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14 comments:
Ringling Bros. train history! Tim Holan, Tom Dillon, Kitty & Charlie Smith and Peggy Williams. RIP Tom, Kitty and Charlie.
Peggy Williams went through clown college
After a few years in the Blue Alley she
became the Assistant Performance Director
under Charly Baumann & helped smooth the
many ruffled feathers among the troops
She then went on to head up the education
department for Feld until she was dumped
unceremoniously by hisself (like so many)
I thought Peggy still had a position with Feld?
Nope
The list of his dumpees is
much too long to print here
(I left on my own terms)
Chic,
What do you mean "dumped?" When there is no longer a need for someones services, or the department they head, they are let go or released. Normal practice in any business. My understanding is that when the show closed, effort was made to find other work or people still with the show. That is not something circus producer's as known for. I loved clown college, but it didn't make money. It was a publicity scheme which worked for a time. Then when it lost it's marketing value it was disbanded. Hated to see it happen, but it was what it was. I have never been able to understand the venom and vitriol directed at the Feld's for closing the show. Anyone with a business that is losing money, instead of making money would be stupid if they kept the company. How many people who have a "turd" in their investment portfolios losing thousand's of dollar's a month hang on to it for "old time's sake?" They would not have their investment long if they did. When Sear's folded basically for the same reason, lack of interest and purchasers to buy the product being sold I don't recall anyone calling for a public lynching. Anyone and everyone who was ever a part of GSOE until the day they die will not miss an opportunity to point out that fact on their resume's. I suggest fan's should have thanked the Feld family for keeping that "turd" in their business portfolio as long as they did. Any old performer will not miss a chance to point out that they had a time on Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Strangely, many people think the Ring of Fame is the same thing as Canton is too football, or Cooperstown is to baseball, when in actuality the Ring of Fame is as different as night and day from football and baseball's Hall's of Fame.
Wade Burck
I would love to chat with you
in regards to my response to
your comment Wade as I have
history with Big Bertha prior
to the Feld regime & enjoyed
working for Irvin for years
I left on good terms before
Irvin died afraid of future
changes that proved correct
The Feld group NEVER lost a
cent throughout their tenure
operating the shows right up
untill the very last day
It was all about Sells Floto
If you ever escape the orient
please visit Sarasota & we'll
have dinner sometime
& yes I mean "dumped"
I was never entusiastic
about "Clown College"
so I didn't mourn it
You are absolutely correct
about the Circus Ring Of Fame
(politics are political)
One thing that puzzles me about the closing of RBBB is that the Feld's have the rights to live depictions of Marvel Comics characters. Just like circuses had cowboy stars in the 1950s, can you imagine the crowds that would have turned out to see Spider Man with the circus? Web acts, trapeze acts, casting acts, so many things could have been hooked onto that.
It just seems like a lost opportunity, entertainment and business-wise.
Tony,
Evansville has used "stars" for year's in their circus, including a kind of Spiderman.They are just an "added attraction" as they do not draw at the box office. That gimmick wore itself out like free children's tickets, lest we forget Ringling's attempt at a boy band N Motion(only made one season not even a two year tour) and Allen Hill's Tiny Tim.
Wade Burck
Chic,
I believe a large basket of egg's including S & R in Vegas is what allowed the Ringling show to keep going as long as it did. What do you suppose supported the Broadway loses. Spreading loses around is a common large diversified corporation ploy. Feld Corp. has done well, the circus didn't. Even if you block off half the seat's with a black curtain it still wasn't a straw house. But it did provide a great title on letterheads. Indeed Sells Floto was important. For years the 2 week Houston date at the Summit was played solely for the concessions, the box office was inconsequential.
It has been said that if a requirement for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was that you lived in or close to Cleveland, Ohio it would be a small, inconsequential Hall of Fame for sure.
Wade Burck
Tony in regards to superheroes
1 year in the 70s the Canestrellis
had 1 dressed as Superman doing
long leaps with the Film's music
The show got away without paying
any royalties until late in the
2nd year when they got caught out
& ended up paying dearly however
that theme diddn't draw as many
flies as the horses manure
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