Name the Ringling Spec that celebrated nature? Have We a Winner?

 Yes, we have ...

Jim Royal!

French artist and costume designer Marcel Vertes was commissioned by John Ringling North to create the costumes for the 1956 spec, Say It With Flowers. Life Magazine did a large multi-page spread of the Vertes drawings.  They would be the last originals worn by a Ringling cast under the big top.

Less lavish than what audiences had grown accustomed to when Broadway designer Miles White created the costumes, some fans grumbled.. But to others, they marked a refreshing contrast.  Restful pastels.  Working against them were a  straggling set of floats noticeably frugal, and altogether, the overall impression left room for carping. I, for one, called it Say it With Cement, referencing one of the most embarrassingly frugal floats ever seen in any parade.  The show was going into New York on borrowed money, and Teamster union members were waiting to picket it

In the program magazine,  Vertes contributed a piece, "I Like the Circus," in which he compared working on sawdust to stage:  "I like circus people, too, because they seem to be more friendly than the people in the theatre.   They have a profound respect for the performers who do the really dangerous stunts way up there in space."

It was such a very different show in many ways -- new ringmaster, Preston Lambert, new bandleader, Izzy Cervone, who came with strings added, a score favoring the popular songs of Frank Loesser.  I've seen enticing video clips of the show, thanks to Kenny Dodd, and am taken by the costumes and original scoring for "Ringling Rock N' Roll."  It's a gas.  I would love to have seen the whole show..

 It was a full season not to be.  Come Pittsburgh, PA, and the Greatest Show on Earth gave its last performance under canvas. Thank God -- how lucky was I to have seen it the year before -- my one and only time under the greatest big tops of them all, and one of the greatest days of my life. 

Congrats, Jim!  

 

 

The Last Summer for Baseball in Oakland ... It Feels like a Day in Pittsrbugh Long Ago, When The Greatest Show on Earth Under Canvas Called it Quits ...

Sad town, soon to be without a major league team, the Raiders having fled, so too the Golden Stage Warriors. And  now the sport of Babe Ruth.

Baseball is the only game I can get caught up in, on the radio, listening now to the Giants.  For many years, an A's fan, I went to the ball park often, always for garlic fries and to see some great players, but no longer. The current ownership, ironically "advised" by none other than Billy Bean, carries on in icy cold corporate indifference to one of the most loyal fan bases anywhere.  John Fisher is lusting after a new ball park in Vegas, and will for a few interim seasons, park his bottom rung team in a small minor league park in Sacramento. But who can blame him for wanting to get out as fast as he can from a hell hole of an area in Oakland? A dark zone infested by thugs. Fast food restaurants around the coliseum are fleeing.  I am even jittery about going out there to take in the New Ringling show.

When I worked for Kaiser Steel, one of the fifty jobs I profile in my upcoming  book, one warm fall evening in 1972, we were all treated to an Oakland A's world series game.  How the sky glistened that evening.  And how perfect the game being played on the field looked -- to me, almost like ballet.  Something about the way a first baseman jumped perfectly upright  up to catch a ball. And then perfectly down. 

They were world series champs, three seasons in a row.  For a rare golden period, the club gave off a glamours buzz.  Heck, Billy Martin managed the team for three seasons!

Now, they will be playing  their last summer in Oakland.  Crushing news to a dwindling fan base dumped on by one of the most heartless owners ever to run a team.  And the MLB, for whom evidently loyal fan bases count for nothing, backs him all the way.

For the hard-core A's fans, I can feel their acute sorrow. thinking back on how painful was the day in my life when, on the evening news, flashed images of the Ringling big top at its last stand, in Pittsburgh PA.

Nothing lasts forever, they say.  I' m not so sure. Some things do go on.  But not here in Oakland -- a once beautiful city torn apart by the volatile 1960s.  I will leave the details to that.  You can fill in the blanks.

Really, it's not much different than San Francisco. But S.F. has a well run ball club that treats its players and fans with class A respect. The reason I fled the A's a few years ago for the Giants. Whatever happened to the lionized Billy Bean? There's a story of moral betrayal the local media should but will not cover. 

A Tentless Cave to Sagging Fortunes? Catching Up, or Down, with Cirque du Soleil ...

First draft impressions.

You may have read they are closing the Beatles show, Love, in Las Vegas.  The space needed for some massive makeover (a stadium for Oakland A's baseball?) being planned, the stated reason.  Okay, maybe. Or maybe the Cirque brand is fading?  Novelty in time becomes old-school.  And all the pretentious theatrical airs and posturing surrounding it, even more difficult to take. Get on with the show! I don't know.   I lost the urge a number of years ago, fed up with the fru-fru,  pissed off by having to fork over a few dollars for an empty designer bottle,  needed to contain water out of a faucet. In its better days, there were free faucets outside the tent.  People notice these small things.

Desperation isn't pretty.

Which got me wondering, how is the Montreal Monster, which the Canadian government, its initial angel investor in the beginning,  bailed out in 2022, really doing? I have no idea.  I can only guess they are getting by.   They tried playing the indoor venue circuit years ago, which left patrons wanting. They are now crawling back to those concrete charmers. The mark of a thriving concern? 

Yelp reviews:  Once upon a time, there were many raves.  Now, there are many boos. I focused in on the S.F. Bay Area scene the last year, and found some horribly put-off notices.   I tried to copy a few to bring to your attention, but could not.  Suffice it to say, of around only five to eight in recent months, all but one are in negative territory.  Far closer to zero than to five.  Crique-du-fatigue?

All such epic achievements I suppose are bound to wither away in time. That need not be the case here, but in their apparent grope to continue dominating the market, at least in imagery, they may be diluting their product down to the leftover shelves.

Costumes in Bloom at the Circus: Another Chance to Win a Free Copy of My New Book, Keep That Day Job!

HURRY! HURRY!  COMPETITION CLOSES FRIDAY, 

APRIL 19 at NOON PDT!

 Clues: When Ringling honored Mother Nature in one of its more unusual parades, costume design through the eyes of a famed artist.  Name the spec and the year presented.

Post your answer in the form of a comment.  You must give a name, either your own or a nickname. Your answer will never be posted.

All answers must be posted here by noon, Friday, April  19, when the winner will then be announced.

Present Tense Tenuous: When Ringling Played the Garden. ... When Garden Beat Ringling on Yelp ... When Hybrid Circuses Feature Trans Dogs ... Hold Onto Your Aerial-Plane Seat!

      When the elephants paraded to Madison Square Garden in the 1950s

      SPRING IS HERE, so they say, and  I shiver as never before, wondering where  “global warming”ever went. I ask a smug wokish friend who impatiently replies, “No, it’s now climate change” But hasn’t the climate always been changing? Was there not once an Ice Age, not caused, I assume, by gas pumps on the moon?

     IN MY ADVANCED kiddiehood when the climate evidently never changed,  nothing could  match the excitement of reading about the spring arrival of  Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus at  Madison Square Garden. I thrillingly read in The Billboard of the  latest new wonders,  new production numbers, costumes.  John Ringling North loaded the rings with “First Time in America” imports. Grandma in Brooklyn sent me news clippings.  

Marlene Dietrich, John Ringling North, and Gloria Vanderbilt at a gala Garden opening in the 1950s'

     THEY CALLED IT The Big One, Big Bertha, The Big Show.  And some seasons they packed all 14,000 seats in the Garden on the best of days during a six-week run.                           

      FAST FORWARD to the grey sinking present: The new Ringing acrobatic show played three days across the Brooklyn Bridge at the new Barclays’ Center.  Count ‘em, THREE. And of the twenty New York critics who reviewed Water for the Elephants on Broadway, not a one of them reviewed Ringing.  Why? Has anybody out there an answer?  Has anybody out there a pulse?

     DEFERRING TO DUBIOUS showmanship,  I might Lyft it up to Vallejo (CA) when Garden Bros Nuclear Circus works the town (and would I go nuclear, too?).  Last time I can recall getting suckered into a Garden concession pit, it was Sterling and Reid at the Cow Palace. I walked out at intermission.  Canada may have given us Cirque.  It also gave us Dick Garden, whose  tent, dazzling to behold in photos, is now drawing slightly better Yelp reviews than Ringling.  No, I don’t make these things up.  What I see in video teases are streams of fairly basic though solid-appearing acts.

     AROUND MOST AMERICAN rings these timid times,  it is no longer quite the ever-changing, never-changing circus as once defined by my favorite circus writer, Earl Chapin May.  Less varied.  Less risk-taking.  Less real. AI (hate those letters) knows no limits out here in the State of Insanity.  Down in LA, they’re giving the OK to driver-less cars (as opposed to cars driven by drivers who can’t drive) I feel sorry for the Lyft drivers who share with me their fear of being replaced by chips at the wheel, and  I can hear the hurt in their voices. Are the ultimate outcomes of this obsession what we really want?  Allow me for deferring to the smartest thing I have heard from the mouth of a world leader in decades:

     “IF IT’S POSSIBLE TO USE HUMAN LABOR, do not use machines and mobilize local residents to do the jobs” — Chinese premiere Xi Jinping.

          ONTO THE FLASHING platforms of New Ringling.  Kenneth Feld might take a crack at becoming The Greatest AI produced Show on Earth.  He’s got that fake dog, and I’m wondering if he’ll  re-sign it for next season (assuming there is to be one), maybe give the mut a trans partner?  Media adoration guaranteed.  BTW; How do you “celebrate”  someone’s’ sex change unless they wear a badge revealing it?  How about, then, a retro-hertero coming out day?  Hopelessly Straight Heathens on Parade?  
     
     LESS AUTHENTIC EVERYWHERE.   I look for a certain safety wire attached to a certain Cirque du Soleil aerialist currently appearing in a TV ad. And then receive a relevant e-mail from Sir Douglas of McPherson, over yonder Pond,  recounting his recent interview with a Cirque performer. She told him, “In training we wear a harness. In the show, the harness is off and you just go for it!”

     HO HO, NO NO.

     ROBOT RINGMASTERS?  Robot Critics? (please, no cracks). Circuses may be going hybrid on us – part human, part other.  For kinky laughs, our new faceless clowns could spoof wild mishaps in the technologically challenged air these days --  mad airplanes fraught with runaway parts, leaving passengers stuck to the ceiling, others gasping for air, while a recorded voice says, “You may claim your soul upon check out.”

     HOW LIKE A SCENE in a nightmare sci-fi flick pitting the emerging power of AI against a human society no longer able to control it. AI scripted.   AI scored  And before that world blows itself up, let me list the star ratings for three circuses, as recently reviewed by Yelp consumers, assumed to be real.
            
    Zoppe Family Circus
             4-1/2 stars
    
 Garden Bros. Nuclear Circus.
           2 stars

The Greatest Show on Earth
         1-1/2 stars

It may end not with a bang, but a bum review.

Contest Results for Free Copy of My New Book: Keep That Day Job! How to Enjoy Chasing Showbiz Without Going Mad

      Name the circus that used a jazz band to score the show

  The answer

GEORGE MATTHEW'S GREAT LONDON CIRCUS, 1972

Have we an answer? Yes, we have.  Only one person got it right, although of the others who gave it a shot,  a few came close. One answered, "Sid Kellner's James Bros Circus".  Another guessed simply "Vargas." There is merit to that last answer, for during the mid-1980s, when Circus Vargas was at its peak in performance quality,  Cliff had a  five or six piece band, richly orchestrated, that included a number more jazzy or jazz-driven compositions.  

Sid hired a real jazz band to score his 1972 show, a group of young musicians from the local Alhambra High School in Martinez, CA, the town out of which he operated. (Incidentally, I worked publicity for a few of the Chicago dates.)  This came as a total surprise to me, and by accident.  I was googling to verify that Sid had headed up a B24 bomber fighter crew during WWII, and came upon a Facebook with a photo of the musicians in front of the bus, especially equipped to serve as their sleeper during the tour.  The image is so dark, I have left it up to my publisher to decide whether it should be included in the book. .

So, who got the answer right? Drum roll, please!  Colin Carter

Congratulations, Colin!  Send me your address by e-mail. The book is now in production, and I'm guessing it will be out in summer or early fall.

NEXT QUESTION FOR ANOTHER FREE COPY TOT BE POSTED NOON, THIS COMING FRIDAY!

ALL OLD-TIME RINGLING ADDICTS, 

 BRUSH OFF YOUR MEMORIES AND PREPARE TO BE CHALLENGED!

           There he is, the one and only Sid: top row, second from left.                                      .

 

 

 

 .

HURRY! HURRY! LAST CHANCE TO ENTER THE FREE BOOK CONTEST!

Next Tuesday, April 2, NOON PDT, I will announce the results of my contest for a free copy of my forthcoming book,  Keep That Day Job!  How to Enjoy Chasing Showbiz Without Going Mad

There is still time to enter!   

The question:  Name the  American Circus that used a jazz band to play for its show?

You still have until midnight, April 1, to participate.  Your answers will NOT be posted here.

If you do not wish to reveal your name, use a unique nickname. 

Due Soon After:  The Next Big Question

This one for Ringlingphiles 

Circus and Broadway: Rarely Do They Click ...New Musical, Water for Elephants, Faces Troubling Reception

The reviews are out, and they're wildly mixed.  Show has New York Times and The Daily News (Chris Jones) cheering -- against jeering of other heavyweights like: USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and Rex Reid at The Observer

On the fence are The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly

The movie, of which I am no fan, rates 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.  

In recent years, Cirque du Soleil's efforts to conquer the Great White Way were met with spectacular failure. Another show that flew high on circus rigging, and then slowly crash landed, was Spiderman.

The one notable exception is Barnum, a big rousing hit with a fail-safe score from Cy Coleman.  Show enjoyed a three year run. Unlike Water, I don't recall circus acts coming even close to stealing the show.

The smash Hugh Jackman movie, The Greatest Showman, would seem to have been a good bet to beat the odds, and as I recall, they tried taking it on the road as a prospective Broadway musical.  In fact, the show is still actively in the works at Disney, said to be eyeing a possible Broadway premiere in 2024.

 By and large, The Great White Way does not seem to be a good fit. Circus and theater are two very different animals.  Billy Rose's Jumbo in the 1930s at the 5,000 seat Hippodrome gave New Yorkers the tale of a circus on the edge of insolvency. The show  included real circus acts, and was, best of all, graced with wonderful Rodgers and Hart songs, among them,  The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, My Romance, and Little Girl Blue. John Murray Anderson, who would years later direct Ringling Bros. Circus, directed the 233 performance run of Jumbo, a respectable number for the day (Babes in Arms ran for 289 performances).  But Rose's exorbitant expenses spelled an early end.

As for today, my best guess is this: When the average tourist or family goes to New York, they are not going there to see circus.  And if there is one redeeming attribute in Water, from fast scanning the reviews, it appears to be, ironically,  the acrobats!

But you never know. Wicked got scathing reviews and is  still running. Hair was panned by all the critics but Hair had a gimmick: Nudity.  What has Water?

Broadway does not feel like a destination for circus going.

I'll take Big Apple Circus at Cunningham Park in Queens, any day.

P.S. Including reviews from unfamiliar sources that I did not include, there were a total of 19. And none of them took a look at the new Ringing? 

The Wall Street Journal Walks Water for the Felds at their New "Better Smelling" Greatest Show on Earth ...

Those cunning Felds  have managed to  bring off another non-circus review of the show that may feel to some like a review.  Credit a mutual love fest between the Felds and the The Wall Street Journal's Ben Cohen.

Though he rarely contributes a review-like statement, Cohen is implicitly high on the product.

You will learn, a surprise to Cohen, that Ringling's re-invention is perfectly in step with precedent. To learn this, he consulted with Matthew Wittman, curator of the Harvard Theater Collection to learn "something about circus I wasn't expecting to hear:  'Historically, the circus has involved a lot of innovation."

Writes Cohen:  "The key to Ringling's comeback is not just that it is more humane.  The Circus is now more human."

And, oh, how much lovelier to the senses: "their workplace smells better."

Give them credit for pressing Feld on the bottom line: "The privately held company declined to provide financial information about the tour, although Feld says he's pleased with ticket sales."

The story lends the impression of a show venturing into far off places to find talent.  For this revelation, quoted is J. Vaught, senior vice president of production and touring operations: "You have to look in places where people haven't looked."

They've been doing that for years.

I have to wonder why Cohen did not note the absence of the word "circus" in the show's legendary title, a word he frequently drops, and ask why?

Oh, of course, might have spoiled the feel-good tribute.

Thanks to Don Covington for the link.

Back on the Ringling Watch: Show Packs Barclays Center, Says One in the Know -- Average Rating on on Yelp, Updated: 1-1/2 Stars ...

UPDATE:  Don Covington sent me the New York Times article on the new Ringling.  Turns out, it was not a review, but a feature about how the new show came to be.  Why the Times will not review is very puzzling.  Thank you, Don!

++++++++++++

Fastly trying to catch up, having heard the show "strawed 'em" over a three day stand in Barclays, once again I set out on the review trails to see what I could find. About the same as before.   Show did pull, at last, what appears to be a real newspaper review, from the Orlando Sentinel, and a good one, from what I could see before being blocked by the "sign up" gate.   And I find a review on March 2 in the New York Times, but I can't read it, nor is there mention of it on the Ringling website.

Here, totally copied and pasted,  is a string of reviews on Yelp. Some I may have already posted.

Start Yelping, America!

Not just missing the Animals and the Clowns but the voice of the Ringmaster ???? Couldn’t see the screens and lights blocked many views! Not four our 3.1/2 yr old grandson…. He was asking where’s the clowns and elephants??? Why not include some animatronics ? Just sad and expensive

2.0 star rating Anonymous from Houston, Texas

A LOT SMALLER CIRCUS THAN I FIGURED

I was thinking Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was the circus of all circuses. I was wrong. Arabia Shrine Circus was much bigger, had more and just seemed overall better, and it's a quarter of the price. I won't go to another Ringling Bros again.

1.0 star rating Merlotsmom from Bossier city La

NOT A CIRCUS AT ALL

All we saw was acrobats swinging back and forth, the worst CLOWN show ever, and a fake robot dog. I wish I had my money back. The tickets were not worth the price we paid and the show was a pathetic two ring mess. Our Shriners circus is way better!

1.0 star rating Jere from Chicago, Illinois

THE WORST SHOW ON EARTH

False advertisement. Not a circus at all, more musical than anything. Total disgrace, all it was were acrobatics and dancers with lil talent. Clowns was horrible no tricks or shocking entertainment. The host(main speaker) was lip singing, sounded like it was pre recorded. No motorcycles or animals like lions tigers n elephants but they had a fake robo dog which was TRASH!!Food horrible. NEVER!! Gotta do better. Do yo homework on universal sol circus

1.0 star rating Debbie from Kansas City

DISAPPOINTING

The circus was a complete disappointment. Not one animal (not even a dog) and no clowns. Kids were restless with singing and drums. Will not be going again.

1.0 star rating Denis from jacksonville florida

DISAPPOINTING

I wouldn't go again. It is not circus anymore and the show is nothing special...acrobat shows that you saw hundred times already, cheesy Disney like singing of song....it was boring and not worth the money.


Photo of Andrea W.
Andrea W.
FL, FL
0
8
Jan 7, 2024

Just not the same. Plus $35 for cotton candy $14 for crushed flavored ice in a cup !!! Hello !!
The ringmaster at Amalie Arena was mediocre and none of the clowns could get the crowd 'going'
I am sad our grandsons will really not know 'the circus' with its wonderful smells sights and acts! But happy our grown daughters (41/39/26/33) all did. Year after year after year. And so on !
Times they are changing -for sure!!
Photo of Melba P.
Melba P.
Chicago, IL
0
8
1
Nov 7, 2023

BORING!! Bring back the animals!

This was a subpar Disney performance at best.

I did enjoy the acrobats and highwire performances, though.
Photo of Mark I.
Mark I.
FL, FL
0
2
Jan 27, 2024

It's really not a circus. No animals, no clowns, just an acrobatic show. My kid was very bored. Plus a popcorn and cotton candy cost $34. Complete disappointment. Do not waste your money and time.
Photo of Cindy I.
Cindy I.
CO, CO
0
1
Nov 5, 2023

Lamest show on earth!! No clowns and no animals made no fun for the kids! The "new approach to the circus" was not good enough to have the Ringling Brothers legacy! Don't waste your money on this, but go to a rodeo instead for great entertainment with animals and clowns and authentic danger!
Photo of Mike O.
Mike O.
Belle Isle, FL
0
2
Jan 14, 2024

After reading the first review of this, I was actually expecting to see a circus. Let's make it clear, Bello Nock, elephants, trained animals of any kind, or any talent worth paying to see was missing from the performance. Exception: 3 girls doing impressive contortions and balancing. This must be an old review or a very fake review that is listed as the first review. Here's what the show was not. It is not a circus. It is definitely not the greatest show on earth. And you don't have to be someone who has been to an actual circus back in the Glory Days when you had animals, talent, clowns, exciting acts to watch. Nothing here was equal to your standard street performer that you would see down at the Key West sunsetfest every night, or during Mardi Gras in New orleans. There was a lot of stuff going on but nothing exceptional, no animals, people clowning around but they weren't dressed up as clowns, and a sorry b team or even c team Tina Turner like I guess you would call ringleader. Definitely not a circus. Quite the disappointment.
Photo of Robert H.
Robert H.
Excelsior Springs, MO
0
1
Nov 12, 2023

Save your money.. I bought the tickets so my wife and I could take my 3 year old grandson after he had his second open heart surgery. The show lacked a lot. There was a lot going on all the time but not very entertaining. The sound system sucked, the acts were at times boring and pretty uneventful. We left shortly after intermission. Wished I could have that $200 back again..
Photo of Maggie C.
Maggie C.
Collinsville, IL
0
3
Dec 17, 2023

this was a very disappointing show. there were no clowns, animals, and very little actual circus performances. it was about 80% just singing and very bad dancing. I'm sorry, but singing and dancing is not a circus. it's a show I would not recommend or ever go to again.
Photo of Michael S.
Michael S.

END OF STREAM, back to me.

What were they to expect?  Hasn't the circus that dare not speak its name -- removed its name?  It's a show, stupid!

From the photos/videos I have seen, biz looks very good ... 

Most interesting/telling Yelp comment to me is this: "the show is nothing special"