Variety (January 1958)

January 8, 1958 Fifty-second ftRIETY Anniversary yAUBEflLLG 251 American Circuses: Groggy But Game During 1957 Tented Shows Numbered 16 — Indoor-Stadium Outfits Qouii ted 18— Enterprise Still Pays Off Trend to Truck Operation Continues ^ Baseball Park Distances Rob Acts of Former Intimacy Ringling-Barnum & Bailey Still Big Question For Future (Mr. and Mrs., Conway combine the standards of good journalists with the sentiment of lifetime -circus buffs, as readers of their thoughtful report here last year. will recall. They met, courted, and honeymooned , 6n a circus. Claire l Fawcett, of the Hearst syndicate Fawcetts ) . Conway is author . “We Fell In Loue With the CirCus,” the. -story of an . enthusiasm. Tony Con way, a prof es&tonal. writer, iinbibed circus in his boy¬ hood via circus-operating kinfolk.— ( Ed. ) Many Questions filled the minds of owners, performers, working men, and close friends of the circus as the. year 1957 began. None Relieved the many “death notices” which the public press had produced in the previous, year. It was Mark Twain all over; Yet there' was interest in how the nation’s; lfi under-canvas and approximately 18 indoor-stadium shows would fare and as to how they would meet the problems of “changing times.’’ , In our visits to shows, our Chats with showfolk, and In the comments of those close to the business \ve sought to determine how each circus, arid the industry, as whole, fared during its tour. pur year began with Hamid-Morton’s stay at Uline Arena in Washington, sponsored by the local Shrine tem¬ ple. It wcs a strong shovv, nicely presented, and the pub¬ lic came out in force, A winner, for many years, no one anticipated . any problem, and none developed. Talk on the show was largely of a new' venture which was to be undertaken jointly with, the Hunt Circus when a combination of the two shbw’s acts would appear under the Hunt big top at Palisades Park, New Jersey, in con¬ junction with the amusement parkrS spring opening. Circus Plays Palisades '; Put IJp Canvas During Snou, The greatest speculation centered on how the shotv could be squeezed into the Hunt top: It tdok some doing, .There was snow when they were setting, the rigging, for1 example, and not ohce but twice they took down and put up the big top. But the . effort was successful and the press Of New York City hailed the abilities Of all con¬ cerned— Irv Rosenthal of Palisades Park, George A. Hamid of the Hamid^Morton show, and the senior Charles T. Hunt, dean of the nation’s: circus Owners. Sufficiently successful at. the amusement park date, Ro¬ senthal arranged. for the Hunt show, to ret”r*' * August. Clyde Beatiy Still Stars; Switched to Truck Setup The story of the. Beatty show in 1957 cannot be appre¬ ciated fully without mention Of its switch from railroad to truck operation, We have , seen many, truck shows over the years but this one seems unique in its equipment: Most semi-trailers feature a built-in sleeper unit, the whole outfit was kept fresh and clean looking, and .the' showfolk felt everyone’s efforts was appreciated. This show spent 10 days in towns within driving dis¬ tance of New York City and did .quite well. It then had a week in Philadelphia, on the lot formerly used by Ringling, under a setup whereby the lot was free, of rent and the show participated in the profit of the midway provided by concessionaires Quinn and Harris, who held the lease for the date’ The week was .good though not up to hoped-for levels. ’ _ Through New England and into Canada went the Beatty show. Turning southward again it made its way into, the tobacco states during the fall months. It was mid-November when the show played St: Petersburg, Florida, then moved into quarters at DeLand with a very good season on the books., Cristiani Circus En joyed Cook^— While Still Sober In the early fall we enjoyed a short stay with the Cristiani Bros. Circus, owned . by the internationally famous riding act family. The show: had played through the: south into Pennsylvania, New England, and . New York and was ’making its way south once , again.. Every-, where there had been good houses but there was a small labor problem. Harry Dann, now the. Cristiani equestrian director after 15 years, clowning,, told tis the story of one shortage: " \ ‘'We’d, had a series of cooks during the season," he said, “ Never could keep one long. Well,: this guy comes on and he looks the part; tall, greying, rather hand¬ some older man. So he went to work. We Walked into the coqkhouse: for. lunch that day and there, of all things, , was an attractive: tuna fish, salad, on a bed of crisp lettuce and the whole thing was topped off With radishes cut in flower shapes like at a fancy hotel. "That was fine. But in a circus cookhouse! We won¬ dered how long it would Iasi. Well, it went along that ■ Way; first day everything .just so— second, third, fourth. So the seventh day was payday and the guy picks, up his and goes on into town . Must’ve . headed . for the nearest bar. Anyhow that was: the last We eiiev saw of him. He. sure was good while he lasted. Gee, you shouid’ve seen me' frying eggs fOr everyone, this. "■ihbmingV*:. While, on the shbw we learned of plans for a larger big top in 1958— the . first Cristiani top to require a dou¬ ble row of quarter poles, And there was talk about a series of seat wagons, differing from those, oh other shows/ to be put into Use in the liew season. A few weeks later wehad a visit with the smallest, of the shows we Were to see during the year. This, was the Benson Bros. Circus, owned and. managed ; by Bill Morris. We’ve caught this show now .and again over the last four seasons and can note a steady improvement in. the program-, equipment, etc. It is a happy show for one thing.. And the mood of the showfolk is much like read¬ ing a barometer; In this case the feeling was one of good houses, a well-fed troupe, contented, performers. On Benson is a little lady of English origin (we wouldn’t By CLAIRE & TONY CONWAY want to suggest her age) named Nelly (Hodges) Hodgini. Her famiy has been for generations a part of the. circus woHd, among themthe famous Hodgini riding act: Nelly haq been a clown on Benson for some seasons, one of the few lady clowns in the business, She is delighted that her grandchildren are, already learning the arts, of ' their profession pri the shows with which their parents per¬ form. But even greater is her pleasure that within the last year she has been, granted her American' citizenship. Lady Clown in White face Makes With Patriotic Glow Nelly is. always running here, or there to get this prop or that. One of her. little tasks is to see that the American flag is brought :Out in time for a mounted rider to carry it in the tournament which . opens the show. “IPs my flag now, you know!” she told uS as she carried it across the lot. Had anyone ever taken her photo as she held the flag? We asked. No,, no one had. So we did. And you should see the look of pleasure on. her plown-white face in that photo! Such satisfaction!. The Polack Bros. (Eastern Unit) date at Baltimore is tone, we always look forward to. Nor was this year’s Shrine offering at the Fifth Regiment Armbry anything iess than We had hoped for. This was one of the finest organiza¬ tions on the road. It was well costumed, had tdpnotch acts, and its running order arid timing were just right to keep the audience, content. . Outstanding among the staffers was Dick Slayton, the finest example of equestrian director-announcer in today’ circus world/ Credit, too, Henry Keyes and the Ronstrdms, .. Rex and Kitty, for pacing the show musically. .Why talk of Polack Eastern. in the past tense? Simply because it is a. thing of the past. -The two Polack shows (Eastern and Western) were consolidated as' of the first of the year. Both were strong shows. Each had its own following. Each made it. date after date. But something went wrong in the relationship between the Western Unit and its . sponsors in California. Now the two units are one. Dick Slayton, it should be noted, already . had planned ■on a change before the merger. He is today equestrian : director-announcer for the Orrin Davenport Circus. Orrin, remembered as a great rider and a pioneer in presenting indoor shows under auspices, has an insight into the business possessed by few others. C ol. Tim McCoy Wild West ‘Concert” F allows Circus Reliable reports reached us concerning shows we wereunable to catch. Mills Bros/ had an okay, though short, undeivcanvas season and presented a performance com¬ parable with their efforts, of previous years. Kelly-Miller continued to utilize a number of tie-in advertising methods including drawing a . heavy cage wagon to the business district with a six-horse hitch: For most of . the season Col. Tihi McCoy Was featured in the “Concert” or Wild West offered by the show. Hagen Bros., under the man¬ agement of . Bob Couls, continued to grow and again offered a; performance that will assure, the. return of customers, in future years. Some Ringling Performers Drive in Own Cars The new Version of Ringling-Barnum moves bn about .dozen trucks and uses three stock cars and three sleep¬ ers -provided. by the railroads. Many acts do: not use. the train but niake the jumps between dates with their own cars and house trailers.. Baltimore gave us our first glimpse of a ball park Ringling. To say that.it amazed us wbiiid he putting it mildly. The frames for the aerial rigging were fascinat¬ ing and. Caught the eye. But the rings formed a triangle —center ring at . home piate, ring one at third base-; ring,: three at first base. And the distances! There simply was no intimacy here. In a big top or in a building every¬ thing is. .close: enough for you to feel a part of it Not so in ball parks. Unless , you sat opposite center ring, you could not hope to see more than two rings at any one time. The performance was, however, well paced and moved smoothly. The productions were arranged to -take advan¬ tage of the outside layout In . all respjects it was what you’d expect of Ringling. The showfolk were “with it and for it” and everyone, ourselves included, agreed that it was all. a matter of adjustment We. never could , gauge an audience, in a stadium, too accurately, The seating facilities were simply too vast. Baltimore certainly had; the best houses of the three, cities: where we saw the show ini inid-summer. Washing¬ ton seemed to do reasonably well. But Philadelphia, did poorly. None of these, stands was "even nearly ideal. But why? The. show itself was not the answer. Art Concello and. his staff know the business; . they don’t make mistakes. Equestrian director Bob Dover and the men / working with him have long been a smooth-working combination. No man in the business today can surpass Dover who has earned his position the hard way. The one and only Pat Valdo chose wisely when hie chose Dover to learn .his own, job. Kiss Goodbye to Yesteryears9 Big Splash ‘Circusy9 Ads . These are the things we saw— or didn’t see. Ail three :dales utilized a type of advertising, foreign to Ringliiig. It was-not “circusy.” In fact it was more often like the ads of a record, store offering the. latest albums or of a rock ’n.’ roll outfit bringing a rock stage .show to town. The. radio spots were very, much .like the more objeciondble auto Jot ads. And there simply was iio use of paper. There was no advance crew at all. Few people knew any: show was. coming, •; These were promoted towns i which :the show left advertising, ticket sales, and other details to one pro¬ motional firm. But these people did not know anything about working with a circus and got themselves into pickle, after pickle. Jt should be understood that a num¬ ber' of promotion firms were used throughout the year and we. saw only how one worked. Yes, Ringling did have press men, though not as in former years. Frank Braden worked only New York and did not go on the road: Howard Y. Bary was in New York and stayed throughout about half the tour. It was Bary, in fact, who gave the show the major publicity break it received iri Washington and Philadelphia through his use of a “Fifty Year Club.” Circus people across the nation know and respect. Mel¬ vin D. Hildreth, prominent Washington attorney and a founder: of the Circus Fans Assn., and Dr. William M. Mann, retired director of the National Zoo, both of whom have known the circus for over 50 years. Bary honored theihi and also, got some publicity, by naming the 50 Year Club in Washington in their honor. Membership was given to anyone who wrote in to tell their memories of either the Barnum & Bailey or the Ringling Bros, show in 1907, and each member received two tickets to a spe¬ cified section for the Saturday matinee.. The results were most gratifying; the papers gave the ■club good play and all the “club members” had a swell time. But Philadelphia has no Mann or Hildreth so things did hot go as well there, though the “club” was given notice in the daily: press: In Washington we arrived at the special entrance for showfolk and press mid had trouble in having our work¬ ing pass honored. It seems that the promoter controlled the door and had no one from the show on hand to rec¬ ognize Who was who. Well,, along came Harold Ronk, ringmaster and announcer, carrying not one but two com¬ plete changes of costume including the traditional red coats: He had no pass so the man on the door rejected him. Amateurism Creeps Further j Ringmaster Can’t Make it “Look, I’m ringmaster for the. show,” pointed out Har¬ old, “If I don’t get inside; I don/t start the show.” .. “Buster,” said the attendant, “i don’t give a good etc. who the etc. you are. if I don’t know you, you don’t get in! Get someone to identify you.” “O.K.,” agreed Harold, “Where’s the circus office?’* “Inside.” “Well, how can I get a pass if I can’t get inside?” “Look, buddy, I don’t give A . . " Forget who came along and sayed the day. but the ringmaster .finally was allowed in the stadium. Traveling by streetcar and bus in these cities, we had opportunity to obtain the viewpoint of the circus going public through personal observation. These are not our beliefs, but those of the paying customers. The public liked the show but said they liked the under-canyas circus better. They did not like the dis¬ tances. They felt that the newspaper ads suggested a. menagerie of animals and,, of course, there was .none. And they missed the sideshow; it just didn’t seem right to them to be without the “strange people.” Will the public, return a second , time to Ringling as it now is? That is the. question! Y We spent, a great deal Of time with the showfolk in the backyard and in the areas beneath the stands. And whait did they think, of the new setufc? Without excep¬ tion they saw advantages to both methods of operation. In the new setup they like the inside dressing rooms and the showers in buildings and stadiums built for sports events. Both these facilities made it easier to keep clean and made life more comfortable. But the great distances from dressing rooms to per¬ forming area were already beginning to wear on them. They didn't like the problem of getting rooms or of find¬ ing a proper place for theirliouse trailers. In Baltimore and Philadelphia they were forced to stay 15 and more miles outside the city. Nor were there usually restaurants near the ball parks and /it was a problem to get a good meal. Yes, it looked very strange to have the show without a big top and we mentioned this now and again. So it was that Claire teasedone of the clowns: “Well, what’re you going to do. now, bub? The big top’s the only girl you’ve ever been faithful to.” “Ahh,” he shrugged, looking at the layout, “This thing’s just one of Bertha’s pups.” , Ringling’s schedule of ball park and auditoriumdates seems quite/ erratic compared with its former tented operation which played day in and day out. But every-* body is.said to profit for it is supposed to mean a longer tour when all is said and done. Curious Eyes Watching For 1958 Glues; Whither Ringling Plans for the ’58 offering of the big one have not been announced but .it is understood that Richard and Edith Barstow will not stage and choreograph the show. Plans are said to be underway for a number of “pre-Gotham” dates for the first time. News , stories, both good and bad, concerning Ringling seem tb .be avoided by many daily papers. This would seem to be due to mistakes made by. former well-intemtioiied, non-circus executives which linger in the minds of newsmen. At any rate, we often receive clippings from. Florida papers which are real news to us since our papers don’t carry them. Among such stories are those concerned with suits brought by the so-called 49’etis (stockholders controlling 49Tc of Ringling) against the corporation executives on charges of mismanagement. At this writing the trials have not. begun. How was the past season? What of the future? Wie asked owners .and managers and the consensus is that the busi¬ ness is in good, shape and that there will always be a circus.