No More Circus

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paulrobots
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No More Circus

Post by paulrobots »

ELLENTON, Fla.
After 146 years, the curtain is coming down on "The Greatest Show on Earth." The owner of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus told The Associated Press that the show will close forever in May.

The iconic American spectacle was felled by a variety of factors, company executives say. Declining attendance combined with high operating costs, along with changing public tastes and prolonged battles with animal rights groups all contributed to its demise.

"There isn't any one thing," said Kenneth Feld, chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment. "This has been a very difficult decision for me and for the entire family."

The company broke the news to circus employees Saturday night after shows in Orlando and Miami.

Ringling Bros. has two touring circuses this season and will perform 30 shows between now and May. Major stops include Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Brooklyn. The final shows will be in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 7 and in Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau County Coliseum on May 21.

The circus, with its exotic animals, flashy costumes and death-defying acrobats, has been a staple of entertainment in the United States since the mid-1800s. Phineas Taylor Barnum made a traveling spectacle of animals and human oddities popular, while the five Ringling brothers performed juggling acts and skits from their home base in Wisconsin. Eventually, they merged and the modern circus was born. The sprawling troupes traveled around America by train, wowing audiences with the sheer scale of entertainment and exotic animals.

By midcentury, the circus was routine, wholesome family entertainment. But as the 20th century went on, kids became less and less enthralled. Movies, television, video games and the internet captured young minds. The circus didn't have savvy product merchandising tie-ins or Saturday morning cartoons to shore up its image.

"The competitor in many ways is time," said Feld, adding that transporting the show by rail and other circus quirks — such as providing a traveling school for performers' children— are throwbacks to another era. "It's a different model that we can't see how it works in today's world to justify and maintain an affordable ticket price. So you've got all these things working against it."

The Feld family bought the Ringling circus in 1967. The show was just under 3 hours then. Today, the show is 2 hours and 7 minutes, with the longest segment — a tiger act — clocking in at 12 minutes.

"Try getting a 3- or 4-year-old today to sit for 12 minutes," he said.

Feld and his daughter Juliette Feld, who is the company's chief operating officer, acknowledged another reality that led to the closing, and it was the one thing that initially drew millions to the show: the animals. Ringling has been targeted by activists who say forcing animals to perform is cruel and unnecessary.

In May of 2016, after a long and costly legal battle, the company removed the elephants from the shows and sent the animals to live on a conservation farm in Central Florida. The animals had been the symbol of the circus since Barnum brought an Asian elephant named Jumbo to America in 1882. In 2014, Feld Entertainment won $25.2 million in settlements from groups including the Humane Society of the United States, ending a 14-year fight over allegations that circus employees mistreated elephants.

By the time the elephants were removed, public opinion had shifted somewhat. Los Angeles prohibited the use of bull-hooks by elephant trainers and handlers, as did Oakland, California. The city of Asheville, North Carolina nixed wild or exotic animals from performing in the municipally owned, 7,600-seat U.S. Cellular Center.

Attendance has been dropping for 10 years, said Juliette Feld, but when the elephants left, there was a "dramatic drop" in ticket sales. Paradoxically, while many said they didn't want big animals to perform in circuses, many others refused to attend a circus without them.

"We know now that one of the major reasons people came to Ringling Bros. was getting to see elephants," she said. "We stand by that decision. We know it was the right decision. This was what audiences wanted to see and it definitely played a major role."

The Felds say their existing animals — lions, tigers, camels, donkeys, alpacas, kangaroos and llamas — will go to suitable homes. Juliette Feld says the company will continue operating the Center for Elephant Conservation.

Some 500 people perform and work on both touring shows. A handful will be placed in positions with the company's other, profitable shows — it owns Monster Jam, Disney on Ice and Marvel Live, among other things — but most will be out of a job. Juliette Feld said the company will help employees with job placement and resumes. In some cases where a circus employee lives on the tour rail car (the circus travels by train), the company will also help with housing relocation.

Kenneth Feld became visibly emotional while discussing the decision with a reporter. He said over the next four months, fans will be able to say goodbye at the remaining shows.

In recent years, Ringling Bros. tried to remain relevant, hiring its first African American ringmaster, then its first female ringmaster, and also launching an interactive app. It added elements from its other, popular shows, such as motorbike daredevils and ice skaters. But it seemingly was no match for Pokemon Go and a generation of kids who desire familiar brands and YouTube celebrities.

"We tried all these different things to see what would work, and supported it with a lot of funding as well, and we weren't successful in finding the solution," said Kenneth Feld.

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gkearney
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Re: No More Circus

Post by gkearney »

The story is about the closing of perhaps the best known and largest circus but not as the subject would digest the end of all circus themselves smaller ones still exist, the shirie has one in my town in a few weeks.

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Original_Intent
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Re: No More Circus

Post by Original_Intent »

What next???? No bread???:

Onsdag
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Re: No More Circus

Post by Onsdag »

Original_Intent wrote:What next???? No bread???:
One has to Wonder...

paulrobots
captain of 100
Posts: 374

Re: No More Circus

Post by paulrobots »

Onsdag wrote:
Original_Intent wrote:What next???? No bread???:
One has to Wonder...
Stop being a pita.

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Original_Intent
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Re: No More Circus

Post by Original_Intent »

I guess we'll just loaf around...don't give ma a crusty look.

paulrobots
captain of 100
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Re: No More Circus

Post by paulrobots »

Original_Intent wrote:I guess we'll just loaf around...don't give ma a crusty look.
It does baguette the question, why did this thread take such a hardtack off course?

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skmo
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Re: No More Circus

Post by skmo »

paulrobots wrote:
Original_Intent wrote:I guess we'll just loaf around...don't give ma a crusty look.
It does baguette the question, why did this thread take such a hardtack off course?
Maybe it was just muffin' around.

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shadow
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Location: St. George

Re: No More Circus

Post by shadow »

Any way you slice it, Ringling Bro's wasn't making enough dough.

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Original_Intent
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Re: No More Circus

Post by Original_Intent »

It's unfortunate that things didn't pan out.

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RyanK
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Re: No More Circus

Post by RyanK »

Crumby news.

Onsdag
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Posts: 798

Re: No More Circus

Post by Onsdag »

paulrobots wrote:
Original_Intent wrote:I guess we'll just loaf around...don't give ma a crusty look.
It does baguette the question, why did this thread take such a hardtack off course?
I'll manna up. I'm something of a wise cracker and saw a golden opportunity to make a bun. My apologies if it fell flat or was in sour taste.

On the other hand, maybe we're all just a bunch of sideshow clowns when it comes to bread and circuses. Either way, this thread has turned into quite the dog and pony show. Hmmm... maybe we should all join the circus... or start our own. :o)

Silver
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Re: No More Circus

Post by Silver »

I like the way you guys roll.

2EstablishZion
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Re: No More Circus

Post by 2EstablishZion »

I'm glad so many could rise to the challenge. :)

Silver
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Re: No More Circus

Post by Silver »

There was a fire in our neighborhood. The house was badly damaged. It wasn't a total loss though and the owners will rebuild. I'm helping them out by giving them some money. It's not much...just a nickel I found next to the pumper truck.

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passionflower
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Re: No More Circus

Post by passionflower »

Since man does not live by bread alone, I will be getting back to the subject.

It is really a crime the way animal rights activism has destroyed great family entertainment. I think if anyone wants a sign of the times, this is it.

Last summer my DH and I flew down to Las Vegas and saw Penn and Teller. The theme of their show was ridiculing animal rights activists.

Penn and Teller are not shy about their politics, and up front Penn talked about he and Ray Tellers early days on Saturday Night Live. While doing so, he got a rope and did the old cutting a rope into pieces and then throwing it out to the audience in one piece trick. Then Teller went off stage and comes back with a snake. Penn Jillette then tells about how on SNL he did this same rope trick with a snake ( which he proceeded to do for us ) and how SNL to this day has never received more complaints and just downright hate mail than it did after he and Teller pretended to cut up a snake on the show. The protests to this so called heinous trick were truly virulent and even threatening. Meanwhile we all scream when he nearly throws a snake out onto the audience!

So Penn goes on to say that animal rights activists want us all to believe that loving animals and protecting their so called rights makes you a better, kinder and more compassionate person, but that really isn't true.

On a later SNL show, Teller did the old Houdini water torture trick. Except that at the end, he doesn't make it out of the water tank. Penn describes how you eventually see Teller blowing air bubbles out his mouth with his eyes closed, bobbing back and forth as he hangs upside down. Then, in front of everyone the tank is moved off the stage. At the end of the show, only Penn Jillette is seen coming out to wave good by and thanks for coming to the audience.

Not one word of worry or concern was expressed by the audience. No hate mail was received. In fact, all the mail that came in that week was very complimentary. Absolutely no one even seemed to care if Teller was OK or not.

This was a really funny show we saw in Las Vegas. Penn and Teller dressed up a cow to look like an elephant and called it some animal on the endangered list. I can't believe there weren't Peta protestors outside their theatre ( but they did check my purse for a gun before going in!) The finale was Penn Jillette telling a story about how his parents wanted him to be a "good boy" so they taught him animal traps were CRUEL and WRONG. But as he grew up , he amassed an evil looking collection of huge animal traps which were now displayed all over the stage ( and they were very fearsome looking!). As he goes on telling the story of his life really using these traps, Teller goes quietly all over the stage, sticking his fingers, hands, arms and even feet and legs into these traps to set them off.

I enjoyed this show very much.

I understand that animal rights activists have destroyed the fur industry in Great Britain.

I lived in Morgan Utah once, where the mink farms produced a fur that rivaled that of Scandinavia. Animal rights activists all but destroyed that by vandalizing these mink farms and letting minks out of their cages. From there these valuble animals were killed by mountain lions or just plain starvation. Minks cannot really survive on their own. But the animal rights people don't care what happened to these minks after they freed them. Their goal was to only to destroy the mink farm, a once thriving industry. Very VERY uncharitable.

While I lived there, animals rights activists came back ( there are other animal husbandry businesses there ) and staged a protest. I thought it very humorous to see Morgan residents getting out their grills right there on main street and having Bar b ques!

I have heard that the huge egg farms in central Utah have to hire security guards night and day to protect themselves from the vandalism of animal rights activists. Must be really hard to know you have enemies like that. It can make you see what the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus was up against.

FamilyFunnyFarm
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Re: No More Circus

Post by FamilyFunnyFarm »

Animal Rights activists irritate me. It's ok to crate your dog or walk them on a leash or force them to sit. Train an elephant that lives a pampered life of luxury compared to the wild and suddenly it's abuse.

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