Sad ...and time passes on.

jeffcat

Well-known Member
Saturday night was last Greatest Show on Earth. The peta and bunny
huggers who tell us that animals should have the same rights as humans
have won. Ethical traetment and no cruelty, you bet, but those
animals had some of 5he best treatment in the business. I saw them
when i was in fourth or fifth grade. With the three rings it was hard
to keep up with all of the action. My world is slowing to a halt and a
crazyer one is taking over. I feal so sorry for 5he performers. Most
all of them have no where to go. I truley wish I could put 7p a
5housand mile wall and put all of the nuts on one side and us normal
folk on 5he other. There are still a few lttle circuses arount the
country that have a small tent, some performers, ane a pet cammel.
One nigh stands that go from town to town on a bunch of trucks. At one
time there were so many circuses you cound get two or even 5hree of
5hem in a season. Remember 5he movie "The Greatest Show on Earth "?
Charlton Heston sure ran that road show !!
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I never got to see it. Watched a documentary on them once and those animals got better care than most people. There was a school for the children and a preacher that married several for the performers and baptized there children. Some of them were third generation performers and the circus was there life. Make you wonder what will happen them now. Chalk another one up to the tree huggers, anti hunter,anti gun left wing nut jobs!
 
When I was a kid, the circus came to town and my Dad said I should get up early and go watch them set up. He knew I would get "recruited" - put to work - with the promise of a free ticket. Well, I got recruited and what a day I had helping set up the big-top and filling it with fold-up bleachers - every piece of that circus folded up! And what a group of crazy people - circus people. Every one of them, the elephants and strays like me got involved in setting up and I got to work with them. The elephants were the heavy lifters. The tent's center-poles were erected by them. Then harnessed to ropes from pulleys rigged to the center poles, the elephants walked away and effortlessly lifted the huge tents. I came home late in the day. Dad asked, "Where have you been all day?" I had some stories! And now - what a gigantic loss. A way of life, what was really a separate reality - gone.
 
I'm betting those animals had a lot easier life than being in the wild.

Far better life than me scraping by on a small paycheck where 1/2 goes to taxes !
 
That is sad, going to hurt a lot of families.

I suspect a majority of the people are really going to have a hard time fitting into society or being employed.

Probably most grew up there, the profession handed down generation after generation.

And where will all the animals go?
 
Seems the nut jobs win their argument too many times in the courts. Who are they to judge how animals are treated? Most of them know less about the reality of animals than most farmers, let alone the animal professionals, vets, etc. The nut jobs have some romantic notion. I talked to a couple of those nuts once; I told them it they wanted to make sure that the animals were treated good, they should take them all home with them and keep them for the rest natural life. Turns out they lived in an apartment that didn't allow any pets.
 
(quoted from post at 12:37:01 05/23/17) Isn't that Ronal Reagan in the top picture, upper left? Looks kinda like him.

Be nice, David.
1. He's dead.
2. He was a lot better person and president than the last B. O.
 
My wife's uncle played in their band. He knew a lot of the circus people.
When the circus came to town, he got free tickets for the kids.
 
Next will be 4-H animals, then pet stores and gold fish, gerbils, guinea pigs, probably it will be illegal to kill a mosquito!

Pete
 
Nah, the public majority demands the mosquitos be sprayed. Wouldn't want to put up with bugs while eating organic bean sprouts on the patio.
 
Isn't the shriner circus still going and i think Baraboo still has a circus. If you really miss a circus come to work with me plenty of clowns there.
 
Shrine circus is whatever circus the local Shriners contract to come to their town.
RB,B&B used to winter in Baraboo WI
 
Watched the circus thirty times. Well, didn't exactly watch, was busy keeping track of 25-30 sixth graders who were attending the circus. Was a class reward at the end of the year for the kids.
 
Never saw Ringling Bros, but Grandpa took me to a good one when I was about 10- they set up in a big field across the tracks from the train station, and we went down at 6 AM to watch. Same as someone else described- elephants did the heavy lifting, very neat to watch. Don't know if they recruited any bystanders- I would have been too young to be of much use.

Took my kids a couple of times in the '80's- circus was OK, but kind of left a bad taste because of a "bait and switch" on the tickets. There were free kids tickets all over town (kids free with paying adult), but the free sections were at both ends, and you could only see one of the 3 rings. They expected you to "upgrade" to get seats where you could see everything. And of course, the kids are putting pressure on as well.
 
Sad, but it's the times we live in. They apparently won some kind of suit regarding the treatment of animals. Different articles about it say that ticket sales declined, the business model was not suited today's crowd, kind of leads one to believe the public was no longer interested.

I've seen the show numerous times, and recall vividly Gunther Gebel-Williams, who apparently did not subscribe to brutality or mistreating any of the animals. NY times article describes it that way at least.

I always thought it was for the kids, getting to see all the different acts and animals. The 2 shows I always went to see as a kid, this circus and the blue angels air show.
Gunther Gebel Williams
 
I suspect the reason was financial and not really a result of those who were against performing animals, etc. I think all of us old timers forget sometimes that times change ....... ever see a phone booth anymore? Just doesn't make financial sense to have them spotted around town, everyone has their own phone booth in their pocket. Yes, it is an unfortunate story for those whose living was circus related for their whole lives. But many others have suffered the same fate with things changing like they do. One little reminder though which we should all think about ...... just because someone else thinks differently than we do, that doesn't necessarily make them nut jobs does it?
 
I just thought of a solution. Do like the bad guys do...change the name of the company and move on under a new name. If they can do it, honest and legitimate folks oughta be able to take advantage of it as well. This is no longer America. Well, its still America at my house because I won't put up with it for very long if at all at my house. But the rest of America isn't America and I've about had it with that. If them PETA or bunny hugger types ever come to my house, the outcome of that will make the news. World news.

Mark
 
I can remember as a seven year old the circus setting up in a field up the street. I watched them unload the elephants in front of the house. Never forget it. Nice memories of attending the show and seeing the weird banners for the side shows.
 
I used to live in Venice Fl where they used to stay over winter and had their clown college. My dad would work security for them while they were there. The animals were treated better than the people. It is a sad day when the clowns die. The animals will be put to pasture too. No new animals will be born or trained to be seen by children. Most will only see them on a computer screen. As it is soon most people will only live and experience life on screens. Sad days ahead.
 
"peta and the bunny huggers" were only a minor annoyance.

The real problem was declining attendance in conjunction with skyrocketing operating costs (i.e. fuel, insurance, etc.).

Yes it will hurt a lot of families, but when the money isn't there, the money isn't there. Should the owners keep running a show that nobody is coming to see until they're flat broke, just to save a few jobs for a couple of years? Should the government step in and subsidize the circus now?
 
Ronald Regan was a lot better than the last three presidents and a lot better than the one we have now.
 

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