Monday Misc: New York Times: “It Never Was the Greatest Show on Earth.” ... And Clowns are Scary, and UniverSoul is Strange

Greatest insult on earth: The Felds must be Feldified: This, the kickoff line to a fairly good New York Times review of Illuscination “Let’s be honest. It never was the Greatest Show on Earth.” Oh, really, guy? Guy would be one Jason Zinoman, who maybe came in to the scene rather late, like say post 2006. Wonder if he’s read any books on American circus history. His daring assertion does address a valid issue: what's in a name? There was a rare time when thousands packed huge tents to behold spectacular three-ring spectacles -- before the movies, before Star Wars and Madonna, the Beetles and American Idol.The “Greatest,” so easy to argue, does have a rather strained, even hollow ring to it in modern times, especially since the circus retired...

Read more »

Sunday Morning From China: In the White Shadows of Forbidden City

World of wonders, am I proud of this photo. Principal credit goes to director Boyi, for setting up the shoot in which he appears, and fate for pushing my finger against a camera trigger perfectly in sync with the jump. We did four or five takes; I'm not sure which one clicked, but click it did!This one needed more takes. That said, Boyi missed his calling. He might have been one of those crack Chinese acrobats. I guess the talent scouts never made it out to his farming village in Taishan. They might have seen him ride the family cow.We are on the grounds of the Temple of Imperial Ancestors (now called Working People's Cultural Palace), right next to The Forbidden City, whose architecture it fairly matches. What struck me were the cool...

Read more »

Morning Midway: From Whence, How and Why "Banana Shpeel"?

A story in the New York Times on June 26 attempting to follow the tortured and confusing creative path taken by Cirque du Soleil in crafting the ill-fated Banana Shpeel, unfortunately sheds little light on the saga other than to state, all too obviously to most everyone who has followed this strange episode, that "the production appeared to suffer from competing creative impulses."Daniel Lamaree, the company's president, is credited, though not directly quoted, as terming the outcome "the first time that Cirque has quickly shuttered a major show."What is so conspicuously missing are any specifics on how Guy Laliberte contributed at a closed door performance for big guns last fall. "The performance was poorly received," we learn, but that's...

Read more »

Ringling at Coney: Glitzy Seaside Circus Shrewdly Powered by Sex, Fireworks, Clowns, Magic --- and a Few Good Acts

Circus Review: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey IlluscinationConey Island, New YorkJune 17, 7 PMAfter a season of high circus art at Coney Island, back come the Feld fireworks. This gaudy bawdy grab bag suggests that last year’s artistically memorable opus did not sell enough tickets to convince the Feld of Felds to return with more of the same.So we’re back to Feld 1A. To be sure, it’s on balance a very good variety show, riding high on stunning big box illusions spun by the masterful David DaVinci, much better than those over on Zing Zang Boom; on sly sexual overtones, novelty acts — some, barely off the drawing boards, clever clowning and the usual pyrotechnic boosters shots. Final set piece, wrapped in larger than life ribbons...

Read more »

Kelly Miller’s Lean Lineup Offers Pleasing Acts, Good Music and Production Reach, But Suffers Weak Direction and Strained Comedy Antics

Holiday Look Backs, this from 2010Circus Review: Kelly Miller CircusBrewster, New YorkJune 16, 4:30 PMBecause a Ringling produced it, naturally, some of us will wonder, how good might it be? The welcome news here is that in promising evidence from John Ringling North II are some admirable producing inclinations, though for the most part they exceed the less than stellar results brought to bear.This year’s respectable opus is particularly shy on air power — not so unusual for a circus in the modern era — all except for a gal from Aussie named Nikita who turns in a terrific single trap workout, keeping us well engaged with breathless swings, drops and angular twists that mark her vigorous attack. She has the reckless air that we see too little...

Read more »

In the City That Never Sleeps, I Can't Say No to More ...

New York, New York, 1:30 EST: In the cool suave red lobby of the Gershwin Hotel, near some cool looking foreign youth fiddling with their latest electronics, great day for a brief sit down and shout out. This AM, took the 6 Lex up to 110th Street, bottom of Harlem, top of Central Park. And walked all the way down to the south side at 59th street.My digital camera earned its price. Gorgeous warm sunny morning, breezy people and their leashed dogs out for brisk strolls. Maybe this afternoon, I'll walk back up on the west side. Came down east way. Why do I keep coming back to this place; Broadway does not always deliver. Neither weather, neither Grandma and Big Apple. But, but, it's simply a great town, and it has those rattletrap subways. I'm subwaying out, spreading my vistas on underground...

Read more »

When the Music's Over, Turn Out the Sixties

Who was Mama Cass Elliot? What were the sixties?I just fell in like with Cass Elliott, watching a Biography channel documentary on her life. She had the pipes. She was tragically overweight. Tragically all alone, never able to find a love while public adoration came her way. So she got herself pregnant however she managed, gave birth to the love of her life and raised a daughter proudly, all alone. She had somebody. And advanced out the subversive '60s syndrome that I suppose tagged everybody who played with or around a guitar then, finding a welcome audience in TV land. Maybe the country through her grew up a little. Matured from youthful defiance to neighborly acceptance.Until now, I refused her a legit place in my life, like I've...

Read more »

John Ringling on How the Brothers Made Decisions; A Rare Family Democracy ...

From the story John Ringling penned for The American Magazine in 1919, reprinted in Bandwagon, perhaps the most remarkable disclosure is this:Let's say that one of the brothers had an idea he felt passionately about, but could get not even another brother to support his proposal. He still might, in the remarkable House of Ringling, have a chance:"One thing which we agreed upon early was that majority rule should not prevail in all cases. We never believe that any three should force their dictates upon two. Often, if only one held out for an idea to which the other four were opposed, we would argue and try to convince that one; but if he insisted, we agree to gy his plan. The verdict usually was "All right. We think you're wrong, but if...

Read more »

Beat on Broadway: Banana Shpeel Slips Big Time in New York ...

Out the door for Cirque du Soleil's dubious attempt to reinvent vaudeville. Shpeel will be early closing on June 27. Way ahead of the original stop date.It drew horrid out of town notices in Chicago, got mixed reviews at best in NY; most consumer feedback was wretched.Millions lost on a highly flawed venture. Now they're nearly giving the show away: tickets at $39 and $49. Guy Laliberte ventured into the theatre arena, where story and character still do matter. This will only tarnish the CDS reputation for infallibility, although they have had a couple of losers in past years.What is so puzzling is why Laliberte would dare bring to town such a troubled show, in a genre he knows so little about, in fact, has never succeeded at producing.Broadway is a tough heartless place when you haven't...

Read more »

John Ringling on Al Ringling:

He was the family's egotist, by far the most reckless of the brothers, who ended up powerless over the affairs of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.He was, of course, John Ringling.In 1919, he shared his feelings (that is, if they were not written for him by others) with The American Magazine, and some of Mr. Ringling's thoughts strike me as remarkably revealing. Not that a die-hard Ringlingphile would be surprised.I had already come across this story in another source. It appears in a welcome format in the new Bandwagon, just out.Ringling, I believe, might be spot-on, more than merely blowing the family horn, when he identifies Al Ringling's genius for assembling a group of acts into a terrifically paced program. Other writers...

Read more »

The Morning Midway: Sabu Trumpets Freely Into Another Pond ... Splashy Biz Fills the Big Top ...

Covington connected, I read that Circus Knie's errant elephant Sabu, developing a sure reputation for running off to her own beat and finding water in which to merrily splash, is at it again. First it was Lake Zurick on June 6 for a mighty mammoth swim. Garnered global headlines. Now the 26-year-old big trunk "staged a second getaway," as reported by no less than Bloomberg News, this time taking a dainty dip into a stream. So, how did Sabu manage to "escape," or did she? Had she, in fact, been assisted by cunning press agents hungry to grab free media attention and prove their mettle? Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes flaunted a snapshot of the prima pachyderm lumbering back to the show, surrounded by her entourage of wary handlers, probably giggling inside over the incident. Business? Opening...

Read more »

The Morning Midway: Original Ringling Showtunes Deserve Retrospective Recognition ...

What's the best damn original song ever written for Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey?I would nominate, hands down, a Henry Sullivan-John Murray Anderson collaboration for the 1951 opus, "Popcorn and Lemonade." As orchestrated by Victor Young for the movie, The Greatest Show on Earth. It shimmers in its glory, though nobody ever heard it that way under the big top.You're already leaping to the defense of Young's great title song for the movie?Ah ha, yes, I know, but that was not written for Ringling-Barnum; it was composed for De Mille's film.Under the aegis of John Ringling North, hands down again, I'd argue the circus moved to the best original ditties composed for its various parades and production numbers.The Sullivan-Anderson catalog (I've not heard it all, because not all of their...

Read more »

The Morning Midway: Photos Hot Off the Set of "Water For Elephants."

Looks mighty real to me. Only glaring incongruity I can see so far are box cars supposedly posing as circus stock cars.A slew of wagon charmers said to be on loan from Circus World Museum. Hope they have a cut of the royalties.Christoph Waltz as "August." He looks cool.Star Robert Pattinson, center, on the set. If this guy's a national "heartthrob," I'm the last one to know it. I still wish Sean Penn had made it into the film, somewhere. He seemed so right for a gritty circus flick. Yet to appear: Betty Whi...

Read more »

The Morning Midway: Sabu Takes a Trumpeting Dip in Lake Zurich

What exactly was on her mind as she lumbered freely and willfully through Zurich's upscale banking district (a 401K deposit, per chance?), ending up in Lake Zurich for a brief dip in the waters.Circus Knie elephant Sabu took a Sunday stroll through the city after managing to free herself from showbiz obligations. Swiss police chased the runaway pachyderm for an hour before a keeper could reign her back into spangled captivity.With Sabu returned to a trailer, the show moved on, Just all in a day's wo...

Read more »

Sunday Morning, Looking Back: Big Tops Perennially in Peril -- Cliche or Chronic Destiny???

This first appeared on June 7, 2010Surviving a train wreck in De Mille's classic film, The Greatest Show on EarthI am starting to reexamine my skeptical view of one circus movie or drama after another pushing the near bankrupt big top as central theme.Maybe, out there in the real world, it’s always been this way?Two sources are driving my new-found doubts: Lane Talburt's well-researched Bandwagon article, "From Deming to Deland," about the behind-the-scenes financial maneuvering that transferred the bankrupt Clyde Beatty Circus in 1956, out of the hands of failed owner Clyde Beatty himself, into the hands of Jerry Collins, Frank McClosky and Walter Kernan.Exhibit Two: Numerous letters received in my mid teen years from old time circus aficionado...

Read more »

The Morning Midway: The Faceless Frank McClosky Makes a Faceless Cameo in Bandwagon

I have no idea who this man was, and likely never will. Of all the figures who have owned and moved circuses, Mr. M. is a total blank to me. I see a cigar in his mouth, a man perhaps finally being able to get himself snapped into a publicity photo. A man perhaps in his own mind a big player.Not to be critical, I recall one of the best shows I ever saw, Beatty-Cole in Richmond, VA, 1961, what a crackling straight ahead 3-ring tentbuster. It sparkled that afternoon. Although it was, they will tell you, McClosky's partner, Walter Kernan, whose passion for the art of the performance is said to have informed and helped shape the generally strong shows. That's what Ken Dodd and a few others have advanced.McClosky? He has always been a dead figure in my mind. Bring him to life, anybody out...

Read more »

The Morning Midway: Return of the Circus Courier -- Ringling is Coming At You!

Just in my dying mailbox, a gigantic glossy fold-out flyer bearing the imposing words:BARNUM'S FUNUNDRUMWow!I haven't been dazzled by anything this visually circus-captivating in how many years, if ever?Feld Entertainment is certainly taking an older bolder kind of marketing campaign.Brilliant design. Outstanding textual clarity, kept to a minimum.OPENING NIGHT TICKETS $15!Unfolded, my 12" wide invitation stands 22" tall and just might make a visit to my wall. Colors: Radiant Ringling Red, Baby Barnum Blue, and Florida sunshine yellow.The concept reminds me of what they were doing, on a much much smaller scale, during the last years of the John Ringling North era.Spectacular!Oh wait, it's addressed to me with a preferred customer code. Possibly...

Read more »