Ringlingville USA

by Jerry Apps

  Souder related how trainers used well-trained elephants to assist in the training of novices. Using ropes, trainers helped the new elephant rest its front legs on the back of the trained elephant; from there, again with help from ropes, the new elephant would stand on its head. After a few tries, the elephant’s muscles became hardened, and the tricks became easier.“Week after week and month after month the training continues until we have a herd of real athletic animals.”1

  Animal trainer Jorge Barreda, who has worked for Circus World Museum, described modern elephant training:

  The first thing you do is to teach them to pick their feet up. Touch the back of the foot, pick the foot up, and say “foot.” You start talking to the elephant. Elephants are naturally capable of everything they do in a performance. Elephants are very intelligent and have a huge memory bank. The old saying “An elephant never forgets” is true.

  You have shy elephants and some that are tougher and more challenging. It’s a matter of repeating over and over again. Once the elephant understands you want it to pick up its foot, then it does it automatically by command. So you keep repeating the task you want done. You work on all the feet, constantly repeating. When they have learned a trick, you give them a carrot treat. Elephants love carrots.

  The next thing is to walk the elephant by your side. We put collars on ours at first. We would hold on to the collar and walk alongside the animal. You want the elephant to walk forward when you say “move out.” You say “back up,” and the elephant backs up. It is important to have the elephant stay with you when you are walking and not run away.

  When walking, you teach the elephants to stay behind each other. Some trainers teach them to hold the tail of the elephant in front [of them] with their trunk. You teach them that by using a stick at first, having them put their trunk around the stick. When they do it, you say, “good” and give them a treat. There are films of wild African elephants doing this, so it is a natural thing.

  The next level of trick is getting them to stand on a tub—first two feet, and then all four feet. Some elephants with treats do it quickly; one of my elephants took almost two months [to learn this trick]. For her we first buried the tub so it was only six inches off the ground. Slowly we raised the tub. Now she is fine [with the trick]. She is very timid and shy.

  After they are comfortable standing on a tub, we teach them to back up to the tub and sit on it. Then we teach the elephant to pick up its front feet while it’s sitting on the tub. These are not unnatural positions. Watch them playing in the mud—they will often sit on their behinds. They will also stand on their hind legs to reach high branches in trees. About everything we teach them, they do in the wild. It’s a matter of communication [getting them to understand what we want them to do]. …

  Most people in circuses have used Asian elephants. There were often one or two African elephants with a show, but most were Asian. Asian elephants are easier to work with. They are a little less nervous, a little more tolerant, but not as smart as the African elephant. The African elephant is taller; the Asian elephant is stockier and heavier.2

  * * *

  NOTES

  1. Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, May 10, 1903.

  2. Jorge Barreda, interview by the author, Baraboo, Wisconsin, September 12, 2001.

  Even though the circus showed in a new town almost every day, there was a considerable tedium associated with doing the same tasks day after day, with only a Sunday respite. The Brothers were well aware of this, and they sometimes provided interesting opportunities for employees during their days off. For instance, when the show played in Burlington, Iowa, on July 13, the circus cars were spotted on a levee adjacent to the Mississippi River. A route book entry states:

  Seeing a tug and barge at anchor, Mr. Charles Ringling engaged it and invited the weary troopers to take a trip down the river. Following an early dinner, the show folks clambered aboard the river craft and floated down with the current, singing and dancing just like a group of merry children. The impromptu affair was very enjoyable and served to pass away several hours that otherwise would have been tiresome ones.20

  While in Colorado Springs, many of Ringling employees climbed Pike’s Peak and the Garden of the Gods.

  The Brothers were confident enough in their department superintendents that they often took extended trips away from the circus. The 1903 route book notes that “Mr. and Mrs. Al Ringling returned to the show here [Denver] and will make the western tour. They have been up north angling and tell some interesting stories of the game fish they hooked.”21

  Business continued to boom for the show as it moved west. “To write big business at every stand and in every story becomes monotonous, but it’s the truth just the same. Phenomenal business has been the Ringlings’ since the opening day in Chicago, and as the west is very prosperous, it bids fair to continue to make the present season the best financially the Ringlings have ever had.”22

  Of course, the 1903 show also had its share of problems. While the circus was unloading in Youngstown, Ohio, on May 20, a horse kicked one of the zebras and broke its neck, killing the animal. The zebra’s carcass was sold to the local butcher, who had the skin tanned and prepared as a rug.23

  In Ogden, Utah, a “tramp” carrying a .44-caliber pistol shot one of the train’s watchmen in the arm. (The watchman survived.) Then in Boise, Idaho, the roof of an elephant car caught fire; elephant superintendent Pearl Souder sounded the alarm, and the elephant men leaped from their bunks, formed a bucket line from the locomotive tender (a railroad car attached to the locomotive that contained coal and water for the engine), and soon had the fire out.24

  In Port Huron, Michigan, in June, there was a runaway during the circus parade. According to the Detroit Free Press:

  As the procession was turning onto Military Street off Union some of the horses attached to the band coach … drawn by a team of sixteen, became unmanageable and started a stampede. The horses and coach went down the street at a mad gallop, defying the efforts of the driver to bring the frightened steeds under control, and they were not stopped until one of the wheelhorses and two out of the middle had fallen and were being dragged along on the pavement. They were finally halted just north of Pine Street, having gone four blocks along a crowded thoroughfare. E. B. Henderson, one of the bandsmen jumped from the coach and suffered a broken limb.25

  The 1903 show played Washington State to huge audiences and then headed south to California and an eight-day stand in San Francisco with turn-away audiences. The show lot was in such tight quarters that when workers put up the Big Top, they had to drive stakes in the backyards of nearby homes and pass the ropes though holes cut in the fences.26

  The Ringlings moved on to the Southwest and then closed in Malden, Missouri, on November 6. The Baraboo News Republic reported that “the five Ringling brothers each pocketed $50,000 from the profits of the past season. The season just closed is said to be the best they ever had.”27

  Despite the Ringlings’ concerns, the Barnum & Bailey Circus did not prove to be a great problem in 1903. Barnum & Bailey was clearly not the show it had been before leaving for Europe five years earlier. It had added several expensive parade wagons to its inventory, presented an exceptional street parade, and offered an outstanding Big Top show, but its infrastructure was worn and tired. According to historian Fred Dahlinger, “It was a bust. The show was too heavy to move quickly; they missed parades and, worst of all, performances; and the train and baggage wagons were in tough shape.”28

  Despite its tremendous growth and huge staff, the Ringlings’ circus continued to maintain its reputation as a clean, family-oriented show. As a reporter for the Baraboo Evening News proclaimed:

  Absolutely no profanity is permitted on the grounds and the use of an oath is considered sufficient grounds for discharge. Many of the men are active Christian workers, and next year a minister of the gospel will be a part of the circus organization who will hold service twice on Sunday in the great tented city. The
leading clown is a religious crank. He is a wealthy farmer and his home is in South Dakota. He goes with the show in summer and lives at home in the winter. Many of the others performers and some of the clowns are members of leading churches and among the employees are a number of college graduates and men wealthy enough to retire who do this work merely as a diversion. It is the cleanest show that travels and no hangers on will be permitted for a moment.29

  (Of course, no circus, not even the Ringlings’, was that lily white; this piece was most likely penned by a Ringling press agent.)

  The Barnum & Bailey Circus was also an upright show, but according to circus historian Richard J. Reynolds III, “Bailey just didn’t trumpet it like the Ringlings did. … New Yorkers and other sophisticated easterners were probably blasé about the matter whereas it would have been a big deal to the God-fearing and righteous folks of mid-America where the Ringlings focused.”30

  By the end of the 1903 season, the Ringlings had clearly and undeniably reached the pinnacle of the circus world. Their main rival, Barnum & Bailey, had lost its competitive edge. If the Ringlings kept their customers’ wishes always in mind and updated their show, they would continue to prosper.

  Keeping the Lead: 1904–1905

  “The announcement that the Ringling Brothers had bought a one-half interest in the Forepaugh-Sells Bros. Circus came as a surprise to a number of circus men.”1

  The Ringlings would take their enormously successful Jerusalem spectacle on the road for the second year in 1904, and they hoped for another overwhelming response. A 1904 display ad proclaimed: “Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows. Now added without any addition in price to the biggest show on earth, depicting with historical accuracy and truth the trials and triumphs of the delivery of Jerusalem from the Saracens by the Crusaders.”2 Another ad stated that, because of all the equipment and performers needed for the Jerusalem show, “[a]bsolutely an additional train of cars [an earlier report said fifteen cars] is required to carry the scenery, wardrobes, armors, war implements, accessories and people of the newly added and enormously grand spectacle of Jerusalem and the Crusades.”3 In another ad they claimed to have twelve hundred cast members for the spectacle, including three hundred dancing girls, two hundred chorus singers, fifty musicians, and a sixty-eight-stop pipe organ.4

  The show opened March 30 in Chicago and played there until April 20. Then the show moved west, with dates in Illinois and St. Louis, and then east and into Canada before heading to the West Coast.

  News reports continued to applaud the Jerusalem show. A Newark, Ohio, newspaper declared:

  This circus is the standard of the world, more than twice as big as any other, and must be copied by all that see [sic] success. Last year it was thought to have reached the climax of size and inventive genius, but this season’s display proves the idea to have been fallacious. Not only are there a greater number of imported ring features, and startling home creations, including the spectacular production of Jerusalem and the Crusades, but all the other departments of the show life—the menagerie, aquarium and horse fair—have enlarged nearly double.5

  New ring acts also attracted attention. One act that left people gasping was called “Looping the Gap.” With the circus band playing slow music, performer Walter Lowe entered the ring and carefully examined his special bicycle. Al Ringling shouted, “Are you ready?” Lowe nodded his head. A great hush came over the audience. Lowe and his bike rolled down a steep incline, rapidly gaining speed, and then flew across the gap of several yards to alight on another ramp. The crowd cheered and clapped. Surviving the leap, Lowe stood next to his bicycle bowing and smiling.6

  A new horse act was another crowd pleaser. “The three Hobsons have developed the bare-back riding act, and three of them ride one horse, ending the performance with a concerted leap from the ground to the back of the galloping animal.”7

  Crowds across the country continued to flock to the Ringling Brothers show. A reporter for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch wrote, “Truly, there were ‘masses’ and ‘classes’ and classes in masses present when the circus arrived early in the morning over the Big Four from Springfield. The train consisted of four sections, in all numbering 80 cars.”8

  The Ringlings caused some controversy when they played in Duluth, Minnesota, on July 4. The city had planned a big Fourth of July celebration, and when officials learned the Ringlings would be in town that day, they knew their own gathering would fizzle and have little participation. Headlines in the local paper proclaimed, “Too Much Circus, Fourth of July Celebration is Likely to Be Dropped. Many of those on the committee are of the opinion that it would be foolhardy to go to great trouble and expense in arranging for a big celebration when it is known that the circus will be here for the national celebration.”9

  The show closed in Grenada, Mississippi, on November 18 and headed back to winter quarters in Baraboo. Space in Baraboo for the ever-growing circus was an ongoing concern, and that fall the boys had hired contractor Carl Isenberg to construct a new horse barn on Water Street. It was 56 feet wide and 120 feet long and would house about one hundred horses. The building cost $4,500.10

  Then in January 1905, big news shook the circus world: the Forepaugh-Sells Circus, headquartered in Sellsville (Columbus, Ohio), would be sold at auction.

  James A. Bailey, of Barnum & Bailey, who already owned one-fourth of Forepaugh-Sells, bought the rest of the show for $150,000 at auction. After the sale, Bailey sold half of the Forepaugh-Sells show to the Ringlings. The two owners agreed that the circus would continue under its present name, Forepaugh-Sells. When asked if there would be changes, Otto Ringling replied, “Oh, yes. There will be a great many. In the first place we expect to improve the circus and put in an increased menagerie. … We will not retain all of the present employees.”11

  Much to the surprise of many in the circus world, the famous Forepaugh-Sells Circus was put up for auction in January 1905. James Bailey, who already owned one-fourth of the show, bought the remaining three-quarters at the auction. He then sold half of Forepaugh-Sells to the Ringling Brothers. RICHARD E. AND ALBERT CONOVER COLLECTION, CWM

  While the owners of the big circuses were in fierce competition, they were also businessmen who knew when to cooperate. The Ringlings were reaching the pinnacle of their success, while Barnum & Bailey was in decline. Becoming partners in the Forepaugh-Sells Circus would allow the Ringlings to keep growing. And the aging James Bailey was assured that the Ringlings would take an active role in managing the Forepaugh-Sells show. It looked like a winning move for both big circuses. Together, the Ringlings and Barnum & Bailey decided to keep the Forepaugh-Sells show intact, including its name, since it had considerable name recognition and a good reputation. Most of the public would have no idea that Forepaugh-Sells was really owned by Barnum & Bailey and the Ringling Brothers.

  Henry Ringling (along with a representative of the ailing James Bailey) would manage the Forepaugh-Sells show. He and Otto spent considerable time during winter 1905 in Columbus, Ohio, preparing the Forepaugh-Sells show for the summer season.

  James Bailey and Otto Ringling discussed the 1905 dates and locations for the three shows. The Duluth Herald reported:

  Territory is now being mapped out for the three circuses, and from present arrangements the Barnum & Bailey circus will open in Madison Square Garden the last week of March; the Forepaugh-Sells Brothers circus [will open] in Columbus, and the Ringling Brothers [will open] in the Chicago Coliseum April 1. The Barnum circus will work west, the Ringling circus east, and the Forepaugh-Sells Bros’ circus North and South.12

  Before the Forepaugh-Sells purchase, James Bailey and the Ringlings had signed an agreement “for the purpose of promoting the mutual interests of these respective shows” on November 1, 1904, for the 1905 season. Some of the provisions of the agreement included the following:

  That the route of said shows shall be determined by a division of territory east, west, north and south, alternating each year during the life of
this agreement as follows: That the city of Greater New York is to be considered the exclusive territory of the Barnum and Bailey Shows and that Messrs Ringling Brothers are to have the City of Chicago as their exclusive right of exhibition.13

  Upon acquiring Forepaugh-Sells, they expanded this 1904 agreement.

  The new year brought a flurry of activity for the Ringlings as they hustled to organize two major circuses for the 1905 season. Letters went from Baraboo to Columbus, Ohio, on a variety of topics. As always, Al and Otto were sticklers for detail, and they continued their hands-on approach to management. The following letters, all directed to Henry, are good examples of their attention to the minutest considerations.

  Al Ringling wrote detailed suggestions about riding gear for two of the Forepaugh-Sells performers:

  We suggest one to ride in side saddle with English hunting dress or riding habit; that would be Miss Ida Miaco. The other to ride astride with divided skirt, who is Miss Mamie Kline. Regarding dresses for them, we have none here neither have we ordered same. Perhaps you have dresses there for them but hardly think so. You can see Mr. Gorman or Fred Schafer. They will know. If they have none would suggest you order dress or riding habit for Ida Miaco, black skirt, red waist and black velvet jockey or hunting cap. You could have this made at Lilly and Company. Regarding Miss Kline’s dress—she is in Columbus. You could have Gorman see her regarding same. Think it would look nice to have one lady in side saddle and the other astride. Ida Miaco has never ridden astride but I think Miss Kline has. Will mail you Ida Miaco’s measurements. Yours, Al.14