| "I'm sure these were taken in 1956 the show's last season under canvas. A grim year all the way around." Buckles |
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
RBBB 1956 #1 (From P.J. Holmes)
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26 comments:
I assume that John Ringling North was hard at work several years before 1956 imaging the circus without the tent. Was it generally known before the '56 season that it might be or would be the last under canvas? Was it strictly a matter of business condition that led up the mid-season announcement? I have to imagine that working with the Feld bros. and others the 1957 route without the tent was already being contracted before July '56. How much of North's "end of an era" comments were ballyhoo intended to hype the show that was coming without the bigtop?
As I understand it, the show hadn't turned a profit since 1948 and would have folded sooner had it not been for Concello's ability to keep it within the budget.
Madison Sq. Garden had to bank roll the show each spring to get it to New York.
Once they got on the road, I don't think North, from villa in Europe, lost much sleep.
When he finally did decide to pull the plug he simply brought Concello back and told him to put it indoors.
I know for a fact that Mr. Concello mistrusted all Promoters and refused to allow any to have more than an allotted number of dates.
Legend has it that this arrangement is what eventually forced Irvin Feld into buying the show.
This comment has no relationship to the above photo.
The past few days the television news has been bombarding us with images of cattle being forklifted and dragged into the slaughterhouse.
Yet, today the American consumer will have lunch at McDonalds, family restuarants and Outback Steakhouse and some of the conversation will be "animals shouldn't be allowed in entertainment, like those terrible circuses!"
At Outback Restaurant:
Yes, I'd like the house salad, a Bud Light and a Porterhouse Steak.
WAITER: How would you like your steak?
Medium
WAITER: Would you like your steak forklifted or dragged into the slaughterhouse?
-30-
Buckles, was Concello in general agreement that show could never make money again without going indoor?
Sep Checks: The slaughterhouse videos were bad. The use of hot shots was likely taken entirely out of context, but the fork lift material was dramatic. In fairness, the current downer cows rules date back only a couple years to the first mad cow infections. The Hallmark slaughterhouse operation seemed to be looking for a loophole. In the past I imagine the cows would have been dispatched while down, which is humane. Somebody got greedy.
ABC ran some footage from a Chinese Circus last night with a cruelty to tigers and bear theme. I imagine we can look forward to plenty of cruelty stories in the next few weeks
Ben,
Well said. I think "if the shoe fit's" theme would be appropriate for how thing's are perceived.
Wade Burck
It's hard to say. When the show was under canvas Mr. North's income as Majority Shareholder and Producer came right off the top. Not to mention being paid as "Talent Coordinator" plus the support of his estate in Europe and his general all around life style.
Meanwhile Mr. Concello received a good salary, as well as being endowed by royalties from his seat wagon patents. His "associates" did well also.
If the show just broke even, everyone was happy with the possible exception of the Minority Share Holders.
So if there was any practical way to keep it afloat they would have.
Concello was successful in adapting the show to Ball parks and stadiums and in seven years turned it into going concern.
I don't think either gentleman cared for this new format. With the money being more accountable there were fewer perks and in all probability both were glad to be away from it.
After all, they already had theirs stashed away.
contracting a show was much less complicated in 1956 or even in the 60s. more to the point, the whole idea of the feld organization reviving a lackluster performance and saving the show by taking it out from under canvas is a myth with absolutely no basis in fact. they promoted several dates each year after the show went indoors, such as the dc armory, where i first met mr feld in 1966, but that was it. martell britt and several others handled as many major dates as the felds. as buckles pointed out, no promoters were allowed more than a limited number of dates. either concello or north made all key decisions until the show changed hands in rome. north may have been an absentee owner much of the time, but he still made his own decisions, deferring to no one but concello and not always allowing concello much slack. the performance under north was always very, very strong; the 1965 season had displays involving seven or eight acts at a time in the road edition. my understanding is that the biggest thing north and concello disagreed on was that north kept wanting to make the show "bigger, better and grander than ever" and concello wanted to cut it back to a more managable size. the original feld operation played a big role in ringling history - but not until they bought the show.
Gosh... But... According to Ringling dot com... In 1956... Quote...
"Later that year, Irvin Feld would save Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey from oblivion by masterminding its transition from tents to arenas, his vision and creativity ushering in a new era of entertainment. Feld not only restored Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey to its former glory, but set the stage for The Greatest Show On Earth to reach new heights of excellence!"
...and the cicus has come full circle as the Feld3generation has brought RBBB back to the lackluster days of yesterday...
Imagaine that ---- the CIRCUS came FULL CIRCLE just as the new generation got rid of the "CIRCLE", the ring in which the CIRCUS began -----
As a lot of us know, Irvin Feld's first love was Magic.
I'm sure the zenith of his career was hob-nobbing with Sigfried and Roy.
I remember back in 1978 he had a clown or two try to manipulate sucker-boxes during walk arounds.
Boy it sure sound's like Cute namer is awful jealous.
Wade Burck
With all this press on Irvin Feld saving the circus nothing has been said about Judge Roy Hofeniz of houston, Texas who paid for it all but the Felds $500,000 they kicked in.
Without Hofeniz the Felds would have never got The Greatest Show on Earth.
The Felds were smart promoters of rock in roll shows etc.
When did the Felds buy out Hofeniz to take total control of the circus??????
Harry
only from your perspective wade, where almost everyone appears that way.
Mr. Kingston,
I alway's assumed Judge Hofheinz was like the partner who supported the superstar, from behind, with lot's of love and encouragement. I didn't realize he bankrolled the biggest part.
Wade Burck.
P.S. Anonymous,
Sorry to interrupt you. Continue with your constructive essay on Ringling, and the Feld's. I am sure we will all learn something, and gain insight into it's mystic.
Wade Burck
Harry, I was blissfully unaware of the Hofheinz connection to GSOE, nor did I know that he'd been a judge. (Thought he was Mayor of Houston.) He's certainly a maligned figure in baseball as the man who built the Astrodome and sentenced a generation of players to work on artifical turf.
Always found it funny to not even find Judge Hofheinz's name listed in the Directory of American Circuses. He suffered a stroke in 1970 when he was in his late 50's and lost control of most of his holdings by 1975. Wonder how the GSOE would have turned out with his help. Very smart guy, finnished law school at nineteen, member of the Texas House in his 20's ,later a judge,and mayor of Houston. The Shrine had kept Ringling out of Houston for many years, till he put them in the Dome in the late 60's and later the Astrohall in 1969. Couldn't find enough buildings the 1st year for 2 units so one spent the summer at the Astrohall.
Had circus displays,sideshow,and the gorilla. Had hired Mel Miller to set up a circus park together with Astroworld before his illness. Had summer packages for people to go to Astroworld and to see the circus.
P.J.Holmes
harry, you're right. judge hofheinz seems to be the forgotten man - the man who for all purposes it appears to have bought ringling for the felds. he was never a prime figure in show management and after the initial publicity about buying the show, he seemed to get lost in the shuffle except in connection with ringling's astrodome dates. it's funny that he apparently put up much of the money but has never been publicized as saving the circus!
Harry and P.J.
I seem to remember when Jim Caldwell was working on the locations of RBBB equipment that a lot of it went to Houston and was scattered about. Some of it was in a junkyard out there.
Wasn't there a vision at the time of a Circus World Park type project in Houston and was Mr. Hofienz behind all of that?
Bob
Bob,
Yes some of the Ringling tent show equipment was at Astroworld in Houston until it was junked.
Tex Dreyfus a Houston circus fan for many years took me out to see it there.
I think some of the cook house stuff and a seat wagon and more was there.
Judge Hofhneiz had a circus room full of goodies in the Astrodome.
Yes, let's give Kenny credit where it is deserved on the elephant facility.
Also Carson and Barnes circus has a state of the art elephant facility also with one of the best running it Tim Frisco. They deserve credit also as it costs a bunch of money to run it they also have had many elephant babies.
Harry
Bob,
We inventoried and measured the wagons for Jim Caldwell after they where moved from Goodman's in Sarasota in the very earlier 70's.
After the Judge lost control, the wagons remained on the Astroworld back lot for a number of years. Six Flags purchased Astroworld and sold off excess land in the late 70's. I was off at college and remember going by Astroworld during one of my trips home. The wagons had been moved and a Toyota dealership was being built where they had been. They went to a scrap yard a mile or so from Astroworld.
P.J.Holmes
Judge Hofheinz raised the money from a Houston financier and he and the Felds bought the show from John Ringling North about 1967. (The show had first appeared in the Astrodome in 1965.) The judge became chairman of the board of RB&BB. Shares in RB&BB were sold to the public. (I had shares in the corporation.) Then Mattel bought all the shares, including Hofheinz and the Feld brothers. About this time Hofheinz had a stroke and never recovered. After a few years under Mattel, the Felds bought all the shares from Mattel for less than Mattel paid for it. So the Felds never bought out Hofheinz ... Mattel did. By the way, I wrote a story about this for White Tops several years ago.
It's an interested story.
Thanks P.J. and Jim, for the Astroworld background.
I've done separate interviews with Archie Chan Jr., who was spending his first year with RBB&B as a drummer in the circus band, and Johnny Peers, who's father, Terry Peers, was a vendor on the new Blue unit.
Johnny said he was doing odd jobs on the show, including some painting, but business was slow and he got laid off. Johnny said he was influenced to join the Clown College in Venice that fall by the grandfather of his best friend, Manuel "Vapata" Baragon, both of whom were on the Blue unit. Johnny remember's the grandfather's last name, Drougett, who apparently was a South American performer. Drougett, according to Johnny, did a handstand on crutches as one of his signature tricks, but at some point he fell and was crippled. I'm trying to determine the first name, proper spelling, and background of "Drougett" for an article I'm preparing on Johnny Peers for White Tops. Does any one on Buckles blog remember him?
Also, Archie Chan told me that the lengthy run in Astrohall in the summer of 1969 really took its toll on performers and the band. "The shows were long," he said. "Two hours and 55 minutes each. Three shows on Saturdays and Sundays, and three times on holidays. Thirteen weeks with no days off. It nearly killed us. We were burned out and tired."
Johnny Peers, of course, appears with his Muttville Comix, and Archie Chan Jr. is retired in Las Vegas.
Another question: Did Ringling Bros set an attendance record for a single performance at the Astrodome in 1965?
Thanks,
Lane Talburt
More interesting bits about the Hofheinz-Feld-North transaction that changed Ringling-Barnum ownership appear thru pgs. 79-83 in the chapter, "A Secret Mission," in the book by Bill Giles, "Pouring Six Beers at a Time And Other Stories from a Lifetime in Baseball," published in the spring of 2007 by Triumph Books, Chicago, IL. Giles was formerly with the Houston Colts (now Astros) National League Baseball Club, & is now chairman of the board of the Philadelphia Phillies. -- Bill Hall
Lane,
Contact me MikeNaughtonCircus@gmail.com and I'll put you in touch with the Droguetts.
Mike Naughton
YANKEE DOODLE CIRCUS
When the brand-new Blue Unit sat down for the summer of 1969 at the Astrohall in Houston, I was assigned to do the same as the show's press agent.
It wasn't easy to keep the publicity machine rolling for such a long engagement in a city the size of Houston. I pulled out every old trick in the book -- elephants to a car wash, blind children arriving to touch the animals, guest ringmasters and clowns. You name it, we did it.
Archie Chan is right. It was a grueling time and all of us, performers and staff, were constantly exhausted.
--Jack Ryan
Jack: You may have seen story in today's Atlanta Constitution where children with vision disabilities weren't alllowed to touch elephants (but other animals were OK) during a Ringling pre-show event. The story said state law forbids touching pachyderms. Apparently this prohibition also holds true in Mississippi and New York. I wonder if those states also have made school texbook publishers omit the fable about the blind man feeling parts of the elephant without being able to see the whole.
I also wonder if there are any states that disallow circus publicity agents from taking elephants through car washes.
Lane Talburt
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