Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1907-10-01
PASSING PAGEANT
OF WORLDS WONDERS
Yesterday Was Arizona's Greatest Cir
Gus Day and Phoenix Was a Real
Metropolis.


circus was never seen anywhere. There
may have been individual acts in 9TH
er circuses that have appealed to in
dividual critics as more wonderful
than any individual act seen yester-
day, but against such a suggestion is
the fact of scores of fearless and dar-
ing stunts and marvellous exhibitions.
many of which were never seen be-
fore with any other aggregation. Ev-
cry circus has a few horses as good
as Ringlings' horses, but no other cir
Gus has so many and all of them fine.
1t is an aggregation which carries the
best there is in every circus feature,
and more of it than any other circus.
Yesterday gave the best opportuni-
ty that Phoenix people ever had to
study and appreciate the full meaning
of organization and circus discipline.
1t was 10 o'clock in the forenoon before
the last of the trains arrived and the
real work of building the tented city
began. BY l o'clock everything was
complete The tents were up and all
preliminaries attended to and all
hands were dressed and mounted for
the big parade which was scheduled
for n couple of hours before. The pro-
gram was delayed by the late arrival
of the trains, and that meant harder
work after the trains did get here. But
finer exhibition of what an organized
army of men can do in brief space
could not be seen anywhere. The pa
rade was an incompatible exhibition
of both Oriental and Occidental splen-
dor. The wild animals and beasts of
burden from the four corners of the
world alternated in Kaleidoscope
change with the huge floats represent
ing the various nations of the civilized
world, and unique features of many
of them. The chief attraction of pa
rade the one first noticed always, is
the number and form of the horses.
Approximately 500 horses attend the
Ringing shows and all of them were
in the parade. The draft horses are
all grey or dappled grey, and scores
of them look as much alike as that
many leaves on a tree. After seeing
the parade, and even more after lott
ering around the horse tents where
they are watered and fed, the wonder
is how the drivers ever manage to
keep track of their own teams. To
make IL still more confusing the har-
ness all looks alike, and when a doZ-
en- four horse teams are standing idly
by, unhitched, it Is amazing that a
driver can ever tell which team to
take charge OF at a given time. or
where the team belongs. 1t is all in
the system though. and every horse
seems TO know his own place. All he
needs is to be told TO go.
The parade is led by the most not
able team of the sort in the country,
big string of twenty-four horses.
driven four abreast. Beside the draft
horses the ring horses participate in
the parade, and they are OF varying
colors, white, black. dun or
any other color They are mounted
by the army of acting people. men and
women, attired in rich and highly
colored costumes. that are neat and
attractive, though gaudy. That is the
thing desired in a parade, if the fab
RIGS can be made to appear genuine,
and with the Ringlings they are. Near
| " all the 100 to 1900 employees appear
in the parade, somewhere. The parade
was the longest the cleanest. the most
spectacular and the most impressive
ever seen here. Like the rest of the
show, II IS not the wonderful super
iority of any one thing that makes it
so great, but the fact that every
thing is Just little better and little
cleaner ore way or another, than
most other aggregations.
The afternoon performance was nee.
essarily delayed a little and it was
2:3O o'clock before the gates were
opened into the menagerie tent and
Ia half or three quarters of an hour
after that, before the performance be-
gan. But it was given in its entirety.
though it took until a quarter past
o'clock TO finish. In like manner with
what has been said of the general en-
semble, should the performance itself
be commented upon. 1t was the great
est ever. The aerial acts We're equal
~ as hard as anything ever attempted
under canvas and some of them were
more daring. for the reason that
there were no net projections below.
These were usually done by individu-
ais or couples. but there were also the
usual number of team performances
high uD under the tent covers and far
above the safeguarding nets. There
was magnificent work both singly and
in teams on the tight wire, on bicycles
and other equilibrist performances. In
acrobatic work there were all the old
features and many new ones, some of
them apparently impossible, until 1t
was seen with what ease they were
accomplished. In this line it was not
ed that in at least two of the teams,
women posed as stronger muscled
than the men and performed those
parts of the joint stunts requiring the
greater strength.
But if the Ringing show is great
for the performances of it's actor folk
il is even more wonderful by reason of
its animal artists. The elephant has
been an apt student from the begin
ming. but the advanced elephant class
es in the Ringing elephant school
make all others look like kindergart
ems and the three companies that
tread the boards in as many rings
of the Ringing circus. take their hats
off to no other elephants on earth.
They did stunts yesterday that put
them ahead Of all others. The same
may be said of the horses. They did
the old time waltzes but they also did
a number of new tricks. The ring
horses, bareback riding, marching etc.
was all of the regulation sort. but
the best there is. And in what might
be called freakish animal training. the