by Jerry Apps
Suffrage and the Ringlings
In early 1912 the women’s suffrage movement was gaining momentum across the country, and on April 1 of that year the Illinois Equal Suffrage Association wrote to the Ringlings:
You are perhaps aware that on April 9 the question “Are you in favor of the extension of suffrage to women?” will be submitted to the men of Chicago on a preferential ballot. This is the first time the matter has ever been presented to the voters of Illinois, and the women are very anxious that the attention of as many as possible shall be called to this opportunity. … We would very much like to put some advertising features in your circus. Of-course, this will be widely noticed in the papers to your great pecuniary advantage we hope and believe. … [T]o save time may we hear from you by telephone, Harrison 3856.1
The Ringling Brothers replied on April 2:“Esteemed Madam. … [I]t has been an inflexible rule with this company to avoid giving publicity to anything in the way of either religious or political movements, and we are sorry to say it will be impossible for us to introduce any advertising features in our circus.”2
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NOTES
1. Mary R. Plummer, Secretary, Illinois Equal Suffrage Association, to the Ringling Brothers, April 1, 1912, Fred Pfening III, private collection, Columbus, Ohio.
2. Ringling Brothers to Mary R. Plummer, Secretary, Illinois Equal Suffrage Association, April 2, 1912, Pfening collection.
The deadline for the income tax payment was April 1. On March 6 Al wrote from Baraboo to his brother Charles, wintering in Sarasota, Florida: “It is getting time we should send in our tax list. I understand people around here are filling out their lists and sending them in. We do not know what to do in this matter. Will you be here soon, or will you suggest to us what you think we should do in the matter as the time will soon be up when we are supposed to have our list filled out and sent in.”10
When people across the country read about the Ringlings’ apparent plans to leave Baraboo at the end of the 1912 season, offers for new winter quarters poured in. Most came from Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The offers included a three-hundred-acre farm one-quarter mile from a “steam railroad” (Ravena, Ohio), an abandoned woolen mill plant (Peru, Indiana), a cement works (Kimmell, Indiana), fifteen acres and nine buildings with three railroad spurs (Kankakee, Illinois), an “old race track grounds” (Joliet, Illinois), and an old fairgrounds (Adrian, Michigan). By July 1, 1912, the Ringlings would receive fifty such offers.11
Wisconsin newspapers carried several stories about the possibility of the Ringlings leaving the state. One article began, “Baraboo is receiving one bad commercial blow after another; recently the Northwestern road changes affected a number of families causing their removal to other points, now comes the statement that the Ringlings are leaving the place on account of the effects of the income tax.”12
Some people weren’t sympathetic to the Ringlings’ plight. To someone making less than a thousand dollars a year, hearing that someone earning two hundred times more had to pay income tax, the likely response was, “Tax them, they can afford it. After all, wasn’t that what the so-called progressive income tax was all about?”13 Charles apparently had been hearing comments to this effect, and on April 19 he wrote a letter to the editor of the Sauk County Democrat:
I am advised that there is a decided misunderstanding as to the taxes the Ringlings have been paying the past years at Baraboo. I believe statements made by some of our friends have created a wrong impression, and in order to correct same I wish to state that the Ringling families, including taxes paid on homes and personal property, as well as on circus property, have been paying about ONE TWENTIETH of all taxes collected in Baraboo, a city between six and seven thousand inhabitants. This of course does not include taxes paid by employees of the circus. As this is a matter of record the above statements can be easily verified by anyone interested enough to inspect the tax records.14
Not everyone in Baraboo thought well of the Ringling Brothers. A Chicago reporter wrote about their apparent departure:
So Baraboo is perturbed. Not demonstrably so, for I saw a Northwestern locomotive pull forty Forepaugh cars out of the shops the other day and start east with no one in Baraboo looking on. It was deemed expedient, however, to apprise the tax commission of the catastrophe and Mr. Haugen … a Progressive, was none too tactful, and he told Baraboo quite candidly that Mr. Otto Ringling, deceased, had not paid his fair share of the expenses of the state.15
Nevertheless, a group of business and professional men of Baraboo, no doubt recognizing the Ringlings’ economic contributions to the city, offered the Brothers their support and made a plea for them to stay in Baraboo. Mayor G. T. Thuerer, chairman of the group, declared, “Some step should be taken to keep the show in Baraboo and that the present conditions came about as the result of the income tax law.”16 The group drafted a resolution that read in part:
The business men and citizens of Baraboo on this 23rd day of April 1912, at a mass meeting assembled, hereby resolve: That it is the sense of this meeting that the citizens of Baraboo as well as the citizens of Wisconsin feel a just pride in the success of the Ringling Brothers. … Their success is chiefly due to their integrity, their loyalty to their home town, their manly methods, their devotion to business, their fidelity to each other and their high ideals. They have materially assisted in building up our city, have built beautiful homes and in addition to the annual amount of money they spend, they have added greatly to real estate values and the general prosperity of the place. … We pledge our loyalty and offer our undivided support to Ringling Brothers and express the hope that their business interests may not be antagonized to any extent that will necessitate the removal from Baraboo of their permanent winter quarters. Adopted, George T. Thuerer, Chairman, T. F. Risley, Secretary.17
The Brothers, still having made no firm decision about a new winter quarters location, continued planning and preparing for the 1912 season. As usual, John Ringling spent much of the winter in Europe seeking new acts. During one trip he learned about a stage show featuring Joan of Arc. He described it in a letter to Al:
When the spectacle of “Joan of Arc” was done at the Hippodrome in Paris it was the biggest success of any spectacle every produced in that city. … One feature in this spectacle amounted to a sensation and was the talk of Paris; in the spectacle they burned Joan of Arc, and as the smoke and flames came up around Joan, she made her getaway into the bottom of the funeral pyre, and in her place there was a very finely gotten up dummy, dressed like Joan of Arc, and two angels came down from the top of the building on wires … This could easily be done at the Coliseum in Chicago and would be a great effect.18
Al was not especially impressed with the Joan of Arc idea. He wrote back to John:
Your letter of recent date received and note what you say concerning Joan of Arc. Yes, I believe that the burning of Joan the way you say would be well as far as the flash and spectacular work is concerned, but we all thought to keep away from that part of this: finishing the “Spec” with the coronation of King Charles. I doubt whether the burning scene would take so well with a big majority of our patrons. It might perhaps be looked on as sacrilegious.19
John, obviously exasperated with his older brother, wrote back, “Regarding the burning of Joan of Arc, I think you will make a big mistake if you don’t put this on. It certainly will make a big hit and will create a lot of talk. No one could look upon this as being sacrilegious—in fact it will be considered the opposite.”20
Later that spring Charles, now back in Baraboo to help with the tax payment, wrote to John in New York City:
With reference to the Joan of Arc matter: Al says that we will try to work this ascension if we can. Of course you know that our drop curtain at the coliseum comes out to the edge of the balcony, and we would have to work this from a position in front of the drop curtain as we cannot draw her up through the balcony floor. However, I believe this can be worked out all right and shall tr
y to assist Al in getting away with it, which he seems agreeable to.21
The Ringlings featured the spectacle “Joan of Arc” in 1912. The Brothers had some disagreements about how it should be staged. The press later applauded this new spectacle, proclaiming it a “welcome change from dangerous thrillers.” COURIER COLLECTION, CWM
With regard to the 1912 season opening in Chicago, Charles wrote, “Do not know whether I will be able to come down to the opening or not. Wisconsin state tax matter has got us going here, and it must be attended to before the first of April.”22
In the wardrobe department at Ringlingville Baraboo, “Joan of Arc” (Elizabeth Rooney) tried on costumes for the spectacle, assisted by equestrienne Edna Curtis. Charles Ringling, second from right, was actively involved in the smallest details. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM
Amid rumors and speculation about the Ringlings’ future winter home, the two shows opened their 1912 seasons. The Barnum & Bailey show, with John and Alf T. Ringling in charge and featuring the spectacle Cleopatra, opened in New York’s Madison Square Garden in March. The show played East Coast towns into July and then moved into the Midwest and the West.
The Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows and the new spectacle Joan of Arc opened at the Chicago Coliseum on April 6, 1912, and played there for thirteen days before going under canvas in Danville, Illinois, on April 26. The show moved east and by June was in eastern Canada, where it played from June 10 to June 22.
The 1912 Ringling parade featured a twenty-camel team, with five camels walking abreast, a team of eight zebras, six elephants driven tandem, and a “great golden band chariot with a team of 30 horses.”23
The Ringlings billed their new Joan of Arc show as a “$500,000 magnificent spectacle.”24 Reviews were positive. The Toledo Blade (no doubt with help from a Ringling press agent) reported, “The addition to the regular performance of the wordless spectacle of ‘Joan of Arc’ has given Ringling day a double significance. In one big scene, the coronation of Charles VII, 1,200 characters are within view of the audience.”25
Another Midwest newspaper declared, “Joan of Arc Spectacle Welcome Change from Dangerous Thrillers.” The story went on to applaud the spectacle:
The gorgeous pageant of Joan of Arc was perhaps the most unique and impressive feature of the entire circus. About 300 took part in this magnificent spectacle, arrayed in the brilliant and elaborate costumes that were peculiar to the French court life of that day. It was a beautiful feature, and a welcome change from the harrowing “loop the loop” or “dive of death.”26
New safety laws began affecting the Ringlings’ shows in 1912. Before the namesake show’s opening in Chicago, an official from the Coliseum wrote to John Ringling: “This is to remind you that some provision is necessary for light on wagons with the show in some of the states, which will required a light showing both forward and backward on all vehicles.”27
As in every season, the Ringling circuses had their share of problems in 1912. While the Barnum & Bailey show was playing in New York City, a sheriff attempted to claim the entire menagerie because of a bareback riders’ suit against the show seeking $25,000 in damages. “A score of deputies accompanied the sheriff to Madison Square Garden. When the sheriff found it would cost the city $3,500 a day to feed and care for the animals he agreed to permit the circus managers to exhibit the animals.”28
A serious fire on August 22 in Sterling, Illinois, destroyed the Ringling Big Top—a loss estimated at $25,000. An Ohio newspaper recounted:
There was no one but circus employees in the “big top” when sparks from a barn burning near the show ground ignited the oiled canvas, but so rapidly did the flames spread that one man was seriously burned before he escaped. There was panic among the animals in the menagerie tent but they were quieted when great canvas covers were drawn over their cages.29
By August the Brothers still had not decided where they would take their circus at the end of the season. On August 8 Charles wrote to Al from Lincoln, Nebraska:
I wrote to Henry today telling him I would like to leave the show by the end of August and asking him to telephone you and see whether either one of you could care to come on at that time. … I am also suggesting to Henry that you and he decide upon the wintering of the show. I believe I have not been fully informed as to what you propose to do on this matter at any time and I am satisfied to step aside and have you and Henry decide it regardless of my opinion at all. Only a decision should be reached at once so that the show can be routed accordingly as Wilson [Ringling railroad contractor] is now ready to close up contracts and must know whether the show goes to Wisconsin or Connecticut or where it goes. Hope you will let me know about these things very soon.30
Brothers Disagree
For the most part the Brothers got along well. But disagreements happened occasionally, and some rifts developed, often involving the sometimes arrogant John Ringling. For instance, in early January 1914 Al wrote to Charles:
Sam McCracken [a Ringling official with the Barnum & Bailey Show] was here the other day. … In talking to him I asked him to let me see the list of side show people they had engaged for the coming season. He did this. In his list I see that he had a contract with Mlle Gabriel, the Living Half Lady, so I told him that we had her engaged and showed him the contract we made with her through Mr. Pitrot last August. He said that he did not know anything about it only that John gave him this contract and told him that she was to be with the Barnum Show.
John Ringling knew she was to go with our show for he talked with me about her and said she was the greatest freak in the world, and so she is, and John said we ought to let the Barnum Show have her. I told him “No,” that it was hard work for me to get her to sign a contract to remain in this country and I was fully three weeks in arranging with her and that we needed a strong attraction for our side show, as she would be a drawing card wherever she is placed. The only way I figure this is that John went and cancelled our contract with Pitrot and then got Pitrot to make a contract with him for her to do with the Barnum Show. I am writing to Pitrot today that we have signed this lady to go with the Ringling Show and will expect her to fill her contract with us. … Now if John has made any other arrangements with any the rest of you, let me know, but this Living Half Lady is a great feature.1
Clearly, John had done an end-run around his brothers—behavior that did not sit well with them, particularly Al and Charles.
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NOTES
1. Al Ringling to Charles Ringling, January 2, 1914, Fred Pfening III, private collection, Columbus, Ohio.
Charles, an avid sportsman, most likely wanted to go on an extended fishing trip, which he often did. So it was up to Henry, the new partner, and Al to decide on where to winter the Ringling show in 1912. John and Alf T. were with the Barnum show, and they apparently were not directly involved in the decision.
In his letter to Al, Charles also listed the World’s Greatest Shows’ daily gross income from ticket sales from July 25 to August 7, which ranged from $5,399 in Sheldon, Iowa, to $14,501.70 in Sioux City, Iowa. The average daily ticket sales for twelve days in Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska were $8,540.31
The two Brothers made their decision, and without fanfare, the Ringling show returned to Baraboo in the fall of 1912, quieting those who “knew for sure” that they had left their old winter quarters for good that spring. The Barnum & Bailey show returned once again to Bridgeport, Connecticut. In true Ringling fashion, the Brothers had left the decision about returning to Baraboo in fall 1912 an open question until the last minute, or so it seemed. It appears that Al and Henry made the final decision and it really didn’t matter to the other Brothers where they wintered. Al had the strongest connections to Baraboo, and as the oldest brother, his opinion likely had considerable influence on Henry, the youngest. And the Brothers were still hopeful that a change would be made to the new income tax law, exempting their out-of-state earnings.
In April Charles had had the Isenbergs bu
ild him a new home in Sarasota, and by late December he and John were back in Florida. Charles picked up his new sixty-foot launch in Tampa on December 10. As a Baraboo paper reported, “It is magnificently appointed and reported to be one of the finest and swiftest in American Waters.”32
Alf T. and Henry Ringling spent winters in New York City, where they could be close to the Barnum & Bailey winter quarters. Only Al remained in Baraboo.33 The typical flurry of activities took place in Baraboo during the winter of 1912–1913. As usual, the staff at Baraboo was busy ordering necessities for their winter work—disinfectant by the barrel; sandpaper, varnish, and shellac; dry white lead, lamp black in oil, imitation gold, turpentine; and hardwood lumber—necessities for the winter work.34
They also ordered new tents that winter, as they did nearly every year. John Snellen, superintendent of canvas, sent a letter at Charles’s request to Al Ringling, outlining details for the new dressing room and trapping room tents:
Dressing Room: A fifty foot round top with one forty and one twenty foot middle piece, made with four widths of cloth between the side poles, and an eleven foot side wall of khaki cloth. … Trapping Room: A fifty foot round top with one forty and one twenty foot middle piece, made with four widths of cloth between the side poles, and an eleven foot regular wall as used in all other tents.35