Charles was the most musically talented of the family. Charles could sing, play a violin, a euphonium and a trombone. Despite his musical talent, his time was taken up with poster advertising and dealing with the opposition and in 1916 he shifted his focus to the production and spectacles that opened each performance. Charles thought P.T. Barnum to be a great man of advertising, however there was a difference between Charles’s method of advertising and that of Barnum. Barnum focused his advertising on population and Charles looked at out-put of the agriculture seasons, and the mills and mines. With this knowledge, Ringling could route their show where the citizens could afford to come to the circus. Charles was the smallest of the brothers and very popular with the employees. Charles died in December of 1926 of a heart ailment.