Allen Bloom, at 72; promoted circus and musical acts

ALLEN BLOOM (Bloom Family via Washington Post)

WASHINGTON - Allen J. Bloom, who died Jan. 18 of lymphoma at his home in Bethesda, Md., was a hard-bargaining, cigar-chomping promoter of pomp, panache, and spectacle. He began his career managing early rock 'n' rollers and later rebranded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as wholesome family entertainment. He was 72.

He was "larger than life in many ways," said Rodney Huey, a friend and longtime colleague.

Mr. Bloom was an heir to the old-time circus advance men who plastered small-town walls and shop windows with garish posters designed to attract young gape-mouthed Toby Tylers to "the greatest show on earth." He brought circus marketing and promotion into the modern age.

Mr. Bloom, a top executive with Irvin Feld and Kenneth Feld Productions, the owner of Ringling Bros. and other live entertainment attractions, lived high, in keeping with the stereotype of a promoter. He appreciated fine wines, good cigars, and haute cuisine. He also was a devoted family man, and that's how he sold the circus, as fun for the whole family.

His promotional efforts included techniques now considered standard: multimillion-dollar direct marketing, branding, image-building, and cross-promotion. "Circus for the masses, not the classes" was his credo.

Huey recalled a 1993 meeting to discuss cultivating a new generation of circus fans. Mr. Bloom surprised his colleagues by proposing to offer a free ticket to every child born in the United States that year.

The marketing gimmick was a multipronged success. Not only did children get to experience the circus, but they also were accompanied by ticket- and souvenir-buying adults. That was vintage Allen Bloom, said his son and business partner, Randy Bloom: "A hard business result for a good-hearted reason."

Long before he became a circus promoter, Allen Bloom and the Feld brothers of Washington, D.C., were pioneers in putting together touring musical acts. They promoted the early careers of such rock 'n' roll legends as Bill Haley and His Comets, Buddy Holly, Frankie Lymon, and the Everly Brothers.

Mr. Bloom was born in Los Angeles during the Depression. The family moved first to New York and then to Washington, D.C., where Mr. Bloom's father found a job at the Government Printing Office. The elder Bloom hated his job, Randy Bloom recalled. Allen Bloom resolved never to do anything he did not enjoy.

He was 11 when his part-time job of sweeping floors in a pharmacy determined the course of his life. The owners of the store were Israel and Irvin Feld, who weathered the Depression selling snake oil from a card table they set up at Maryland and Pennsylvania carnivals. The young pitchmen so impressed the manufacturer of the nostrum that the company advanced them money to open a drugstore.

By the time young Mr. Bloom joined them shortly after World War II, the Felds had begun to realize that records were bigger sellers at their store than pills and prescriptions. They opened Super Music City record stores and began producing records and live concerts.

Their young employee had a talent for marketing and for mixing with people, and soon he was on the road promoting rock 'n' roll and rhythm-and-blues acts in venues across the country. He managed to graduate from Coolidge High School - "on a handshake," his rabbi said at his memorial service. He was rarely in class, but did take required tests when he happened to be in town.

His real education was on the road, accompanying mixed-race acts into small Southern towns, learning what worked and what did not with small-town radio stations and big-city newspapers, tracking down Fats Domino when he got homesick after weeks of one-night stands and decamped to New Orleans.

His hard-earned experience also included the tragic: The plane crash that killed Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (the Big Bopper) was during a Feld Productions tour, advanced by Mr. Bloom.

His foray into circus promotion came about when the sequins had lost their sparkle and the growls of lions echoed to Big Top emptiness. The Feld brothers, who took over management of Ringling Bros. in 1956 and bought the company a decade later, got the circus out of costly tent shows and into indoor arenas. Mr. Bloom took over the marketing.

He knew how to take advantage of circumstance. Once during a railroad strike, he arranged for a procession of elephants to enter Manhattan through the Lincoln Tunnel, each carrying in its mouth a giant "quarter" for the toll.