Part 486: Ringling Brothers’ “King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba”
I now understand why people ran away to join the circus during the early twentieth century. If I were born a century ago, the circus would have been too tempting to resist as it passed through my hometown; it offered escape from a mundane existence. In 1914, the “Indianapolis Star” reported, “Nero has watched his Rome burn to a cinder beneath a circus tent. Pompeii has fallen to ruins in the scattered sawdust of the ring and Cleopatara has taken her last look at Egypt before the clown’s entry. And now the wise King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba have been made the hero and heroine of the circus spectacle, surrounded with all the gorgeous pageantry and lavish costumes a showman can devise” (4 May 1914, page 3).
That same year, Thomas G. Moses was still designing scenery for the Ringling Brothers’ Grand Spectacular productions, also advertised as “great wordless plays” (The Evening News, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 16 May 1914, page 9). Moses designed and led the scenery production at the Sosman & Landis studios. The completed settings were then delivered to Baraboo, Wisconsin, as the production was prepared at the circus’ winter quarters.
In 1914, Moses wrote, “Jan. 6th, went to Baraboo, Wisconsin, to see the Ringling’s for the new spectacle, “King Solomon.” Another big show. Made a model for one scene and got $2,900.00.” Of the final production, Moses observed, “Ringlings’ work came out very good. Everyone was pleased and that is saying a good deal.” Moses was referring to the 1914 Ringling production “Solomon and the Queen of Sheba” that toured throughout the United States.
Of the circus with Moses’ scenery, the “Star Gazette” reported:
“Nearly half of the entire train section is used to transport the scenery and costumes used in the massive spectacle, “Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.” The spectacle includes a cast of more than 1,250 characters and a ballet of 300 dancing girls under the personal direction of Ottokar Bartik, balletmaster of the Metorpolitan Opera House, New York, and late of La Scala, Milan. The music for this spectacle has been written by Faltis Effendi, formerly bandmaster of Khedive of Egypt, and is rendered by an orchestra of 90 musicians, 400 trained singers and a chorus of 1,000 voices accompanied by a cathedral pipe organ, costing $100,000. The Ringling Brothers’ have expended $1,000,000 in the production of this mammoth spectacle which faithfully and accurately portrays the pomp and ceremony, life and wisdom of a period a thousand years before Christ, and introduces Solomon in all his glory and Balkis, Queen of Sheba, the most interesting woman of her day” (Elmira, NY, 21 May 1914, page 3). The US Inflation Calculator measures the buying power of $1,000,000 in 1914 to be the equivalent of $25,200,600.00 in 2018. Fifty men were needed to handle scenery and special effects (Dayton Daily News, 26 April 1914, page 31).
When the circus arrived in Elmira, New York, the “Star Gazette” included a large article about the early morning arrival and events, advertising:
“The big circus is almost here. Tomorrow morning in the small hours just before dawn, four long red and yellow trains, made up of 86 cars will roll quietly into Elmira coming from Binghamton, over Lackawanna railroad. They will be unloaded immediately and within a few hours the big aggregations of world wonders which comprises Ringling Brothers’ ‘world’s greatest shows’ will be safely sheltered under twenty acres of white canvas on the show grounds.”
The circus included an elaborate parade that traversed the principal streets of each town on the morning of their arrival. The “Star Gazette” announced, “The cavalcade which, it is promised, will be the longest and most gorgeous display ever seen in the streets of this city, will start from the show grounds promptly at 10 o’clock. It will be more than three miles in length and will include all the performers and animals, in addition to the long procession of handsome tableau wagons and allegorical cars, filled with pretty dancing girls in gay costumes. Six bands and two calliopes will furnish the music for the cavalcade and the fifty famous Ringling clowns will be on hand to keep the sidewalk spectators in good humor. A striking feature of the procession will be the long line of elephants, forty in all, and a team of sixteen camels, broken to bit and harness driven the same as horses. These beasts draw a huge parade wagon and this is the first instance on record where the ‘ship of the desert’ has ever been successfully broken to harness and bit.”
The “twenty-four hour man” arrived a day ahead of the circus to set up the infrastructure needed to feed an enormous amount of people and animals. Other circus staff that arrived a day early included “a number of stage and electrical experts who precede the show to make arrangements for the staging and lighting of the big spectacle “Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.” It is important to remember that the King Solomon spectacle was just one of the principal features for the Ringling Brothers’ program that season; it was not the whole show. This makes theatrical touring shows, such as “Ben-Hur,” seem like child’s play when compared with the logistics of a touring circus with thousands of moving parts.
The first train to arrive was the commissary department and the first tent to be pitched on the show grounds was the “cook house.” The second and third trains pulled the heavy red wagons, loaded with canvases, properties, the elephants, the 730 horses and the other animals. On the last train, composed entirely of sleeping cars, arrived all of the performers and ancillary staff members for the show.
“King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba” was presented in a series of dramatic pantomimic pictures staged with “all the lavish splendor and opulence that marked the period when the wise Solomon ruled the Kingdom of Israel, the action of the spectacle is laid in Jerusalem, at the time of the historical visit of Balkis, Queen of Sheba.” The Star Gazette continued, “The spectacle is presented on an enormous, specially constructed stage, which occupies nearly one entire side of the main tent. The tent measures 560 by 320 feet and seats 14,000 people at a performance.” Remember that two shows were given daily; one at 2pm and one at 8PM, and the doors opened an hour before show time, allowing spectators to visit the 108 cages in the Ringling zoo and purchase candy and souvenirs!
The Star Gazette concluded, “Despite the enormous cost of the spectacle, no expense has been spared to make the arena program the most thrilling and novel entertainment that has ever been presented. In the three big rings and two stages more than 400 performers will appear in a series of new and sensational, riding acrobatic and aerial acts, nearly all of which have never before been witnessed in America. Such famous foreign performers as Charles Augustus Clark, England’s foremost bareback rider; the Mirano brothers, wonderful perch artists; the Balkani troupe of the Far East equestrians; the famous four Lloyds, daring Indian riders; Mijares, the Mexican wire wizard, and the world famous Clarkonians, who turn triple somersaults in mid-air and are a few of the host of performers who will furnish the spectators with an abundance of thrills.”
The Queen of Sheba was played by Mme. Bartik, a Russian actress and a pupil of M. Pierre Devereau, the French teacher of pantomimic art.
Who wouldn’t get caught up in this excitement and plan their escape from the doldrums of everyday life? But this was just the 1914 show. Another would be planned for 1915. By the end of 1914 Moses wrote, “Took a trip to Rockford to see Ringling’s about more work for the next season.”
To be continued…
