Imperial Valley press., 1935-02-09
TDDANtS
SPCRTAPARACE.
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By HENRY McLEMORE

! United Press staff Correspondent
! SARASOTA, Fla, Feb. 8. - Notes
/ scribbled by a sports writer on a
walk Through the winter headquar-
ters OF the greatest show on earth"
the combined cireuses OF the
MesSrs. Ringing, Barnum and Bal
ley:
The aerialistS, their wires and
swings swung from pine trees, fly
ing through the air with the great
est OF ease and lovely contempt for
the hard Groun dand scrub palm
ettos below 1t looked like a Tar
zan movie lot as the near-naked ar
lists whirled and spun and somer-
saulted through the branches
The monkeys in the outer cage,
suffering from a chilly wind, fight
ing for vantage points on thick
coated raCcoon some thoughtful
keeper had place din the cage
Only the top of the coons nose was
visible, SO thoroughly did the mon
KEYS curl about him i. The keep
er explained that the coon had the
monkeys nearly crazy and vice
versa The coon, who doesn't
sleep at night, keeps the monks up
all night playing, and the monkeys,
who can't sleep during the day,
pestering the coon, VINO wants to
sleep"
The unbelievable gentleman in
charge of the harness shop, which
makes every bit of the circuses
leather trappings completely
blind. he works as swiftly ana sure
~ as his helpers =. In his mind he
carries a picture of every nook and
corner of his big workshop, every
bit of leather, every tool twice
we saw him alve into great stack
OF assorted leather, and, with
quick rubbing of his fingers, dis
tinguish not only the type OF lea
ther but the color -. 1t was a
black piece he wanted the first
time, and he pulled black sheet
from the middle of a great stack OF
natural hides.
Makes All Wardrobe
Lawrence Bianchi, head OF the
wardrobe department, designs and
makes every costume for every per-
to1mance man and beast He
was fitting Eva, an elephant, for
robe when we arrived, and no Pari-
sian dressmaker could have been
more painstaking in his measure
ments Evas measurements,
including hips, I feet 8 inches;
girth (directly behind front legs)
13 feet even; neck to tip Of tail, 9
, feet Eva, when she comes trip
ping out in the grand parade IN
/ Madison Square garden IN April,
will wear a stunning robe OF mo-
/ hair plush of assorted colors, and
decorated with thousands OF brll-
hants Mr. Bianchi'S pet peeves
/ are camel robes The humps are
a nuisance, he said, and prevent a
/ proper, snug fit The paint shop
with dozens of men splashirlg the
gaudy wagons with bright paint and
gold leaf The circuis. by the
way is one Oh the worlds largest
users of gold leaf . Nothing else,
Z it seems, will give that exact cir
cusy gold look -
Most of the wagons Will have
pneumatic tires this year to
save the streets of the cities visited
Painters refreshening those lit
I tie toy fire department trucks en-
ployed by the clowns in the burning
| house scene Clyde Beatty won't
/ be back In bis place will be q
/ youngster named Nelson who, ac-
I cording to General Manager Sam
] Gumpertz, Isn't afraid of any cat
/ who ever lived, be it tiger, lion,
/ panther, leopard or puma -. The
i tent department, where every yard
, of canvas for all the shows is cut
and sewn To give you an idea
( Of the size of the big top, a man,
/ TO inspect all the stitching, would
have to walk near IS miles . The
pet Of the entire show-Modok, the
45-year~old elephant II is Mo-
dok you have seen do waddling
dance around the arena, and she