“It was Al Ringling’s success in show business that influenced his four brothers to join him in the circus venture. Although he had given up the active management of the shows some time before he died, his was always the guiding spirit. More than any of the other brothers he was beloved of his associates and friends the world over.”1
On June 28, 1914, the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand ignited World War I. It was soon obvious to the Ringlings that their business—which had withstood economic depression, formidable competition, and the death of one of its founders—would not escape the war’s impact.
The Ringlings had for many years relied on circus acts they imported from Europe. With the onset of war, it became difficult to obtain acts—or even to contact them. In fall 1914 the Brothers were trying to locate the Eretto Trio, a performance act. They sent a letter to an address in England that read:
For sometime past we have made every effort available to locate you, but without success. We have cabled, written and otherwise inquired. We are wholly without information as to your whereabouts, and at a loss to understand why, as is customary, you have not communicated with us. … We are anxious that you respond immediately.2
There is no record as to whether the Eretto Trio ever joined the Ringlings’ shows.
The Ringlings were also unable to obtain new wild animals for their menagerie. According to circus historian Richard J. Reynolds:
The war devastated the [German] Hagenbeck firm, which depended heavily on shipments of African animals from its German colonies. That source was soon cut off. The firm of Louis Ruhe was somewhat less affected because it had a subsidiary in America and continued to send animals from Alfeld, Germany, via Dutch intermediaries and Dutch ships, the Netherlands having remained neutral.3
Not all troubles the Ringlings encountered during the 1915 season could be blamed on the war. Because of an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease in the country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture banned the interstate shipment of cloven-hoofed mammals. This ban prevented circuses from carrying camels, giraffes, water buffalo, bison, deer, antelopes, and warthogs. Thus, when the World’s Greatest Shows headed to Chicago for its April 15 opening at the Coliseum, it left those animals behind in Baraboo. A writer for the New York Clipper commented: “The hoof and mouth quarantine has curtailed a good deal in the circus menagerie. A herd of ostriches has taken the place of the giraffes with the Ringling show and none of the cloven footed hay-eating animals were brought to Chicago for the Coliseum engagement. The youngsters missed the camels.”4
The Ringlings played in Chicago until the end of the April and then went under canvas in Zanesville, Ohio. A highlight of the 1915 show was the remarkable aerialist Lillian Leitzel, who became known as one of the finest female performers of all time. Fred Bradna, equestrian director with the Barnum & Bailey show in 1915, believed that Lillian Leitzel was the greatest circus star of either sex: “Her showmanship, her artistry, [and] the management’s ballyhoo of her act are without parallel. And the way in which she, alone in the tent top, twisted her dainty body over one arm seventy-five to hundred times in a feat of endurance, was unique.”5
Barnum & Bailey, The Greatest Show on Earth, opened its 1915 season at Madison Square Garden in New York on April 1. With their two big traveling shows, the Ringlings continued to dominate the circus business. That year there were twenty-one railroad circuses on tour, most of them tiny shows compared with the Ringlings’. The Brothers’ namesake show had eighty-five rail cars; the Barnum & Bailey show had eighty-two.6 The next-largest show in 1915 was the Carl Hagenbeck-Wallace Shows, with fifty-three railcars.
Even with the threat of the United States becoming a part of the conflagration in Europe, the Ringlings did well in 1915. They attracted large crowds, even some turn-aways, and by season’s end the Ringling Bros. World’s Greatest Shows had grossed $1,347,452 ($23.3 million in 2002 dollars). The Ringling circus showed 172 days, with an average gross income per day of $7,834. The biggest days were in Washington, D.C. ($15,732); Hartford, Connecticut ($13,774); Boston ($16,359); and Dallas ($14,656). Unbelievably, they took in $10,849.50 in little Postville, Iowa, population 972, proving that their Iowa roots remained strong.7 For the matinee and evening performances in Postville on September 3, 1915, the Ringling Brothers attracted 18,000 people. A local German-language newspaper reported:
The likes of the mass of humanity, which the Ringling Brothers Circus attracted last Friday evening, has never before seen in Postville nor is it likely to be seen again. Beginning Thursday evening every road leading to Postville was alive with traffic carrying those wishing to watch the unloading of the circus.
The [passenger] trains were filled beyond capacity and the morning train to St. Paul, which had extra cars, had to [go] back to Monona to pick up all of those there and in Luana, for whom there was no room on the regular train and bring them to Postville.8
The Ringling circus closed in Memphis, Tennessee, on November 1 and returned to Baraboo for another winter. The circus was an escape from the worries of the day, and the circus business had once again proven its resilience during difficult times. That winter each of the Brothers drew $55,000 in profit sharing from the business’s account ($949,000 in 2002 dollars). On January 1, 1916, the Ringlings had $93,560.26 in the bank.9
After their threats and indecision about leaving Wisconsin earlier that decade, the Ringlings now seemed content at Ringlingville Baraboo. They even added to their holdings there, having purchased during the previous December thirteen and one-eighth acres from Theron and Lucy N. Case for $1,800.10
But the Ringlings were shocked when Al, the oldest brother, died on January 1, 1916, at sixty-three years of age. It is impossible to say which of the original five brothers had made the greatest contribution to the Ringling Brothers’ shows. But there probably would not have been a Ringling Brothers Circus without Al Ringling’s enthusiasm and experience.
Al Ringling (1852–1916), the oldest of the Ringling Brothers, was largely responsible for starting the Ringling Brothers Circus. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM
Al, for many years the show’s program director, knew how to keep a circus show moving and to keep an audience interested. He was also well respected by his peers. The Show World had once written:
The debut of the five Ringlings in the Northwest some twenty years ago marked the beginning of an evolution in the performance. The father of this evolutionary idea was Al Ringling, who today is beyond the shadow of doubt the greatest director general of circus programs ever known. He is the wonder of the age at collecting and putting together acts and stunts that hold audiences spellbound.11
Al was the glue that held the confederation of five together. Without a written contract, the Brothers shared equally the decision making and the profits. Of all the brothers, Al seemed to enjoy living in Baraboo the most. While his brothers sought homes in other places, Al made his home in Baraboo with his wife, Lou, spending most of his winters there, looking after activities at winter quarters. After Al’s death, his sister Ida’s son, Henry Ringling North, wrote that “Al Ringling had the sweetest disposition of all the brothers; he was the one whom the circus people really loved. When the news reached Winter Quarters, clowns and cooks, hostlers and equestrians, wept for ‘Uncle Al.’”12
Although they had lost their leader, John, Charles, Alf T., and Henry were committed to continuing their shows. They went on with planning the 1916 season and looking for new ways to attract people to their tents. In early 1916 Charles Ringling had heard about a big snake that was available for sale. “We want the big snake if it is nearly 30 feet long. I take it F. O. B. France might mean ‘before the duty is paid.’ Make sure about it as it would make a big difference in price.”13 There is no evidence that they acquired the big reptile.
That season the Ringlings would debut a new spectacle, advertised as “Ringling Brothers Circus and Fairyland Spectacle Cinderella,” with “1250 characters, 300 dancing girls, 735 horses, 100 musicians, 108 cage zoo, 400 arenic artists, 60 clowns, 89 railroad cars. One fifty cent ticket admits all. Children under 12 half-price.”14 The performer who played Cinderella was from Europe, and the Ringlings had some difficulty in contacting her and arranging her safe transportation to the United States.
A circus earned income during its show season, usually from April through November, but it spent money all year long. The Ringlings’ departure from Baraboo clearly would have a huge economic impact on that community.
By the winter of 1915–1916 the Ringlings had to feed about five hundred horses and ponies, twenty-nine elephants, and fifteen camels, plus an additional twenty or so other hay-eaters, from antelope to zebras. In February 1916 the Brothers purchased 159 tons of hay, for $1,848.62, and eighteen bushels of carrots, for $9.40.1 They bought eight old horses from neighboring farmers ($58.00) to feed the carnivores, which included tigers, lions, leopards, and hyenas.
As usual, preparations for spring included purchasing equipment for the coming season. That February they bought 162 sixteen-foot tamarack tent poles ($24.30), 100 twelve-foot poles ($6.50), and 55 seventeen-foot poles ($8.25). Paint for the poles cost $47.04, and new ropes cost $1,110.47. They purchased an “electric engine” for $2,375 and electric light supplies, bulbs, and the like for $322.98. In addition general hardware, lumber, and paint cost $1,017.36.
The payroll for the approximately 120 employees for the month of February 1916 was $3,205.65 ($52,552 in 2002 dollars). Other expenses that month included flowers for Mrs. Gollmar’s funeral ($35) and for Al Ringling’s funeral ($80), the telephone bill ($59.87), the gas and electric bill ($341.05), postage ($11), and freight cost to the railroad ($31.08).2
NOTES
1. Inventory, estate of Al Ringling, October 11, 1918, CWM.
2. Winter Quarters Ledger, February 1916, Fred Pfening III, private collection, Columbus, Ohio.
Fire once again struck the Ringling show in fall 1916. On the afternoon of October 28, in Huntsville, Alabama, a fire started in one of the baggage horse tents just before the afternoon show was to begin. Before the horses could be cut loose, more than one hundred were lost to the flames.
The Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus had just closed for the season and was back at winter quarters in West Baden, Indiana, some 375 miles north of Huntsville. The Ringlings quickly acquired one hundred Hagenbeck-Wallace horses, which joined the Ringling show at Clarksdale, Mississippi, on October 30 and stayed with the show until it closed on November 4. Even though circus people competed vigorously, in times of disaster they were quick to help each other.15
By the end of 1916 World War I continued to pose international problems and threatened to drag America into the fray, but the Ringlings had nevertheless had another successful season. During the week of May 20, in Ohio, the Ringling show took in $76,825.60; in Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky during the week of September 30, they earned $54.567.55; and in Mississippi and Louisiana, during the final week of the season, the show took in $61.684.87. The Ringling show’s gross earnings for 1916 were $1,613,150 ($25.6 million in 2002 dollars).16
During the 1916 season the Ringling show was out 204 days with 177 show days. They put on 353 performances, visiting 152 towns and 23 states. And they traveled 12,974 miles, not including miles to and from winter quarters in Baraboo. They closed on November 4 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and made their way back to Ringlingville Baraboo.17
That winter the “European war” continued to rage, but the remaining Ringling Brothers stayed optimistic. They built a new hotel for their employees on Water Street in Baraboo. “The new hotel, the pride of the employees, and in the construction of which Henry Ringling had had the supervision during the summer months, is the best equipped circus hotel in the country. It has been designed and constructed for the peculiar purpose for which it is planned, and is a revelation in the circus world.”18
The heating plant was located in the basement of the hotel, along with quarters for “colored help.” The first floor was a lobby/reading room. The second floor held dining and sleeping rooms, and the third floor was a large dormitory, designed to be used in the spring, when the circus was preparing to go on the road and employee numbers increased.
There is no record of it, but the Ringlings likely bought horses before the start of the 1917 season to replace those killed in October in the fire. By this time they had from seven hundred to eight hundred horses, and they routinely bought and sold them in very large numbers.
By the following spring, America was at war. President Wilson presented a war message to Congress on April 2, 1917, and it immediately passed both houses with large majorities. The federal government, through the War Industries Board, assumed control of many facets of the U.S. economy, including the railroads. There were “meatless” Mondays and “wheatless” Wednesdays. With the draft the army swelled from one hundred thousand to five million within the year.19 Able-bodied men who could work for the circus became scarce. Normally, the Barnum & Bailey show employed 250 canvasmen; when the show went under tents in 1917, it had only 80.20
The Ringlings intended to feature the Cinderella spectacle again in 1917. But Jeanne Rae, the performer who played Cinderella, had spent the winter in Europe. Could she safely return to the United States for the show season? On April 5 a Chicago newspaper reported her safe arrival in that city:
Cinderella flits past submarine danger zone. Cinderella does not fear the submarines. Under convoy of the very best fairies, Cinderella, otherwise Miss Jeanne Rae, care of Ringling Brothers’ circus, sailed across the danger zone and yesterday arrived in Chicago. She spent the winter doing hospital work in Belfast. Her father and two brothers are in the trenches. Irregular sailings delayed other performers, but the management had a special train to bring them from New York. All have reported and a dress rehearsal will be held tomorrow evening.21
The 1917 show also included the Clarkonians, consisting of three Clarke brothers. Their contract specified that the act should consist of the following:
Clarkonians Big Aerial Act by Ernest and Charles Clarke. Jockey Act (In Highland Costume) by Clarke Brothers and others to be supplied by Ringling Brothers. Principle somersault act by Percy Clarke. Principle somersault act by Ernest Clarke if required. Juggling Riding act by Charles Clarke if required. Clarke Brothers to furnish stock for above acts. All to take part in tournament or entry. Ringling Brothers to furnish state room in sleeping car.
The Ringlings also paid the three Clarkes $325 per week.22
With the costs of war and lack of labor, circus operating expenses soared. In 1917 there were eighteen railroad circuses on tour in the United States, down from twenty-one in 1915 and 1916 and twenty-five in 1914. The Ringling Brothers, with eighty-five railcars, and Barnum & Bailey, with eighty-four cars, were the largest.23
Coining a Phrase
On May 8, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson attended the Barnum & Bailey Circus in Washington, D.C. As Equestrian Director Fred Bradna escorted President Wilson across the arena to the music of “Hail to the Chief,” the president took off his hat and threw it into the middle of the center ring. The press picked up on the stunt, announcing that Wilson had “thrown his hat in the ring” for the 1916 election. The phrase, of course, continues to this day.1
NOTES
1. Fred Bradna, The Big Top (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952), p. 118.
Despite their worries people flocked to the circus in 1917. In Chicago the Brothers had turn-away audiences on April 14 and April 15 and took in more than $10,000 each day. There would be turn-away audiences throughout the season and across the country. The Ringling show was out 212 days in 1917, with 184 show dates and 356 performances in 145 towns and 28 states including the District of Columbia. The show traveled 18,115 miles.24 Gross receipts for the World’s Greatest Shows were $1,792,475, an average of $9,742 per show date.25 The Ringlings closed the 1917 season in Memphis, Tennessee, on November 5 and returned to Baraboo.
The year 1918 would be one of transition for the Ringlings. The war continued in Europe. Labor shortages were rampant. Business expenses were rising to unbelievable levels, and certain essential supplies needed for circus operations were simply not available. In a July 1917 letter, Charles Ringling wrote:
With reference to next year, we have been rather uncertain as to what we might expect after the control of foodstuffs is established. I am afraid that we will not be allowed to use flour for paste. Starch is a poor substitute for our use as it can not be carried thick for country use and thinned as used. Starch, too, may be subject to regulations for food conservation.
We might be obliged, if this war continues, to resort to advertising matter that can be tacked up—cloth, cardboard, etc.—and window work to a far greater extent than in the past and so not be able to post the quality of wall work we do at present. … [C]osts are way beyond anything ever experienced before and difficulties of transportation are serious. We would be satisfied for the present year and the next to be able to keep our business running on the same plane as in past years without anticipating any very large profits.26
Nevertheless, while the world’s major powers battled in Europe in March 1918, peace and tranquility seemed to prevail at Ringlingville Baraboo. A reporter for Billboard wrote:
The snow lies deep among the Wisconsin hills and the rivers are choked with ice, but at Ringling Brothers Circus winter quarters in Baraboo there is such activity and many signs of the approaching spring opening. All talk of war and rumors to the contrary have not retarded the work nor delayed the preparations for the coming season. The world’s “greatest shows”—the “biggest thing that moves”—will go out this season bigger, better and grander than ever. The big show will carry a message of cheer and brighter things to every point the itinerary touches, taking the people’s thoughts from serious subjects and relieving the nervous tension occasioned by troublesome times. Along the muddy streets of “Ringlingville,” that portion of Baraboo that lies near the river bank and has been so designated by the show folks as well as natives, there are many indications that the show is about to start.27
By the 1918 show season, only thirteen railroad circuses were on tour. The Ringling Brothers’ show and Barnum & Bailey were clearly the largest, with eighty-five railcars each.28 European acts were now impossible to acquire, and wages were soaring, making it difficult for the Ringlings to keep help. That year the Brothers presented the spectacle “In Days of Old,” a show written by Charles Ringling that depicted times of “Romance and Chivalry” and featured ballet dancers. The Ringlings increased the price of general admission tickets to 60 cents ($8.12 in 2002 dollars), which included a war tax.29
The Ringlings’ spectacles, such as 1916’s “In Days of Old,” featured dozens of ballet dancers. PRINT COLLECTION, CWM
Then, just before the Ringlings left winter quarters in April 1918, a force nearly as deadly as the war began taking shape. An army private at Fort Riley, Kansas, went on sick call on March 11 with a sore throat, fever, and headache. By noon of that day, one hundred soldiers had come down with the flu; by the end of the week the number had soared to five hundred.30 By summer the great flu epidemic of 1918 was sweeping the country, killing people by the thousands.
The Ringlings opened their 1918 season in Chicago and moved east to Pennsylvania, New York, and then back to the Midwest, where they played most of the summer. Daily receipts were modest, especially during the rainy early season. By midsummer attendance improved; they took in $16,684.47 on July 9 in Milwaukee, one of their biggest days ever. The crowds in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 23 were enormous, producing daily receipts of $21,298.28. Still, the deadly flu (known as the Spanish influenza because it had devastated Spain) swept across the United States like a Great Plains windstorm. By fall cities were canceling events, including parades, sporting events, and church services. On a single day in October, 851 persons died in New York City. All told, the pandemic killed an estimated 20 million persons worldwide, with the U.S. death toll at 548,000.31
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
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, across 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.
