Evening star., 1939-05-15
BY ALFRED TOOMBS.

1ney SAID 1t was done for and
gone. They shed bitter tears for
the unborn generations that would
never know its color and it's glory.
Too bad, they said, but it looked
like there was no place in this
modern world for it.
That was last year, when the
circus struggled to its feet on a
dreary lot outside Scranton, Pa,
licked the wounds inflicted by ad-
versity, and limped away toward its
Florida home. The mourners said
then that the big top would never
go up again.
But today the circus was back
in town-a brave new world planted
overnight on vacant lot. The big
top undulated gently in the warm
breeze and atop the tent poles the
bright banners signaled to the coun-
try's most enthusiastic circus town
that the greatest show on earth"
still lived.
1t is new circus, built for new
world. Twice day, at 2:15 pm.
and BIS pm, for the next three
days, the circus will go through its
routine at Twenty-fi first and c streets
NE.-a routine that 1t hopes will
recapture the hearts of today's chill
dren.
Stress on Streamlining.
Ringing Brothers, Barnum and
Bailey Circus has streamlined every
thing but the peanuts and Frank
Braden, the press agent. And at
that, Frank is using nothing but
chromium plated adjectives.
The show has an electric dish
washer now. The big top is equipped
with air conditioners and on occa-
sion the ushers wander about
sprinkling perfume in the arena.
Giant tractors have replaced the
tugging draft horses The hula
dancers-streamlined to begin with
have chucked their grass skirts
and used, instead, shreds of colored
celophane.
The unloading here yesterday
marked a milestone in circus his
tory. Not since 1871, when the big
show first was moved by railroad,
has there been such a radical mod
ernization.
For the whole giant task of raising
the circus has been done differently.
Huge tractors, that shake the earth
as they move, have shouldered the
draft horses load. The horses were
too expensive-their feed bills ran
around $4,000 a year.
The entire herd Of so elephants
has been trained during the winter
to do every kind of work except
wash behind their own ears. They
are as strong as spring onions and
as docile as old dogs
The physical appearance of the
show has changed. The tent is
more nearly circular and the seats
have been arranged to give every
one q better view. John Ringing
North, the enterprising headman
of the show, turned few Broadway
designers loose inside the big top
and they have come up with color
combination that looks like melted
rainbow.
Everything, it appears, has been
bettered or frightened up except
Gargantua, the gorilla. He is worse
than ever, which, in a way, is better.
Gargantua was around with a scowl
on his face that made Mussolini
look like the Mona Lisa. His NAM
moth crouch, incidentally, is nur-
tured on such things as malted
milk shakes and liver extract.
Gargantua was on the first of the
four sections of the show train that
pulled into the Bennings siding
shortly before noon. This was the
first overnight move made by the
whole show this season and there
were certain problems attendant
upon the unloading.
Train Panics Elephants.
Josky, Tony, Dolly, Trilby. Little
Nellie, Minnie, Kass and the other
elephants assigned to hauling the
circus wagons off the fiat cars be-
haved pretty well. They were
panicked once when a train went
by and they splintered wagon
tongue, but there were no other
mishaps.
Gargantua's huge. air-conditioned
cage-oxygen is about the only
thing that he allows in the same
cage with him-were moved without
mishap. The lions and tigers that
belong to Terrell Jacobs act were
handled carefully, for the big cats
have been causing trouble by going
A. w. o. l..
One citizen in Long Island City,
N. Y, woke up last week to find a
tiger browsing about his front yard.
The Boston railroad yard ran UP
the red signals the week before when
lion Jared forth to hunt for a
nice, tender locomotive for dinner.
And SO the roustabouts were taking
no chances yesterday.
First thing to go up on the new
lot-the circus changed its location
this year from Fifth and Florida
avenue to save something like $4,000
| in rent-was the cook tent.