“Otto Ringling: Financial wizard of the syndicate forces.”1
It seemed an impossible feat, but the Ringling Brothers put three large circuses on the road in 1910, leaving their circus competition far behind them. The Ringling show and Barnum & Bailey had eighty-four railcars each, and the Forepaugh-Sells show had forty-seven cars.2 Never before or since has one circus organization had so many railcars on the road.
But the Ringlings were facing an ever-changing world and new competition that went far beyond that provided by other circuses. In 1903 the hand-cranked Victrola record player became available to music lovers. In 1904 the Chautauqua Institution of New York State began sending lecturers and tented stage shows to even the smallest towns in the country. Thomas Edison’s silent moving pictures continued to attract thousands of customers. Even theater people were worried about the movies. An entertainment reporter wrote about the 1909 season: “That the moving picture business had made deep inroads in the theatrical business is a matter of record, and is generally acknowledged by theatrical powers.”3
In 1908 Henry Ford began producing inexpensive Model T cars that sold for less than nine hundred dollars. He introduced the assembly line to speed production and by 1914 was paying workers five dollars for an eight-hour day, an unheard-of amount for a historically short workday.4
By 1910 automobiles were beginning to clog city streets, making it difficult to mount a circus parade and carrying people greater distances in search of entertainment. Vaudeville was attracting thousands of customers in the major cities and in the smaller ones, too, as communities built opera houses and traveling show troupes traipsed across the country entertaining huge numbers of rural and small-town people. The Ziegfeld Follies began in 1907. Irving Berlin’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band debuted on Broadway in 1911 and was an immediate hit.5
For the 1910 season the Ringlings had three shows on the road: their namesake show, Barnum & Bailey, and the Adam Forepaugh and Sells Brothers show. PROGRAM COLLECTION, CWM
In the midst of all these technological and cultural changes, the circus rolled on, much as it had since pre–Civil War days: horses and elephants, clowns and aerialists, ringmasters and Big Tops, trains and parades. And the crowds continued to come. Still, the Ringling Brothers, now the undisputed kings of the circus world, had to be highly concerned about the changes they saw going on around them.
Managing three circuses was a major task in every way, from staffing to equipment to, especially, routing. There was almost no way that the Ringlings could avoid competing with themselves. And there were nineteen other railroad circuses touring the country in 1910, all seeking a slice of the circus audience pie. Outside of the Ringling “big three,” Hagenbeck-Wallace (forty-five cars), John Robinson (forty-two cars), and Sells-Floto (thirty-one cars) were by now the largest circuses on the circuit.6
By the early 1900s circuses faced growing competition from new forms of entertainment, such as the Ziegfeld Follies (pictured here are players in the show “Lady Godiva Rides Again”), vaudeville, silent movies, and hand-cranked record players. WISCONSIN CENTER FOR FILM AND THEATER RESEARCH
Early in 1910 the Brothers continued to negotiate with the Chicago law firm that had represented them in their failed attempt to acquire the Hagenbeck Circus. In a letter to attorney Allen Frost, the Ringlings acknowledged the fee they owed—$800 left on the Hagenbeck deal plus $1,400 for general law services. Otto convinced the firm to accept 10 percent less than they requested, for a total bill of $1,974.22. Otto Ringling was a master negotiator—always looking for a better deal, whether for a carload of corn or attorney fees. In a letter dated January 10, the Brothers informed Frost that they had now employed attorney John M. Kelley on a yearly basis and asked Frost to send Kelley “as much data as you think he should have on the matter which you have been handling for us.”7
But Otto Ringling was ill. While in Chicago in February 1910, he wrote a note to Al saying:
I am glad to hear everything is in fine shape for all the shows. Regarding myself, I have not attended to my business since I left Bridgeport. … Since I saw Dr. Herrick January 11th at his office, which occasion he informed me what I had to look forward to, I have made every effort to [word unclear] business entirely and train my thoughts in a different direction. How well I am succeeding I do not know. I know I am doing the very best I can. … I hope that you and Lou will retain your present good health and live long and happily. With regards to you both, Good Bye, Your Brother, Otto. P.S. Al, I know your feelings and every bodies concerning myself, and will ask you to refrain from writing me about my condition, which would be to no purpose.8
Otto was probably suffering from Bright’s disease, the illness that had killed his brother Gus. From the tone of his letter, it was obviously serious.
From the very beginning of the Ringling Brothers’ Circus, Otto had dealt with all things financial and myriad other details. Now his health was failing. It was a worrisome time for the Brothers.
Operating costs for the circus, especially licensing fees, continued to rise. In 1910 Denver passed a circus license ordinance stating that an eighty-car circus that charged fifty cents per ticket must pay the city four thousand dollars per day. (According to the ordinance, smaller circuses paid two hundred dollars per day.) The same year Kansas City, Missouri, instituted a fifty-dollar-per-railcar fee for circuses with eighty cars and fifty-cent admission fees (the result was the same fee as Denver charged). Both the Denver and Kansas City fees were likely instigated by Harry Tamman, who owned major newspapers in those cities as well as owning the Sells-Floto Circus, a Ringling competitor. The Ringlings had won a lawsuit against Tamman in 1909 for using the word Sells on Sells-Floto lithographs.9
Ringling representatives worked hard to convince the cities to lower these rates, without success. Regarding the Denver negotiations, a reporter for The Show World noted, “Mr. McCracken’s [a Ringling representative] eloquence and persuasive power have availed him naught in this city thus far.”10
For the 1910 season opening, the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows would return to Chicago—a cheaper prospect than traveling all the way to New York for the opening as they had done in 1909. Likewise, Barnum & Bailey would go back to opening in New York. The World’s Greatest Shows opened indoors on April 7 and then went under tents in Danville, Illinois, on April 28. The show slowly moved east and then played most of the summer in the Midwest.
Barnum & Bailey, The Greatest Show on Earth, opened March 24 in New York and played in the East and the Midwest until late July. Then it moved to the Northwest and then down to California for much of September. In late September Barnum & Bailey showed in Oklahoma, Arizona, Texas, and Mississippi.
The Forepaugh-Sells show opened April 28 in Springfield, Ohio. From Ohio the show moved on to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maine, New York, back to the Midwest, and then into the South.
The Ringling Brothers’ shows continued to attract huge crowds in 1910. A reporter in Janesville, Wisconsin, stated: “The thousands of people who saw Ringling Brothers’ big parade this morning thoroughly enjoyed the pageant that passed along the streets. From the great 24-horse band chariot in the lead to the tail end, nearly a mile away, it was one chain of excellent attractions.”11
Some local merchants were not pleased when the circus came to town on a Saturday. In August 1910 an Illinois newspaper reported that “[i]f the Messrs Ringling will consult the merchants in Decatur they will not pull off any more circuses here on Saturday. The mixing of a circus with Saturday trade is not a good thing for the trade. … Many people went to the circus instead of coming down town to make their usual purchases.”12
Many forms of entertainment didn’t even try to compete with the circus. For instance, baseball games were sometimes postponed when the circus came to town, as happened in Janesville that August: “Today’s games in the Commercial League have been postponed owing to the fact that there is a counter-attraction in town, the circus, and it was felt by the board of managers of the league that the attendance at the games would not be large enough to make it worth while for the players to engage in the contests.”13
Even the barbers in some towns were unhappy:
“Circus day was not a good day for barbers,” said a barber last night. The people kept too busy trying to see that show. The parade was late and they were afraid that if they went to the barber shop to have work done the parade would get by them. After the parade they had to rush for dinner and after dinner they had to rush again to the circus grounds. It was a continual rush. It was not a big day for the barbers.14
Occasionally, local writers put a cynical twist on a circus’s arrival in their town, especially if other circuses had preceded it:
Today is circus day in Columbus … Ringling Brothers, who themselves are numerous enough to put on a pretty fair show all alone, are the visitors today, and theirs is the third big show to visit the Arch City this season. … Lizzie, the snake charming lady, sat in a glass cage with a beautiful, slimy cobra where some man’s good right ought to be, and the hippopotamus wagon was hauled through the streets to the great delight of everyone who has X-ray machines to look through the wooden sides.
There were tigers, lions, cougars, wolves and a few other pets exhibited during the parade, however, there was positively something new. There was a sixteen “horse” hitch of camels pulling a beautifully painted wagon full of beautifully painted ladies representing something or other in some other country. The parade was witnessed by many thousands of people.15
The hippopotamus and rhinoceros were major attractions, so the Ringlings kept them concealed in parades. They expected customers to pay to see these animals.16
The Barnum & Bailey show ended its 1910 season in Mississippi on November 5 and headed back to winter quarters in Connecticut. The World’s Greatest Shows closed in West Point, Mississippi, on November 9, and Forepaugh-Sells closed in Sardis, Mississippi, two weeks later; those two shows would winter in Baraboo.
When the Ringlings made their decision to house both the World’s Greatest Shows and Forepaugh-Sells in Baraboo, they knew the strain on winter quarters would be great. They had built new car shops in late 1909, but the space problem went well beyond storage and maintenance facilities for the railcars. Between the two circuses, there was a need to house thirty-seven elephants.17 That fall the Ringlings had the Isenbergs construct a thirty-three-by-sixty-foot addition at the rear of the brick elephant house.18 Although it is not easily confirmed, elephants may have been housed in other facilities in and around Baraboo, as well. The Rooney farm north of Baraboo was the apparent burial site of several Ringling elephants.19 And the present owners of the Lynn Avenue property, Jan and Duane Neuman, reported that elephants were once housed in the basement of the barn still standing on their property in 2002.20 Jan Neuman pointed out a mound of ground back of the barn where she said an elephant was buried. “It’s why the trees grow so well there,” she said.
The Ringlings would also need additional stables for horses after the 1910 season. At the Lynn Avenue farm, the Isenbergs built a new horse barn with a capacity for seventy-five horses. They also built a new brick paint shop, sixty-six by one hundred feet and with enough room for fifteen large wagons, on land the Ringlings had purchased from George M. Reul in December of 1909.21 An adjoining building was constructed to house the heating plant.
According to a local news article, the Ringlingville buildings constructed in 1910 had the following values: car shops: $7,000; elephant house addition: $2,600, paint shop: $5,800; and horse barn: $2,000.22
Otto Ringling (1858– 1911) was the first of the five partners to pass away. Behind that assertive look was a gentle, mild-mannered bachelor who enjoyed classical music and good books. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM
After another winter of training and preparation, the Brothers were ready to take their three shows on the road again in 1911. The Barnum & Bailey show opened at New York’s Madison Square Garden on March 23. The Ringlings’ namesake show was scheduled to open in Chicago on April 1, and Forepaugh-Sells would open in Vincennes, Indiana, on April 26. But not long after the Ringling trains rumbled out of Baraboo and Bridgeport, tragedy struck. Otto Ringling, the financial wizard of the Ringling enterprise, passed away at John’s home in New York.
A Chicago newspaper reporter described the circus pulling out of Baraboo just as it had for many years:
But this year something happened. Hardly twenty-four hours had passed when there was a returning stir of excitement. One of the leaders of the departed army had died suddenly. And on the returning trains of the next few days little groups of sober-faced men came back, one of the trains bearing the remains of the dead leader.
The funeral of Otto Ringling was simple. In three great cities of the country three huge amusement enterprises were at a standstill. At Baraboo a handful of quiet men listened to the reading of a brief service. Then they went back to work.23
As always, Otto had anticipated future events and planned carefully. His will, which he had prepared on January 18, 1910, included a cover note that read:
Dear Brothers, Rather than have any contest over this will in case it should be attacked, I believe you will have no trouble in fixing up by a reasonable settlement as I believe there are only four who would dream of trying and I hardly think they would and they have not been ignored. We have labored together successfully for a long time. Good bye, Otto.24
Otto’s will gave Henry one-fifth interest in the Ringling business, making him a full partner. To carry out the other mandates of his will, the Sauk County Court would have to inventory Otto’s estate. The total value of the three circuses was determined to be $348,193 (about $6.5 million in 2002 dollars): $129,513 for the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows; $144,285 for the Barnum & Bailey Circus; and $74,395 for the Forepaugh-Sells show. These were extremely low figures. The actual value of each circus was several times these appraised values. (The Ringlings had purchased a worn-out Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907 for $410,000. Later in 1911 they would put Forepaugh-Sells on the market at an asking price of $200,000.)25
Otto Ringling was one of the most visionary of the five Brothers. The circus was never the same without him. MILWAUKEE SENTINEL, APRIL 1, 1911; WHS MICROFILM P76-4572
Nevertheless, the court based the value of Otto’s estate on these figures. His portion of the business amounted to $69,639.26 Otto Ringling hadn’t taken the time to spend much of the money he had accumulated over the years, and in various bank accounts in Baraboo and Bridgeport, Connecticut, he had $402,902. His furniture and personal effects were valued at $1,809. In total his estate was worth $479,243.32 (about $9 million in 2002 dollars)—less than the amount he had bequeathed, $635,000, to relatives and others.
On January 18, 1910, Otto mailed his will to his brother John, with an accompanying letter.“The enclosed envelope addressed to you all contains my last will and testament. You will please open it in the presence of the rest, and I hope you will take every legal step possible to carry it out.” (Otto obviously trusted John. More so than any of the other Brothers, John had a broad, less hands-on approach to the circus holdings.)
Otto also wrote:
As the original members of the firm are still accumulating more worldly goods than they really care for, I have made no effort to leave anything to them except in your case and Alf’s which unimportant bequests I have made for convenience sake as it disposes of the two cases without any trouble being held in your name and Alf’s and the furniture, books, billiard table etc. being in Alf’s home.
(Otto was probably referring to his bequests to John of his “entire investments in the Orient Railway Company. Construction bonds and the Smith Valley Land Co.” and to Alf. T. his “books, furniture, billiard table, etc. and interest in the lots I am joint owner with him in.”)
Otto had never married. He bequeathed the following to family members and associates: To sister Ida: $75,000 in a trust; nephew Richard Ringling, Alfred’s son: $250,000 in a trust until he reached twenty-five; nephew Robert Ringling, Charles’s son: $25,000 in a trust until he reached twenty-one; nephew Henry Ringling Jr., Henry’s son: $25,000 in a trust until he reached twenty-one; niece Hester Ringling, Charles’s daughter: $50,000 in a trust until she reached twenty-five; sister-in-law Mrs. Gus (Annie) Ringling: $15,000; niece Lorene Horton (Gus’s daughter): $15,000; niece Martha Ringling (Gus’s daughter): $15,000; niece Alice Ringling (Gus’s daughter): $15,000; Ralph Peckham (official with the Ringling circus): $10,000; Sam McCracken (official with the Ringling circus): $10,000; Spencer Alexander (Ringling boss hostler): $10,000; John Snellen (previously in charge of Ringling tents): $10,000; brother Henry, $100,000 beyond the one-fifth interest in the firm; brother Al: Renault automobile; brother Charles: $10,000 “to buy and equip a launch of any kind desired.” Finally, he willed his nephew Richard Ringling, Alfred’s son, “all the residue over and above the amount required to properly wind up my affairs and personal indebtedness … to be held in trust until his twenty-first birthday.”1
As to the portrait of the five brothers that was widely used in their advertising, Otto wrote, “I believe my portrait should be taken from the billing as soon as possible and replaced with that of Henry.” (The surviving brothers did not make this change; after Otto’s death they simply ceased using the five brothers portrait.)
With his usual foresight, Otto was worried that someone might contest his will. He closed the letter with the following:
In the remote possibility of someone making such attempt, I believe there are enough directly interested that can afford to fix the matter up … I know you will not misunderstand me John, in this I trust you all and implicitly. God bless you. May you each and every one live long and happily. Otto.2
NOTES
1. Last will and testament, Otto Ringling, January 18, 1910, CWM.
2. Otto Ringling to John Ringling, January 18, 1910. Copy from original owned by Sally Clayton Jones, CWM.
Henry Ringling, third from right, became a full partner upon Otto’s death in 1911. ALF T. RINGLING, BENEATH WHITE TENTS: ROUTE BOOK OF RINGLING BROTHERS, 1894 SEASON, CWM
Before the court determined how to handle this discrepancy, Gus’s three daughters challenged the will, stating that it was not a will but merely a letter indicating how Otto wanted his property divided. Unsatisfied with the amount Otto had left them, they each asked for $100,000.27 Although the decision took several years, all parties involved reached an agreement on June 23, 1913. Lorene Ringling Horton (age twenty-eight), Martha “Mattie” Ringling (age twenty-six), and Alice Ringling Coerper (age twenty-three) received together $75,000—$30,000 more than Otto had bequeathed to them—to end the matter.28
Even with the Brothers’ great loss, their shows went on. The Barnum & Bailey and Forepaugh-Sells shows continued as scheduled. The main show opened on April 1 and played indoors in Chicago until April 23. While there the Ringlings received twenty-three zebras from Nairobi, the largest shipment of African zebras ever sent to a single buyer in America. Seven of the animals arrived dead, leaving a total of sixteen to add to the four the Ringlings already owned.29 From Chicago the Ringling Brothers’ show moved first east and then west, again spending most of the fall in California and Texas.
After Indiana, Forepaugh-Sells traveled the East, Midwest, and West, and then headed south. It was the first time the Ringling Brothers sent one of their shows to Florida; Forepaugh-Sells had its biggest stand of the season in Tampa, grossing $10,372.85.30
In the course of the 1911 season, the Ringlings dealt with the usual claims of damage to property or injury. By this time the Ringlings employed an “adjustor” to deal with such claims. In 1911 the adjustor recorded the following incidents: “Buggy upset. Lady’s arm broken. Adjusted $2.50 plus two tickets.” “Mrs. J. D. Maxon fell from seats during matinee and injured her leg. Adjusted for $5.00.” “Horse frightened by elephant. Lady thrown out, but nothing serious. No claim.” “Mrs. Kennedy and child was thrown out of buggy, horse being scared by elephants. Were carefully warned [before occurrence]. No claim.”31
More serious accidents did occur. While the Ringling show was in Stockton, California, on September 13, a band member, late for the parade, ran alongside the bandwagon, slipped, fell beneath the wagon, and was run over. He died instantly. The adjustor took the names and addresses of several witnesses and recorded them in his diary. Then he wrote, “Sent body home to Hot Spring, South Dakota, $105.50.”32
As circus historian Richard J. Reynolds III noted, “Circus history is replete with similar incidents. Hardly an issue of Billboard went by without a similar tale. People, both patrons and circus employees, were killed or seriously injured with hardly a blink of the eye in the press and little resort to the judicial system. … [This] casual attitude also applied to all sorts of industrial accidents and deaths.”33 The claims settled by the Ringling Brothers for the Ringling show in 1911 totaled $2,720.56.34
Just before the end of the season, on October 29, another tragedy occurred: Spencer “Delavan” Alexander died unexpectedly following a banquet for circus people at the Hotel Main in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The Ringling Brothers’ Circus would play Fort Smith on Monday and Fayette, Arkansas, on Tuesday before returning to Baraboo. Alexander had just entertained several of the circus staff in his hotel room, and everyone had left except for the circus physician and a circus superintendent. Alexander slumped in his chair and died instantly.35
A Ringling employee since 1889, Alexander was considered one of the best boss hostlers in the world of the Big Tops. He had cared for the Ringling horse herd with meticulous attention. During the winter months, Alexander lived with his wife and children at the Lynn Avenue farm where many Ringling horses were housed. He was well respected among both circus people and the residents of Baraboo. During his funeral services in Baraboo, all the businesses in town closed in his memory.
The three shows ended their seasons and returned to their respective winter quarters. Back in Baraboo, the five partners, now including Henry, decided that operating three shows was just too much, especially after the loss of Otto. Reality had set in. The year 1911 had challenged and stretched them. For 1912 they would stick with two big shows. The loss of financial wizard Otto likely had some part in this decision. Even though the Ringlings employed financial managers, none could come close to the skill and knowledge Otto had possessed. Besides, Otto had been a leader in making important and often far-reaching decisions, such as influencing his brothers to purchase the Barnum & Bailey show.
Spencer “Delavan” Alexander (shown here in 1894, standing center front) was boss hostler for the Ringling Brothers for many years. He died just as the 1911 show season was closing. ALF T. RINGLING, BENEATH WHITE TENTS: ROUTE BOOK OF RINGLING BROTHERS, 1894 SEASON, CWM
Late that fall the Ringlings put the Adam Forepaugh and Sells Brothers Circus up for sale, asking $200,000. William P. Hall, a horse and mule dealer from Lancaster, Missouri, expressed an interest, and the closing for the transaction was scheduled for November 11, 1911.36 But for reasons unknown, the sale fell through, and the once famous and well-respected circus was sold piecemeal.