|Born||Johan Nicholas Rüngeling
May 31, 1866
|Died||December 2, 1936(aged 70)|
|Known for||Ringling Brothers Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
|Spouse(s)||Mable Burton (m. 1905–29)
Emily Haag Buck (m. 1930-1936)
Marie Salomé Juliar
|Relatives||Albert Ringling, brother
Augustus Gustav Ringling, brother
Otto Ringling, brother
Alfred Theodore Ringling, brother
Charles Edward Ringling, brother
Henry Ringling, brother
Ida Loraina Wilhelmina Ringling North, sister
Robert Ringling, nephew
John Ringling North, nephew
Henry Ringling North, nephew
Early circus life
John was born in McGregor, Iowa, the fifth son in a family of seven sons and a daughter born to German immigrants, Marie Salomé Juliar and August Ringling (a farmer and harness maker). The original family name was "Ruengling". Five of those sons worked together to build a circus empire.
The Ringlings started their first show in 1870 as the "The Ringling Bros. United Monster Shows, Great Double Circus, Royal European Menagerie, Museum, Caravan, and Congress of Trained Animals", charging a penny for admission. In 1882, it was known as "The Ringling Bros. Classic and Comic Concert Company".
By 1889, the circus was large enough to travel on railroad cars, rather than animal-drawn wagons. Admission rose to 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children.
In 1905, John married Mable Burton. In 1907, the brothers bought the Barnum & Bailey circus for $400,000 from the estate of James Anthony Bailey and ran the two circuses as separate entities until the end of the 1918 season. John worked the circus with his brothers, declaring "We divided the work; but stood together." John took the advance position, traveling ahead and booking the appearances and Charles was the operating manager. The Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows was renowned for its honesty and fair-dealing.
Building the circus empire
After purchasing the Barnum & Bailey Circus from the estate of James Bailey in 1907 the Ringling brothers were recognized as the "Circus Kings" in the United States as they controlled not only the show that carried their own name, but also the Barnum & Bailey circus and the Adam Forepaugh and Sells Brothers Circus.
In the early 1900s the ranks of the brothers began thinning as Otto died unexpectedly in 1911. Four years later, the oldest sibling, Al Ringling also passed, followed by brother Henry in 1918. At the same time that family management was evolving, the Ringlings were challenged by keeping two mammoth circuses touring during World War I. Manpower shortages, combined with railroad restrictions and the 1918 flu pandemic all contributed in the decision to merge the Ringling Bros World's Greatest Shows and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth at the end of the 1918 season. On October 8, 1918 the Ringling Bros. season concluded after performances in Waycross, Georgia and the circus trains were routed to the Barnum & Bailey Winter Quarters in Bridgeport, Connecticut. During the winter of 1918-19 the two circuses were combined into one enormous show, and on March 29, 1919, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus debuted at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The posters declared, "The Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth are now combined into one record-breaking giant of all exhibitions!!"
During the 1920s, Ringling built Gray Crag, a 20-room manor house on an estate that was their summer residence in Alpine, New Jersey, atop the New Jersey Palisades and overlooking the Hudson River. Ringling would bring the circus troupe across the river from Yonkers, New York, with acrobats and animals to entertain their guests at parties. With the financial and personal difficulties that Ringling faced during the Great Depression, control of the property was lost and the house was ultimately demolished in November 1935.
In 1909 John and his wife, Mable began spending their winters in Sarasota. The couple bought bay front property from Mary Louise and Charles N. Thompson, another circus manager who engaged several members of the Ringling family in land investments on the Florida Gulf Coast. Ringling commissioned a 30-room mansion which was inspired by the Venetian Gothic palaces, designed by New York architect Dwight James Baum, and built by Owen Burns, It was completed in 1926 and named Cà d'Zan, "The House of John" in the Venetian dialect of Italian . Later a museum was built on the grounds of the estate for their art collection. Because of their investments in real estate and the later development of the circus winter quarters as a tourist attraction, John and his brother, Charles are seen as pioneers in the development of Sarasota. After some 40 years in the entertainment business, along with his ownership of railroads, oil field and ranches John had become one of the richest men in the world. In addition he was a world traveler as he was always looking for new acts for his circus. It was during these travels to Europe that he began establishing a collection of old world masterpieces and a collection of Baroque art including four pieces by Peter Paul Rubens, known as called cartoons.
In 1929, John Ringling bought the American Circus Corporation, which consisted of the Sells-Floto Circus, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, the John Robinson Circus, the Sparks Circus, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and the Al G. Barnes Circus from its owners, Jerry Mugivan, Bert Bowers, and Ed Ballard, for $1.7 million. With that acquisition, Ringling owned most of the traveling circuses in America.
- Augustus Gustav "Gus" Ringling, Jr. (1854–1907); also listed as Charles August (Gus)
- William Henry Otto "Otto" Ringling (1858–1911)
- Alfred Theodore "Alf T." Ringling (1861–1919)
- Charles Edward "Charley" Ringling (1863–1926); also listed birth year 1864
- John Nicholas Ringling (1866–1936)
- Henry William George Ringling (1868–1918)
- Ida Loraina Wilhelmina Ringling (1874–1950)
- John Ringling Florida Artists Hall of Fame
- "John (1866-1936) and Mable (1875-1929) Ringling". Ringling Museum. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
- To, Speeiaz (December 4, 1926). "Charles Ringling, Circus Owner, Dies. Member of World's Greatest Show Organization. One of Six Famous Brothers.". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
One of the famous "six brothers of Baraboo," Charles Ringling was the son of a harness maker of Baraboo, Wisconsin. The brothers, John, Charles, Otto, Al, ...
- Ritacco, Joseph. Circus Atmosphere; John Ringling's castle on the cliffs, (201) magazine, January 2015. Accessed January 11, 2015.
- Staff. "Gray Crag", Cliff Notes, May–June 2010, Palisades Interstate Park Commission. Accessed January 11, 2015. "It was in 1918 that John Ringling (that Ringing) and his wife Mable (née Burton) bought two big properties here and merged them into the hundred-acre estate they named Gray Crag."
- "Man Who Started as a Clown Now Controls the Entire Big Top Industry.". The New York Times. September 10, 1929. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
John Ringling, head of the Ringling Brothers-Barnum Bailey Combined Circus, has purchased the five circuses, with Winter quarters, of the American Circus Corporation, it was learned yesterday.
- "Bailey and the Ringlings". Feld Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
In 1929, reacting to the fact that his competitor, the American Circus Corporation, had signed a contract to perform in New York's Madison Square Garden, Ringling purchased American Circus for $1.7-million.John had power and money. In one fell swoop, Ringling had absorbed five major shows: Sells-Floto, Al G. Barnes, Sparks, Hagenbeck-Wallace, and John Robinson.
- Ingham, John N., (1983). - Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders: A-G. - p.1177-1179. - ISBN 978-0-313-21362-5
- Herringshaw, Thomas William, (1922). - American Elite and Sociologist Bluebook. - American Blue Book Publishers. - p.418.
- Klein, Henry H. (2003). - Dynastic America and Those Who Own It (1921). - p.107. - ISBN 978-0-7661-6729-2.
- "EASTLAND COUNTY". - Handbook Of Texas. - Texas State Historical Association.
- Goodsell, Charles M., Financial News Association (New York), and Henry E. Wallace, (1909). - The Manual of Statistics. - The Association. - p.169-170.
- loser "RINGLING". - Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. - Oklahoma Historical Society.
—"WILSON". - Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. - Oklahoma Historical Society.
- Robinson, Gilbert L. - "TRANSPORTATION IN CARTER COUNTY, 1913-1917". - Chronicles of Oklahoma. - Volume 19, No. 4. - December, 1941. - Oklahoma Historical Society. - p.368-376.
- Bryant, Keith L., (1974). - History of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. - New York, New York: Macmillan & Co. - p.254. - ISBN 978-0-02-517920-2.
- Schwantes, Carlos A., (2003). - Going Places: Transportation Redefines the Twentieth-Century West. - Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. - p.129. - ISBN 978-0-253-34202-7.
- Snyder, S. A., (2005). - Scenic Driving Montana. - 2nd Edition. - Helena, Montana: Falcon Publishing. - p.152. - ISBN 978-0-7627-3030-8.
—French, Brett. - "A Sulfurous Soak". - Billings Gazette. - January 28, 2009.
—Duclaux, Denise. - "The Banker Who Never Comes in from the Cold". - ABA Banking Journal. - Vol. 89. - 1997.
- "Circus Owner Is Married by Mayor Hague in Jersey City. Met Bride in Europe.". The New York Times. December 20, 1930. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
John Ringling, head of the Ringling Brothers-Barnum Bailey Combined Circus, and Mrs. Emily H. Buck of the Hotel Barclay were married yesterday afternoon ...
- "Ringling takes old ally Sam Gumpertz into circus business". Chicago Tribune. November 6, 1932. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
- "Circus in America TimeLine". Circus in America. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
December 19, 1930. They were divorced July 6, 1936. John died December 2, 1936 in New York City and is buried ...
- "Sued for Divorce". Time magazine. April 16, 1934. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
Mrs. Emily Haag Buck Ringling; by Circusman John Ringling; in Sarasota, Fla. Charges: vilification, physical violence which caused the pulse of Mr. Ringling, ill with thrombosis, on occasion to rise from 76 to 104.
- "John Ringling dies of pneumonia at 70. Organizer of Great Circus Business Succumbs to Illness at Home Here. Last of the Brothers. Father's Harness Sale Started them on Career That Led to 'Greatest Show on Earth.'". The New York Times. December 2, 1936. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
John Ringling, who formed and directed one of the world's greatest ... He was 70 years old. With him when he died was his sister Hilda Ringling ...
- Burnett, Gene M., (1986). - Florida's Past: People and Events That Shaped the State, Vol. 2. - Pineapple Press - p.190. - ISBN 978-1-56164-139-0.
- "Died.". Time (magazine). 17 June 1985. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
John Ringling North, 81, flamboyant, fast-talking showman who from 1937 to '43 and from 1947 to '67 ran "The Greatest Show on Earth," the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, started by his five uncles in 1884; of a stroke; in Brussels. North took over the debt-spangled show after the death of his last uncle, John Ringling, and modernized it ...
- "The Ringlings in the McGregor Area". Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
Beginning their tented circus in 1884, Alf T. Ringling, Al Ringling, Charles Ringling, John Ringling, and Otto Ringling soon became known as Kings Of The Circus World. A sixth brother, Henry Ringling, joined the show in 1886. In 1889 the seventh Ringling brother, A.G. "Gus" Ringling, joined the show ...
- "Augustus Ringling Dead. Head of Tented Shows In America Dies in New Orleans." (PDF). The New York Times. August 19, 1907. Retrieved 2008-07-20.
When the Ringling Brothers bought the Barnum Bailey show they ... got a monopoly on the circus business in America. They now own outright three ...
- Morris, Joan. - "The Seven Ringlins Were the Real Thing". - Contra Costa Times. - June 3, 2000.
- Fox, Charles Philip, (1959). - A Ticket to the Circus: A Pictorial History of the Incredible Ringlings. - Seattle, Washington: Superior Publishing. - p.11. - 1252183.
- "Henry Ringling Dead" (PDF). New York Times. October 12, 1918. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
Henry Ringling, youngest of the six brothers who during the last 25-years have been prominent in the circus world died yesterday of heart and other internal disorders.
- "Mrs. Ida Ringling North Dies in Sarasota". Washington Post. December 22, 1950. Retrieved 2008-07-23.