Feld Entertainment

Feld Entertainment Inc.
Private corporation
Industry Entertainment
Genre live shows
Predecessor Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows Inc.
Founder
Headquarters Feld Entertainment Studio, Ellenton, Florida, USA
Number of locations
 4[1][2]
Area served
 International[1]
Key people
 Kenneth Feld (Chairman)
Mike Shannon (COO)[3]
Production output
 live arena shows[4]
Owner
  • Kenneth Feld (majority)
  • Nicole Feld
  • Alana Feld
  • Juliette Feld

[3]

Number of employees
 3,000[3]
Divisions Feld Consumer Products[5]
live productions[6]
Subsidiaries
Website feldentertainment.com

Feld Entertainment Inc. (FE) is a live show production company which owns the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and a number of other traveling shows.

History

Feld Entertainment's roots began during the Great Depression when brothers Irvin Feld and Israel Feld, while still teenagers, spent the summer of 1931 selling patent medicine on a carnival.[8] After Irvin Feld graduated from high school, he and his brother opened a novelty shop in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood of Washington, D.C. In 1939 the NAACP offered to pay the Felds to operate a pharmacy in the store, if they would also open a soda fountain that would serve black customers. The Felds agreed to the proposal and named the enterprise Super-Cut-Rate Drugstore. Because of his interest in music, Irvin soon added a record department which evolved into a chain of record stores. The Super Music City stores distributed recordings that he produced for his Super Disc record label.[9] In 1945 Feld's label produced a million-record hit, Guitar Boogie by Arthur Smith. As rock and roll changed the music industry during the 1950s, the Felds began producing live rock-and-roll tours which included artists such as Chubby Checker, Fats Domino, Paul Anka, Fabian Forte, Bill Haley, Frankie Avalon, and the Everly Brothers.[10] During the 1950s Feld's Biggest Show of Stars toured 80 cities nationwide at a time when indoor arenas were been built nationwide. [11] The success of his music tours led Feld to producing other arena programs including the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus[12] then under the management of John Ringling North[13]

In 1967, the Feld brothers along with Roy M. Hofheinz offered to purchased the circus, however they were challenged by Broadway producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin who sued in December 1967 to stop the sale.[14] Instead the purchase of the combine circuses from the Ringling and North families to the Feld group took place for $8 million. The company was taken public in 1969.[7] Kenneth Feld joined the business in 1970 after finishing college.[3]

Mattel purchased the company in 1971 for $50 million in Mattel stock while Feld continued managing the circus.[7] After Walt Disney World opened near Orlando, Florida in 1971, the circus company attempted to cash in on the resulting tourism surge by opening Circus World in nearby Haines City.[15] Irvin & Kenneth Feld Productions in 1979 purchased from Chicago-based William Wirtz the Holiday on Ice and Ice Follies for $12 million. The company soon approach Disney about doing a Disney show on Ice.[16] By 1980, the company produced 10 circus and ice show TV specials. An investment was also made in Barnum, the new Broadway musical.[15] In 1981, Kenneth Feld started the Beyond Belief show starring Siegfried & Roy at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino.[17][4]

The Felds bought the company back in 1982 for $22.8 million by then the business had also Holiday on Ice, Ice Follies, Walt Disney's World on Ice and Beyond Belief Las Vegas nightclub act.[7] Circus World was sold to Arizona developer James Monaghan in 1984.[18] Ringlings' third touring company, Gold Unit, premiered on July 1, 1988 in Japan. In late 1988, Beyond Belief Las Vegas act went on an international tour.[4]

Feld Entertainment

In October 1996, Irvin & Kenneth Feld Productions, Inc. changed its name to Feld Entertainment, Inc.[19]

In 2001, Kenneth Feld began gifting shares of Feld Entertainment to his three daughters Nicole, Alana and Juliette Feld.[3] Nicole was hired into the family business in 2001 and became the first female producer of Ringling Circus in 2004. Alana also signed on in 2003.[6]

Due to an accident in October 2003, the Siegfried & Roy show was closed.[17] FE started producing Disney Live! shows in June 2004 with Winnie the Pooh in the United Kingdom.[20] Alana produced the first Doodlebops Live! in 2006.[6] In 2006, Nicole was a vice president in charge of the circus.[3] The company sold its Vienna, Virginia headquarters in May 2006 to America's Capital Partners then leased it back until 2018.[2] In 2007, Nicole and Alana were elevated to executive vice president of the company.[6]

The company signed a 10-year agreement with Disney Live Family Entertainment for Disney on Ice, Disney Live and other Disney productions in August 2008.[17] In September, Feld also acquired the motorsports division of Live Nation, including the properties of Monster Jam (and several associated monster trucks), Supercross, Arenacross, and the IHRA. The motor sport division was renamed Feld Entertainment Motor Sports.[1] Feld Motor Sports launched its first new arena-based freestyle motocross touring production, Nuclear Cowboyz, in 2010.[21]

In January 2012, the company purchased Palmetto Corporate Center, a former Siemens Corp. complex in Ellenton, Florida, and plans to move most of its various operations and its world headquarters there over a five-year period starting with its worldwide production center.[2] In March 2013, Feld agreed with Marvel Entertainment, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2009, to produce Marvel Universe Live!, a Marvel character-based live arena show.[22] FE agreed in October 2013 to occupy a to be build 241,457-square-foot warehouse in the Baltimore-Washington Industrial Park, Jessup, Maryland expected to be finished in November 2014 to consolidated two other warehouse else where in the industrial park used for merchandise.[23]

Units

Feld Entertainment owns:

Live show productions

External links

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Plumb, Tierney (September 11, 2009). "Feld Entertainment enters motor sports business". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Sword, Doug; Michael Pollick (January 31, 2012). "Feld Entertainment moving headquarters to Ellenton". Herald-Tribune. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Heath, Thomas (June 15, 2012). "Feld Entertainment head prepares to pass his empire to his daughters". Washington Post. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Disney Ice Extravaganza Opens". Los Angeles Times. Times Wire Services. July 1, 1988. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Feld Entertainment, Inc Company profile" (PDF). eswr.com. Feld Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tupponce, Joan (July 29, 2009). "Think your office is a circus?". Virginia Business. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Feld Family Buys Ringling Bros". Associated Press in New York Times. March 19, 1982. Retrieved 2008-07-20. Mattel Inc. said that it had sold Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows Inc. for $22.8 million to a family that had owned the circus and has been in its management for 26 years. Two members of the family, Irvin Feld and his son, Kenneth, said that the deal included the circus, Ice Follies, Holiday on Ice and the new Walt Disney's World on Ice. ...Irvin Feld was a record and music promoter and music store chain owner before becoming involved with the circus in 1956. In 1967, he and a brother acquired the company's total assets from the Ringling and North families for $8 million. Two years later, the circus became a publicly held corporation, and in 1971 the company was sold to Mattel for $50 million in stock.
  8. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1984/09/07/american-impresario-irvin-feld-dies/5fd4a47a-1141-4fe9-935d-44f3908b6ef7/
  9. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1982/04/05/how-irvin-felds-career-path-took-him-straight-to-the-circus/b8d9cc74-683a-4818-bf84-1936e8374120/
  10. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/07/obituaries/irvin-feld-66-circus-operator.html
  11. ↑ http://rnrhistorian.blogspot.com/2016/03/biggest-show-of-stars-of-1957-spring.html
  12. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=VyEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=feld+ringling+billboard&source=bl&ots=kH_RcV2_NZ&sig=0TbquO3HKIIokIcLvcw9mRI6UGE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEnNrYr7zMAhVGeCYKHTtsANoQ6AEIMjAE#v=onepage&q=feld%20ringling%20billboard&f=false
  13. ↑ http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/feld-entertainment-inc-history/
  14. ↑ Calta, Louis (December 5, 1967). "Feuer and Martin Suing Felds Over Circus Sale". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-20. Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin, Broadway producers, brought suit in New York State Supreme Court yesterday to cancel the sale of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus to Irvin and Israel Feld and Roy M. Hofheinz.
  15. 1 2 Langdon, Dolly (May 12, 1980). "Lord of the Rings' Irvin Feld Has Made a Fading Circus the Greatest Show on Earth Again". People. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  16. ↑ Dale, Steve (January 20, 1995). "Snow White And Greenbacks". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  17. 1 2 3 Grove, Lloyd (August 28, 2008). "The World According to Kenneth Feld". Upstart Business Journal (American City Business Journals). p. 5,18. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  18. ↑ Vaughan, Vicki (May 14, 1986). "Circus World Sold And Closed". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Feld Entertainment, Inc. Event". SunBiz.og. State of Florida Division of Corporation. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  20. 1 2 "'Disney Live! Winnie The Pooh to play at the Beacon Theatre". New York Theatre Guide. September 20, 2005. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  21. 1 2 Malok, Andre (February 28, 2014). "Nuclear Cowboyz: Jersey boy goes airborne at the IZOD Center". NJ.com (NJ Advance Media). Retrieved July 31, 2015.
  22. 1 2 "Marvel, circus company join forces for superhero arena show". Los Angeles Times. March 13, 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  23. ↑ Litten, Kevin (October 17, 2013). "Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey to store circus merchandise in a huge Jessup warehouse". Baltimore Business Journal (American City Business Journals). Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  24. ↑ Frederick, Missy (June 1, 2009). "With new motor sports unit, Feld Entertainment battles recession". Washington Business Journal. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Playhouse Disney Live! Brings Disney Channel Favorities Together on Stage to 70 U.S. Cities in Their First Live Touring Production" (Press release). Feld Entertainment. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  26. ↑ Tulloch, Katrina (May 8, 2015). "Belle, Snow White and Cinderella coming to 'Disney LIVE!' at The Oncenter this fall". The Post-Standard (Syracuse Media Group). Retrieved August 11, 2015.
  27. 1 2 Brooks, Dave (April 16, 2015). "The Future of Feld is Now". Amplify Magazine. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  28. ↑ Newman, Brad (October 14, 2010). "Disney characters take center stage". Amarillo Globe-News. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Mickey's Music Festival brings Disney fun to Shore". Delmarva Now (Gannett). November 19, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Disney Junior Live: Pirate & Princess Adventure Overview". New York Times Theater. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  31. ↑ Kennedy Wynne, Sharon (July 1, 2014). "Ambitious Marvel stunt show makes world premiere in Tampa". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  32. ↑ "Multimedia Show Recreates Spirit of George Lucas Films". CS Monitor. AP. February 22, 1993. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
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