Friday, August 27, 2021

MORE BANDS

9 comments:

Bob Swaney said...

Just can't beat live music! Hopefully, the revived Ringling offering will maintain the live band.

Chic Silber said...


What revived Ringling Bob ?

I musta missed the memo

Chic Silber said...


Was the Ringling band ever that big

Roger Smith said...

CHIC: I've also seen a ref to a revival. Who has the skinny on what's up?

Merle Evans assumed the RB bandstand in 1919. I read at one time he had 30 pieces in front of him. I'm not the best band historian, so others may set the highest number. He had annual confrontations with the Front End, especially John North, over how many musicians he could book. Other arguments involved the placement of the bandstand. Merle wanted it in front of Center Ring, so he could better see all the acts. Instead, JRN wanted that prime section for higher-priced seats, and the band was usually relegated to the blues, making Merle try to follow the acts by looking into and past Ring Three. ERIC BEHEIM will know far more than me.

Eric said...

I must defer to other. Movies I've seen of the Cole Bros. band in the 1940s show the band in front of the center ring.

Don said...

Liberati's Band was a touring musical ensemble, similar to Sousa's Band and a sensation of its day. The Ringlings hired the entire band as a featured attraction. This large, all star ensemble would play a concert in the center ring as the first offering of the program. The regular circus band would play for the performance. The public loved the idea of a band concert where they could hear classical selections, popular tunes and virtuoso soloists, leading to the tradition of the circus band performing in the center ring prior to the show.

Don Covington

Don said...

If you listen to the spoken opening of "76 Trombones" in the "Music Man", you will hear a reference to Liberati's Band.

Don Covington

Bob Swaney said...

Info on the casting director for the Ringling Bros. revival.

https://circustalk.com/news/feld-entertainment-appoints-giulio-scatola-as-director-casting-performance-for-new-ringling-bros-and-barnum-bailey

Tony Greiner said...

I recently read the chapter on Merle Evans in Robert Taylor's "Center Ring, People of the Circus" (A fun read) I learned that Evans spelled his players for most of the shows, trading off passages. Given the length of the show and season, this was perhaps the only way the players could survive. Whenever he went to management to ask for a new player, he would ask for two.

I was a local hire for RBBB for several years, and the six-pack days were just terrible, even if microphones. For a season of 3-hour shows and a morning parade, trading off was probably absolutely necessary.