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- #21
Nowhere left to run away to: The final days of the circus
- Thread starter The Count of Merkur Cristo
- Start date
I hear you loud and clear. In fact you struck a nerve as I was contemplating buying a fountain pen earlier today but, was struck by the fact the only things I actually "write" these days are my signature since everything else is electronic.
http://en.legion-recrute.com/
If you only ever went to see the circus once, and you seem to be self-identifying as the sort of person who would be interested in going to the circus (as opposed to the breeze-offended and goldfish-attention-spanners) ... if the best the circus can hope for from the kind of guy who'd say "yeah, I'd like going to the circus" is one single attendance ... well, I think we see why the circus is failing: we like the fact that it exists, but can't be bothered for one reason or another to pony up the dough to make it fly.
We took the kids to the circus the year they ballyhooed the living unicorn in the show. When said unicorn finally showed up at the end it was clearly a goat. That's about all I remember from the show. I would like to see Cirque du Soleil some day though.
It's just sad, a loss for all of us.
America loses an iconic show, and hundreds of uniquely talented people are losing their jobs.
PETA is certainly taking credit. Sea World, too, has been under attack by these mooks.
Whatever happened to "if you don't like it, don't go."
Who empowered these "if I don't like it, no one can go!" cretins?
AA
America loses an iconic show, and hundreds of uniquely talented people are losing their jobs.
PETA is certainly taking credit. Sea World, too, has been under attack by these mooks.
Whatever happened to "if you don't like it, don't go."
Who empowered these "if I don't like it, no one can go!" cretins?
AA
Perhaps the reason I've only ever been once is I live in a place something as major as Ringling Brothers would never visit my area code. The one time I went, my family made a two-hour trip each way to see it.
Make it a point to write. Get a pen; get a journal. Even if you just take time every few days to jot down the weather, it's enjoyable.
I thought I smelled cabbage.
Next to go will be the rodeo. Then a law will be passed that animals can no longer be eaten for food. It will be replaced with Soylent Green.
Besides, who can run away today? Kids can't live without a cell phone and their constant "checking in" on FB will give away their location!
- Thread starter
- #31
Don't fret...the end of Ringling Bros. is not the end of circuses! 
Daniel B. Kline - MSN Money - The Motley Fool - 17 Jan 17
"There was a time when the circus coming to town represented a major event, and even though there were others, for many, "circus," meant the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey version.
It was only a few years ago that the company would announce its arrival in major cities like New York or Baltimore with a parade of elephants through downtown on the way to whatever major arena the company would take over for weeks. The circus was such an event that major National Basketball Association and National Hockey League teams went on long road trips so their home arenas could host extended engagements of "The Greatest Show on Earth."
Gregory Bull/AP Photo: Two elephants from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus take a drink from water running along Seventh Avenue, as they walk around Madison Square Garden in New York, Monday, March 28, 2005.
[...] What remains of the circus business
At roughly the same time the Ringling Bros. news was made public, an auction was announced for the assets of the bankrupt Big Apple Circus -- a regional touring group that filed for bankruptcy in November. That brand, which Gold's company did marketing for in the 2000s, offered a smaller version of what Ringling Bros. did, often setting up a big top in a mall parking lot or other similar large, open space, and it hopes to bring back the circus at least to New York, The New York Post reported.
There are still a number of regional circuses performing with perhaps the best-known being UniverSoul Circus, which currently has two tours operating (as did Ringling Bros.). A UniverSoul representative declined to comment when contacted for this story.
Gold [Principal of The Gold Group, a marketing company that also runs museums and exhibits across the country] said that while the loss of Ringling Bros. was a blow to the industry, there are regional circuses and new takes on the art form that are thriving. He cited the success of Cirque du Soleil, a very different execution that can be considered in the circus tradition.
"It's a tremendous opportunity for smaller shows," said Gold. "Circuses are thriving. There's a company that's doing circuses in theaters that's doing great. There are smaller shows, one called Circus Symphony, that goes out for three, four weeks at a time."
So, rather than the end of Ringling Bros. being the end of an American tradition, Gold sees it as a time for something new to emerge. He explained that a successful show has to evolve, change with the times, and present something the public can't experience anywhere else.
"Cirque du Soleil came out of nowhere 30 years ago, and it was a different way of looking at circuses, a different way of touring it, because it wasn't on a train, it didn't have animals," he said. "I think there is a future for circuses. It just has to be done differently going forward."
Works Cited: The end of Ringling Bros. is not the end of circuses
"Word gets around when the circus is in town". CBJ
Daniel B. Kline - MSN Money - The Motley Fool - 17 Jan 17
"There was a time when the circus coming to town represented a major event, and even though there were others, for many, "circus," meant the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey version.
It was only a few years ago that the company would announce its arrival in major cities like New York or Baltimore with a parade of elephants through downtown on the way to whatever major arena the company would take over for weeks. The circus was such an event that major National Basketball Association and National Hockey League teams went on long road trips so their home arenas could host extended engagements of "The Greatest Show on Earth."
Gregory Bull/AP Photo: Two elephants from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus take a drink from water running along Seventh Avenue, as they walk around Madison Square Garden in New York, Monday, March 28, 2005. [...] What remains of the circus business
At roughly the same time the Ringling Bros. news was made public, an auction was announced for the assets of the bankrupt Big Apple Circus -- a regional touring group that filed for bankruptcy in November. That brand, which Gold's company did marketing for in the 2000s, offered a smaller version of what Ringling Bros. did, often setting up a big top in a mall parking lot or other similar large, open space, and it hopes to bring back the circus at least to New York, The New York Post reported.
There are still a number of regional circuses performing with perhaps the best-known being UniverSoul Circus, which currently has two tours operating (as did Ringling Bros.). A UniverSoul representative declined to comment when contacted for this story.
Gold [Principal of The Gold Group, a marketing company that also runs museums and exhibits across the country] said that while the loss of Ringling Bros. was a blow to the industry, there are regional circuses and new takes on the art form that are thriving. He cited the success of Cirque du Soleil, a very different execution that can be considered in the circus tradition.
"It's a tremendous opportunity for smaller shows," said Gold. "Circuses are thriving. There's a company that's doing circuses in theaters that's doing great. There are smaller shows, one called Circus Symphony, that goes out for three, four weeks at a time."
So, rather than the end of Ringling Bros. being the end of an American tradition, Gold sees it as a time for something new to emerge. He explained that a successful show has to evolve, change with the times, and present something the public can't experience anywhere else.
"Cirque du Soleil came out of nowhere 30 years ago, and it was a different way of looking at circuses, a different way of touring it, because it wasn't on a train, it didn't have animals," he said. "I think there is a future for circuses. It just has to be done differently going forward."
Works Cited: The end of Ringling Bros. is not the end of circuses
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Glad I live on a farm with more Feral Hogs than I can eat. While I don't have a horse, my neighbor does so we can have our own personal 'rodeo'.
It's just another failed business, ill-equipped to make it in today's world. That's how the market works, guys.
I mourn the passing of the circus, but times change. Circuses have been in decline for a long time. There was once a Ringling Brothers circus and a Barnum and Bailey circus, and times became such that they merged, and then times became such that they abandoned the big top for building performances.
That's why I never saw Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey. We were too rural. I have seen all of two circuses in my life: One a fairly large one that came to a nearby town and was under an honest-to-goodness big top, with a live band, calliope, and everything we associate with a circus. There was even a side-show. The other was a smaller one that came to what passed for our home town. It, too, was under a tent. By then canned music replaced the band and calliope. They had only one elephant, as I recall. It was still a circus, with sawdust to keep down the dust, and breezes blowing from beneath the tent flaps.
Then, for all practical purposes, they were gone, at least locally. They didn't stop at nearby towns anymore. If they had they sales to offset the costs, they would.
That was decades ago, so long ago I wasn't shaving. For good or bad, people's interests change. Even the NFL - and please, no political comments - is falling on hard times, likely due to saturation and sky high tickets. When you think about it, circuses have had a good run in the US, longer than local movie theaters and drive-ins.
Maybe they'll come back; maybe not. Who can say? Circuses date back to the Romans; against that scale the history of US circuses is just a tiny part of a very long timeline.
That's why I never saw Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey. We were too rural. I have seen all of two circuses in my life: One a fairly large one that came to a nearby town and was under an honest-to-goodness big top, with a live band, calliope, and everything we associate with a circus. There was even a side-show. The other was a smaller one that came to what passed for our home town. It, too, was under a tent. By then canned music replaced the band and calliope. They had only one elephant, as I recall. It was still a circus, with sawdust to keep down the dust, and breezes blowing from beneath the tent flaps.
Then, for all practical purposes, they were gone, at least locally. They didn't stop at nearby towns anymore. If they had they sales to offset the costs, they would.
That was decades ago, so long ago I wasn't shaving. For good or bad, people's interests change. Even the NFL - and please, no political comments - is falling on hard times, likely due to saturation and sky high tickets. When you think about it, circuses have had a good run in the US, longer than local movie theaters and drive-ins.
Maybe they'll come back; maybe not. Who can say? Circuses date back to the Romans; against that scale the history of US circuses is just a tiny part of a very long timeline.
Writing helps to keep the brain healthy, and a fountain pen can last a lifetime. Even if it's something that you don't get into, your kids/nieces/nephews/etc. might find it to be a nice heirloom.
This thread brings back memories of my Grandfather who ran away from home and joined the circus to escape his stepmother. I don't know how long he stayed in the circus but he settled in East Lansing Michigan where my Father was born and raised.
In 2015 the WHO declared processed meat like bacon, sausage, etc. to be carcinogenic and red meat to be probably carcinogenic. It will take a long while but eventually I think it will be illegal. There's an agenda here with all these things. That's all I'm saying.
There are only two things in the world that scare me....
Have been a few times in my lifetime and it's very sad.
