Ringlingville USA

by Jerry Apps

  A 1918 Ringling Brothers courier. In 1919 they would combine their show with Barnum & Bailey. COURIER COLLECTION, CWM

  The Ringlings were forced to close the show early, on October 8, 1918. “Quarantine regulations made necessary by the epidemic of Spanish Influenza at one swoop brought the circus season to a close last week. Nearly all of the circuses still on the road were playing Southern territory and were caught in the first restrictions regarding amusements that were issued. Both the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circuses closed Tuesday, October 8.”32

  The Ringling Brothers managed only 158 show dates and 302 performances in 1918. Total receipts for the namesake show were $1,385,984; average daily receipts were $8,772, about a $1,000 less per day than in 1917.33

  After the early closing in Waycross, Georgia, the Ringling trains headed northeast rather than northwest. Without any warning to the citizens of Baraboo, the Ringling Brothers hauled their circus to the Barnum & Bailey winter quarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They had at last abandoned Ringlingville Baraboo, which they had called home since 1884.

  Then on October 10, 1918, Henry Ringling died from heart disease at his home in Baraboo. He would have been fifty years old on October 27. He had been ill much of 1917 and had spent the winter of 1917–1918 in Florida, returning to Baraboo in the spring. Henry’s wife, Ida Belle Ringling, was not interested in owning part of the business, and the surviving brothers purchased Henry’s share of the circus, probably paying the share’s value to Henry’s estate.34

  For the first time in thirty-four years, Ringlingville Baraboo was quiet. No strange animals called in the dark of night, no elephants trumpeted, no great loads of hay lumbered up Water Street, no Ringlingville winter quarters employees kicked up their heels on Saturday night in Baraboo bars.

  Earlier in the season there had been some conjecture that the opposite might happen—that Barnum & Bailey would winter in Baraboo along with the Ringling show and that the Bridgeport winter quarters would be used by a manufacturer producing war goods.35 After the Ringlings’ 1912 decision to stay at Baraboo, very few people anticipated their abrupt departure.

  On October 17, 1918, the Baraboo Weekly News carried this story:

  Arthur N. Buckley received a telegram from his brother, Thomas B. Buckley, which stated that the show had closed in Georgia and would go to Bridgeport for the winter. The plan was to return to Baraboo but on account of the war conditions and the influenza it was decided to move to the eastern city. In case the war should continue it might not be possible to take the shows on the road next summer. Davis and Cooley had filled the bins with coal at the winter quarters here and other work was done to make the place ready for the show to return soon. … On account of the scarcity of help and disease the attraction has been laboring under difficulties. Baraboo will miss the presence of the elephants, red wagons and men whose families reside here.36

  The details of the Brothers’ decision remain somewhat of a mystery. According to Chappie Fox, Mrs. Henry Ringling believed the decision was made on the train after the Brothers left their last stand in Georgia on October 8. The vote was tied—Henry and Charles voted for Baraboo and John and Alf T. voted for Bridgeport. Finally, they agreed to return to Baraboo. But, as the story went, Henry died while they were en route, and now the vote was two to one in favor of Bridgeport. The train changed direction and headed for Connecticut.37 This story persisted around Baraboo for many years—but there is no truth to it, as Henry died on October 10 in Baraboo, and the Brothers made their decision to head to Connecticut before the train left Georgia on October 8.

  On October 5, three days before the circus left Georgia, Billboard magazine reported that the Ringlings would leave Baraboo:

  It is currently reported that the Ringling Brothers will depart from their time-honored custom of wintering the Ringling Brothers’ World’s Greatest Shows at Baraboo, Wisconsin and that Bridgeport, Connecticut will be the winter quarters this season of that show as well as the Barnum and Bailey.38

  The story gave wartime labor shortages as the reason for the move.

  As usual, the Brothers had kept their decision a secret, not informing anyone in Baraboo or anywhere else of their intentions. They saw no need to tell the employees until just before they left for Connecticut. Billboard reported that on October 8, Charles had spoken to the Ringing employees while they were still in Waycross, Georgia. He informed them that the Ringling show would winter at Bridgeport with the Barnum & Bailey show and said that there might be a consolidation of both shows. If they were fortunate enough to put out a show the next season, it would be a combined Ringling and Barnum & Bailey circus.39

  Henry Ringling North, Ida’s son, later wrote about the move to Connecticut and the consolidation of the two circuses. According to North, the move had nothing to do with wartime shortages. John and Charles Ringling had concluded that the American people would no longer support two big circuses. North also noted that “[o]ne or more of the partner-brothers had always been on the trains to make instant decisions, quell revolts, or meet emergencies with the full authority and confidence of all the others behind him.”40 With only three partners left (and Alf T. was sick), there were no longer enough brothers to maintain their usual level of control over their enterprise.

  Some speculated that property taxes were another reason the Ringlings left Wisconsin. The October 1918 issue of Billboard reported: “As far as can be learned the State authorities of Wisconsin have taxed the Ringling Brothers so heavily on their property that the Brothers decided that inasmuch as the quarters at Bridgeport afforded ample shelter and convenience for both of their shows, their interests might profitably be concentrated there.”41

  Another major factor—perhaps the primary one—in the Brothers’ decision was the start of new restrictions on the number of railroad locomotives they could use. Under the authority of the Army Appropriation Act, President Wilson, by Presidential Proclamation 1419, had established the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) on December 26, 1917. The USRA took over the operation of U.S. railroads, steamship lines, inland waterways, and telephone and telegraph companies in the name of national defense. Among other things, the USRA would now determine locomotive usage and routes. By 1918 the Ringlings needed eight locomotives, four for each circus, to take their shows on the road.42

  Historian Richard Reynolds III interviewed the late Raymond “Sabu” Moreau, whose father had worked for John Ringling, mostly handling John’s personal business. According to Reynolds, Moreau’s father had told his son about the situation:

  The government controlled the railroads. … In mid-1918, when the war was at fever pitch and the end not in sight, the government told the surviving Ringling Brothers that for 1919 they could not make but four locomotives available to them. Since both the Barnum and Ringling shows each operated four sections, this meant that one or the other of the shows would have to stay in the barn. Of course, neither the government nor the show knew at the time that the war would end suddenly and well before the 1919 season started. Moreau said that the decision to combine the shows was made around June or July of 1918. By the time the war was actually over, they had already started painting “Combined Shows” on some of the equipment. The 1919 combination was not a “now and forever more” decision. Moreau said it was done initially as an experiment, but they made so much in 1919 in the Garden and later on the road, that they decided to stick with the combination.43

  The Al Ringling Theatre

  Al Ringling hired Chicago architects C.W. and George Rapp to design his theatre; the project’s general contractors were the Wiley Brothers, also of Chicago. The theatre’s construction took eight months. COURTESY OF THE AL. RINGLING THEATRE FRIENDS, INC.

  Construction of the Al Ringling Theatre began in March 1915. By then Al Ringling’s health was failing, and friends and family feared he might never see the building. The city of Baraboo held a “day of tribute” for Al Ringling on June 24, 1915, on the courthouse grounds, acro
ss the street from the theatre project. Thousands attended. On that day Baraboo Mayor G.T. Thuerer declared:

  We have assembled on this day to acknowledge our deep sense of gratitude to a man who, by his generosity and public interest, has endeared himself to the people not only of Baraboo but the entire surrounding neighborhood. In the construction of the an opera house Mr. Ringling is supplying a long felt want that he should build same of such magnificent proportions, is the strongest evidence of his unselfish nature.1

  The theatre, originally with seats for 874, cost about $100,000 to build and was patterned after the Opera House of the Petit Trianon in the Palace of Versailles. One writer described the theatre this way:

  Like a gem in our midst, the Al Ringling Theatre is a treasure of rare quality. Magnificent and richly designed in the style of grand French Opera houses, the Theatre is a masterpiece of European architecture. Fine plasterwork, tasseled draperies, intricate ceiling frescos and decorative lighting create an atmosphere steeped in the artistic pleasures both exuberant and serene.2

  The theatre’s lavish interior (shown here in the 1920s) boasts seventeen curved box seats, candle-fixture chandeliers, gold-trimmed draperies, ornate carvings and columns, and elaborate murals including cherubs that represent “joy, pleasure, delight, and varying pleasurable emotions.” COURTESY OF THE AL. RINGLING THEATRE FRIENDS, Inc.

  The theatre’s grand opening, on November 17, 1915, featured the comic opera Lady Luxury. Al was in attendance that night, although by then he was nearly blind, and his wife, Lou, whispered to him throughout the show to describe the event. The next day a Baraboo Weekly News reporter proclaimed, “It must be a source of gratification to Al. Ringling to know that his efforts in providing a playhouse in Baraboo is so much appreciated by his fellow townspeople. Every seat in the house was sold in four hours and hundreds were disappointed in not being able to be present at the first performance in order to show their appreciation to the one who made possible this fine building.” The theatre would go on to showcase everything from opera to vaudeville to first-run films.3

  After Al Ringling’s death seven weeks later, Lou Ringling was not interested in owning the theatre, and the control of the building passed to the surviving brothers. They tried to give the theatre to the city of Baraboo in 1917, but because of certain legal restrictions connected to the offer, several locals opposed the gift, and the brothers withdrew the offer in 1918. The theatre was passed on to several Ringling heirs and eventually came under the control of Henry Ringling Jr., who operated it until his death in 1952, at which point the theatre was sold outside the family. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 1989 ownership of the building passed to the Al. Ringling Theatre Friends, Inc., a community-based group that continues to maintain and restore the building.4

  The Al Ringling Theatre was completed in 1915 and was described by one writer as “a gem in our midst.” It probably was the Ringling Brothers’ greatest legacy to the Baraboo community. PHOTO BY STEVE APPS

  * * *

  NOTES

  1. “The Al. Ringling Theatre,” http://www.alringling.com/.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Ibid.

  Richard Thomas, John Ringling’s biographer, wrote about a meeting the Brothers had in the summer of 1918: “Before the meeting adjourned … the Railroad Administration notified them that two large circuses could not be transported during the war. … The long postponed decision to consolidate the two shows into one was made. … With the decision to combine the two big shows into a super-colossal circus, one circus era died and another was born.”44

  The USRA decree brought a long-simmering decision to a boil. But other evidence suggests that the boys had been considering consolidation of the two shows at least a year earlier.

  Barnum & Bailey employee Fred Bradna wrote that he, Charles Ringling, and Charles’s son, Robert, went on a swimming party in Lake Erie on a hot day in summer 1917. (Fred Bradna was with the Barnum & Bailey show in 1917.)45 “As we relaxed on the sand, Charlie said to no one in particular, ‘We could get around all these shortages [brought on by the war] if we combined the two big shows. Then we’d have help enough, and acts enough, to go on. What a show that would be!’”46

  Although conversations leading to the Brothers’ move out of Baraboo will likely never be known, the result remains the same. The glory and spectacle that once breathed life into Ringlingville were gone. Ringlingville on the river in Baraboo became a ghost town. On quiet winter nights, many residents thought they could still hear the lions’ roar and the hyenas’ wail. When the snow began melting in spring, they imagined hearing the sounds of horses’ shod hoofs echoing along the streets as they pulled multi-colored circus wagons. Some missed the parade of huge elephants, ears flopping and trunks swinging as they walked the side streets and thoroughfares for exercise.

  The economic loss to the Baraboo community was considerable. Using 1916 winter quarters figures and assuming five months in winter quarters, the salary losses alone amounted to $16,028 (about $294,000 in 2002 dollars). Add the money spent on feed ($9,533), utilities ($2,000), and materials for repairs ($5,086), and a conservative estimate for the economic loss to Baraboo would be $18,247 ($311,000 in 2002 dollars)—for just one winter season. A less-obvious loss was railroad business in and out of town. But perhaps more important than economic losses, and largely overlooked or even unknown by the community, was the prestige of having the largest circus in the world wintering in their midst. Circus historian Fred Dahlinger said it well: “Baraboo lost the highest international image enterprise that it’s ever had.”47

  Some Baraboo residents were angry that the circus had left Baraboo so abruptly. The late Robert Barnes, who was born in 1914 and grew up in Baraboo, recalled, “A common belief among many Baraboo people at that time was that circus people were scalawags, always out to get people.”48

  Indeed, some in Baraboo felt relieved with the circus gone. Over the years the affectionate reference to the Ringling Brothers as “our boys” had slowly shifted to “those circus people”—words often spoken with disdain.

  But no one could deny that Ringlingville, both on the road and in Baraboo, was a unique part of the entertainment business not replicated anywhere in the country. And now, abruptly, Ringlingville had become history.

  EPILOGUE

  After Ringlingville

  “There had never been anything like it before; and I am willing to prophesy that there will never be again.”1

  In early fall 1918, when the Ringlings took both the Ringling Brothers and the Barnum & Bailey shows to winter quarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut, nearly everyone believed that World War I would continue for some time. But not long after the Brothers arrived at Bridgeport, the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, and the war abruptly ended. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919. Government control of the railroads would continue until 1920.

  That winter the remaining Ringling Brothers—Alf T., Charles, and John—merged their two huge circuses into one colossus. They called it Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, The Greatest Show on Earth. Hundreds of employees, from laborers to managers, lost their jobs in the consolidation. Alf T., who lived at his estate in New Jersey, was ailing and had little involvement with the circus in 1919. John and Charles would manage the new show, John finding acts, planning routes, and working with the railroads, and Charles managing personnel, arranging the program with the equestrian director, and supervising press agents. They spent the winter scurrying to combine the two shows, repaint wagons and cars, and line up help. The show debuted at New York’s Madison Square Garden on March 29, 1919.

  The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows closed on November 21, 1919, in Savannah, Georgia. Alf T. Ringling had died three weeks earlier in Oak Ridge, New Jersey, on October 29 at the age of fifty-five. He was not a flamboyant man, like his brother John, but he made a unique contribution to the Ringling success w
ith his writing skill and promotional savvy. Since the acquisition of the Barnum & Bailey show in 1907, Alf T. had worked with John in managing that show.2

  John and Charles continued to expand their enormous show and add new acts. In 1920 the combined show had ninety-two railcars. (In 1921 the Brothers had ninety-six cars, and from 1922 through 1928 they had one hundred cars.)3 By 1928 it truly was the Greatest Show on Earth—exaggeration no longer required.

  One of first advertising posters announcing the combined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey shows. POSTER COLLECTION, CWM

  But by the early 1920s John and Charles were not getting along well. Al had been a stabilizing force among the Brothers. Without him, John and Charles bickered. Their personalities were just too different. According to Henry Ringling North and Alden Hatch, authors of The Circus Kings:

  [W]hen Charles and John were left to divide their world between them, a ground mist of jealousy rose to cloud their relationship. This did not affect their management of the circus. … But in their outside business ventures and their social life, the rivalry between them became more acute, even bitter. … [T]hey carried this competition to ridiculous lengths. If Uncle John got a yacht, the Zalophus, Uncle Charles had to have an even bigger one, the Symphonia. Because John had formed the Bank of Sarasota, Charles founded the Ringling Trust and Savings Bank. Sarasota of that time needed two banks considerably less than a dog needs two tails.4

  In 1901 Alf T. Ringling (1863–1919) purchased a farm east of Baraboo, where he built a European-style chalet. An avid angler, he enjoyed fishing in the stream that ran through his property. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM

  John had many interests outside the circus. Over the years he bought railroads and land from Oklahoma to Montana, and he came to love Sarasota, Florida, where he bought considerable real estate. With a business associate, Owen Burns, John Ringling financed the Ringling Causeway and bridge to St. Armands Key, which he donated to the City of Sarasota in 1928. He also donated 130 acres of land on Longboat Key to the city for a golf course development.5