Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was an American circus company that called itself The Greatest Show on Earth (Eng. "The greatest show in the world"). It was active under new owners in a modified form until May 2017.
history
The company was founded in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey Circus, founded by James Anthony Bailey and PT Barnum , merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus . The Ringling Brothers bought Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but operated it independently until 1919. The brothers in detail: Al Albrecht C. Ringling 1852–1916; Otto (William Henry Ringling, 1858-1911); Alf T. (Alfred Theodore Ringling, 1863-1919); Charles (Carl Edward Ringling, 1864-1926); John ( John Nicholas Ringling , 1866-1936); Gus (Augustus Albert Ringling, 1854-1907); Henry (Henry William George Ringling, 1868-1918). In 1957, John Ringling North arranged for permanent venues such as sports arenas to be used as guest venues instead of the previously used tents. In 1967 Irvin Feld bought the circus, but sold it to Mattel in 1971 . In 1982 Irvin Feld and his son Kenneth Feld bought it back.
In 1999, Feld Entertainment was founded, a production company that, in addition to the circus, also runs other shows such as “Disney on Ice” and various productions on Broadway and in Las Vegas. In 2010 the 200th birthday of PT Barnum was celebrated and a generation change took place at the same time. For the first time since then, Nicole Feld, who had been responsible for program design with her father for several years, and her younger sister Alana, two women were responsible for production. Kenneth Feld largely withdrew from the production of the circus and concentrated more on his duties as head of Feld Entertainment .
In May 2016, under pressure from animal rights activists, the circus stopped the elephant shows. A year later, in May 2017, after 146 years, the circus ceased operations completely. The reason given by the company was the high operating costs and falling visitor numbers after the end of the elephant shows. The circus last performed on May 21, 2017 at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale , New York.
construction
The company operated two different traveling shows in the USA, so-called units , which are labeled with colors (red and blue) and their programs are called editions . The two big shows offered entertainment in up to three arenas. Since the two large units changed the programs every year from 1969, the blue show always took place in even years, the red always in odd years. The gold unit was not counted and mostly changed every year. In 2016 the blue unit played the 144th edition and the red unit played the 145th edition.
Until 2015 there was also a small “gold unit” with a circus ring that represented a scaled-down version of the circus. With the discontinuation of the gold unit, there was also a change in the changeover mode of the editions. For the first time, the blue unit played two and a half instead of two years, which meant that the program did not change until mid-2016. Instead of presenting a new program at the turn of the year, a new program should be shown in one of the two units after the annual summer break.
The circus train
With two special trains of about 60 cars each and a total length of one mile (1.6 km), the circus owned the largest private trains in the United States. While the two largest units were transported by train, which also offered some employees permanent accommodation, the gold unit did not use rail transport and instead used trucks.
The Ringmaster
The ring master is the moderator of a circus program. He accompanies the audience through the program with announcements and singing. At Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, the ringmaster was given an additional role because he was “the face of the circus,” a character associated with the show and often used for advertising.
In the blue unit, Johnathan Lee Iverson had been the ringmaster since 2010, while Andre McClain led the program in the red unit from 2013. Iverson had been ringmaster of the red unit from 1999 to 2004, while McClain had hosted the pre-show for many years, both in the blue and previously in the red unit. The small gold unit has been presented by David Shipman since 2013. Andre McClain and David Shipman swapped units for the new shows in 2015.
Ringmaster of the 3-arena shows
year | Edition | Unit | Ringmaster |
---|---|---|---|
1871-1878 | 1-8 | PT Barnum | Dan Castello |
1879-1881 | 9-11 | PT Barnum | James Cook |
1882-1889 | 12-13 | Barnum & London | RH Dockrill |
1884-1889 | 14.-19. | Barnum & London | RH Dockrill |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1890-1891 | 20-21 | Barnum & Bailey | William Ducrow |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1892-1894 | 22.-24. | Barnum & Bailey | RH Dockrill |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1895 | 25th | Barnum & Bailey | John O'Brien |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1896-1902 | 26.-32. | Barnum & Bailey | William Ducrow |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1903-1904 | 33-34 | Barnum & Bailey | Frank Melville |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1905 | 35. | Barnum & Bailey | RH Dockrill |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1906 | 36. | Barnum & Bailey | William Ducrow |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1907 | 37. | Barnum & Bailey | William Ducrow |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1908 | 38. | Barnum & Bailey | Edward Shipp |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1909 | 39. | Barnum & Bailey | Edward Shipp |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1910 | 40. | Barnum & Bailey | Edward Shipp |
Ringling Bros. | William Gorman | ||
1911 | 41. | Barnum & Bailey | William Gorman |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1912 | 42. | Barnum & Bailey | William Gorman |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1913-1915 | 43–45 | Barnum & Bailey | Fred Bradna |
Ringling Bros. | Al Ringling | ||
1916-1918 | 46-48 | Barnum & Bailey | Fred Bradna |
Ringling Bros. | John Agee | ||
1919-1946 | 49-76. | Fred Bradna | |
1947-1948 | 77th-78th | Arthur Springer | |
1949 | 79. | Harry Thomas | |
1950 | 80. | David Murphy | |
1951-1955 | 81–85. | Count Nicholas | |
1956 | 86. | Preston Lambert | |
1957 | 87. | Harold Ronk | |
1958 | 88 | Don Forbes | |
1959 | 89. | George Michel | |
1960-1968 | 90–98 | Harold Ronk | |
1969-1972 | 98th – 102. | blue | Harold Ronk |
red | Bob Welz | ||
1973 | 102. | blue | Tim Holst |
103. | red | Bob Welz | |
1974 | 104. | blue | Harold Ronk |
103. | red | Tim Holst | |
1975 | 104. | blue | Harold Ronk |
105. | red | Tim Holst | |
1976 | 106. | blue | Harold Ronk |
105. | red | Tim Holst | |
1977 | 106. | blue | Bill Witter |
107. | red | Kit Haskett | |
1978 | 108. | blue | Harold Ronk |
107. | red | Kit Haskett | |
1979 | 108. | blue | Harold Ronk |
109. | red | Kit Haskett | |
1980 | 110. | blue | Harold Ronk |
109. | red | Kit Haskett | |
1981 | 110. | blue | Lawrence Kelly |
111. | red | Kit Haskett | |
1982 | 112. | blue | Dinny McGuire |
111. | red | Kit Haskett | |
1983-1985 | 112-115 | blue | Jim Ragona |
red | Dinny McGuire | ||
1986 | 116. | blue | Jim Ragona |
115. | red | Kristopher Antekeier | |
1987-1994 | 117-124. | blue | Jim Ragona |
red | Eric Michael Gillett | ||
1995-1997 | 124-127. | blue | Dinny McGuire |
red | Eric Michael Gillett | ||
1998 | 128. | blue | Jim Ragona
Roberto Miquel (Spanish shows) |
127. | red | Robert Tully
Roberto Miquel |
|
1999 | 128. | blue | Jim Ragona / David Alan Marshall
Roberto Miquel |
129. | red |
Johnathan Lee Iverson
Roberto Miquel |
|
2000 | 130. | blue | Michael James McGowan
Roberto Miquel |
129. | red | Johnathan Lee Iverson
Roberto Miquel |
|
2001 | 130. | blue | Kevin Venardos
Roberto Miquel |
131. | red | Johnathan Lee Iverson
Roberto Miquel |
|
2002 | 132. | blue | Kevin Venardos
Roberto Miquel |
131. | red | Johnathan Lee Iverson
Roberto Miquel |
|
2003 | 132. | blue | Kevin Venardos
Roberto Miquel |
133. | red | Johnathan Lee Iverson
Roberto Miquel |
|
2004 | 134. | blue | Kevin Venardos |
133. | red | Johnathan Lee Iverson
Roberto Miquel |
|
2005 | 134. | blue | Kevin Venardos |
135th | Red | Tyron McFarlan | |
2006 | 136. | blue | Chuck Wagner |
135. | red | Tyron McFarlan | |
2007 | 136. | blue | Chuck Wagner |
137. | red | Tyron McFarlan | |
2008 | 138. | blue | Chuck Wagner |
137. | red | Tyron McFarlan | |
2009 | 138. | Blue | Chuck Wagner |
139. | red | Alex Ramon | |
2010 | 140 | blue | Johnathan Lee Iverson |
139. | red | Alex Ramon | |
2011 | 140 | Blue | Johnathan Lee Iverson |
141. | red | Brian Crawford Scott | |
2012 | 142. | blue | Johnathan Lee Iverson |
141. | red | Brian Crawford Scott
Jorge Escribano Pelaez (for shows in Mexico) |
|
2013 | 142. | blue | Johnathan Lee Iverson |
143. | red | Andre McClain | |
2014 | 144. | blue | Johnathan Lee Iverson |
143. | red | Andre McClain | |
2015 | 144. | blue | Johnathan Lee Iverson |
145. | red | David Shipman | |
2016 | 146. | blue | Johnathan Lee Iverson |
145. | red | David Shipman | |
2017 | 146. | blue | Johnathan Lee Iverson |
145. | red | Kristen Michelle Wilson |
Ringmaster of the Gold Unit
year | Ringmaster |
---|---|
2004 | Ted McRae |
2005 | Ted McRae & Lilian Escobar |
2006 | Lilian Escobar |
2007 | Lilian Escobar |
2008 | N / A |
2009 | N / A |
2010 | David DaVinci |
2011 | David DaVinci |
2012 | Paula Nascimento, Clarissa Oliveria and Maiara Cristyne as "The Ringlettes" (They are the first ringmaster team and the first women to hold the position of ringmaster.) |
2013 | David Shipman |
2014 | David Shipman |
2015 | Andre McClain |
See also
Web links
- www.ringling.com
- History of Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin
- Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey combined shows poster - Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, Madison, Wisconsin
- Karl King Page
- Research Guide to The Hartford Circus Fire, July 6, 1944
- Boston Public Library. Circus posters
Individual evidence
- ↑ Famous US circus will do without elephants in the future. In: Süddeutsche.de . May 1, 2016, accessed June 20, 2017.
- ↑ One last time "Greatest Show on Earth". In: Spiegel Online. May 22, 2017. Retrieved May 22, 2017 .
- ^ After 146 Years, Ringling Brothers Circus Takes Its Final Bow . In: The New York Times . May 21, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2017.