Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in United States
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| Collection | Kept totally 168, 0 present (0,0,0), 0 births, 117 relocated, 51 deaths | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Location | Venice, Florida, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Type: | circus, founded 1919, first elephant arrived 1919, last elephant left 1969, closed 1969 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Website: | http://www.ringling.com/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
Elephants owned, residing and performing with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus can be found at several different locations, which have been divided up for clarification of record keeping and to give a better idea of herd identifications. They include: 1918: "When the 1918 season ended and the decision was made to combine the shows in the Bridgeport, CT. winter quarters, the Ringlings brought 23 elephants with them. Those 23 are reflected in my list I sent you. Barnum & Bailey already had 18 of their own. Barnum & Bailey had Pilate (male Asian died on October 27, 1918 in winterquarters. Ringling lost Mary on March 19, 1919 and the shows sold Baby to the Rockford, Ill. Zoo or Park bringing us the 38 elephants that became the 1919 RBBB herd." //Bob Cline John Patterson was Menagerie Supt. from (1907 Barnum & Baileys) merge through 1925. George Denman was elephant man at Ringling for 26 seasons, having been in the elephant Dept. with Barnum & Bailey when that show was purchased by the Ringlings. He retired during the 1933 season (died in 1937) and was replaced by another old timer Bill Emory, wo also was in charge. //Buckles Woodcock 1919: March 29, "Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows" debuted at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The posters declared, "The Ringling Bros. Worlds Greatest Shows and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth are now combined into one record-breaking giant of all exhibitions." 1919-11: Charlie was added. 1920: 45 elephants. (New York clipper)  These are the combined Ringling and Barnum elephant herds at the shows quarters in Bridgeport about 1920 showing the 36 elephants taken on tour. Denman can be seen standing between rows two and three with hands on hips. It appears that they marched the herd through the neighborhood on the days the weather permitted. "George Denman #4," Buckles Web Log, 2008-04-11  RBBB Elephants Parade Down Fifth Avenue, New York, 1921. The circus was a resounding success through the "Roaring 20s", making John Ringling one of the richest men in the world.//Buckles Woodcock 1921: Four elephants exported back to Hagenbecks in Germany from USA: Jess, Barnum Queen, Veneda, and Mary. 1922-09: Palm was added 1922-11-05: new elephants: Marcella, Emma, Alice, Bingo, Mary and Joe. 1923-11-10: new elephants: Blanche, Joyce, Mabel, Rose, Eva, Minnie, Dolly, May and Briggs. 1924: 44 elephants. 36 went on tour: John, Dutch, Ryo, Judy, Hazel, Romeo, Topsy, Alice, Juno, Joe, Babe, Mabel, Lizzie, Queen, Bessie, Nelly, Fanny, Jenny, Emma, Katie, Mary, Wilhelmina, Joyce, Barnum Nellie, Palm, Modoc, Clara, Hattie, Sammy, Marcella, Pinto, Bingo, Trilby, Blanche, Albert, Rose. Remaining 8 at Bridgeport: Barnum Bessie, Coco, Eva, Minnie, Dolly, May, Briggs and Charlie. 1924: Nelle sold to Houston Zoo. 1926: Charles Ringling died. 1929: Ringling Brothers purchased American Circus Corporation (which consisted of Sells-Floto Circus, Al G. Barnes, Sparks Circus, Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, and John Robinson Circus). When John Ringling purchased the American Circus Corporation in 1929 the five circuses included 57 elephants ranging from 13 with Hagenbeck-Wallace to 9 with Sparks. 1929: Ringling is owner of 90 elephants, among them 10 asian bulls, a world record. 1930: 2 elephants sold before tour, Eva to Erie Zoo, Sammy to Detroit Zoo (euthanised there in 1938). 1933: Ringling tours with 40 elephants (8 came from Sparks Circus) to Chicago: 1. Alice, 2. Sparks Alice, 3. Babe, 4. Sparks Babe, 5. Bingo, 6. Blanche, 7. Bonnie, 8. Clara, 9. Dolly, 10. Duchess, 11. Eva, 12. Emma, 13. Fannie, 14. Hattie, 15. Hazel, 16. Jess, 17. Jenny, 18. Joe, 19. Joyce, 20. Juno, 21. Katie, 22.Lizzie, 23. Mable, 24. Marchella, 25. Mary, 26. Sparks Mary, 27. Minnie, 28. Little Modoc, 29. Modoc, 30. Sparks Myrtle, 31. Nellie, 32. Palm, 33. Pinto, 34. Barnum show Queen, 35. Rosie, 36. Little Tillie (Sparks Queen), 37. Topsy, 38. Little Trilby, 39. Wilhelmina, 40. Yasso. 1938: Due to labor trouble, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus tour closed in Scranton, Pa. on June 22, and the circus returned to winter quarters at Sarasota, Florida. Many of the outstanding features, and a trainload of physical equipment, were sent from Sarasota to augment the Ringling-owned Al G. Barnes-Sells Floto Circus at Redfield, S. D. From Redfield until the close of the 1938 seasonCircus Historical Society, Al G. Barnes & Sells-Floto Routes, courtesy of John Polacsek and Bob Cline 1938: The RBBB elephant herd was added with 17 elephants from Al G. Barnes-Sells Floto Circus: Trilby, Tony, Kas, Jewel, Frieda, Lois, Modoc, Mary, Dolly, Floto Jennie, Josky, Ruth, Babe, Barnes Jennie, Palm, Topsy and Minnie. 1942-08-04: Four elephants died in the 1942 Cleveland Menagerie fire. Ringling Rosy, One Eyed Troby, Kas, and Wallace Rosie. 1947: Ringling bought 5 elephants from Circus Hagenbeck, and hired Hugo Schmitt as elephant trainer, who stayed on Ringling until 1971. 1948: The Ringling Circus has a reported 49 elephants (Billboard 27 mar 1948). Katie died. Chang Reynolds names 36 elephants on RBBB for 1948. "Referring to my handy, dandy notebook I came up with this list for the 1955 Ringling elephant herd. The number in the show was "Mamas in the Park" which I have shown numerous pictures of on the Blog (little elephants in baby carriages). Elephants are listed in order of their seniority with the show. #22-28 are the seven punks added in 1953 "The Seven Wonders" and #29-48 are the twenty trained the previous winter by Louis Reed and Smokey Jones. Hugo Schmitt only presented the finished product in the ring since he had returned to the show with the understanding that he wouldnt have to be involved with overall operation. "To Henry Penndorf", Buckles Web Log, 2007-06-07 1963: Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus European Tour: John Ringling North framed an indoor cirus to tour Europe, bought an elephant act from the Chipperfields and hired two more acts in Europe to fill out the three rings.//Buckles Woodcock 1968: Together with 5 elephants bought from Chipperfield Circus for the European tour, came 13 elephants with Circus Wiilliams, those 18 elephants famed the new developed Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Red Unit (1969 - present). The original elephants were labelled as Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Blue Unit (1969 - present) 1972: Hugo Schmitt brought 19 elephants from UK, 12 of which had performed with the Billy Smart Circus and 7 were untrained. 1980-81: six elephants arrived from Burma with a star branded on their hip (Bonnie, Nicole, Alana and Icky who went to Axel Gautier, Siam and Bangkok who went to Gunther Gebel-Williams). Babe's is a star outline on both her hips. She measures almost ten feet tall. 1995: the circus opened the Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida for the breeding, research, and retirement of its Asian Elephant herd. Sources, among others
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