To compete with View-Master, TRU-VUE began offering 35mm filmstrips in color beginning in 1949. Included in this new series were four (count ‘em) FOUR filmstrips of color photos taken on the Ringling-Barnum Circus during the 1948 season. Each filmstrip has a main title and 14 stereo (i.e. 3-D) photos for a grand total of 60 photos. Originally priced at a dollar per filmstrip (the equivalent of about 9 of today’s dollars), these new “Stereochromes” were considerably more expensive than View-Master reels, and did not enjoy huge sales. (A few years later, TRU-VUE was bought out by View-Master, which soon stopped offering 3-D subjects in the 35mm filmstrip format.) Today, the four TRU-VUE Ringling color filmstrips are among the rarest of circus collectibles, and finding a set of all four could take years! To save you the trouble, all sixty photos have been scanned and e-mailed to Buckles, who will be parceling them out over the next few weeks. After 61 years, the colors have faded (much like the glory of the Ringling Circus) but these photos still provide an invaluable record of the show as it was during John Ringling North’s heyday. The original TRU-VUE captions have been included since they identify some of the performers pictured. Many of you will have additional information on who and what is shown in these photos, and your comments will be greatly appreciated by the rest of us. |
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
1948 RBBB (Set 1) #1 (From Eric Beheim)
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16 comments:
To Lane Talburt,
Just finished the great article about the Beaty show in DeLand.
Wish I had the time and talent to do what you do so well.
Bob Kitto
THANK YOU ERIC...THANK YOU BUCKLES,
Ringling 1948 is the first Circus I ever saw (Thank You Grandma Louise, who played hooky circa 1890 to see the "Barnum & Bailey" show and also Buffalo Bill). These shots mean alot to me. Thanks.
Paul Gutheil
Who was the ringmaster in 1948 and when was Harold Ronk's first season ?
Thanks, Paul G.
YES, YES, thank you Eric & Buckles for sharing these and other old circus film series!
Paul, in June 1948 I was a couple of months away from my debut in the world and my parents had just moved into a larger home. To give my mother some “quiet time,” my dad, older brother and sister, and grandparents all went to see Ringling in Springfield, Mass. So I can’t claim to have been “on the lot”—but I do have the program they bought. My time came, finally, 12 years later when my dad fell victim to a six-ticket packet from a Mills Bros. boiler room deal. Still have the one unused ticket! And as to circuses my ancestors saw, my great-grandfather often went to both Forepaugh and Barnum in the 1880s and I have record of another ancestor who saw Rivers & Derious.
Paul G. -
Mr. Ronk was with the circus from 1951 to 1981. (This according to the N.Y.Times Obituary)
A robust figure with wavy blond hair, nearly always attired in red-sequined coattails, Mr. Ronk would wave his top hat and intone, “Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages ...” before bursting into his welcoming song. Introducing a famous trapeze act, he would pause for a drumroll and then proclaim: “All eyes on the Flying Gaonas. Waaaaatch them!”
(Did any of the rest of you get chills just now?) ~frank
The Ringmaster in the photo is Arthur Springer. He was always called Art Springer or simply Springer. Had to research this in old year books (Kenny Dodd looked it up) as the photo taken from a low postition up to the face, made it hard to recognize.
Jackie LeClaire
The now-forgotten Arthur Springer was the announcer from 1945-48 followed the next season by the Harry Thomas.
Dick Flint
Baltimore
Harold Ronk first is credited as vocalist in the 1951 program, which Buckles featured last Friday (13). I asked him who did the singing for GSOE, and it was easy to see the question was a sore point with him, since he did not. IMDb's coverage claims "Popcorn and Lemonade" was "sung off-camera by a chorus", and that "Picnic in the Park" was "sung off-camera by an unidentified male singer". To re-listen to this song, it clearly was not sung by a well-trained voice, and lamentably not by Harold Ronk. He was on the show's program credits, but got edged out for the picture work. The most repeated rumors that swirled around out here was that through sheer politics, the voice used was that of Norman Carroll, primarily known as a big-time publicist.
I'll have to get into my trunks, so someone will likely beat me to naming the 1948 Ringmaster, if by this we mean Announcer/Vocalist.
My thanks join the others to Eric and Buckles for this series.
Paul, I neglected to fully answer your question and it is best done by the following chart since jobs differed:
1950-51 – Wm Krause, vocalist
1950 – David Murphy, equestrian director and announcer
1951-55 – Count Nicholas, equestrian director and announcer
1952-55 – Harold Ronk, vocalist (joined by Ricky Dawn in 1954-55)
1956 – Preston Lambert, vocalist and announcer
Dick Flint
Baltimore
Good Grief, I never expected, but am most happy to get, so much info.
Yes, Frank...goose bumps for sure and it's so wonderful to hear someone like Billy Martin introduce an act today and end it with "...waaatch them". Things like this should let showfolks know that they may be gone from the spotlight but are NOT forgotten.
I only knew Mr Ronk through seeing the GSOE and a brief period of correspondence between us. I found him to be most kind, gracious and thoughtful.
Thank you all for the info.
Paul Gutheil
Found some more on Arthur Springer, the man I termed the “forgotten” ringmaster. Billboard reported him as the show announcer as early as 1942. In 1948, his last season on RBBB, it stated Springer is “doing the singing during spec and the Monte Carlo number and is doing a good job.” After he left Ringling he was with Polack Western until his retirement due to health reasons in 1955. He was from California.
In an earlier comment, above, I list “Wm. Krause” as the 1950-51 vocalist per the route book. It did not occur to me that this is the flyer Willie Krause as confirmed in Billboard commentary that also notes he was vocalist in 1952-53 as well. Billy-boy also noted he was the show singer from mid-season 1949 replacing one Don Orlando.
As to Ronk on the tented show, he apparently was on at the start of the 1952-54 seasons. According to the Billboard again, Krause was noted as replacing Ronk early in the road tour for 1952. In 1953 it was reported that “Harold Ronk, circus vocalist, has been beset by a sore throat since the show hit canvas, but hasn't missed any shows.” However, by June, Willie Krause again replaced Ronk. In 1954 Ronk closed by mid-July but was replaced by Ricky Dawn. Apparently, Ronk did not return until 1960 when the Billboard review stated he “is back with the show after a lapse of several years.”
And Roger Smith, take note: Willie Krause was an usher in the Clarke/Baer wedding of 1946 (he was in the flying act with Ernestine) and Art Springer was one of the guests.
Dick Flint
Baltimore
Ringling’s first use of a “singing ringmaster” seems to have been in 1948 and was such an innovation at the time that it was mentioned in the BILLBOARD review of that year’s show: “An unusual touch was added by the vocalizing during the specs of tenor Bill Tabbett. The warbling still doesn’t belong in the circus but its inclusion, perhaps because it was good, went virtually unnoticed.” The concept of “vocalizing during the specs” would, of course, continue on through all subsequent editions.
That's interesting.
As mentioned before I saw the show in '48 and one of my fondest memories comes from the Christmas Spec.
The first float in circled the center ring and stopped while spec continued on.
This float resembled a child's bed room and a little boy (Harry Doll) sat at a desk writing a letter while the vocalist sang "Dear Santa Claus, I'm writing you a letter!"
I remember the melody as tho it were yesterday.
Bert Morphy sang with the Sells-Floto big show band ["The Man that Sings to Beat the Band"] many years before Harold Ronk added his beautiful melodies to RBBB programs. There's a poster featuring him.
DICK FLINT: You're right. Willie Krause was in the wedding party, as was Dick Anderson,also in Ernestine's flying act as catcher. The WHITE TOPS coverage misspelled Willie's name as Crouse. A bridesmaid was Erma Pushnik, a rider and sister to the armless-legless girl Frieda Pushnik.
In his 1976 bio on Fay Alexander, for CIRCUS REPORT, Billy Barton reminded us that Willie Krause was made up as Gina Lollobrigida's Lola, and doubled her aerial work in TRAPEZE.
To Dick Flint,
Harold Ronk was also with RBBB in 1957. I can still remember him singing "Around The World" by Victor Young during the Flying Alexanders act. That has stuck in my memory all of these years as one of the greatest displays Ringling ever had.
Bill Karlton
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