 This picture of 29-year-old Henry Ringling North was taken during Ringling-Barnum's annual trip to the nation's capital in May of 1939. There is no indication whether Buddy North was at the White House as a tourist - or if he met with President Roosevelt, as his uncle John had done with Calvin Coolidge on more than one occasion.  |
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
From Chris Berry
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7 comments:
And JRN was only six months away from taking control of GSOE. A great contemporary photo.
Anybody got any storys about Henry?
Can't remember the date, it was the year the Anaheim building was completed.
I was visiting from the Polack Show and by chance happened to find myself conversing in group that included Parley Baer, Jack
Joyce, Trolle Rhodin, Rudy Bundy, Mr. North and a few more.
One of those times you wished you had a tape recorder.
During a lull I mentioned to Mr. North that I was a friend of Arky Scott and I never looked into a blanker face.
He said, "I'm sorry but I'm not familiar with the name."
I explained that he had once been in charge of the elephants on the show and in fact had been there during the filming of the De Mille movie.
Still nothing. I was surprised inasmuch as I had always heard that of the two brothers he came the closest to being a circus fan.
that's so bizarre, Buckles, that he didn't know Arky Scott, not exactly a minor player in the backyard! I always thought at one period Henry had a somewhat "hands on" involvement with the day-to day-operations--perhaps it was a bit exaggerated. Anyway, i do have an accumulation of hand written letters that he sent me from Switzerland over the last five years or so of his life discussing bits and peices about the circus in hopeful preparation of a magazine article about him which didn't materialize because of his passing. I gathered that John North had most of the circus money and that Henry got a much smaller piece of the pie...after John's death, his wife/girlfriend who inherited the whole booty gave i believe some $ to Henry's kids who were not named in the will.
BUCKLES: Damn strange--I was about to tell the same story. I visited RBB in Fresno, and was most impressed with Henry North's entrance. Just out of the barber shop, freshly-pressed suit, shoes at a mirror finish, and at his side on leashes strode two perfect adult German Shepherds. Excited whispers in the backyard had him there in an executive role, assisting the Felds in creating the new unit. I thanked him for Christmas cards he sent from Sarasota when I was a boy. He knew I was working cats, and asked who else was at Jungleland at the time. I included Arky Scott, saying, "Your former elephant boss," and as Buckles noted, North went blank. "Who? Scott, you say? No, we never had him with us." Like Buckles, I was incredulous at this. "Um, yes, sir. Arky Scott, Superintendent of Elephants for you, appeared in the DeMille picture. Heston called by name, and he had lines..." "No, no," he insisted. "No Scott was ever here. We never had him." I felt I was about to make him mad, even if he seemed too refined for that.
Discreetly, I inquired among veteran staffers about why North denied Arky. But at this time, with a new unit in the wind, and every manner of Machiavellian mechanism afoot on the present show, everyone was looking over their shoulder, dreading upheaval. No one dared speculate on North's refusal to acknowledge so established a name as Arky Scott, when their own might suffer next.
Henry North's family memoir, "Circus Kings," serves as testimony to his devotion to the Ringling family and their circus. It's not without opinions, exclusions and a minor error or two, but without it we'd know less about the family and their show. How many other circus family members have taken the time and put forth the energy to script or collaborate in such a fundamental volume of knowledge?
Henry was a classy gentleman!
As part of the purchase agreement of RBBB, the Judge and Irvin agreed to keep Henry as a VP and pay him.
When I was made a VP, Henry, graciously, sent me a hand written and monogrammed congratulatory card.
I treasure it!
One night at a cocktail party at Irvin's apartment, during the DC run, Henry brought his beautiful, younger wife, the Countessa.
My two Lothario buddies, Dean and George, promptly pulled out all the stops while hitting on her, but to NO avail.
The Countessa, with subtle class, put them both down SO hard, that it was a laugh riot to behold!
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