| "The 139th edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus comes to Tampa on Wednesday with ZING ZANG ZOOM a two-hour magic-themed show featuring spinning trapeze artists, human cannonballs and disappearing elephants." |
Friday, January 02, 2009
This morning's Tampa Tribune!
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57 comments:
Something tells me that this show will require lots and lots of conversation.
In order for the audience to follow the Zingmaster's quest it may be necessary to eliminate a number of distracting circus acts.
Solely for aesthetical purposes of course.
I don't get why he has to be a "zingmaster" instead of an "illustrian director?"
Since I am neither a VIP or a Circus Celebrity...I'll get off cheap attending the Show...Mr. Burck and all the Circus Royalty out there..If yo meet me in the parking lot I can set you up with a Disquise so you can sit in the Nose-bleed section..Um, mind you, I will have to charge a small fee for my services...JZ (Ding-Master)
I am trying to picture The Cristianis, Albert Rix, Alzana, GGW, Concellos, Charlie Bauman, and train loads of other circus stars in this ridiculous excuse for the Greatest Show on Earth.
I haven't had chills down my spin since the wedding of Michu.
Those $85 tickets should be called Sucker Seats.
To anonymous.. OKA.. Who Cares..
Yeah.. and they even suckered you into doing their advertising!!
klsdad
If you compare the BRING EM BACK #2 movie ad against the Zing ad in the paper there is no doubt the circus audience, mostly kids, would go see BRING EM BACK with Frank Buck.
The powers to be must pull these goofy ideas out of their asp.
why not just wait until the preview that I know you all attend at the fairground (which should be any day now) before the 1st jump to the times forum....remember this is the red unit...between the two It's had the best shows as of late!
AC
Anonymous,
When the mis quote, "there's a sucker born every minute, is applied to Barnum, it is applauded/referenced because he is one of the "good guys". Just pretend they are his "sucker seats" and get one before they are gone.
Wade Burck
Zych,
Thanks for the offer, but I caught one opening when the Red show left quarters first, and never felt to need to see another. It is just as easy to see it at a later date. Never could figure out the fervor to get to an opening. Caught a Clown College Graduation twice. Now those are the deal. If there is ever another one, get in touch with me first.
Wade Burck
Buckles,
I wonder if they took their lead from Carson and Barnes' elimination of two rings in eliminating a number of distracting circus acts?
Wade Burck
I will save even more by joining
the throngs that will stay away
in droves (as I have done for
many years with little regret)
Chic
Cheap at twice the price when you stop to consider that a ride in the spec float is included.
And more importantly, the unwashed Flotsum and Jetsum in the $15 seats are ordered to applaud as you circle the arena.
$85.00 is 1/2 price compared to NYC.
Zych, Zych,
Put one billet in your pocket for me. Buckles says there's a float ride operating now. That's a different deal. The didn't have those back in the day.
Wade Burck
Fresia and I can't wait to see the show. There are always some great acts, excellent music, production values.So I hear magic is the segway between acts, sounds interesting!
How much is a photo on a bull tub?
Some of the clowns are "villians" and there is something about "turning things upside down" and anti-gravity.
John Ringling North to Otto Griebling, "Otto, we want you to be character called Mister Anti-Gravity, Paul Jung is going to build the props and Lou Jacobs is going to squeeze himself inside a motorized magic hat."
Tell Hugo to get the vanishing elephant ready.
Dream the Impossible Dream.
I should probably note that AlexRamon is from the Bay Area, and he's a pretty good magician -- albeit only around 20. That said, I can't help but that that once upon a time if the GSOE was going to frame the show around illusion they would hired somebody with actual star power capable of filling seats in his own right. These days I suppose that would be Criss Angel. Only a really mean-spirited person would suggest that making an elephant disappear is no big deal on RBBB. They've disappeared car loads of elephants from each show in recent years.
Kodak Moment, bull tub, there are still bull tubs? There is still hope?!?
Lou Jacons to Otto, "I hear you are now an actor, Mr. Anti-Gravity!"
Both chuckle.
Otto replies, "Don't laugh I hear you are going to be teaching at Clown College."
nobody laughed anymore
I guess I'll go to see this thing when it is somewhere close to St. Louis just to see the vanishing elephant, although I do agree that RBBB has done a magnificent job of doing this illusion over the past few years without a 20 year old San Francisco magician.
Jim Steinmeyer's book "Vanishing the Elephant" describes how Houdini accomplished the illusion at the New York Hippodrome to less than stellar reviews, Doug Henning and Milburn Christopher vanished an elephant using a simple device of sliding mirrors in a box, but on a stage as well. Harry Blackstne, Jr. produced an elephant (although small) by simply walking it out on stage behind a bunch of streamers a la the quick chage confetti shower bit. Sigfreid and Roy both vanished and produced an elephant but with so much fog and lighting and so far upstage that it was difficult to determine even if the elephant was ever actually there (think Pepper's ghost type effects). I visited their barn in Osaka so I know there was an elephant in the cast. I am still not sure the elephant was actually on stage during the actual vanish and reproduction.
RBBB bought a bunch of "off the shelf" illusions from Owens Magic for David Labarille and tried to pass that off as clowning.
At least the Felds had the good sense to let the deep pockets of Cirque try to do something with the less than magical Chriss Angel and eat the costs of that bomb.
Wonder what else they can disappear? The rings are gone or transformed into sliding boxes like some kind of Orgami illusion, three teeterboard acts are now one, what else is next - They changed a round cannon into a square whatever?
Buckles help me now - does anyone remember the early arena show for RBBB with Unis, the Flying Cometes, the Flying Rockets, Hugo "ready Papa" Zachinni, and Ferry Frost (sp?)with his illusion magic. That was a circus with magic to a kid about 10 or 11.
Spinning trapeze artists - sounds like a web act to me. Vanishing elephants - been done. Human cannonballs (note pluranls - maybe it will be a hexagon this time). Sorry to beat a dead horse but this thing sounds like it needs more than a zingmaster or an ringmlisouinagist to make sense out of bim bang bond. The great illusionist of the 50's - Kalanag - had a show titled Sim Sa La Bim.
Warren
Warren:
the Owen illusions Feld got for Larible were not bought "off the shelf" but especially conceived, designed and built for the show.
Yes, but Warren can't you just see the little kiddies jumping up and down yelling, "Daddy! Daddy! Please take us to the circus. This year the Zingmaster will meet his Nemesis!"
Illusions conceived?
They must have been conceived during a lunar eclipse.
My favorite circus magic trick is the Atomic Hair Grower.
You got it Buckles. You win the prize. Wonder if the clowns will bring back that fabulous illusion. Bet Nicole will be impressed.
Larible was Ok his first tour, then it went downhill from there. He should have realized that he was up against insurmountable odds of trying to work solo in those canyon arenas.
Felds knew he was up against those odds, too, but where could you hire one performer who did 26 minutes in the show?
Larible left all those illusions in the USA; the only thing he brought back to Europe was his new toupee.
Ditto, On the "Atomic Hair-Grower"....But the reality is...You just can't Hire Good Funsters anymore since they started doin Background checks.....JZ (Binky)
I'm not trying to be argumentative but the "girl to lion" cage and "assistants revenge" have been around for a few decades. They may have been constructed for RBBB but definately are not original illusions. They did appear to be very well made, however.
Those "magic" tricks Dave Larible used on the Ringling show were fairly stock illusions that the mighty Hagenback Wallence paint company dressed up to look pretty.
Funny? Doubtful. Impressive as magic? Very doubtful. Fill up 26 minutes of show time -priceless!
M. Wilson -The Magic Land of Alakazam
Raffaele,
That's pretty weak. You are going to have to do much better then that, if you are going to pull your guy Larible out of this jackpot. Mention a couple of phony circus awards for excellence, that might help. LOL
Regards,
Wade
Buckles,
Atomic Hair Grower, disappearing elephants, Owen's junk for Larible!!!!! Ridiculous. Did nobody ever see Joe and Chester's Dog Pie???
Wade Burck
Binkey,
Speaking of background checks, what did you find out about getting new identification papers? What's it going to cost me? Let me know, I gotta get of here. I hear the gag/illusion business is wide open, and a sellers market at the moment.
Your pal,
Shakes
Illusions ?? Has anybody caught Cat Dancers on the HBO channels ?
Mike Snider did a wonderful hairgrower on Vidbels.
Paul G.
Wade, Please..Since you are more than a casual acquaintance,Call me Bink..I would assume since "Shows" are slashing their Budgets..One could do quite well with a "Thumb Tip" routine..and still be very competitively priced...Might I add/suggest finishing your act with a Blade Box..(a lot-o Elephant Divas are outta work)That way you can close the 1st half and make lots-O-cash Big,Big prizes at intermission allowing the Circus going Public (at a Buck) a Glimpse seeing How she twists and contorts her body around those Blades...As far as getting around Background checks...E-mail me off line..as it would be potentially "Flooding" the market if I revealed it here....Best Binky
Shakes,
I think I've got a crystal casket out back in the barn somewhere. You'll need an assistant like Binky. Wheel it out on the floor, cover it with an ultra classy leopard print sheet, announce you intend to produce a man eating fish, give it a little hocus pocus, pull the cover off only to reveal your buddy Binky chowin down a McDonald's Fillet-O-Fish...
Can I get you guys to auty graf my Marshal Brodien Magic set?
To Buckles and Johnny,
I still think that the misfit army was the best clown routine I ever saw, but you are also right in that the Atomic Hair Grower waqs also one of the best.
As to magic, I recall seeing one of the popular magicians making a Greyhound bus disapear.
Bob Kitto
http://www.ticketmaster.com/seatingchart/106710/25151/
Click on the above to see the St. Pete Times Forum seating chart of the upcoming Ringling Hocus Pocus Show. The seating chart shows a 3 ring format.
Somebody at FELD is going to be on the unemployment line next week for this screw-up..he/she will be gone faster than a disappearing elephant.
THE CIRCUS starring Britney Spears is limping into town at the same building, I wonder how many people will call the box office and ask for CIRCUS TICKETS, meaning Ringling only to get confused when told the circus is starring Britney Spears. Miss Spears and her phony circus tickets are $40 to $128. Not bad considering Ringling and their phony circus is in the same range.
Also listed is CRIQUE DU SOLEIL, note spelling CRIQUE...I wonder how much Ringling slipped to the webmaster to let that misspelling go through.
Someone at the St. Pete TImes ain't reading their own paper, makes you think doesn't it?
Maybe they should aspire to a higher standard of journalism rather than spend money hanging their paper on an arena.
Dink,
A elephant diva that can get in a blade box? I didn't think there were any of those left any more. Getting(stuffing) one in is a shot, but I don't think we can expect any twisting or contorting. Breathing's going to be tough enough. Dink, what do you think of The ShakeyDink Special of Magical Marvels? Let me know before Casey signs on or we will have to change the paper to The RinkydinkShakeyDink Special of Magical Marvels.
Horn honks back at you, Dink.
Shakes
P.S. Who's gonna pitch and who's gonna catch?
Best two clown numbers I ever saw was Western Whoa! half the clowns dressed as Indians the others as Cowboys, all wearing hobby horses.
First the attack of the Fort and later the hold-up of the stage coach in which the passengers (including pretty Miss Flo wearing a bustle made of carrots) were unloaded gun point and eventually rescued by the Sheriff. Otto Griebling qualified to be in the Indian contengent by the feather stuck in the top of his derby.
The other was the Fire House number that included a fire engine containing the clown firemen and accompanied by a dwarf inside a fire plug trotting along behind.
When it's the mama's turn to toss her baby into the net below, she hesitates returns inside the house and then pitches down the TV set first.
And the most wonderful thing of all, not one word of dialog was used.
I guess I have to admit that I miss the old Dime Wilson "stand and point" school of clowning or Dime and Connie actually getting laughs out of "Tide". I up there in age but never got see Kelly or Otto in person that I remember but saw them only through film, photos and such. I do remember Lou Jacobs fondly, and Knucklehead. The wonderful little car, the bathtub, and the hunting gag. I have no real sense of humor but why do these great clowns stick in my mind and I cannot understand what is funny in today's contemporary clowning? I sit in the seats and am saying "huh?" and people around me are laughing. I don't even know why they had clowns on Bellobration - Bello was fun but I've known him since he was 8 years old and my students like him a lot because he has been kind to them on his visits to St. Louis. We have kind of drifted off topic but if someone who sees this triple z show would offer some input on what it actually is, I would appreciate it. In the meantime, discussing it and all of the various posibilities is fun. Thanks Buckles for posting this.
Warren
I love the "no dialogue" gags....
Please tell me they didn't involve a whistle.
I have found that from the backdoor most "gags" nowdays sound similar to a third grade basket ball game,,,without the laughter
Anyone remember a few years back when it was still funny just to cry on someone...
Apparently there is a memo out that says you must urinate on someone or break wind in the ring to get a response. Save us Binky and Stinky!! (sorry Wade, Shakes doesn't go well with Binky)
Was that Ben Trumble talking about dissapearing? Your camel wondered where you went.
I've always assumed the whistles are somehow intended to make up for the lack of an actual band. Herr Klown thus qualifies for an extra five spot each week as director of wind instruments.
Western Whoa! would never make it in today's PC circus world. Yet, the breaking wind clowns (so disgusting, especially when they use powder to convey the gag) permeate circus rings (and perfomance areas) everywhere. Really neat for the kids to see!
Not overlooking other greats, I still have wonderful memories of Emmett Kelly sweeping up that spotlight...
and, over the years there have been some good gorilla parodies (mongo bongo) presented.
Too many clowns in the political arena to mention here.
Paul G.
There is a band, an excellent, excellent band of musicians.And a real musical director who knows about music.
quoted from Marshall "sluggo " Eckelman- professional ever so exed circus musician 1978-2006
Clowns,
Yes, we have forgotten Freddie and Otto boxing, Eddie Dulum as Miss HA, Felix and his pigs and many other very funny routines. Beatty-Cole still had the clown fire gag in the early 60's and it was still effective. The RBB&B had a complete fire dept. for the clowns with miniature fire trucks when I first saw this show.
It was a long time ago.
Bob Kitto
PS to those who wern't born soon enough, I extend my condolences.
Bob,
Condolence's aren't necessary for those of us lucky enough to be there when the cream rose to the top during the Wolfgang, Charly, GGW, Ursula, Axel, Buckles era.
Wade Burck
While we are breathing hell fire and damnation let's be democratic.
The Beatty-Cole show 86'd their great band and their traditional clown alley. If a time-line is examined it will show that these decisions coincide with the general downturn of things; coincidence or not, you be the judge.
Many of those fine ex-Beatty clowns have found profitable work in the private sector. The management imported cheap labor to masquerade as clowns, but it is obvious that cheap doesn't replace quality. Same goes with the fine music department. Those musicians make more money and have better living conditions staying home and doing union jobs.
Ironic that here in Sarasota you can see many fine performers in jobs other than circus, off the road because of lack of work AND good pay. The quality of the business did not plummet because there is no talent, the quality of the business has plummeted because of the lack of talent and/or ethics in the front end.
My opinion; form your own.
It’s my understanding that when magic was a part of the Ringling show a decade or more ago, the show did strong business and, hence, the upcoming resurrection. Jim Steinmeyer, mentioned by Warren in an earlier post on this thread as the author of Hiding the Elephant (certainly one of the best histories of magic yet published), is the consultant behind this year’s new show. He’s very likely the best creative mind in magic today and has done significant work for Henning Disney (“Mary Poppins” on B’way), Ricky Jay, and Copperfield, among others, as well as the Feld ice show about Mickey’s magic.
As to seating charts showing three rings that yellow journalist Hearst writes about, they are not Feld created but rather the work of each building management; many buildings still show the traditional 3-ring design on their seating charts. (Remember that yellow journalism downplays fair news in favor of sensationalism.)
Thanks, Bob Kitto, for reminding me of Eddie Dullum as Miss Hawaii on Beatty-Cole (somewhere I have a great photo of her). That was about the same year they did a fantastic washer-women routine.
While I don’t necessarily see a cause and effect, the ascendancy of Cirque du Soliel coincides with the tumble of the traditional circus. By the way, come March, we’ll have Cirque and RBBB playing within walking distance of each other here in Baltimore--plus a big circus art exhibit (Picasso to Leger) at the Museum of Art. And once again I’ll be teaching my circus history course at Johns Hopkins at the same time.
Dick Flint
Baltimore
Dick
I will take your word for it that RBBB did good business when they last had magic in the circus.
Does that mean that most people enjoy magic? Even after many tricks have been exposed on tv.
Personaly, I wouldn't cross the street to see any for free.
dion
When I was at the Ringling Park, Chappie had put a film together that was designed to give new park employees a rough history on the RBBB background should they be asked questions by the public.
Included was a brief interview with Irvin Feld's mother who stated that even as a child, he wanted to own the Greatest Show on Earth.
When in fact his true love was Magic.
I remember when he had the clowns do parlor magic tricks during the walk around.
I'm sure the acme of his career was producing the Sigfried and Roy Show.
I have nothing against Legerdermain in fact I thought Ferry Forst was very good but Anonymous hit the nail on the head, "filling 26 minutes of show time ..... priceless!'
John Herriott has a great story about a show party that Mr. Feld attended in which a clown did a magic routine that was quite good.
When it reached the point where he asked for a volunteer from the audience, Mr. Feld immediately held up his hand and shouted, "Me!, Me", Me!
Needless to say, the clown was terrified. Maybe if Johnny reads this he may conclude the story.
When one visits the St. Pete Arena website and goes to the RINGLING TICKET link it brings you to the THREE RING SEATING CHART.
I found this to be hilarious!
I tried to purchase tickets this way, that is why I know what I am talking about.
I also know that the building is in charge of this, not RBBB, that is why I said somebody is not reading their own paper since the RINGS BEGONE unit was revealed a few seasons ago.
The seating chart has nothing to do with other circuses, it is, REPEAT, it is a direct link from the Ringling info.
No one knows everything, but every one knows something.
Extra, Extra read all about it!
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