S1E11: The Last One on the Lot
Blood and Business
Cassie and Bethany
4.6 • 739 Ratings
🗓️ 11 June 2022
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On December 2nd, 1936 John Ringling died. He had $311 in the bank. His estate was officially appraised at $23,500,000. Today, that would be almost half a billion dollars.
Members of the Ringling family controlled the circus until 1967 when they sold it to the Feld family, who kept the name. In 2017 The Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus closed out its last tour and walked off the lot for the last time ever.
This is the true story of Al Ringling (originally Rüngling) and his brothers: Gus, Otto, Alf T., Charles, John, Henry, and their sister, Ida. We read their biography... here is everything you need to know, complete with all the juicy details.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Let the spirit of the Kennedys and the magic of the Disney brothers be with you always. |
| 0:05.9 | Blood and Business Legacy merch. |
| 0:08.4 | Available now. |
| 0:10.1 | Let's run faster. |
| 0:11.3 | Work harder, burn brighter. |
| 0:13.1 | Before we're gone. |
| 0:14.3 | Order your Blood and Business Legacy merch today. |
| 0:22.1 | Welcome to Blood and Business. |
| 0:24.9 | I'm Bethany and I'm Cassie. |
| 0:26.7 | Today we're taking a visit to the cemetery to remember a part of American history whose grave is still warm to the touch. |
| 0:33.4 | As children, my sisters and I actually went to a show, but our kids will only hear tales and myths of the animals, the ringleaders, the tents. |
| 0:43.7 | You may mourn their passing, or you may disagree with the ethics of the entire idea and be glad that this chapter has come to a close. |
| 0:50.6 | This sibling set founded the longest reigning circus dynasty America will ever see. |
| 0:56.3 | They are the Ringling Brothers. |
| 1:18.9 | Music We're at the end. |
| 1:22.8 | And this is where everything just implodes. |
| 1:23.3 | Yeah. |
| 1:46.1 | In part two, which was the last episode, we talked about the financial crisis of 1907. They are just now merging with Barnum and Bailey Circus. So they've just become the official circus kings of the world. They have completely monopolized, especially the American circus. So they're kind of joining the ranks of the Carnegie's, the Vanderbilt. Yes, because at the time, the circus was basically, like Cassie said, the entire |
| 1:50.6 | entertainment industry. Life is starting to get to the mature years and they're starting to lose |
| 1:56.2 | their brothers. Two out of the seven brothers have passed. Their mother has also passed. Right now, we're at the pinnacle of the Ringling brothers. Two out of the seven brothers have passed. Their mother has also passed. Right now, |
| 2:02.2 | we're at the pinnacle of the Ringling Brothers Circus Dynasty. So we're going to kind of take |
| 2:07.8 | the roller coaster on the way down. So like we mentioned in the last episode, Otto has already passed. |
... |
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