In an effort to license the Ringling name and trademark, the Felds in 1970 came up with a series of characters who appeared on Ringling licensed merchandise in stores--as i recall the characters appeared in |
Friday, October 30, 2009
Ringling_1970_7
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Aside from his official title
Schwartzie was one of the few
holdovers of "Ali Babbas Forty"
and had many other functions
He became a Venice bridge tender
in his retirement (along with
Dick Brown) between them they
controlled traffic at both ends
of the Isle of Venice
Weren't there some RBB&B owned stores at one time? Obviously, they didn't go over very well.
In "Backyard" some time ago, the editor, mentioned that he found some of the store props, but never got around to telling where he got them or what became of them.
Bob Kitto
Bob Kitto,
I don't think the RB&BB stores ever happened. They were certainly planned,
Somebody correct me here if I am incorrect.
Jack
Bob, I think they tried to mimic The Disney Store concept when Disney started popping up everywhere. I think that the Feld's only had one, or two stores - New York and VA comes to mind. I may be wrong about that. ~frank
Quite seriously, and I think that Jack Ryan might confirm this, the names of the characters were;
RING
LING
BARNUM
and
BAILEY
We had that logo on our trapping wagon, there was RING and LING and the clown was BUMBLE BAILEY but I forget the last one.
Maybe it was UNCLE CREEPY.
Ring and Ling, Baby Barnum and bUMBLE bAILEY. I was on the Red Unit that year and we did the same. Frankie Saluto was the Elephant and he beefed loud every day right on the back track before opening. He referred to the new triumpherste as "Hofenfeld". It went to end " Wer're in the circus dailey,Ring, Ling, Barnum and Bailey". It was awful.
Frank,
Found the copy that Washington sent to me that I published verbatim in the program book.
"These four charming characters are the sparkling new symbols of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Soon this happy group will be seen on a variety of quality products in shops everywhere.
"Firs there's RING, a gently ferocious gorilla. Next meet LING, a tee-ririffc tiger Baby BARNUM is the bouncy little blue elephant and fumbling, loveable BAILEY is the widely grinning clown.
"You'll see these four smiling faces in every performance of The Greatest Show on Earth and remember to look for their debuts on toys, games, clothing, fabrics and many, many other products and gifts."
I echo what Johnny Herriott said: It was awful.
Thanks Jack, that is a fascinating bit of prose!
"And sometimes that's what dreams are made of."
for the record, Ringling taking a cue from Disney did open i believe three mall stores in the DC market that were very costly--they created a whole retail division with a VP, buyers etc. It didn't last long as the circus theme was too narrow--ironically Disney stores eventually collapsed, too, and are just now making a mild comeback. as for the Ringling characters, they were successfully licensed to a number of companies for a couple of years by an outside licensing company and appeared on a lot of kids products from toys to halloween costumes and bedding but without a TV cartoon show to keep them out there weekly their appeal soon faded.
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