by Jerry Apps
The weather turned lethal when the show played in River Falls, Wisconsin, on June 21, 1893. An Associated Press writer reported:
A terrific thunder storm raged in this vicinity this afternoon. Rain fell in sheets, and great floods of water formed almost in an instant in the streets. … The circus proper had just finished its performance, and as the concert was about to begin a number of people who did not care to attend the latter were making their way through the menagerie tent when a terrific bolt of lightning struck one of the center poles of the menagerie tent, and more than fifty people were prostrated. Seven were killed instantly, and the balance is now regaining the normal use of their limbs. … [I]t was only by the exercise of rare presence of mind on the part of Messrs. Ringling and their employees that a more serious and probably fatal stampede was averted. … The bodies of the dead were taken to the village engine house, where some distressingly sad scenes were enacted. … This community is a gloomy one this evening, and the calamity is universally deplored. None of the show people were injured. … The circus will, of course, give no performance tonight.2
On the morning of June 10, 1897, in Wahpeton, North Dakota, a severe thunderstorm blew out of the west while the canvas crew was setting up the tents. Lightning struck a center pole where twenty-two men were working. C. E. Walters and Charles Smith were killed instantly, and twenty others were knocked unconscious. The hat was passed and money was collected for the men’s funerals; a monument, a replica of a shattered center pole, was placed over their graves.3
Even when severe weather left people unscathed, it could take a serious toll on both circus equipment and ticket receipts. When a huge prairie storm blew into Ellsworth, Kansas, on September 15, 1897, the route book scribe reported:
Threatening clouds began to gather a little after 4 o’clock and by six the storm had assumed alarming proportions. The first blow struck at about 6:00 o’clock but, although severe, the canvas withstood the force of it and nothing gave way. The storm then veered around and came back, whirling with terrific speed. It struck the big top and the black tents and in a second there was nothing by a mass of wreckage and debris where they had stood. The attendance at the afternoon show had been tremendous and another crowd was expected at the night show, but in consequence of the storm, the night show was abandoned. All hands were set to work all night in a pouring rain to untangle the mass of ropes, canvas, seats, stringers and shattered center and quarter poles, and it was daylight when the last section pulled out of the town. A great deal of valuable wardrobe and paraphernalia were damaged or destroyed, but there were no casualties.4
The Ringling circus even confronted a sandstorm in Butte, Montana, on September 4, 1902:
Small particles of dirt and stone were dashed into the eyes and faces of the workingmen and many of them were almost blinded, but like true soldiers they stayed at their posts and soon had the tents erected. … One could scarcely see ten feet from the front doors at one o’clock, yet an enormous crowd was in waiting long before the chains were taken away. Great difficulty was experienced by Henry Ringling’s little army of ticket takers, as their eyes were filled with dirt and dust and at times it was impossible for them to see the people. All the available men assisted at the door and the crowd was soon handled. When the circus commenced, swirling dust was so thick in the big top that all the chandeliers were lighted and even the persons on the seats could scarcely discern the actors. The storm continued all day and late into the night, and everybody, from the Ringlings to the smallest pony boy, was glad when Butte was in the distance.5
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NOTES
1. Route Book of Ringling Brothers, Season of 1893 (Buffalo, NY: Courier, 1893), pp. 46–47.
2. Quoted in the Route Book of Ringling Brothers, Season of 1893, pp. 55–56.
3. The Circus Annual: A Route Book of Ringling Brothers World’s Greatest Shows, Season of 1897 (Buffalo, NY: Courier, 1897), p. 103.
4. Ibid., p. 112.
5. The Circus: A Route Book of Ringling Bros.’ World’s Greatest Shows, Season 1902 (Chicago: Central Printing and Engraving, 1902), p. 24.
Making Money and Pleasing People: 1902–1903
“The Biggest Circus on Earth.”1
The Ringlings had learned early on that pleasing their customers and treating them honestly took high priority. When their customers were pleased, they made money. The challenge, of course, was continually figuring out what pleased people.
The Barnum & Bailey Circus would not return to the United States until fall 1902, so that summer the Ringlings’ major competition were the Forepaugh-Sells Circus, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, and the Great Wallace Show. But circus historian Fred Dahlinger notes that “by 1900–1902 the Ringlings could go where they pleased, at will, such was their drawing strength.”2
The Ringlings added a few new acts for 1902, including a pageant “representing the inaugural ceremonies of the grand fetes of ancient Rome,” using all three rings and both stages. But mostly the Brothers relied on what worked—elephant and horse acts, acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, and horse races of several stripes: monkeys riding Shetland ponies, a ladies’ jockey race, a four-horse Roman chariot race, and more.
They opened indoors in Chicago, but this time without a parade. It was becoming increasingly difficult to offer a circus parade in large cities crowded with streetcar traffic, horse-drawn carriages, and even a sprinkling of horseless carriages. They gave two performances a day from April 9 to 26, and then on the evening of April 26, the Ringlings’ sixty-five railcars rumbled on to Champaign, Illinois, for the April 28 opening under canvas.3
The 1902 season began with a string of accidents and mishaps. On April 23, just before the season opening, the big pole wagon, which carried the giant Big Top poles, broke through the Ash Street Bridge in Baraboo. Although just one wheel broke through, the workmen had great difficulty getting the wheel back on the bridge. One of the jacks they were using in their efforts fell in the river and was lost. When the wheel broke the bridge plank, four of the horses bolted and ran away; they were eventually corralled in front of the Effinger Brewery. The rest of the circus wagons were rerouted over the Oak Street Bridge, where one of them collided with Webber’s dray wagon, which was loaded with flour. Now traffic was stopped on both bridges. As a reporter wrote, “For a time it looked like a blockade on the streets of Chicago.”4
Accidents and injuries were common in the circus. Putting up and taking down tents was dangerous business. Working with horses, elephants, and a host of other animals often placed workmen in danger. And of course, the constant exposure to wind-storms, lightning, and floods added to the possibility of injury. Performers were also prone to injury; on May 19 in Ohio, aerialist Frank Smith fell thirty feet and broke his left arm in two places, dislocated his right shoulder, and was severely bruised. He was treated by circus doctor Arthur H. Gollmar and moved to a nearby hospital for treatment and recovery.
While the Ringling trains were moving from West Virginia to Ohio on May 22, one section had a minor derailment. While waiting for some repairs, a group of circus performers walked to a nearby farmhouse. There were introductions all around, and soon the farmer’s daughters were offering bowls of milk and bread for the babies and children who were with the troupe. The farmer’s family and the performers had a party on the lawn. The route book included the following note: “The afternoon spent at this house in good old West Virginia will long remain fresh in the memories of the troopers as one of the bright events of the season.”5
The show played in Canton, Ohio, on May 28. Many of the performers and workmen visited President McKinley’s grave “to pay silent respect to the memory of that great and good man who was shot down by a cowardly assassin on that long to be remembered day at the Buffalo Exposition.”6
By mid-June the Ringlings were back in Wisconsin with shows in Watertown, Chippewa Falls, Stevens Point, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, and Madison. From there they headed west. While in Denver, one of the performers and a ticket seller were ma
rried in a downtown church. “It was the first circus wedding of the present season and presents and congratulations were poured upon the happy couple until they were swamped.”7
As the circus traveled from Tacoma, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, the mishaps continued. The third train section was moving slowly when two elephant cars and a flat-car left the track and plunged into a ditch filled with several feet of water. One man suffered a broken ankle, another had a dislocated shoulder, and another received severe bruises. Pearl Souder, superintendent of elephants, suffered a scalp wound but refused treatment until the elephants were cared for. All the elephants but one were little more than shook up. Fanny, the oldest of the Ringling elephants, had landed under a small bridge and couldn’t get up. “Souder dosed her with whiskey, and after placing chains around her neck, used two other elephants to pull her to terra firma.”8 There is no record of Fanny’s injuries.
The Ringling parade entertained thousands in Madison in 1902. Al Ringling (in buggy), representing the owners, was usually first in the parade. Next came the lead bandwagon. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM
Another car derailment near Lexington, Missouri, sent the cook tent and the blacksmith van into a ditch, with extensive damages. Breakfast was late the next morning as the crew helped the cooks put things back together.9
And then the rains came. In Kansas City the lot was so muddy that the stake and chain wagon and other big wagons sank to the hubs. According to the route book, “On several of the wagons, 24 horses were used and by nightfall the baggage stock was completely tired out. Monday’s [September 22] parade was held in the rain and the lot at noon was a veritable sea of mud. Hundreds of bales of straw were scattered about in order to make the interior of the menagerie and big tops presentable. Big business, rains and oceans of mud were features of the day.”10
The Ringlings left the rains behind and traveled on to Texas, where they played from October 8 to November 7. They played Lake Charles, Louisiana, on November 8, and finally closed in Monticello, Arkansas, on November 15. Despite troubles on the road, it had been another prosperous year. The Ringlings’ prestige continued to increase as newspaper reviews lauded their efforts, and thousands upon thousands flocked to their shows.
The Ringling Brothers Circus had become arguably the most successful circus ever. As an institution, the circus—the Ringlings’ included—was in fact quite conservative. There were tents, rings, aerialists, clowns, horses, elephants, usually a menagerie, a band, and a parade. What could the Ringlings do that was new and yet didn’t stray too far from what people had long expected of the circus?
Every Christmas the Ringling Brothers gathered in Baraboo for a family celebration and an annual meeting. It was at these meetings that they made their plans for the coming season. At the 1902 meeting the Brothers surely discussed how to compete with the Barnum & Bailey show, which had returned from Europe in October and was currently at winter quarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut, preparing for the 1903 season.11 They had already met with James Bailey in May 1902, to work out route arrangements for 1903 to avoid overlap.12 The Ringlings also knew that Barnum & Bailey had ordered new parade wagons from the Sebastian Wagon Company of New York, and that winter the Ringlings ordered six new parade wagons from the Bode Wagon Company of Cincinnati and the Moeller Brothers in Baraboo. The Ringlings’ order comprised a pipe organ wagon ($1,425) to be used in the cathedral scene in “Joan of Arc,” United States and Great Britain Tableau wagons ($1,500 each), Russia and Germany Tableau wagons ($1,900 each), and a snake den wagon ($850). (The Ringlings paid about $1,700 on average for their big tableau wagons, while Barnum & Bailey forked out about $3,333 for each of their tableau wagons.) Additionally, the Ringlings ordered five flatbed wagons that would represent Egypt, France, India, Persia, and Spain and four cages (hippo den, paradise cage, rhino den, and lion cage) from the Moellers in Baraboo. The carvings on these wagons were created by the Milwaukee Ornamental Carving Company.13
The Ringlings appeared in Texas in October 1902. RICHARD E. AND ALBERT CONOVER COLLECTION, CWM
Come One, Come All
The Ringling Brothers worked hard to provide a show for all ethnic groups, often advertising in several languages. This handbill, printed in Chinese, was prepared for their September 1903 appearances in Chinatown, San Francisco. HANDBILL COLLECTION, CWM
The circus had nearly universal appeal. Because it did not depend on language the way the theatre did, for instance, circus audiences usually included English as well as non– English speakers. Understanding English was not necessary to enjoy the music, the clowns, the elephants and horses, the aerialists, and the menagerie animals. When they were in heavily populated ethnic areas—Germans and Norwegians in Wisconsin, Swedes in Minnesota—these groups came. When the circus played in Indian country, Indians came. In San Francisco Chinatown residents turned out in large numbers.1 In Utah wagonloads of Mormons came “from one end of the valley to the other and patronized everything under the acres of canvas.”2 And being illiterate didn’t matter either—even those who couldn’t read a word could soak up the sights, sounds, and flavor of the circus. From the very beginning the Ringling Brothers worked hard to ensure that everyone was welcome under their canvas.
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NOTES
1. Alf T. Ringling, The Circus Annual: A Route Book of Ringling Brothers, Season 1901 (Chicago: Central Printing and Engraving, 1901), pp. 69–73.
2. The Circus Annual: A Route Book of Ringling Brothers’ World’s Greatest Shows, Season 1903, p. 66.
In winter 1902–1903 the Ringlings ordered six intricately decorated wagons from the Bode Wagon Company, including the Great Britain Tableau (top), the Russia Tableau (middle), and the Germany Tableau (bottom). The Great Britain Tableau survives today in a modified form at Circus World Museum in Baraboo. ALBERT BODE GIFT; CWM
The Brothers received a letter from Hagenbeck’s, the German animal dealer, telling them which animals Barnum & Bailey had ordered for the 1903 season and what new animals the Ringlings should consider purchasing in order to compete.14
For the 1903 season the Ringlings promoted their show as “Ringling Brothers World’s Greatest Shows and the Libretto of the Sublime Spectacle Jerusalem and the Crusades.” The new “Jerusalem and the Crusades” act would, they hoped, compete not only with Barnum & Bailey and other circuses but also with vaudeville, which had become extremely popular and successful.15 The new pageant would include a ballet troupe of ninety-five young women, making this the Ringlings’ largest circus yet. Now the Brothers could squelch the critics who said they were in a rut and repeating what they had always done.
The show opened with a three-week stand in Chicago. The spectacle paid off. The boys turned away audiences for fourteen of the sixteen days.16 The 1903 route book includes this comment: “[T]he Jerusalem spectacular was the crowning feature … [T]he notices and criticisms in the papers were of the kind that make a circus man forget his troubles and feel at peace with the world.”17
The first stop after Chicago was South Bend, Indiana, and then they traveled east and up into Ontario, Canada. A reporter for the Canton, Ohio, paper wrote:
That old saying, “There’s nothing new under the sun” is utterly disproved in Ringling Brothers’ colossal circus, menagerie and hippodrome which exhibits in Canton, Thursday, May 21st. The Ringling Brothers have millions of dollars invested in their stupendous enterprise, and in addition to the most complete and startling arenic performance in the world, which introduces all the marvels of the present age, the five famous brothers present this year, on a scale of grandeur and magnificence never before attempted, a gorgeous spectacular production of Jerusalem and the Crusades.18
It was a laudatory piece to be sure, and one wonders how many of these words were written by Alf T. Ringling or one of his press agents and presented to the paper in a tidy package, a common practice. Nonetheless, the papers printed the statements.
After Canada, it was back to the Midwest. The worst storm of the season occ
urred in Springfield, Illinois. The sky was darkening as evening customers filed into the Big Top by the thousands. Shortly after the Jerusalem spectacle concluded, the storm struck. Wind pummeled the tent, lightning flashed, and thunder shook the ground. The thousands inside the tent began to panic and surge toward the door. Charles Ringling took charge, telling people, “It’s more dangerous outside, please take your seats.” Some did, but many did not. The band continued to play, as the nervous customers awaited the worst.
Meanwhile, the canvas crew outside was working frantically. They took down the menagerie, cook tent, and horse tents, but not before the wind snapped one of the menagerie tent poles. Then workers quickly attached extra guy ropes to the Big Top, and it remained standing. To keep the audience’s mind off the storm, one performer volunteered to do her bareback act. The storm passed without further incident. It was a night that everyone would long remember.19
For the 1903 season the Ringlings debuted the spectacle “Jerusalem and the Crusades,” in part an attempt to compete with vaudeville. The new spectacle was hugely popular. COURIER COLLECTION, CWM
Elephant Training
New elephant acts were perfected during the winter months in Baraboo. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM
At the turn of the century, the training of elephants began with physical conditioning. Pearl Souder, the Ringlings’ superintendent of elephants, explained:
Elephants when we first get them are just like men who do not exercise. … Their muscles are soft and flabby. … We want them to stand on their heads, balance on their fore-legs and do various other stunts that are wonderful for elephants, but before educating them we [condition them]. We take a green elephant and give it a thorough physical culture course. First we walk it for miles a day, and then we induce it to run. Exercise of this kind takes the kinks out of the legs and hardens the flesh.