| Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus | |
|---|---|
 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus's logo as of the 2020s. | |
| Origin | |
| Country | United States |
| Founder(s) | |
| Year founded | 1871 (154 years ago) (1871) |
| Defunct | 2017; 8 years ago (2017) (original) |
| Information | |
| Operator(s) | Feld Entertainment |
| Traveling show? | Yes |
| Circus tent? | No (post-1957) |
| Winter quarters | Ellenton, Florida, U.S. |
| Website | www |
TheRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as theRingling Bros. Circus,Ringling Bros., theBarnum & Bailey Circus,Barnum & Bailey, or simplyRingling, is an American travelingcircus company billed asThe Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor have run shows from 1871, with a hiatus from 2017 to 2023. They operate as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created byP. T. Barnum andJames Anthony Bailey, was merged with theRingling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. TheRingling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. in 1907 following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.[1]
After 1957, the circus no longer exhibited under its own portable "big top" tents, instead using permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas. In 1967,Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston judgeRoy Hofheinz, bought the circus from the Ringling family. In 1971, the Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus toMattel, buying it back from the toy company in 1981. Since the death of Irvin Feld in 1984, the circus has continued to be a part ofFeld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by his sonKenneth Feld, with its headquarters inEllenton, Florida.[2][3]
In May 2017, with weakening attendance, manyanimal rights protests, and highoperating costs, the circus performed its final animal show atNassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and closed.[4]
In September 2023, after a six-year hiatus, a relaunched animal-free circus returned with its first show inBossier City, Louisiana.[5] It also did not include clowns or a ringmaster.[6][7]
Hachaliah Bailey appears to have established one of the earliest circuses in the United States after he purchased anAfrican elephant, whom he named "Old Bet", around 1806,[8][9] just 13 years afterJohn Bill Ricketts first brought the circus to the United States from Great Britain.[10][11][12]P. T. Barnum, who as a boy had worked as a ticket seller for Hachaliah Bailey's show, had run theBarnum's American Museum from New York City since 1841 from the formerScudder's American Museum building.[8][9]
Besides building up the existing exhibits, Barnum brought in animals to add zoo-like elements, and afreak show.[13] During this time, Barnum took the Museum on road tours, named "P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling American Museum".[13] The Museum burned down in July 1865.[14] Though Barnum attempted to re-establish the Museum at another location in the city, it too burned down in 1868, and Barnum opted to retire from the museum business.
In 1871,Dan Castello andWilliam Cameron Coup persuaded Barnum to come out of retirement to lend his name, know-how, and financial backing to the circus they had already created inDelavan, Wisconsin. The combined show was named "P.T. Barnum's Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan, and Hippodrome".[13] As described by Barnum, Castello and Coup "had a show that was truly immense, and combined all the elements of museum,menagerie, variety performance, concert hall, and circus", and considered it to potentially be "the Greatest Show on Earth", which subsequently became part of the circus's name.[15]
Independently of Castello and Coup,James Anthony Bailey had teamed up with James E. Cooper to create the Cooper and Bailey Circus in the 1860s. The Cooper and Bailey Circus became the chief competitor to Barnum's circus. As Bailey's circus was outperforming his, Barnum sought to merge the circuses.[16] The two groups agreed to combine their shows on March 28, 1881.[17] Initially named "P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show On Earth, And The Great London Circus, Sanger's Royal British Menagerie and The Grand International Allied Shows United", it was eventually shortened to "Barnum and Bailey's Circus".[15] Bailey was instrumental in acquiringJumbo, advertised as the world's largest elephant, for the show.[16]
After Jumbo died, Barnum donated his taxidermied remains toTufts University on whose Board of Trustees Barnum served as one of Tufts' first trustees. The Barnum Museum of Natural History opened in 1884 on the Tufts campus and Jumbo was a prominent part of the display. To this day the Tufts athletic mascot is Jumbo and its athletic teams are referred to as the "Jumbos". Barnum died in 1891 and Bailey then purchased the circus from his widow. Bailey continued touring theEastern United States until he took his circus to Europe. That tour started on December 27, 1897, and lasted until 1902.[16]
Separately, in 1884, five of the sevenRingling brothers had started asmall circus inBaraboo, Wisconsin.[18][19] This was about the same time that Barnum & Bailey were at the peak of their popularity. Similar to dozens of small circuses that toured theMidwestern United States and theNortheastern United States at the time, the brothers moved their circus from town to town in small animal-drawn caravans. Their circus rapidly grew and they were soon able to move their circus bytrain, which allowed them to have the largest traveling amusement enterprise of that time. Bailey's European tour gave the Ringling brothers an opportunity to move their show from the Midwest to the eastern seaboard. Faced with the new competition, Bailey took his show west of theRocky Mountains for the first time in 1905. He died the next year, and the circus was sold to the Ringling Brothers.[13]
The Ringlings purchased the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth in 1907 and ran the circuses separately until 1919. By that time,Charles Edward Ringling andJohn Nicholas Ringling were the only remaining brothers of the five who founded the circus. They decided that it was too difficult to run the two circuses independently because of labour shortages and complications to rail travel brought about by American involvement in World War I, and on March 29, 1919, "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows" debuted in New York City. The posters declared, "The Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth are now combined into one record-breaking giant of all exhibitions." Charles E. Ringling died in 1926, but the circus flourished through theRoaring Twenties.[1]
John Ringling had the circus move its headquarters toSarasota, Florida, in 1927.[20]
In 1929, theAmerican Circus Corporation signed a contract to perform in New York City. John Ringling purchased American Circus, the owner of five circuses, for $1.7 million.[21]
In 1938, the circus made a lucrative offer toFrank Buck, a well-known adventurer and animal collector, to tour as their star attraction and to enter the show astride an elephant. He refused to join theAmerican Federation of Actors, stating that he was "a scientist, not an actor." Though there was a threat of a strike if he did not join the union, he maintained that he would not compromise his principles, saying, "Don't get me wrong. I'm with the working man. I worked like a dog once myself. And my heart is with the fellow who works. But I don't want some ... union delegate telling me when to get on and off an elephant."[22] Eventually, the union gave Buck a special dispensation to introduceGargantua the gorilla without registering as an actor.
The circus suffered during the 1930s due to theGreat Depression, but managed to stay in business. After John Nicholas Ringling's death, his nephew,John Ringling North, managed the indebted circus twice, the first from 1937 to 1943.[23] Special dispensation was given to the circus byPresident Roosevelt to use the rails to operate in 1942, in spite of travel restrictions imposed as a result ofWorld War II. Many of the most famous images from the circus that were published in magazine and posters were captured by American PhotographerMaxwell Frederic Coplan, who traveled the world with the circus, capturing its beauty as well as its harsh realities.[citation needed]
North's cousinRobert Edward Ringling took over as president of the show in 1943 with North resuming the presidency of the circus in 1947.[23][24]
On July 6, 1944, inHartford, Connecticut, during an afternoon performance attended by some 8,000 people, the Big Top tent caught fire.[25] At least 167 people were killed and many hundreds injured.[26] Circus management was found to be negligent and several Ringling executives served sentences in jail. Ringling Brothers' management set aside all profits for the next ten years to pay the claims filed against the show by the City of Hartford and the survivors of the fire.[27]
The post-war prosperity enjoyed by the rest of the nation was not shared by the circus as crowds dwindled and costs increased. Public tastes, influenced by the movies and television, abandoned the circus, which gave its last performance under the big top inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 16, 1956. An article inLife magazine reported that "a magical era had passed forever".[24] In 1956, when John Ringling North and Arthur Concello moved the circus from a tent show to an indoor operation, Irvin Feld was one of several promoters hired[28] to work the advance for select dates.Irvin Feld and his brother,Israel Feld, had already made a name for themselves marketing and promotingD.C. arearock and roll shows.[29] In 1959, Ringling Bros. started wintering inVenice, Florida.[19]
In late 1967, Irvin Feld, Israel Feld, and JudgeRoy Mark Hofheinz of Texas, together with backing fromRichard C. Blum, the founder ofBlum Capital, bought the company outright from North and the Ringling family interests for $8 million at a ceremony at Rome's Colosseum.[28][29][30][31] Irvin Feld immediately began making changes to improve the quality and profitability of the show. Irvin got rid of the freak show so as not to capitalize on others' deformations and to become more family oriented. He got rid of the more routine acts.[32]
In 1968, with the craft of clowning seemingly neglected and with many of the clowns in their 50s, he established theRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.[19][32] Circus Williams, a circus in Europe was purchased for $2 million just to have its star animal trainer,Gunther Gebel-Williams, for the core of his revamped circus. Soon, he split the show into two touring units, Red and Blue, which could tour the country independently.[32] The separate tours could also offer differing slates of acts and themes, enabling circus goers to view both tours where possible.[citation needed]. Also in 1968, Feld hiredThe King Charles Troupe, aunicycle club fromThe Bronx and the first ever African-American circus troupe, to perform unicycle basketball for 18 years with the circus. Performing unicyclists also includedTed Jorgensen.[33]
The company was taken public in 1969.[28] In 1970, Feld's only sonKenneth joined the company and became a co-producer.[34] The circus was sold to theMattel company in 1971 for $40 million, with the Feld family retained as management.[32]
AfterWalt Disney World opened nearOrlando, Florida, in 1971, the circus attempted to cash in on the resulting tourism surge by openingCircus World theme park in nearbyHaines City, which broke ground in April 1973.[32][35] The theme park was expected to become the circus's winter home as well as to have the Clown College located there.[35][36] Mattel placed the circus corporation up for sale in December 1973 despite its profit contributions, as Mattel as a whole had a $29.9 million loss in 1972. The park's opening was delayed until February 1974.[35]
Venture Out in America, Inc., aGulf Oil recreational subsidiary, bought the combined shows in January 1974, and the opening was further pushed back to 1975.[36] While the Circus Showcase for Circus World opened onFebruary 21, 1974,[37] Venture Out placed the purchase deal back into negotiations, and the opening of the complex was moved to early 1976.[38]
By May 1980, the company expanded to three circuses by adding the one-ring International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo that debuted in Japan and Australia.[32] The Felds bought the circus back in 1982[28] less Circus World. Irvin Feld died in 1984[39] and the company has since been run by Kenneth.
In 1990, theSeminole Gulf Railway, who took over the rail line serving the Venice facility in 1987, could no longer support the show's train cars, which led the combined circus to move its winter base to theFlorida State Fairgrounds inTampa. In 1993, the clown college was moved from the Venice Arena to Baraboo, Wisconsin.[19] In 1995, the company founded theCenter for Elephant Conservation (CEC).[40]
Clair George has testified in court that he worked as a consultant in the early 1990s for Kenneth Feld and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was involved in the surveillance ofJanice Pottker, a journalist who was writing about the Feld family, and of various animal rights groups such as PETA.[41]
After three years in Baraboo, the clown college operated at theSarasota Opera House inSarasota until 1998 before the program was suspended.[19] In February 1999, the circus company started previewingBarnum's Kaleidoscape, a one ring, intimate, upscale circus performed under the tent.[42] Designed to compete with similar upscale circuses such asCirque du Soleil, Barnum's Kaleidoscape was not successful, and ceased performances after the end of 2000.[citation needed]
Nicole Feld became the first female producer of Ringling Circus in 2004. In 2009, Nicole and Alana Feld co-produced the circus.[29]In 2001, a group led byThe Humane Society of the United States sued the circus over alleged mistreatment of elephants. The suit and acountersuit ended in 2014 with the circus winning a total of $25.2 million in settlements.[43] In March 2015, the circus announced that all elephants would be retired in 2018 to the CEC,[40] but Ringling accelerated the decision and retired the elephants in May 2016.[44]
Eight months after it retired the elephants, it was announced in January 2017, that the circus would do 30 more performances, lay off more than 462 employees between March and May 2017 and then close.[45] The circus cited steeply declining ticket sales associated with the loss of the elephants combined with high operating costs as reasons for the closure,along with animal cruelty concerns.[45] On May 7, 2017, its "Circus Extreme" tour was shown for the last time at theDunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The circus's last performance before the hiatus was its "Out of This World" tour atNassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on May 21, 2017.[43][46]
In October 2021, Feld Entertainment Chairman and CEO Kenneth Feld and COO Juliette Feld Grossman announced that the circus would be relaunched in 2023, without animal performances.[47]In early 2022, the circus began auditioning artists for a retooled circus. More than 1,000 acts applied, and auditions were held inParis,Las Vegas,Ethiopia, andMongolia.[48]
In May 2022, Feld Entertainment announced that the circus would resume operations in the fall of 2023 with a tour of 50 cities. The circus said the new show would debut as a "multi-platform entertainment franchise".[49][50]
On September 29, 2023, after a six-year hiatus, the relaunched circus kicked off atBrookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City, Louisiana.[5][51][52]
The circus maintained twocircus train-based shows, one each on its Red Unit and Blue Unit trains.[43] Each train was a mile long with roughly 60 cars: 36 passenger cars, 4 stock cars and 20 freight.[53]Rolling stock belonging to the circus displayed thereporting mark "RBBX". The Blue and Red Tours presented a full three-ring production for two years each, taking off the month of December, visiting alternating major cities each year.
Each train presented a different "edition" of the show, using a numbering scheme that dates back to the circus's origins in 1871 – the first year of P.T. Barnum's show. The Blue Tour presented the even-numbered editions on a two-year tour, beginning each even-numbered year, and the Red Tour presented the odd-numbered editions on the same two-year tour, beginning each odd-numbered year.[citation needed]
In the 1950s, there was one gigantic train system comprising three separate train loads that brought the main show to the big cities. The first train load consisted of 22 cars and had the tents and the workers to set them up. The second section comprised 28 cars and carried the canvasmen, ushers and sideshow workers. The third section had 19 sleeping cars for the performers.[54]
On January 13, 1994, eighteen cars of the circus train derailed while traveling betweenSt. Petersburg andOrlando. Ringling estimated that 150 employees were on board at the time of the accident; fifteen received minor injuries, and clown Ceslee Conkling and elephant trainer Ted Svertesky were killed.[55] The animals were not injured due to the nature of the derailment. The cars carrying the horses and elephants were at the front of the train because otherwise their weight could derail the train, and the other animals were carried at the back of the train.[56] The NTSB's report on the accident concluded that the train derailed due to afatigue crack in one of the train's wheels.[55]
From 2003 to 2015, the circus also operated a truck-based Gold Tour presenting a scaled-back, single-ring version of the show designed to serve smaller markets deemed incapable of supporting the three-ring versions.[57]
Manyanimal rights groups have criticized the circus for their treatment of animals over the years, saying that using them to perform is cruel and unnecessary.[43]
In 2004, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey were investigated following the death of alion who died from heat and lack of water while the circus train was traveling through theMojave Desert.[58] In 1998, theUnited States Department of Agriculture filed charges against Ringling Bros. for forcing a sick elephant to perform.[59] Ringling paid a $20,000 fine.[60]
In 2000, theAmerican Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and other animal groups sued the circus, alleging that it violated theEndangered Species Act by its treatment ofAsian elephants in its circus.[61] These allegations were based primarily on the testimony of a circus barn worker. After years of litigation and a six-week non-jury trial, the Court dismissed the suit in a written decision in 2009, finding that the barn worker did not have standing to file suit. (ASPCA v. Feld Entm’t, Inc., 677 F. Supp. 2d 55 (D.D.C. 2009)).[62]
Meanwhile, the circus learned during the trial that the animal rights groups had paid the barn worker $190,000 to be a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The circus then sued the animal rights groups under theRacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in 2007, accusing the groups of conspiracy to harm its business and other illegal acts.[61][62][63] In December 2012, the ASPCA agreed to pay the circus $9.2 million to settle its part of the lawsuit.[62] The 14-year course of litigation came to an end in May 2014 whenThe Humane Society of the United States and a number of other animal rights groups paid a $16 million settlement to the circus' parent company,Feld Entertainment.[64]
From 2007 to 2011, the United States Department of Agriculture conducted inspections of the circus's animals, facilities, and records, finding non-compliance with the agency's regulations. The allegations, as brought forth byPETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) included videotapes of the head elephant trainer and the animal superintendent backstage repeatedly hitting elephants withbullhooks just before the animals would enter the arena for performances. A tiger trainer was videotaped beating tigers during dress rehearsals.[65][66]
An inspection report alleged that a female Asian elephant, Banko, was forced to perform at a show in Los Angeles despite a diagnosis of sand colic and observations that she appeared to be suffering abdominal discomfort. The inspection reports also cited splintered floors and rusted cages. Following these inspections and complaints filed with the USDA by PETA, the company agreed to pay a $270,000 fine, the largest civil penalty ever assessed against an animal exhibitor under the Animal Welfare Act.[65][66]
In March 2015, Feld Entertainment announced it would stop usingelephants in its shows by 2018, stating that the 13 elephants that were part of its shows would be sent to the circus'sCenter for Elephant Conservation, which at that time housed over 40 elephants.[67][68][69] Feld stated that this action was not a result of the allegations by animal rights groups, but rather due to the patchwork of local laws regarding whether elephants could be used in entertainment shows.[70] Some of those local laws referred to were bans against the use of bullhooks.[71] Subsequently, the retirement was moved up to 2016.[72][73]
Seven tigers, six lions and one leopard were part of a convoy to temporarily move the animals out of Florida ahead ofHurricane Irma on September 5, 2017. One of them, a 6-year-oldSiberian tiger named Suzy who had previously starred in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, escaped from a convoy of trucks transporting her from Florida to Memphis International Airport and was fatally shot by police after attacking a nearby dog.[74]
In 1952,Paramount Pictures released theCecil B. DeMille productionThe Greatest Show on Earth, which traced the traveling show through the setup and breakdown of performances during the 1951 season, the show's 81st edition since 1871. The film starredCharlton Heston,Betty Hutton,James Stewart, andEmmett Kelly. After its 1952 release, the film was awarded two Academy Awards, including one forBest Picture. A television seriesof the same title, was inspired by the film, withJack Palance in the role of Charlton Heston's character. Produced byDesilu Productions, the program ran on Tuesday evenings for thirty episodes onABC in 1963–1964.
In August 2011,20th Century Fox announced that a biographical musical drama film titledThe Greatest Showman was in development.[75]Michael Gracey was set to direct, withJenny Bicks andBill Condon as writers.[76]Hugh Jackman playsP.T. Barnum, and produced the film,[75] withMichelle Williams portraying Barnum's wife, Charity.[77]Principal photography began in November 2016. The film was released on December 20, 2017.[78]
When the Ringling Brothers bought the Barnum Bailey show they ... got a monopoly on the circus business in America. They now own outright three ...
John Ringling, head of the Ringling Brothers-Barnum Bailey Combined Circus, has purchased the five circuses, with Winter quarters, of the American Circus Corporation, it was learned yesterday.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
