Ringlingville USA

by Jerry Apps

  Otto bought twenty-three horses in March from Abe Klee and Son in Chicago for $275 each, including shipment to Columbus. He paid $50 less than he would have paid on the Columbus market. He wrote to Henry:

  They are fine ones. The difference $50.00 in price is very much in favor of buying them here in preference to the Columbus horses. … I enclose you herewith bill for the horses. I have signed a draft for the amount of $6,325 which you will pay when presented. I have told them to draw on you through your bank in Columbus. Otto.15

  Music in the Ringlings’ Show

  Historian and circus music authority Fred Dahlinger has written that “[t]he most emotionally stirring component of the circus experience is the music. Nothing evokes the elegance, spectacle and grandeur of the big top better than the galops, waltzes, marches and other specialized compositions which descriptively augment the live action in the ring.”1

  The Ringlings employed a huge number of musicians, and many of the circus acts and shows, such as the sideshow, had their own bands. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM

  Along with its integral part in the circus performance, music played several other roles. Every circus parade featured strikingly dressed musicians riding on gaily decorated bandwagons pulled by high-stepping horses. The Ringlings also offered an hour-long concert for the public before the big show began, including selections from Schubert, Bach, Verdi, Sousa, Wagner, Mendelssohn, Rossini, and others.2 For many people, especially those from farms and small towns, the circus concert was their first opportunity to hear first-class music played by top-notch musicians.

  Music was also important when things went wrong—when a windstorm threatened to blow down the tent, a performer was injured, or some other calamity occurred. When adversity struck, the band immediately began playing, and the clowns rushed in. It was a way to calm and distract an agitated audience.

  The Ringlings recognized music’s importance to their show and spent time and money expanding their musical offerings. In 1902 the Ringling Brothers concert band, under the direction of George Ganweiler, had twenty-seven members. In 1903 the concert band expanded to thirty-eight members, and in 1904 it increased to fifty members.

  The Ringlings ordered a new pipe organ wagon for the 1903 season. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM

  The talented musicians in the Ringlings’ mounted parade band had to both play their instruments and handle their horses. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM

  Prior to the 1903 season, the Ringlings ordered a new pipe organ from the George Kilgen and Son pipe organ company of St. Louis. The organ was to have four keyboards and would operate by an “automobile steam engine, with coal oil for fuel, of ample power to blow the organ.” Kilgen and Son promised to “build and deliver the organ at Baraboo, Wisconsin on or before April 1, 1903 and set up the wagon ready for use for the sum of $4,000.00.”3

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  NOTES

  1. Souvenir Program, Circus World Museum, 1995, CWM.

  2. The Circus: A Route Book of Ringling Bros.’ World’s Greatest Shows, Season 1902 (Chicago: Central Printing and Engraving, 1902), p. 12; The Circus Annual: A Route Book of Ringling Brothers’ World’s Greatest Shows, Season 1903, p. 54.

  3. Charles G. Kilgen to Ringling Brothers, October 1, 1902, Fred Pfening III, private collection, Columbus, Ohio.

  Otto also sent Henry a letter with a bill from Moeller & Sons in Baraboo. The Moeller establishment had long been building and repairing wagons for the Ringling Brothers, and now they were also doing some painting and repairing of Forepaugh-Sells wagons. Otto also instructed Henry about how to order blank paychecks for the working men:

  If you order the workingmen’s pay checks, all you will have to do is to have the printers leave the heads off [the five Ringling Brothers images] and change the name. We have them put up in books of 50 each but you can have them in books of 50 or 100, just as you may decide. The first check will be dated as follows: May 6th for week ending April 29th. Number consecutively from No. 1 up. Have date of the last one dated November 18th. Otto.16

  The Forepaugh-Sells show was still short of horses. On March 20 Otto wrote to Henry, “We have sent Delavan [Spencer Alexander, the boss hostler] to St. Louis to buy 15 Hippodrome horses. He will ship them to Columbus and he will pay for them by signing a draft on the Forepaugh-Sells Show for the amount which you will pay when presented.”17

  In that same letter, Otto told Henry that they were shipping to Henry the Parson concession wagon and a tableau wagon on a flatcar. He wrote that Henry should pay the freight and charge half of it to the Parsons. The paint shop in Baraboo had apparently planned to paint the Parson’s concession wagon, but Otto wrote, “If we get time we’ll paint his wagon if not you will paint it and charge to Parsons. Number eight [tableau wagon] is all painted and ready.”

  Although the Parson brothers had held the candy and lemonade concession at the Ringling Brothers Circus for many years, from the tone of Otto’s letters he seemed less than pleased with the arrangement. In a March 25 letter to Henry, Otto wrote:

  I enclose the key for Parsons’ candy wagon. … On account of taking so many out of our paint shop to paint the Forepaugh cars, we did not get time to paint Parson wagon. You do so and charge him. We are shipping No. 8 today and the Candy Wagon. Charge one-half of freight to Parsons. Otto.18

  After the purchase of their half of Forepaugh-Sells, buying additional horses, and sprucing up that show as well as keeping their own huge show in top-notch form, the Ringlings were cash poor. Bank records from the Bank of Baraboo indicate that they took out three loans in the winter of 1905, one for $30,000 on March 3, another for $20,000 on April 3, and a third for $20,000 on April 20, all at 5 percent interest. The Ringlings paid off all three loans before the end of May 1905 with early-season receipts.19

  Under Henry Ringling’s management and with Otto’s careful and detailed oversight, the Forepaugh-Sells show opened in Columbus, Ohio, on April 22, 1905. As the Brothers had agreed with James Bailey, Forepaugh-Sells showed primarily in the Midwest and Texas.

  Meanwhile, the big Ringling Brothers show opened as usual in Chicago and played there April 8 to April 23 before heading east, back to the Midwest, and then south. Following their success with the Jerusalem spectacle the past two years, the Ringlings mounted an even more elaborate and expensive stage show for 1905, “The Field of the Cloth of Gold.” Their ads shouted:

  The most lavish, extravagant, largest, costliest amusement feature ever devised. 1200 characters, 300 dancing girls, a chorus of 200 voices, 2,500 magnificent costumes. A whole train load of armor, ancient weapons, paraphernalia, banners, golden hangings, scenery and accessories. A whole city of people. Half a thousand gorgeously trapped horses. A dazzling picture of beauty, life, color and motion. The grandest spectacle ever devised.20

  Sacred Ox Goes on Rampage

  In late fall 1905, before the Ringling Brothers’ show returned to winter quarters, there was excitement at the Case farm in Baraboo, where some of the animals that were not on tour were kept. The November 1, 1905, issue of the Baraboo Evening News included this headline: “Sacred Ox Makes a Wild Dash for Harrison Case, Jr.” The story of excitement on Lynn Avenue followed:

  Ringling Bros.’ sacred ox tried to take a toss out of Harrison Case, Jr. yesterday afternoon and gave him an experience that he would not care to have repeated every cold day. Harrison was loading dirt for his father near Hitchcock Street when his father called to him from across the meadow to come to him. Harrison started and was about half way across when his father motioned him back, and looking saw the ox, which had escaped from its pen at the Ringling farm on Lynn Avenue, coming full tilt. He ran for the wagon which he reached a fraction of a second ahead of the bull which charged the wagon but found it too heavy to overthrow. The bull backed off, made a survey and charged again, but succeeded only in throwing off some of the dump boards. By the time the third charge was made Harrison concluded it was capture the ox or be killed, so while the animal amused itself with tossing the boards and a duck
coat into the air, Harrison slipped to the ground and succeeded in getting two fingers into the iron ring in the bull’s nose.

  There was a fierce struggle in which the ox nearly tore him loose from his hold on the wagon, but happily Harrison Sr. now appeared on horseback and armed with a pitchfork, ready to battle as in war days when a member of the Third cavalry. They succeeded in passing a strap through the ring and then Harrison Jr. held the animal for another half hour while his father went to the barn got a team and heavy chain and returned. The absence of his coat all this time, subjected to the biting cold, did not improve matters very much.

  Together they brought the animal to the Ringling barns where he was put behind the bars in winter quarters. It was a lucky escape and a good capture.1

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  NOTES

  1. Baraboo (Wisconsin) Evening News, November 1, 1905.

  In 1905 the Ringlings advertised their new spectacle, “The Field of the Cloth of Gold,” as “the grandest spectacle ever devised.” COURIER COLLECTION, CWM

  While the Brothers’ advertising clearly exaggerated the size and splendor of their show, there was no denying that Ringlingville had grown from a small town on the move to an elaborate, sophisticated, portable city of prestige and prominence.

  But with all its power and position, the show was still at the mercy of the weather. While they were in Maryville, Missouri, on September 18, a storm struck, blowing down the Big Top with the performance in progress. About five thousand people were attending the show; three people were killed and many were severely injured. “The animal cages containing lions, leopards and tigers were overturned and the roars of the beasts added to the panic that ensued.”21

  By 1905 the Ringling circus parade was a truly spectacular event, attracting thousands of people. Here a twenty-four-horse hitch pulls the Swan bandwagon in the 1905 parade in Oneonta, New York. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM

  The Mechanical Stake-Driver

  The Ringlings began using a mechanical stake-driver in 1904. It was powered by a gasoline engine and pulled by horses from location to location. Tent stakes were kept in the box on the wagon. PHOTO BY STEVE ALBASING; ALBASING COLLECTION, CWM

  Traditionally, husky farm boys who “ran off with the circus” hammered the hundreds of stakes necessary to guy the ropes for the Ringling tents. Stake driving was tedious work and required skill and dexterity as four, six, or eight men worked in a syncopated team, each man taking a turn hitting a four-foot-long wooden stake until it was pounded home.

  Over time this rhythmic pounding of stakes became one of the traditions of the circus, and bystanders would gather to watch in awe as the crews worked to erect the tents on circus day. There were some attempts to develop mechanical stake-drivers, but for most circus people the response was “why bother when we can get plenty of cheap help” to do the work. But stake driving was also extremely hard work—especially when the ground was hard, the weather was hot, or it was pouring rain. And the sheer volume of stakes to be driven—more than a thousand for the Ringling Brothers show in the early 1900s—made a mechanical stake-driver a welcome invention.

  George Heiser, a longtime Ringling employee, wrote to the Ringling Brothers on January 9, 1904:“I have an idea for a machine that will drive stakes. … I would be pleased to go to Baraboo and explain it to you if you could send transportation.”1

  Heiser’s invention proved to be a workable alternative to strong young men wielding sledgehammers. Heiser applied for a patent on May 20, 1904. An ad for the machine proclaimed that the stake-driver would do the work of fifteen men.“Machine Strikes 65 blows a minute.”2

  By mid-July 1904 the Ringlings were using the stake-driver. According to a Ringling memo, it was a big labor saver:

  The mechanical stake driver, a novel invention, is one of the interesting adjuncts of the big show this year. It is a sort of baby pile driver, and is perched upon a wagon which is also used for carrying the stakes. The apparatus is driven around the grounds, is operated by a four horse power gasoline motor, which, together with one man, drives all the stakes of the big shops, restaurants, cook tents, horse tents, dressing rooms, menageries, and all the smaller tents, and usually completes half the circle of the big tent before the sledge gangs are ready to perform their share of the stake driving.3

  The Heiser stake-driver was not without problems. It took several years before the design was perfected, which may be why Heiser has received essentially no credit for its invention. Others also worked on mechanical stake-drivers, including Ringling employee Charles Andress, who invented a driver that worked with compressed air. Some writers have credited Andress with inventing the device, ignoring George Heiser’s contributions.

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  NOTES

  1. George H. Heiser to Ringling Brothers, January 9, 1904, CWM.

  2. Fred Dahlinger Jr., “The Circus Stake Driver: The Best, Simplest, and Most Economical Machine Ever Invented,” Bandwagon, January–February 1999, p. 11.

  3. Ibid.

  Such accidents were always a risk for circus audiences, and until the turn of the century, people were usually satisfied in such instances when a Ringling employee known as “the Fixer” quickly offered them a cash settlement and had them sign a statement of release. Early in the 1900s, however, circus patrons who were injured or had their belongings damaged began seeking legal assistance. Considerable litigation followed the Maryville incident. The Ringlings hired John M. Kelley, a Wisconsin attorney and Portage, Wisconsin, native, to handle the lawsuits. According to circus historian Fred Pfening III, Kelley “did such a good job that they hired him full time. He was the first lawyer on their payroll; before that they used outside attorneys.”22

  The 1905 Ringling show closed in Meridian, Mississippi, on November 25 and then rumbled back to Baraboo for the winter. The Forepaugh-Sells show closed in Stuttgart, Arkansas, on November 23 and headed for winter quarters in Columbus, Ohio.

  At the start of 1904, it appeared the Ringlings’ options for keeping the lead among circuses were running out. They had increased the size of their circus about as much as they could without making it difficult for many smaller towns and cities to accommodate them. But by purchasing half of the Forepaugh-Sells show and mounting an even more extravagant spectacle with their main show, the Ringlings continued to increase their revenues and keep the lead. In 1906 they would discover opportunities to grow even larger.

  Becoming Even Larger: 1906–1907

  “The acquisition of the Barnum and Bailey properties has not been particularly sought after by the Ringling Brothers, but is simply the inevitable result of a superior fitness on their part, which it has not been possible for others to compete with.”1

  With their 1905 purchase of half of the Forepaugh-Sells show, the Ringlings again proved they were determined to keep expanding their circus. Perhaps this drive to keep growing resulted from a childhood spent in poverty. Perhaps it grew out of their competitive nature. Or maybe the Brothers simply felt as businessmen that there was no such thing as standing still: to succeed, they had to grow.

  The Ringlings had once again signed a noncompete agreement with Barnum & Bailey for the 1906 season, giving Barnum & Bailey exclusive rights to show in Canada “and all of the southern states and territory lying east of the Mississippi River and South of the Ohio River, also all of the Eastern and New England States lying east of the Eastern Ohio State line except Pennsylvania.”2 The Ringlings would take their namesake show to Pennsylvania, the Midwest, and the South; the Forepaugh-Sells show would play the Midwest and the West.

  The Ringling Brothers’ main show opened April 5 in Chicago. Their ads claimed the show now had 650 horses, 1,280 people, 85 railroad cars, and daily expenses of $7,400.3 The show took in $98,634.49 in gross receipts for twenty days in Chicago, an average of $4,933 each day. For the entire season (196 days), average daily gross receipts for the Ringlings’ namesake show were $6,423.47.4

  In truth, their average daily expenses could not have been anywher
e near $7,400. If their expenses were that high, they would have lost money every day they were on the road. Just the opposite was true: they made money, and lots of it.

  In mid-April 1906 the Ringlings faced another opportunity for incredible growth. James Bailey of the Barnum & Bailey Circus died on April 11. Bailey’s widow, Ruth Louisa Bailey, sold Bailey’s Forepaugh-Sells interest to the Ringlings for $100,000. The terms of the sale, which became official on June 5, 1906, allowed the Ringlings to pay $10,000 at the time of signing and additional amounts through August 1906.5 The Ringlings now owned two huge circuses.

  As usual, the Ringlings’ namesake show was well received nearly everywhere it played. In August in Appleton, Wisconsin, a reporter wrote: “It was estimated that 20,000 people witnessed the show this morning and fully 12,000 people are witnessing the performance this afternoon, while at least 8,000 will see it to tonight, and everyone will say it is truly, ‘the greatest show on earth.’ ”6

  Some merchants tried to tie their reputations to the Ringlings’ success. A feed dealer in Newark, Ohio, ran this ad in the local paper:

  Ringling Bros. Circus has purchased from C. S. Brown the feed man, 12,000 pounds of hay, 10,000 pounds of straw, 6,400 pounds of oats, 800 pounds of bran. Quality, fair prices and prompt delivery secures circus contracts for us—no matter how small may be your order you will receive the same attention. Give us a trial. C. S. Brown Feed Store.7

  But not all was grand and glorious. Tragedy struck the circus while playing in Aurora, Illinois, on June 29. Frank Parson, manager of the candy and lemonade concession, wrote, “Bad storm struck us at 3 p.m., just as the elephant act was on. [The elephants] ran and people stampeded. Two people killed and several hurt. One candy butcher struck in the back by a pole. Tents did not go down but tore bad.”8