The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-30
Worlds Biggest Big Top Swings To Breeze At
 Early Dawn

Long before all the little boys and girls in Birmingham climbed out of their beds this morning. four long trains of brilliantly painted cars-100 of 'em- wound their way into the city convey ing the combined Ringling an Barnum and Bailey shows here from Sheffield where they exhibited yesterday.
 At the show grounds at Smith Park is a magic city of white and khaki tents where the teeming community of circus folk were getting accustomed to their Birmingham home for q day while the sunrise was heralding to the youngsters and oldsters alike that the day of the ''big show" had arrived.
 With the arrival of this circus, local youngsters egged on by sympathetic dads who have a penchant of their own towards the delights of the sawdust rings, are contemplating all manner of intrigue so as to be under the main tent at one or the other of the performances of today, for the joys to be derived from feeding peanuts to Old John, dean of the herd of 40 mouse-colored elephants, or from gazing in awe upon the famous John Daniel, IT., only living captive gorilla, characterized by the scientist and explorer, Carl Akeley, as ''the near est thing to man alive today" tip the scales most favorably circusward when weighed in the balance with almost any thing else.
 Thirty Tents
 Thirty tents of varying size make up the circus city, and these include 12 pri- vate dressing ''tops" for as many indi- vidual stars of the organization. Even the clowns, more numerous than the re- ported fiancees of the Prince of Wales, have private tent in which to iron the wrinkles out of their smiles. And then there are Ali Loyal's canines who have private de luxe quarters, probably the first time on record where dogs have been so favored with a circus.
 Because it takes every minute of the time each morning, along with every ounce of horse and man power, to make all ready for the two daily performances this circus does not present q street pa rade in fact, for four years none has anywhere been given.
 1t takes three rings, eight stages four steel arenas and the hippodrOme track to negotiate the long program and for almost three hours there isn't second goes to waste. The trained wild ami nal acts number Mabel Stark and her Siberian tigers wrestling tiger, Rajah ; Rudolph Matthies and his group of IF Captain RiccardO, most famous of all trainers, and his black-maned lions, and the Scandinavian trainers, the brother s Schroeder, and two groups of Polar bears. The famous Warsaw Horses, 24 Russian stalliOns, will be seen here for the first times, together with 2OO trained equines. Manuel Horbog, John Christiansen and Rodolpho Mayer, Eu- ropean master -horsemen, will be seen with their high school horses, while Frank Miller, an American, will offer Missouri Belle. indisputably the great est high school horse now before the public.
 Twelve baby elephants, shyest of all the performers, human or animal, will vie with their older colleagues of the herd of 40 in amazing stunts.
 Many Features
 Other outstanding features include May Wirth, equestrienne, and the en tire Wirth family Lillian Leitzel, aer ialist Berta Beeson, "the Pavolwa Oi the wire ;" the Nelson family of stun ming girl acrobats; the sisters Reiffen rach. riders from the Balkans; All Loyal's whirl-a-gig dogs; the Clarkson ian Nelson and Siegrist- -Silbon troupe' of human meteors and many others. TC name each and every act and individua performer, says the circus man, would be like naming every leaf on an Oal tree in an effort to prove it's beauty An opening pageant, designed especial ly for the little folks, in which score: of story book characters pass in review starts the circus ball rolling. Th' fun will be furnished by 100 clowns many of whom wear the striped head