Circus Icon Ringling Bros. Says Goodbye After 146 Years

NBCNews.com ^ | May 21 2017, | Daniella Silva

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

UNIONDALE, New York — Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus folded up its Big Top for the last time on Sunday night in New York, as emotional performers, wistful crowd-goers and ecstatic protesters said farewell to an institution in American live entertainment after nearly a century and a half.

The circus gave the final performance of "The Greatest Show on Earth" to a sold-out crowd at Nassau Coliseum, showing off its death-defying stunts and exotic animals for the last time after 146 years.

[castlegreyskull]

That would have been so cool. IN recent times, they had to come into town under the cover of darkness.

[Biggirl]

Clowns have become a fear factor.

[Lazamataz]

ratty and tacky with tired animals and lousy clowns

That is how every single woman describes a date with me.

[Carriage Hill]

Bmk.

[Alberta's Child]

That's a somewhat different story. It hit the big scene in the 1990s and early 2000s, and it's still something of a novelty for many people.

To give you an indication of just how hard it is to maintain public interest in different forms of entertainment, even an iconic American institution like NASCAR has been in a period of decline since the peak of its popularity in the late 1990s.

[mom4melody]

I’m not an animal rights activist, I just find the circus boring.

My children have no desire to attend one either.

Things change over time.

[miss marmelstein]

Well, they have no taste, Laz.

[Lazamataz]

Well, they have no taste, Laz.

Maybe. But they sure taste good!

[Will88]

They had it outdoors. That must have been cool. How did they set up the trapeze?

That was more than fifty years ago. They had poles and crossbars set up. I mostly remember the elephants and a bunch of clowns piling out of a tiny clown car.

[Buckeye McFrog]

who wants to sit in a hot tent sweating various parts of your anatomy off to watch performing animals in the height of the summer?

Ringling hasn't played tents since the 1950's. All recent shows, like the last one Sunday, were in air conditioned hockey arenas.

[jagusafr]

We keep getting free tickets to the Shrine Circus here in San Antonio - haven’t taken the kids since they were 8 and 4 respectively, mainly because it’s become sort of lame entertainment.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Now if people want to see a seemingly infinite number of people pile out of a vehicle they’ll have to go no further than driving home by a van crash full of illegals. They also give extra added entertainment by disappearing.

[dfwgator]

“Dear Madame Barnum, I resign as clown”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTJujda3Sv0

[Spktyr]

See my post and link above. They returned to tents on a limited basis in 2009.

Also - their advertising did nothing to dispel the image of having to go sit in a hot tent to watch the circus. Nobody wants to do that in Texas (or the rest of the South) for about half the year.

[Jolla]

They should set-up a permanent show in Las Vegas.

[SandRat]

Ringling Bros. Says Goodbye
It is GONE.
Killed by the animal rights activists

[Roccus]

What an ignominious site for the end of The Greatest Show On Earth....the Nassau Mausoleum........(sigh)

[WVMnteer]

I think it’s largely a dead brand and - generally speaking - a dead concept.

I think you could probably streamline the concept into some daredevil type show, but I think the idea of “performing” animals is just not something that works well in 2017.

[fwdude]

There is one small traveling circus that only performs in their own tents. I can’t remember the name, but they come through here on occasion.

[WVMnteer]

They’ve tried variations of the permanent show in the past in Florida - to very little success.

I have three kids under 13. They have never once in their lives mentioned an interest in seeing the circus.

And, frankly, it’s never really occurred to me to take them. I went once as a kid at some point in the 70s. I don’t really remember enjoying it.