by Jerry Apps
8. “With the White Tops: Hippopotami at Baraboo,” Show World, March 7, 1908, p. 16.
In 1908 the Ringlings also partnered with William “Buffalo Bill” Cody to put on Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. The Ringlings provided the equipment, which they had obtained in the Barnum & Bailey purchase, and Cody provided the performance. The arrangement lasted but one season. As circus historian Fred Dahlinger noted, “After a season of dealing with Cody, the brothers wanted out.”7
That fall the Ringlings—and financial genius Otto Ringling in particular—were keeping their eyes on the national political scene. It was an election year, with Democrat William J. Bryan running for president against Republican William H. Taft, President Roosevelt’s chosen successor. Otto, no doubt recalling the trying times of 1907 when he observed firsthand the banking problems in New York, feared that a shift to a Democratic president would return the country to financial chaos and would threaten the Ringling fortune.
In a letter to Charles Ringling in October, Otto wrote, “In view of the remote possibility of Bryan’s election, which might start a flurry on Wall Street and tie up New York funds, I am writing checks dated November 2nd amounting to $250,000 for each member of the firm [$50,000 each], which will enable us all individually to place that amount on our responsibility.”8 Otto explained that he was putting aside enough money for winter expenses and getting the show on the road again in 1909. He then revealed this about Ringling operating funds: “Our balance last Sunday night … including $20,000 cash on hand was $482,000. Our interest on money in the bank is $850 per month.9
With their purchase of Barnum & Bailey in 1907, the Ringlings also received the equipment for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. FROM THE J. E. STIMSON COLLECTION, WYOMING STATE ARCHIVES
With two huge shows on the road, the Ringlings continued to make money—and Otto was planning deftly to ensure that they wouldn’t lose any of it. When Taft won the presidential election, the Brothers breathed a little easier.
The Ringling Brothers show played the South in late fall, closing in Macon, Mississippi, on November 11 and returning to Baraboo. The Barnum & Bailey show ended its season in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and headed to winter quarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
In commemoration of the Ringlings’ silver anniversary, a reporter for The Show World ran an article about the Ringlings’ winter quarters:
Baraboo, Wisconsin is the winter quarters of the great show which bears their name. Several hundred workmen are employed there during the cold months of the year, and a score of industrial buildings are ablaze with action. The equipment of the big circus running through every mechanical detail is manufactured there.
A thrifty colony of circus people has grown up around these Wisconsin quarters. Most of them are married and have comfortable homes. The domestic instinct is strong in this class of showmen. Many of the men in this unique settlement have been in Ringling Brothers’ employ from early days in their career.10
A young boy with the initials H. L. S. who also visited Ringling winter quarters, likely in winter 1908, wrote a letter to Boys’ World magazine describing his tour:
Ringlingville, as it is called, is situated on the banks of the Baraboo River, occupying so much space that it is a community of its own. When the show is here in the winter, it is exceedingly interesting to visit. Many like to do this, but it isn’t easy. Some little “pull” is needed at headquarters to secure the pass … to the animal houses.
The trip was, educationally, well worth many days in school, for Ringling Brothers’ menagerie is the finest of any circus. An interesting study in contrasts was shown, in the case of the polar bears, panting and gasping with the heat, though the room was not heated, and at the other end of the same building, in a room heated carefully and guarded from all danger of drafts, were two melancholy-looking giraffes.
The youngster also saw the camels, which were kept outside much of the time in a yard behind the animal houses, and he was captivated by the elephants, which he saw being put through their daily paces in the ring. “They must go through with the tricks every day, so they may be in trim for the summer season. The trainers, deprived of their gaudy circus costumes, were ordinary mortals indeed.”11
National writers enjoyed spoofing little Baraboo. That same winter a correspondent for The Show World wrote:
According to our Baraboo correspondent, strange and curious specimens of zoology are quite numerous in that town. It is no uncommon sight to see a herd of elephants or camels driven through the streets as promiscuously as domestic animals in other communities. A curious sight was presented recently by a zebra hitched to a sulky. A report has reached us that the mayor is driven to his office every morning by a spanking team of camels and that social events are marked by waiting elephants at the doors, who usurped the places formerly occupied by automobiles and carriages.12
The Camel Hitch
The Ringlings’ sixteen-camel hitch, circa 1905. PHOTO BY FREDERICK W. GLASIER; PRINT COLLECTION, CWM
C.P. “Chappie” Fox, longtime director of Circus World Museum, told this tale about camel hitches and what happened one year at Ringling winter quarters:
It was the spring of the year, and the Ringlings were getting ready to go on the road. One new feature they had planned was a twenty-camel hitch. They lined up the camels four wide and five rows deep. It was some sight to see all those camels hitched up and strung out in a long line.
They piled some bales of hay on a wagon and hitched the team of camels to it. And they set off down Water Street, the driver of the team sitting on the hay bales. They got to a little rise in the pavement and they drove up it just fine, but going down the other side the driver discovered he couldn’t reach the wagon’s brake pedal because he was up too high on the hay. The wagon rammed into the rumps of the first camels, and they took off—ran away down the street. Their harnesses became tangled, and one of the camels in the hitch broke free from the rest. This runaway camel headed for a little house where a retired circus man who couldn’t walk sat on the porch.
The camel headed straight for that porch. The disabled circus man discovered that he could walk; in fact, he could run, as he hurried into the house with the freed camel trailing right behind him.
The remainder of the camel team entered a small wooded area off Water Street, where they became hopelessly tangled in their harnesses, and they stopped. It was quite chaotic for a time, but eventually all the camels were safely back in the camel barn. They never tried another twenty-camel hitch.1
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NOTES
1. C. P. “Chappie” Fox, interview by the author, Baraboo, Wisconsin, August 20, 2001.
The Ringling Brothers’ relationship to Baraboo seemed to become ever more complicated. The Brothers were from Baraboo, but not of Baraboo. They were on the road seven months of the year and thus were not seen as major contributors to the community. Yet when they were in winter quarters they made a major impact, employing dozens of residents, purchasing thousands of dollars in supplies, feed, and other goods, and of course, piquing the curiosity of locals.
Al, Charles, Alf T., and Otto spent considerable amounts of their off-season time in Baraboo. Al and his wife, Lou, seemed to have the strongest ties to the city and spent the most time there. All seven brothers and their father, August, were Masons and had received their degrees from Baraboo Lodge number 34 between the late 1880s and early 1890s.13 John Ringling cared little for Baraboo and spent little time there.
Stories about the Ringling Brothers in Baraboo abound. Some are no doubt true, many contain elements of truth, and not a few are the products of someone’s lively imagination. Al Paschen, a longtime Baraboo resident, recalled stories his grandfather, A. M. Rodems, told about the Ringlings. Rodems remembered the Ringlings, especially Al, Alf T., and Charles, as good customers of his grocery store. Rodems had a little truck he used for delivering groceries; a helper, Fred, drove the vehicle. On Saturdays Rodems hired out the truck and driver to haul horse and elephan
t manure from the Ringling winter quarters to nearby farmers. “Grandpa made more money delivering manure than he did delivering groceries,” recounted Al Paschen. “[He]’d hose down the truck real good on Saturday night so it’d be ready for groceries on Monday morning.”
A few automobiles began appearing on Baraboo streets by 1908, and Paschen recalled his grandfather’s telling about Charles Ringling buying new cars for the five partners. Charles was never a flashy dresser, and anyone who didn’t know him might take him for a farmer or a small-town businessman. When Charles approached a Milwaukee car dealer about purchasing five new Pierce-Arrow automobiles (about $450 each), the dealer didn’t believe that he was a Ringling and showed him the door. Undaunted, Charles visited another dealer with the same story; they struck a deal, and Charles took $2,250 out of his pocket to pay the man.
The dealer had never seen so much money in one pile and thought it must be counterfeit. He sent an assistant to a nearby bank to check on the authenticity of the money—and upon finding it real, quickly agreed that the five cars would be ready in a couple months.
Upon returning to Baraboo, Charles ran an ad in the local paper asking for drivers to go to Milwaukee by train and drive the new autos back (he would pay their fare, overnight stay in Milwaukee, and a bonus when the cars arrived in Baraboo). Fred the grocery man and four other men applied—but unfortunately, only Fred and one other could drive, and they had to round up drivers. As Rodems always told the story, the cars arrived in Baraboo without incident.14
The Ringlings and the Unions
Ringling employees were not union members, but the Ringlings had to deal with many businesses that were unionized. For instance, the Ringlings ordered as much as a quarter-million dollars’ worth of printing each year. Sometime before March 1908, they had evidently received a letter from the International Typographical Union about dealing with nonunion printers. Charles Ringling replied:
In order that there be no misunderstanding as to our attitude toward the unions of the printing trade, we outline the same: We propose to confer with you on or about the first day of December, and place our typographical work with such concerns only as may have your approval.
Concerning the union label: We have to say that we have no objection whatever to it but feel if it is used on any of our work it should be used on all of it, including lithographs and posters, as well as typographical work. Such general use of the label is not possible now.
Concerning printing now on hand: Our season has now commenced. The plates are all prepared, and if we were now obliged to make new plates, our season would be half gone before we would be able to provide new advertising matter, and, therefore, we will use this printing with the understanding as to the future work outlined in the preceding paragraph. This applies to the Barnum and Bailey Show as well as to Ringling Brothers Show.1
Although not strictly a union, an International Alliance of Billposters and Billers of America was organized in 1908. There had been so much skullduggery among various circus bill posters—tearing down and covering up each other’s posters—that several circuses signed an agreement outlining what was, and was not, appropriate behavior. The agreement specified bill posters’ salaries, so that one circus would not try to buy off a competitor’s bill poster. Salaries for first-year men were to be twenty-five dollars per month with a ten-dollar-a-month holdback, and they were to increase each year so the most experienced would receive forty-five dollars per month with a ten-dollar-a-month holdback. In addition, bill posters were to have a daily allowance of thirty-five cents for meals and fifty cents for lodging. Section 6 of the agreement stated:“It is agreed that the agents, managers or owners representing the undersigned circuses have the right to discharge men for violation of contract, disobedience, incompetency, misrepresentation and intoxication. However, sixty (60) days of continuous employment shall be regarded as evidenced of competency.” Section 7 stated:“It is also agreed that unnecessary manual labor or advertising shall not be performed on Sundays, Labor Day, July 4th, or any legal holiday.”2
Shows that signed the 1908 agreement were Hagenbeck-Wallace, Sells-Floto, Cole Brothers, Barnum & Bailey, John Robinson, and Buffalo Bill. The Ringling Brothers’ show did not sign, although Barnum & Bailey, a Ringling property, did. Why the Ringlings did not sign the agreement for their namesake show remains a mystery. A writer for The Show World who visited the Ringling offices in Chicago asked Ralph Peckham, general excursion agent, “Is it true that the Ringling Brothers have refused to sign the agreement with the billposters and billers?” Peckham, good lieutenant that he was, answered, “Humph, I don’t know.”3
* * *
NOTES
1. Charles Ringling to James M. Lynch, March 28, 1908, Fred Pfening III, private collection, Columbus, Ohio.
2. Agreement with the International Alliance Billposters and Billers of America, January 25, 1909, Pfening collection.
3. “With the White Tops,” Show World, January 2, 1909, p. 15.
While repairs and preparations for the 1909 season were taking place in Baraboo and Bridgeport, John Ringling was in Europe, scouting out new acts. In a letter he sent his brothers from the Hotel Athenee in Paris, John described several new acts he had recently seen or heard about. One involved a large Iberian sheep hound leading a pony and a donkey around the ring. John also wrote about the Fredianis, who rode three horses around the ring “very fast” while doing an assortment of flips and somersaults. And he described a lilliputian act “especially for the children” that involved ten midgets, five men and five women, the tallest only thirty-six inches. “I think it would be a good feature to bill [to contract] and will please. They ask $500 for the lot, but I think $400 or $450 will get them.”15 It is unclear which of these acts John signed up.
While the Ringlings spent considerable time scouting new acts, many acts also sought them out because of their national reputation. Late that fall they received a letter from John L. Sullivan, a heavyweight bare-knuckle boxer. Sullivan had been national champion in 1882 and fought until 1905, when he went on the lecture circuit. He wrote to the Ringlings about the possibility of appearing with them. “My monologue runs about twelve to fifteen minutes, and I can make it longer or shorter, as you may desire. I appear in full evening dress, and the stories told by me appeal to ladies and gentlemen, as well as the children. … My boxing exhibition with my sparring partner, Mr. Jake Kilrain, occupies eight or ten minutes.”16 The Ringlings turned down Sullivan’s offer. (The closest they came to featuring John L. Sullivan was having a male Asian elephant with that name in the Forepaugh-Sells show. The elephant was trained to do a mock boxing match in the ring. Later he joined the Ringling elephant herd and was simply called John. He lived until 1932.)17
In December 1908 Otto Ringling contacted Gordon Lillie (known as Pawnee Bill), who was a part owner in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Lillie managed the business operations while Buffalo Bill Cody, who was the featured performer, controlled the performance. Otto told Lillie that the Ringlings had limited room at the Barnum & Bailey winter quarters in Bridgeport, where the equipment for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West had been stored. Otto said they wanted to sell the Buffalo Bill equipment and urged Lillie to buy it: “I will name you a price that is so low it will be almost like paying rent.”18 He suggested that Lillie offer $50,000 for the equipment and said the Brothers would discuss the proposition when they met for their annual Christmas gathering in Baraboo.
Lillie contacted Thomas Smith, who was interested in the Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill shows and who had inherited some money. Smith suggested offering the Ringlings $40,000, with the hope that $45,000 would be the final figure. “[Lillie] wired Otto in Wisconsin. ‘Will you take $40,000 for the plant? Twenty down; twenty before we leave in spring. … [T]he reply came back the same day: ‘We accept your offer. The Ringling Brothers.’”19
The Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows opened in New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in 1909. COURTESY OF HOWARD TIBBA
LS
For the 1909 season the Ringling Brothers would open their two big circuses in new venues. (They would not put the Forepaugh-Sells show on the road that year, as the financial crisis of 1907 had made the national circus business soft.)20 They debuted their Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on March 25 and played there until April 24. From there they moved to Brooklyn for their opening under canvas, as had been the practice of the Barnum & Bailey show in previous years. The Ringling show played in Brooklyn at Fifth Avenue and Third Street from April 26 to May 1. As circus historian Richard J. Reynolds III noted, “New Yorkers proved skeptical of the offering by these brothers out of bucolic Baraboo. The 1909 date at Madison Square Garden was a flop at the gate. It seems the finicky metropolitans preferred Barnum & Bailey for their Madison Square Garden. The Brothers never tried them again—not until they appended the Barnum & Bailey title to their own in 1919.”21
After New York the Brothers toured eastern states and worked their way west, spending considerable time in California and Texas. They closed in Clarksdale, Mississippi, on November 13.
Meanwhile, Barnum & Bailey opened in Chicago for the first time and then toured the Midwest, played a few shows in Canada, and headed south to Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, and other southern states. Barnum & Bailey closed in Okolona, Mississippi, on November 20.
After the shows returned to their respective winter quarters, newspapers (aided as always by Ringling press people) reported results of the Brothers’ show season. An article in The Show World reported that the Ringlings cleared $1 million in 1909 (about $19 million in 2002 dollars). Before this their highest-profit years were 1905 and 1906, when they ran the Forepaugh-Sells show along with the Ringling show and cleared up to $800,000 each year.22 According to the article, $600,000 in profit came from the Barnum & Bailey show and the remainder from the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows.23