Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 25, 1988, edition 1 / Page 19
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I . I . , t , . . 10The Daily Tar HeelThursday, February 25, 1988 feAC Behind the scenes L eft T: Kat A, i ' V v-n V "Mil .tyl 'fM XV . Vj t : . ?i'5-...ov .. . . . f NX, j l'4l f -M 1 i PXfeTA& V-P ?- ' King Tusk, who's billed as "the DTHMatt Plyler largest land mammal on earth" By KAREN ENTRIKEN Stan Writer UD1ES AND GENTLEMEN. CHILD REN OF ALL AGES! Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus pres ents the 1 17th edition of the Grea test Show cn Earth Feb. 23-28 in Raleigh's Dorton Arena. Here also is a truly removed-from-the-jungle scene: the largest traveling land mammal on earth a massive 12.000-pound elephant and 20 of his kinsmen get together with a pack of ferocious lions and tigers and are surrounded by dancing girls with purple hair. This year's circus offers acts rang ing from traditional aerial acts, contortionists and animal acts led by Gunther Gebel-Williams to BMX bikers and breakdancers along for the ride. In spite of all the glitter of the performers in costume and the glamour of the phrase "I'm running away to join the circus." what is the real story behind the scenes? The modern circus began 20 years ago in November 1967. when two brothers, lrvin and Israel Feld. bought the 97-year-old Greatest Show on Earth from the Ringling and North families. Today it is produced by the president of the company and lrvin Feld's son. Kenneth Feld. Two circus units, two ice shows and a Las Vegas magic show comprise the company. Each year. Feld and a core group of choreographers, directors and musicians write a script and stage the show for the upcoming year. They implement the acts into a perfor mance centered around a theme, like this year's show with an Arabian flavor. "The circus program is like a play where everyone says the same lines. It doesn't change each night." press agent Joe Lewi says. , Ringling Brothers always stresses colorful production numbers involv ing the entire circus famliy. Contortionist Rudolph Delmonte is involved in both the opening parade and the finale, besides his own act. "During rehearsals they put a mike up while we sang into a tape; then they mixed in other voices. It looks like we're singing but we really aren't," Delmonte said. The search for prospective per formers is continuous for Feld. "I travel about three or four months out of the year all over the world to audition acts." he says. He works for more than just a physical act. A great deal of appeal comes from personality. "Feld will travel to Timbuktu to get an act," Lewi says. "If he hears about a good act or just if the act thinks it's good enough he'll give it an audition. "The BMX bicycle act came from two guys who had been writing for me for four years." he says. "They wanted to do something. We .found some guys who could do somersaults on bikes and put it all together as a package. It was really four separate acts." A great deal of the acts are foreign, but some originate right under the big top. Gunther Gebel-Williams. the famous animal trainer, combined his own Eastern European circus with Ringling Brothers in 1968. "The three teeter-board acts are from Hungary. Rumania and one comes from the U.S.." Feld says. Satin, an aerial act done by two cousins, began when dancers already part of the circus decided to perform. "Satin 1 chose because there were no black acts in the circus and they had style." Feld says. "I encouraged them and they trained like crazy." Many circus performers are born into their trade and begin working at young ages. Contortionist Rudolph Delmonte comes from three generations of Russian dancers on his mother's side and a father who worked training lions. He started practicing his craft at the age of six with dancing and singing lessons. At age eight he performed a chimpanzee act in a club. Delmonte. now 27. has performed his act of twisting his body into unnatural positions on a 10-foot-high table in Shriner circuses, Japan. Mexico. Canada. South America and the United States. "Kenneth Feld saw me working a Texas Shriner Circus," Delmonte says. "Then lrvin Feld saw me in Baltimore and Sarasota. After that show he came up to me and said. 'Let's talk business.' " He has been with Ringling Brothers ever since, working first with one branch unit in 1 984. then Las Vegas and now on another unit. Two weeks before the circus arrives, an advance man comes into town to work with press agencies promoting the show. "There are 30 advance men who crisscross the United States and Canada," Raleigh's advance man Lewi says. "We are regional marketing directors who deal with public relations." To accomodate the large number of cities the circus plays, the show is divided into two alternating units red and blue. Raleigh sees the red unit this year, and will see the blue next year. The 42-car train arrives early in the morning the day of performance. Traveling and living together on the train are 25 acts: dancers, clowns, elephants, horses, camels, a llama, a set crew, costume designers, trainers, lighting and sound crews, and con cession stand workers. Setting up the overhead rigging, dressing rooms, floor rings and concession stands begins at 10 a.m. and is completed by 6 p.m. for the doors to open at 6:30. At 6:15. arriving spectators are greeted by the sweet aroma of cotton candy as soon as they get out of their big top cars. Tigers pace in their cages and growl frighteningly. Concession workers approach everyone who locks at them. Their choruses of "toys lights programs" fol lowed by "Coca-Cola" make kids ears' prick up. Parents reason with their begging children, asking. "If I buy this popcorn for you will you eat it?" At exactly 7:15 the head clown blows his whistle. Clowns come running and tripping into the arena to mix with spectators. If you think being a circus clown seems too trivial a profession, you should consider the training they go through. Each Ringling clown goes through rigorous tryouts for the only clown college in the world. There the most talented prospective clowns learn the art of mime, acrobatics, comedy, make-up. wardrobe, stilt walking and juggling. The ringmaster struts into the center ring soon after the clowns to officially begin the show. The current ringmaster auditioned in New York City two years ago. The last one was with the circus for five years. "There have been more presidents of the United States than ringmas ters." Lewi says. Work doesn't begin until the show does for a performer like Delmonte. He starts a 25-minute warm up when the show begins before changing into his costume. He performs midway through the show. After running through the finale, he'll catch a late supper around midnight and be asleep by 2 a.m. For performing a nine-minute center ring act 16 times a week. Delmonte makes a salary comparable to a doctor's. He also has his own room on the train and a car driven for him to each destination. The other performers may or may not have it so easy. Gunther Gebel Williams. the circus star, gets royal treatment. But acts that have rigging to test and tricks to learn are working by 6 a.m. This practice pays off. It keeps performers limber enough to prevent injuries. During the trapeze act Tuesday night, one performer didn't catch the hangman's arms, fell onto the net and then to the floor. He was hurried backstage while the other aerial artists kept going without a break. A high point in the show was an elaborate Egyptian animal and dancer parade featuring King Tusk, the largest land mammal on earth. Another set paired human and ele phant breakdancers one elephant sported sunglasses and a punk hairdo. Gunther-Gebel Williams paraded around the ring with a leopard on his shoulders. Going to the circus as a college student may seem a little childish. But what's wrong with that? You might even find it as much fun as when you were a kid. And don't forget to buy some peanuts.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 25, 1988, edition 1
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