Sunday, May 24, 2009

1974 Ringling Blue Unit #4


1974 Ringling-3.5, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

During the intermission, I got Harold Ronk to autograph his LP album “A Day at the Circus with Mr. Singing Ringmaster.”

Posted by Buckles at 5/24/2009 06:20:00 AM

6 comments:

Eric said...

As you can see, Harold Ronk not only autographed the album but also took the extra time to write out a personalized inscription and include the date and the place where it was autographed. (How many other celebrities would go to all this bother?) It speaks volumes about this gracious and courteous gentleman.

24 May, 2009 12:05
Chic Silber said...

Hal and Bob Harrison were truly

tremendously accomplished in

both of their endeavors and

of great importance to the show

24 May, 2009 13:38
Jim Royal said...

In 1979 I was ringmaster on the Hoxie show. Beverly and I visited Bob Hannigan, Asst. G.M. of the blue unit at the time. He told Mr. Ronk that we were there. Harold made the trip, somewhere deep in the seats, just to say hello. As a teenager in the mid-sixties, I would track him down during intermission. Although looking back I am sure he would have liked to ditch me, he always took time to chat. A wonderful man, and THE ringmaster.

24 May, 2009 18:50
Frank Ferrante said...

I concur with Jim, always gracious and always a gentleman. ~frank

25 May, 2009 03:06
Jack Ryan said...

Harold was a very dear friend.

Years after he retired, I had the pleasure of visiting him and Bob at their condo way the hell out in rural McHenry, Illinois, about a two hour drive from Chicago. I was in Chicago on business so rented a car and gladly made the trup.

Bob was then constantly on oxygen, suffering from an acute case of emphysema. He passed away a few years later.

Bob's elderly mother was in a nursing home there so Harold stayed to care for her until she died. He talked to me longingly of moving to a warmer climate, maybe Sarasota. It never happened.

Mrs. Harrison passed away and Harold soon followed her.

Harold was my first friend on the Ringling show, when I was sent to Venice a month after the Felds took over. He could not have been more warm or welcoming to a First of May like me.

27 May, 2009 21:35
Jack Ryan said...

A touching memory, Jim Royal.

But it was Harrison, not Hannigan.

27 May, 2009 21:38

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