Circus Vargas, a Show You See Up Close, Opens Its County Run

On Thursday, there was little about the Rancho Santiago College baseball field to make children stare in wonder or to bring a wistful smile to an old man’s face.

Then Circus Vargas pulled into town, and in a matter of hours, the few dusty acres became a magical place where tigers dance, mortals fly and pratfalling clowns steal our hearts and worries. Billed as the world’s largest big-top circus, Circus Vargas threw open its tent flaps last night in Santa Ana and will present shows at four Orange County locations through Feb. 15.

Now in its 21st year, Circus Vargas combines the sawdusty traditions of yesterday’s traveling circuses with the glitter and splash of a Vegas show. Trained dog acts share the bill with sexy showgirls. Pachyderms parade in sequined coats that would have made Liberace proud. Ushers hawk popcorn, peanuts and glow-in-the-dark toys.

But unlike the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus--its major, equally glitzy competitor--Circus Vargas almost never performs in a permanent structure. Eleven months a year, the circus’s 400 human and animal performers present their “Amazing Feats” under a 90,000-square-foot tent of duraskin polyester PVC (sorry, Grandpa, canvas is passe) pitched in fields, parking lots and public parks nationwide. The audience, often as large as 5,000, sits on portable bleachers just a few feet away from the action.

“The audience is really a part of the show,” said Cindy Miller, the group’s national publicity director. “You’re so close, you can actually see the glint in the tigers’ eyes and the perspiration on a performer’s face. You can feel the energy. In an arena, the audience is just too far away. We tried playing arenas as an experiment, and financially we did very well. But I think people really prefer the feeling of the big top.”

Based in Hollywood, Circus Vargas was founded in 1969 by Clifford E. Vargas in an effort to revitalize the dying tradition of the tent circus. The grandson of Portuguese circus performers, Vargas built the company from a modest traveling show to a multimillion-dollar extravaganza attended by an estimated 2 million people each year.

Vargas died in September, leaving the circus in the hands of Jack Bailey and Joe Mascarello, his former vice president and general manager. The 1990 Circus Vargas tour kicked off in mid-January in San Diego and will travel throughout Southern California until May. By November, Circus Vargas will have presented nearly 700 performances in 100 American cities.

Highlights of this year’s show include Wayne Ragen’s “Big Cats”; William (Buckles) Woodcock and his 15 Asian and African elephants; the Vargas Clowns; aerial derring-do by the Quiroga Family; trapeze artistry by the Flying Rodogels, and the Marinellas Brothers on the “Double Wheel of Death.”

Circus people lead a fast-paced, physically demanding life, Miller said. After a two- to five-day stay in each city, the rigging, props, costumes and enormous tent must be packed into the company’s 30 semitrailers and driven to the next location, along with the menagerie of four-footed stars. The following morning, the crew begins the six-hour process of raising the big top, setting up rings, rigging, wiring and bleachers for the evening’s performance.

At each stop, the public is invited to view the actual rising of the big top, which takes place between 10:30 and noon on opening day (see below for Orange County dates), and to ogle many of the show’s animals. While the crew sets the stage, the performers spend their day rehearsing and catching up on personal business.

“We spend most of our time looking for markets and laundromats,” said clown Lenny Wolen, laughing. Wolen, one of the circus’ 12 clowns, has been in the business for more than 15 years, the last three with Circus Vargas. A former actor and a graduate of the Ringling Brothers’ Clown College, he says he enjoys the “hands-on” aspect of the Vargas show.

“We do everything in this show . . . everything but follow the elephants around with a shovel,” he said, laughing again. “We meet and greet the people, do the act and the big production numbers. We have close contact with the audience--we can really see their reactions.”

Wolen, who puts his age at “between 40 and death,” plans to be in the spotlight for years to come.

“There’s no age limit in clowning,” he said. “As long as you can fall down and get back up again, you’re OK. Every year, you just put the makeup on a little thicker.”

“Buckles” Woodcock literally grew up in the circus. A fourth-generation elephant trainer, his Vargas elephants range in size from 11,000-pound Colonel Joe (billed as the largest performing elephant in the United States) to the two-ton, 5-year-old Brat. At Woodcock’s command, the elephants skip, dance, walk on their hind legs, carry showgirls in their mouths and on their trunks, and in the finale, stage a pachyderm “pyramid” just inches from the audience.

“People don’t realize how agile elephants are,” Woodcock noted. “They figure anything this large must be clumsy.”

Woodcock said it takes only a six-week “boot camp” to teach an elephant such basic stunts as lifting its trunk on command and following in a line.

“Their intelligence is their most outstanding feature,” he said. “A dog trainer once told me a dog that could understand eight words was a brilliant animal. The dumbest elephant I’ve ever seen understands 20 or 30 words.”

Trained animals have been a mainstay of circuses since the late 1700s, but in recent years, controversy raised by animal-rights activists have caused some members of the public to think twice about the whole practice. Woodcock, though, sees circus work as a form of preservation, not persecution, of the animals.

“If they’re going to be saved, it’s going to be in this country. Look at all the poaching that’s going on. In the wild, Joe’s ivory would be a death warrant,” Woodcock said, referring to his star’s six-foot tusks. “Plus, as performers, they’re constantly getting mental stimulation, not like a zoo elephant who stares at the same four walls every day. I just wish people could look more at the overall picture.”

Wayne Ragen, who leads the shows’ four Bengal tigers and four African lionesses through their paces, agrees.

“We are scrutinized so strongly by the humane societies, government agencies and the general public,” noted Ragen, who said he prefers a more gentle, communicative approach in his cat training over the old-fashioned “tyrant-with-a-whip” approach.

“When the cats are on display, I spend a lot of time answering people’s questions and giving them our side of the story,” added Ragen, who has been working with cats for 15 years. “I find there are a lot of misconceptions. “People never get to see exotic animals as close as they can see them here. You can smell them--you’re practically right next to them.

“I watch the parents showing them to their kids, and they’re all so excited. Nowhere in the world can you see that except at a circus.”

Circus Vargas performances continue through Monday at Rancho Santiago College, 17th and Bristol Streets in Santa Ana. Shows are today at 12:30, 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 1, 4 and 7 p.m., and Monday at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

Shows at Yorba Regional Park, 7600 E. La Palma Ave. in Anaheim Hills, are Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., and Wednesday and 8 at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

In La Palma, shows will be held at Central Park, 7821 Walker St., Friday at 8 p.m.; next Saturday at 12:30, 3:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 11 at 1, 4 and 7 p.m., and Feb. 12 at 1, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

In Orange, at Hart Park, 701 S. Glassell, performances are Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 14 and 15 at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.

All tickets are $4 to $18.50 and can be purchased at the door or through Ticketmaster ((714) 740-2000). Free children’s ticket coupons are available at Lucky’s grocery stores. Information: (213) 461-0616.