill.
When this wagon was at Circus World/Orlando it was painted a dark sky blue with a yellow roof and did not have any number on it. It was used for a time to house some of Jewell New's lions.
When Alan Hill purchased this wagon and the ammo cages and small floats, most were repainted.
They were used at the Sarasota Circus Festival and displayed at the fairgrounds. They were also used in the festival parade.
Like so many other things at CWM it is awaiting restoration.
Dom Yodice

19 October, 2007 23:23
Anonymous said...

During my days with CWM Chappie would explore every avenue for accuracy in every detail. In some cases wagons had been reworked on various shows when transferre3d and he would endeavor to find its earliest time. Guys like Dick Conover and others were invaluable and he gave them serious council. However the "America" wagon was not correctly restored for a number of reasons.

I recall when they re3stored the 101 baggage wagon that Chappie could not find any pictures or info on what its number had been and being thaT MY GRDFTHER. HAD been a chef there he asked me my age and that was its number to this day. I believe its 32 or 34. Time erases alot of memory, in fact I have to keep reminding myself of my current age.

20 October, 2007 09:42
Bob Cline said...

I think it's only fair to comment on Mr. Kitto's opinion. The Circus World Museum is in fact very well managed at this point in time. The new director Mr. Steve Freese has been in office less than a year and the Museum as a whole has seen a very relieving change for the better. In the days of $3.00 a gallon gasoline, the Museum's attendance was up this year and so was the per capitia spending. The State of Wisconsin's Historical Society has taken an active part in funding repairs to the buildings, getting grants for the work, and preservation of the archived artifacts. All of this is moving in the right direction.

Granted the Museum was spiraling down hill. You can't fix what has happened over the last few years, overnight. The Parade doesn't exist anymore. That destroyed the Museum's working budget. They have had to literally build a budget from the ground up again. Remember that the Museum recieved nothing in operating capitol from the state of Wisconsin. It was a self supporting operation with the Circus World Museum Foundation doing a great job of keeping it going.

As for the historical accuracy, granted the Museum does not have a Circus Historian on it's payroll. The Director is doing a suberb job running the company but he is not a historian. Erin Foley is a wonderful Archivist in the Library. She can research your requests and give you good accurate answers. There are 6 people in the front office that make things happen all year round. There is one maintanence person who repaints, moves vehicles, restores what he can, sends wagons off to parades and events, and during the summer he gets a couple extra people to help. That's making a great institution run on a skeleton crew because of the budget crisis.

Does the Museum have it's problems? Sure it does. Just like any other business. Many of the die hard volunteers from the past have been turned away for one reason or another. Unfortunately, the Volunteers were the ones that made the Museum the grand place that it was for many years.

Yes, the Museum wants to do more than it can, Yes, it wants more key personnel in place but it takes money. Lots and lots of money. Money that is slowly starting to head towards Baraboo again thanks to GOOD management.
Bob Cline
A friend & supporter of Circus World Museum Inc.

20 October, 2007 12:16
Anonymous said...

To Bob Cline,
The current CWM Director, lost the election last fall and was given this job as a reward for his service to the party. How can someone who has no circus background or isn't a fan and just lost the last election be able to kick the museum to get it jump started. I have been a WI resident all my life and my parents were very suportive of the museum for many years, including furnishing many photos to restore wagons that were acquired by CWM.
Since Chappie left there has been not been one director that was ready, willing and able to take over the total operation of the museum. As far as I'm concerned the directors were incompetent and should never been hired in the first place.

20 October, 2007 20:28
Anonymous said...

To Bob Kitto. Your comment about the hiring of Steve Freese because he lost the election is 100 percent off base. His hiring was NOT a reward for his service to the party. You do not have the facts. After reading some of your comments under Bob Cline's photos, I wonder why I bother to dignify your remarks by responding.

I suggest you read the most recent copy of Ernie Albrect's SPANGLES Magazine. You will find comments from Renee Boldt and myself regarding the hiring of Steve Freese and the reasons for hiring him.

As far a your comment about Steve not having a circus background or being a circus fan is totally irrelevant. If you bother to read SPANGLE magazine, which I am sure you will not, you will note my comments about the CEO's of The Field Museum (Chicago), Museum of Science & Industry9Chicago), Chicago Botanical Garden and Chicago History Museum all coming from the business world and not hired because they were well versed in the areas that those institutions represent. Those museums are successful because they have qualified business people who know the importance of fund raising. They are not "fans" nor did they have a knowledge which you mistakenly think is necessary to run Circus World Museum. Chappie Fox founded the museum but he is gone and it makes no sense to live in the past. The world has changed as much as you wish to cling to past memories. You need to move on as difficult as it may.

Respectfully, John Goodall
Board member - Circus World Museum

24 October, 2007 11:58
Anonymous said...

To John Goodall,
Chappie did not found the CWM.
Get your facts straight.

24 October, 2007 18:42
Anonymous said...

Guess I'll step into the fray to undergird the useful comments of Bob Cline. As to Mr. Freese, he was an active supporter of various historical programs while a member of the legislature, far more so than most any of his colleagues. He is a history person. Clearly, he has connections throughout the state and I assume this is, in part, why he was attractive to the Board since it is to be expected that he will "milk" those relationships in the farms and factories throughout the state. So far, it appears no problems in year one.

With a new director in place, I think it is time for the Board to work on conceiving some goals and re-assessing its mission statement. It must do that if it ever wants to regain the support from the many that have been turned away or have chosen to desert CWM. Really, with its hiring of a new director, the Board's work is only just beginning even though they may all feel a bit drained after the past several years. CWM should also strive to regain the professional accreditation it lost several years before all of the recent problems when it was still a healthy institution. Perhaps the loss of accreditation was an early bell-ringer of the complications it would soon face. Maybe re-achieving those professional standards can serve as one guidepost for the Board and staff. Chappie Fox, incidentally, was quite proud that CWM was one of the very first museums to apply for and receive accreditation when the American Association of Museums established its accreditation program in the early 1970s.

Chap was very much a principal founder of CWM. The museum was the brainchild of John M. Kelley but it was the hard work of the circus enthusiast from Oconomowoc who spent many a weekend in Baraboo both to research a book that became "A Ticket to the Circus: A Pictorial History of the Incredible Ringlings" and to help Kelley realize his dream. While Chap always chose to give Kelley great credit, the potential museum needed a young and energetic leader. It was a great combination. During this period, Chappie had been a highly successful volunteer fundraiser for the Milwaukee Zoo where he learned much about what was necessary to run a non-profit organization. Later, when the CWM opened in 1959 and its first director left after a year, Chappie Fox became director and I was privileged to have been hired by him and to work there during his last year. I've spent most of the remainder of my life as a museum curator and director, including several years at the Smithsonian.

There were times when Chappie did not care about accuracy. I was working at the museum when it acquired a rather plain cage wagon in 1972. Since it would be seen on the streets of Milwaukee, Chap just decided it needed a skyboard though there was no evidence at the time that it ever had one. But I do not wish to detract from the remarkable attributes of the man who built the CWM.

It doesn't help to find much fault in the past but it is useful to learn from the past. Therefore, I would hope that the museum board someday become concerned about building an endowment. For a museum open nearly 50 years, it is disappointing that it has never been adequately emphasized, let alone developed. Fans everywhere must remember that CWM has, by far, the strongest collection of research materials and artifacts (and way more than magnificent wagons) and we must ensure their continued preservation and accessibility.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

25 October, 2007 01:57
Bob Cline said...

Well said Mr. Goodall and Mr. Flint!

25 October, 2007 07:54
Anonymous said...

To Bob Kitto a.k.a. Anonymous: I am very much aware that Chappie was not the founder of CWM but was it's first director. The founder was John M. Kelley. I was typing too fast.

I was sorry that you give no credit credit to Greg Parkinson who was director for a number of years. Your comment - "As far as I'm concerned the directors ( of CWM ) were incompetent and should never been hired in the first place" (Bob Kitto quote.

Sorry Bob, I disagree.

When was the last time you visited CWM? When Chappie was director?

25 October, 2007 11:21
Anonymous said...

To John Goodall,
I visited the museum many times after Chappie left. The only time I didn't was after Greg left. When he left, I was consulted by some of the members of the board of directors at that time and told them what I thought should be done. My idea was to have 2 people hired. One to take care of the day to day operations and take care of the museum's promotion and publicity, and the second to be strictly a fund raiser, with a proven backgouund in fund raising. This didn't happen and I am very sorry that this didn't happen.

25 October, 2007 19:57
Anonymous said...

They HAD people who were strictly for fund raising. I remember Karen Severson when Greg was director and the other guy who followed him brought in his person, too. There was at least one other in between.

25 October, 2007 23:01

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