Posted on 01/14/2017 7:44:36 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult
Posting limits due to source.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
You’ve got to be kidding. Who goes to the circus to see the ringmaster? Who cares who’s introducing the acts?
The problem is that, however well they take care of the wild animals, it’s not natural for those animals to travel on trains and trucks or to live under circus limitations. There are live cams in the wild, as well as in zoos, and we don’t have to wait for a circus to come to town anymore.
It is sad to see such an icon come to an end.
So, sad. An American institution. I only went to see Ringling Brothers because my grandmother wanted to, it was already in decline.
Though I saw it at a convention center, it was easy to imagine the old magic with the tents, acrobats and animal acts, the excitement of each town as the circus approached.
I guess the big theme parks are the successors. The sleazy carnivals that visit cities and villages are bastardized/low-rent versions.
They changed the name of the “fat lady” to “woman with a great personality.”
My family’s funeral plot is located in Woodlawn Cemetery, also the home to “Showman’s Rest” which I visited many times on our trips to the Cemetery to visit our family’s deceased. Showman’s Rest is where another circus train wreck’s dead are laid to rest. Here is an Internet synopsis of the site and its history:
“Memorial to Circus Train Wreck Dead
Field review by the editors.
Forest Park, Illinois
Five elephant statues mark the boundaries of Showmen’s Rest, a plot of 750 grave sites at Woodlawn Cemetery. The rumor, perpetuated by generations of Illinois schoolchildren, is that elephants killed in a train wreck couldn’t be moved and were buried where they fell. The statues actually mark the site of a mass grave of 56 (or perhaps 61) Hagenbeck-Wallace circus employees who were killed on June 22, 1918, when an empty troop train piloted by a napping engineer plowed into the four rear sleeping cars of the circus train near Hammond, Indiana.
Forest Park is a town of cemeteries, marking the historical fringe of the metropolitan area. Public transportation terminated here, so why not Chicago’s deceased populace? While strip malls and fast food have crept in, endless fields of monuments still silently greet the Forest Park visitor.
Grave markers of the unknown dead.
On the fateful early morning of June 22, 1918, a 26-car circus train was heading from Illinois into Hammond, Indiana, with 400 performers and roustabouts asleep in the rear cars. The train was halted on the Michigan Central tracks near Ivanhoe due to an overheated axle box. A troop train suddenly appeared on the same track, cruising up from behind at 35mph and failing to heed track warning signals and flares. Engineer Alonzo Sargent snoozed his way through three cars, finally halting on top of the fourth in a deafening grinding of metal and splintering of wood. Most of the 86 perished in the first 35 seconds of the wreck. Then, as is typical of any horrific historical mishap, the whole thing caught on fire.
Four days after the crash, survivors gathered at Woodlawn Cemetery, where the Showmen’s League of America had selected a burial plot for members. The identity of many victims of the wreck was unknown — some were roustabouts and temporary workers hired just hours or days before. Most of the markers note “unidentified male” or female. One is marked “Smiley,” another “Baldy,” and “4 Horse Driver.” Showmen’s Rest continues to fill up today, with deceased showmen performing at that biggest of Big Tops.
Also see: Showmen’s Rest, Hugo, OK | Circus Train Wreck, Durand, MI
Memorial to Circus Train Wreck Dead
Woodlawn Cemetery
Address:
7600 W. Cermak Rd, Forest Park, IL
Directions:
In the Showmen’s Rest section of Woodlawn Cemetery. Entrance on the east side of Des Plaines Ave. just north of 22nd St./W. Cermak Rd. Ask for directions to the Showmen’s Rest section.
Hours:
Call for cemetery hours.
- See more at: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2088#sthash.0upnhSuX.dpuf";
wow i actually saw the train in my girl friends father’s back yard that butts up against the chessy line from chester to philly. It was amazing. i didn’t know they traveled by train.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/11/nyregion/11metjournal.html
i know it is ny time but a good article on the train.
video nt mine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heXWQpw1BYU
I just thought is was hilarious to have a big article on a female ringmaster 5 seconds before they announce they are closing...
You could see this coming. Animal rights groups had hounded them mercilously. I remember how fun it was to watch them live. Another bit of Americana sacrificed on the altar of liberalism.
That was a pretty good story.
Well, that was interesting. I must say, my frame of reference is so small, that I don’t *get* most of the references in the parody [just think what it’s like to be a cloistered nun] :) THX kindly.
I read where CNR and Paul Lynde got their mannerisms from,
“And yet his persona — at least in his speaking style — was not entirely original to him:
[Alice] Ghostley bore such an uncanny resemblance to Paul–mostly in the way she talked–that a [play producer] reportedly mistook the two of them for siblings. Ghostley has been dismissed as a female Paul Lynde for decades, but a few people who know both performers insist Paul committed the identity theft. “He was doing Alice Ghostley all the time,” Paul’s friend Allison McKay says. “In fact, he told her, ‘I’ve become famous doing you!’ I really think that she was there first, but he loved the way she did things.” Charles Nelson Reilly’s recent admission of guilt regarding his own swipe from the Lynde/Ghostley repertoire suggests McKay may be right. When asked how he came up with his trademark “huh-hull” noise, Reilly said, “I stole it from Paul Lynde, who stole it from Alice Ghostley.”
https://mikecane.wordpress.com/2006/11/17/that-funny-that-nasty-that-charming-man/
Without any connection to wildlife at all, wildlife suffers. Because of circuses the population believed in betterment of wildlife. Now, the cities are wildlife.
Sad. Obamanomics.
They weren't so clean and pure. Many instances of animal abuse documented over the years by them.
I went to see a few shows back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s as a kid (still have some of the posters). I’d think they’d be better off having it in one location to have people come to them. They have a Ringling Museum down in Sarasota, FL, which I’ve visited.
They really didn't do much to bring themselves into the 21st century. When I was a kid in the 70's my parents took me every year. The animals and clowns were my least favorite parts. I liked the high wire acts and the motorcycle in the globe. If they has turned it into more of a stunt show like that, with an XGames vibe, maybe they could have done better. Or maybe not. Some things just naturally fade away with the times.
That's pretty common with most performers. Not easy to do laundry on the road. A lot of stage wear isn't even really washable, and they don't anticipate getting too close to the fans anyway.
I wouldn't go that far. Odd and creepy maybe.Thats what circuses are really known for. At least about 60% of it was, anyway.
Sometimes she also goes by the names "real woman" or "curvy".
I >>think<< I might have gone when I was 3 or 4. I have a vague memory of one of those triangular banners on my bedroom wall.
Congress: Yeah.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.