The end of an era

[bisontuba]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ringling-b ... -1.3936551" target="_blank

[Dan Schultz]

Yeah. This is really sad news. I was at the Showfolks Club in Sarasota last night and played a concert with Windjammers before the Circus Ring of Fame induction ceremony at St. Armand Circle this afternoon and didn't hear anything about this. I just saw it on the news after getting back to my hotel.

They will wind things up after this season... which ends the last of April. Fortunately... there are several smaller circuses that are active and should pick up many of the performers.

It is the end of the BIG circus but many small ones will live on until their day is over. Part of my job is to see that the circus music lives on. I have a small group that is within the membership of the community band my wife and I founded in 2000 that gets together on Thursdays to play circus music. There are usually 12-15 of us. We certainly aren't professionals at it but we have a damned good time!

[bort]

Even as a kid, the circus always seemed obsolete to me. I remember going as a kid, not liking it, and asking my parents not to take me back.

I don't know if I'm glad to see it gone, but I'm pretty surprised it lasted as long as it did. I remember seeing the elephants get unloaded at the circus about 10 years ago in downtown Baltimore, standing around in a small parking lot next to the street and traffic. I'm no PETA member, but I remember thinking that would be a crappy place to stand around and wait as a human, and that the elephants must be miserable. However, the elephants probably didn't think they would get shot and robbed (unlike me), so maybe they weren't so bad off.

[The Big Ben]

Finally, circus bands need to have a minimum of 15 fine players, and (not referring to RB/BB, but others) not 5 mediocre players.

My high school band director, Mr. Percy Bronson, was also a first call saxophone player in the Seattle union. He played in the circus band when it was in town. He told us about playing the circus and it was pretty interesting. The book was a three ring binder that was about four inches thick. He opened the book, the stick went down and he played for about three hours. There were all sorts of marks on the page to denote all of the changes and he had to pick all of it up on the fly. Of course, that is what being a professional musician is all about but, as high school kids, we were pretty impressed. This was in the mid 70s.

[bisontuba]

How do workers of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey feel about the planned shutdown of the circus?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/us/r ... g-may.html" target="_blank

5 ANSWERS

Megan O'Malley, touring trombonist
Megan O'Malley, worked at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Written 1am

This question comes rather quickly on the heels of the announcement, so please forgive any lack of tact on my part. This is an emotional time for everyone on the Ringling shows. 800-some people just lost their jobs, so I find this a somewhat ridiculous question. How would YOU feel?

I don't speak for everyone, but it's fair to say we're shocked and upset (That's right, circus people are humans too. We also feel pain and loss.) Here's how it went down tonight.

Around 6:30pm we began hearing rumors from friends on the Blue Unit (our sister show, currently in Miami) that there was a full-cast meeting scheduled for 10pm that night. This was highly unusual…to hold a company meeting so late, and in the middle of a busy weekend of shows.

We then found out that members of the Feld family were present with the Blue Unit in Miami. We began to speculate. What kind of meeting could this be? Did it have anything to do with us (the Red Unit)?

Shortly thereafter we heard that our unit was also to have a meeting at 10pm, after our last show of the day. Now it was time to worry. This was unheard of. We found out that lots of folks from Feld corporate were here on our show as well, including the VP and head of HR. This was serious.

After much speculation, many of us came to two likely scenarios: either one of our units would be shut down, or the whole circus would be bought by another company. We went into this meeting wondering which it would be.

To our great surprise, Juliette Feld announced to us that both Ringling touring shows would be closing by May of this year. I think we were all expecting something bad….I don't think we were expecting for all 800 of us to lose our jobs, or for the 146-year history of Ringling Bros to be dropped like a worthless rag.

To be fair, I am currently angry and upset about losing a job that I cared deeply about. It is not fair for me to say that the Felds are throwing Ringling away (that IS how I feel at the moment though, not gonna lie). After all, they spent insane amounts of their own money trying to keep it going. They spent ridiculous amounts of time defending their company against animal activists. But it was not enough. People have shown that they do not care to see this particular circus any more, and that's what really matters.

So, how do we feel. I saw people crying, I heard a lot of “f*ck you”’s, I know that tomorrow when I have to go to work I will see lots of heartbroken men women and children, I know that there are some who will not even bother coming to work and will just vanish in the night. We are now expected to continue working through May, and I'm sure many of us will try to make it that long. But really, who is going to want to come to work after this? How are we to smile for audiences?

Understand that for many circus people, they are born into this life. It is more than just a job, it is all they have known, and all their parents have known, for generations. For their whole lives. They know nothing else. Those people did not only hear, “You've lost your job” tonight. They also heard, “You've lost your home”.

I know a small taste of this feeling. I have no place that I can call home, and that is very frightening. I do not know where I will end up. I am afraid for myself and for my circus family. These are amazing people, and they deserve better than what they got tonight.

Over the next days, weeks, etc, I'm sure I'll have lots of different emotions about this. But one thing I must admit and will always remember. I am grateful. I was able to be a part of something truly magical. I was able to walk alongside elephants, and the people who worked with them, and see firsthand that no animal abuse was taking place. Thank God I got to see that before the animal rights propaganda got to me. I had five whole years of being a musician. I got to see and do so much. However I feel about the Felds’ decision to end Ringling Bros, I cannot help but be grateful for having worked here.

People ask me sometimes why I am so diligent in blogging about my time with the circus. It's because I knew how precious that time was. I knew that it would end. All musicians know that no gig lasts forever. Now, at least, I will have a wonderful record of this unparalleled experience as a circus musician with Ringling Bros.

PS, in closing, even after losing my job here in a way that makes me angry and somewhat bitter, I will never, NEVER back or support organizations like PETA, ADI, ALF, HSUS, ASPCA, or any other similar terrorist group that pretends to help animals by putting the people who are keeping them alive out of work. Whatever I may have to say about Feld Entertainment and Ringling in coming days, I will ALWAYS maintain that I witnessed nothing but the best animal care during my five years of employment here. Just so you know, animal rights folks, you won't ever be able to pay me enough to lie about what I've seen here (as you have other suckers and politicians) so don't even bother asking.

[scottw]

Wow! Strong stuff. I wonder how she really feels about PETA?

[bort]

On the plus side, they've got until May to get their lives in order. Many people get laid off by being called into a room, and escorted out of the building with a box full of their stuff. I've had that happen to me before, and that is definitely no fun.

I understand the frustration, but it could hardly have been a true surprise, saying things like the owners spent their own money to keep it afloat, and that people weren't interested in it anymore. There's only so long you can ignore that before facing reality.

[tofu]

It really is a remarkable feat that they were able to keep it going for as long as they did. I think a combination of factors probably played into the decision. If you have ever seen the circus roll into town via the rails and set up, do the shows and then put it all back on the rails to the next town you know it is an amazingly complex logistical operation. The railroads these days want to run regularly scheduled manifest freight trains. Scheduling a random circus train into the mix, running old (but refurbished Amtrak cars) probably was not business they really wanted. Then there is difficulty securing venues in proximity to the rails.

Back in Dec. it was announced that this would be the last year they would be at the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls basketball and Blackhawks hockey teams. For years both teams have had extended west coast road trips (the annual Circus Trip) for most of the month of Dec. because the venue was being used by the circus. Losing a month in a major market like Chicago had to be a major blow to their finances of the circus going forward. I would guess that this had caused scheduling difficulties for both the NBA and the NHL over the years and the leagues probably put pressure on the 2 teams (whose owners also own the United Center). The players weren't fond of being on the road for so long either and even complained that the locker rooms would smell of elephant dung for 6 weeks after (not sure if that was really true or if that was worse than large sweaty players). And I would guess finding suitable venues was becoming harder & harder around the rest of the country as well.

I bet their insurance premiums have also gotten insane. Think about it - you got customers in close proximity to wild animals and with constantly changing workplace and performers doing tricks touted as "death defying". Then there was the elimination of the elephants. With all the other great animal acts (the dog shows were always great) I'm kind of surprised when I read that people stop going because of no elephants - OTOH you had the folks who would not go because of the elephants being in the show. For the circus it was probably like being between a rock and a hard place. Then you have all the governmental regulations they have to deal with in the modern era (including environmental) and the rising cost of feed and employee costs. I doubt the long time owners have made much of a return lately and really have been just hoping to be above break even. I think they probably couldn't reasonably do that any more and couldn't afford to sustain the losses. It sounds like the employees understand that.

I can understand the employees frustrations as it isn't just losing a job. It's losing an entire way of life and they know once it goes it won't come back. Many of these folks are 4th - 5th generation circus families. That can't be easy to let go of. It's a shame. It used to be such a big deal a century ago when either the circus or Sousa rolled into your town.

[alfredr]

In my day, "running away to join the circus" was the stuff of legends.

I joined the Peace Corps.

What do kids aspire to these days? Catching PokèMonsters and becoming Pokèmon trainers?

[Three Valves]

Too bad they couldn't do a stationary show at someplace like Branson or in Florida, etc.

Cirque has that gig in Vegas!!

[bisontuba]

I wonder if someone is going to buy that cannon and FINALLY send Alice to the moon...??

[Radar]

Sad to see this great American institution come to an end. My sympathies and best wishes go out to all the performers and crew who will loose the jobs, and their current way of life.

[bisontuba]

Old Band Pics ( courtesy of I.B.E.W.):


Ringling Brothers Band




Barnum & Baileys Concert Band, 1910







Brill's Concert Band, Barnum & Baileys Two-Hemispheres Band Wagon, 1916










Ned Brills Band, Barnum & Bailey Circus, 1911




Ringling Brothers Band Wagon


Ringling Brothers Annex Band, 1911

[Three Valves]

I almost forgot what a "Band Wagon" was.

As opposed to say, a Trump Train!!