WHEN Harold Ronk embarked on his 30-year career with the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus he became the world’s first singing ringmaster.
Born in 1921, the son of a coal miner in Peoria, Illinois, his initial aim was to do a course of medical training, but while studying at the University of Southern California he showed more interest in singing and the theatre.
His theatrical ambitions were put on hold as he enlisted in the Navy during the Second World War and served in the southwest Pacific, but when he got back he began singing in Sigmund Romberg’s concerts, his mind set on a career in Broadway musicals. He later said that he wanted to be “the second Nelson Eddy”.
He auditioned in the Park Lane apartment of the great theatrical producer John Murray Anderson, hoping for a part in his impending Broadway musical. But Anderson, who was also the director of the famous Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus — the world’s largest and oldest travelling entertainment institution — along with John Ringling North, the show’s producer, chose Ronk to become its vocalist. His circus serenade began in 1951, when he stood in the wings of Madison Square Garden while 50 beautiful “North starlets”, dressed as South Seas maidens, performed an aerial ballet. He sang Lovely Luawana Lady in a commanding baritone voice.
While one journalist wrote that “Harold Ronk is a fine announcer, but no kid wants to hear him croon like Mario Lanza in the circus”, another described him as “one of the most electrifying voices in the world”.
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He played to between 4,000 and 40,000 spectators at a time, opening each performance with the words, “Welcome, children of all ages, to the greatest show on Earth.” He served with the three-ring extravaganza until, plagued with union troubles, John Ringling North closed his tented circus for good in 1956; but Ronk continued to perform after its transition into arenas, when it was taken over by Irvin Feld and his associates. He also became a mentor to young and aspiring singers and announcers who were trained in his techniques.
During the bicentennial tour of America with Ringling, he was always exhilarated to sing the national anthem before each performance, and thoroughly enjoyed officiating each night at the mythical wedding of the Hungarian midgets Muchu and Juliana, even though the little performers in private hated each other.
He “married” them in more than 500 performances on tour, thus gaining for himself a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
Harold Ronk, circus ringmaster, was born on January 31, 1921. He died on August 2, 2006, aged 85.