John Ringling North (August 14, 1903 – June 4, 1985) was the president and director of the
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1937 to 1943 and again from 1947 to 1967.
Life and career
North was born on August 14, 1903 in
Baraboo, Wisconsin
Baraboo is a city in the Midwest and the county seat of Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. The largest city in the county, Baraboo is the principal city of the Baraboo Micropolitan Statistical Area. Its 2020 population was 12,556. It is situ ...
, the son of Ida Loraina Wihelmina (Ringling) and Harry Whitestone North. His mother was the sister of the
Ringling brothers
The Ringling brothers (originally Rüngling) were seven American siblings who transformed their small touring company of performers into one of the largest circuses in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Four brothers ...
.
["Circus' John Ringling North"](_blank)
''Chicago Tribune'', June 7, 1985. Retrieved August 30, 2013. As a boy, he hawked balloons and novelties at his uncles' circus.
[Burt A. Folkart]
"'Greatest Show on Earth': John Ringling North, Circus Developer, Dies"
''Los Angeles Times'', June 7, 1985. Retrieved August 30, 2013. He learned to dance and play the saxophone from circus performers and formed his own dance band while at college.
He attended the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
and
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, but left the latter in his junior year. After working for two years in a New York stock brokerage, North worked for the Ringling brothers' real estate companies and for the circus during the summers.
He returned to the brokerage business from 1929 to 1936, while continuing to assist the Ringling brothers with their business interests.
After the death of his uncle and namesake, John Ringling, the last of the original Ringling brothers in 1936, North became president and director of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows Inc..
Under North's management, the circus switched from tents to
air conditioned
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
venues in 1956, in part to offset rising labor costs.
[ North also replaced the circus's unrelated acts with thematic programs, and once hired ]George Balanchine
George Balanchine (;
Various sources:
*
*
*
* born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...
to choreograph a ballet using the circus's elephants.[Davida Krista. ''George Balanchine: American Ballet Master''. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1996, p. 72.] Balanchine, in turn, brought Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
on board to compose the ''Circus Polka
''Circus Polka: For a Young Elephant'' was written by Igor Stravinsky in 1942. He composed it for a ballet production that the choreographer George Balanchine did for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The ballet was performed by fifty ...
'' for the elephant dance. The Ringling heirs sold the circus in 1967, ending 80 years of Ringling family control of the enterprise.
Marriage
North married French actress Germaine Aussey
Germaine Aussey (born Germaine Adrienne Agassiz, December 18, 1909 in Paris – March 15, 1979 in Geneva) was a French actress who worked with, among others, René Clair, Julien Duvivier, Paul Fejos, Jean Grémillon, Marc Allégret, and ...
on May 11, 1940; they divorced in 1945.
Personal life
After the sale of the circus, he moved to Europe, where he lived in Switzerland and Belgium. In the early 1960s, North and his brother, Henry Ringling North
Henry Ringling North (November 12, 1909 – October 2, 1993) was an American businessman, as a circus proprietor who was the vice president, treasurer, director and operations chief, while his brother, John Ringling North, was the president and ...
, who had bought their father's ancestral home in County Galway
"Righteousness and Justice"
, anthem = ()
, image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg
, map_caption = Location in Ireland
, area_footnotes =
, area_total_km2 = ...
, became Irish citizens.
Death
North died of a stroke on June 4, 1985, in Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Belgium, at the age of 81.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:North, John Ringling
1903 births
1985 deaths
People from Baraboo, Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni
Yale University alumni
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus people
Circus owners
Recipients of the Silver Star
United States Navy personnel of World War II
Military personnel from Wisconsin
United States Navy officers
People of the Office of Strategic Services
Naturalised citizens of Ireland