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Wednesday, May 04, 2016
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11 comments:
In more ways than this
Hi
I flew from San Diego to attend the Providence performance. My daughter and granddaughter were also there to witness this historical moment. We all stood up and applauded the elephants. We attended on behalf of my mother, granddaughter of Ernest Harrington, Harrington's Nickle Plate Circus, who shared fond memories of her elephant, Babe, throughout her life.
My daughter and I plan to write a story about this moment.
Can anyone tell me the name of the elephant whose last tail exited the tent (well, curtain technically)? During the final circling of the ring. Did they leave in the order in which they were announced earlier: Kelly Ann . . . Nicole.
Thanks so much,
Laurie
This tragic shift in circus history was assured when John North sold out to non-circus
business people. Yes, we saw Irvin stage some good efforts. Upon his passing the quality began to erode overnight--slowly for a time, but erosion that accelerated under Kenny, then his daughters--who ran performers under the GSOE logo in blue jeans. The results of the clown school reflected amateurism expected of Shriners and the local TV clown. The band shrieked out rock music, even as the bandstand dwindled to at-or-below union minimum. The 3 rings were taken away, and now the elephants. The erosion became desecration under the latter-day Felds. There is nothing extraordinary to buy a ticket for, nothing left to promise greatness to an audience, nothing but desolation which was inevitable when John North sold out to non-circus business people.
Well said Roger Smith.......Everything was watered down....I have not attended a Ringling Performance in over ten years. I use to go several times when they were in town.... Who would have believed all of this could happen to the GSOE?
Laurie,
Come join us at the San Diego Circus Luncheon Club on Monday to tell us about your impressions of the final elephant performance. Broken Yolk Restaurant, 3577 Midway Drive, San Diego 92110 at noon.
Hope to see you there,
Don Covington
It shall be know henceforth as the " greatest variety show on earth ".
Nice pictures Paul I have to agree with all of you I watched the on line version Sunday night. And also not seeing a Ringling show in a while was surprised by the starkness of the arena floor not what I remembered from when I us to go. There always seemed to be so much stuff around the floor rigging for aerial acts, props and other stuff. The place just looked empty and lacked color. Also seemed like the cast had dwindled in the numbers. And then when they described their new show I thought they should call it something else other than Circus
I don't really care what folks
might call these shows in future
but the term "Greatest" doesn't
apply in any regard or version
Most sadly newer generations
will never have an opportunity
to witness "TGSOE" ever again
"Preserve your memories...
their all that's left you"
Simon & Garfunkle
Laurie, You will be much interested in the beginning of the following YouTube film, as will others in the entire film from the Oklahoma Historical Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aMsO1eNhWs Is that your grandfather under the marque at the beginning? Here's what I contributed as a comment on the site when I first discovered it: This quite marvelous document begins with two minutes of Ernest A. Harrington's modest Nickel Plate Show, a Depression-era truck circus that lasted three seasons (1932-1934) and appears freshly painted with a new canvas big top in this film. Then, by contrast (at 2:13), we are on the big Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus that moved on 40 railroad cars. The sequence begins with manager Jess Adkins, standing by the marque, tipping his hat to welcome us . The film pans the tall side show banner line just before the photographer presents us with backyard views of several performers including the Poodles Hanneford family (3:18). Then, at 4:53, we see circus fan and collector Harry Hertzberg of San Antonio, Texas, ready to watch the parade (5:03). Hagenbeck-Wallace presented 13 parades throughout the 1933 season as an experiment prior to resurrecting the daily march throughout the 1934 season. One of those towns was San Antonio on October 16, 1933. Nearly the entire parade is seen including the big show band (split into two sections: the #1 band rode the #71 wagon whose sides were decorated with colorful paintings of animals, clowns and performers while the #2 band rode wagon #33, the old Sells-Floto Circus Elephant bandwagon), a clown band (using #46, a ticket wagon formerly on Sells-Floto, lettered on one side but with paintings of animals including a tiger on a ball on the other), side show band (seen clad in white uniforms atop #41, the grandstand ticket wagon which had bust paintings of Carl Hagenbeck and B. E. Wallace on the sides), about a dozen or more cages including several beautiful dens with corner and center statues, various mounted people, 17 camels, 10 zebras, 29 elephants, and the old Sells-Floto steam calliope, commonly called the Two Jesters (now at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota), bringing up the rear.
Thanks, Don, I'll be there. Looking forward to it.
Hi Dick, yes that is my great grandfather, EA Harrington. My daughter and I did a lot of research using old BILLBOARD and VARIETY clippings but never knew the details of that video. My profile picture is my mother, Patsy Bea, billed as "youngest circus performer."
Thank you all for your kind comments and valuable information.
Hope you all have a nice weekend.
Laurie
Laure, I'd like to be in touch as I have a lead for you. You can find and friend me on Facebook if you are on it.
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