Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-08-14

Gus unlOdu.
Today, you
feel a tug of
excl tement
MIR. PICKERING when the
circus press agent walks in. In
recent years. il has been Butler,
a big gray haired man with the
remnants of a New England
accent. Many a one of these
advance men has become
famous. O. O. Mcintyre was one
of them once. Butler is the
one that every city editor knows
now.
When ne stopped In, this
week, Butler told MS that the
swing shift performances TO be
given on two mornings are the
, first such shows that the Ring
ling-or any other big circus
ever has given.
Last year, swing shift work
ers In the Detroit factories
asked for such shows and were
backed up bS.otficials who said
IL might help the absentee
problem. whats become of all
the talk about that, anyway?)
The circus couldn't arrange
Its swing shift show then. but
will this year. Detroit II "A cir
cus-going city. The big top stays
here for only one less per-
Torrance than IL does in Chi
cagO.
This year, the clown fire de-
-paftnfeftt * back again. II was
the clown Jokes that made the
stands rock with laughter years
ago. In time, The humor with
cred with age and the act was
discarded.
This year, the clowns, reach
ing back into their memories.
decided 10 give the old fire de-
partment new tryout. New
genera tons of children. who
never heard OF il, laugh just as
hard as the earlier crops Of chill
dren did.
The -shOt-from- A-cannon
no longer II with the show. The
novelty of the act wore off, but
1t, too, may be back in 1860.
For that matter. the Zacchinis
weren't the originators. Old y.
II. Barnum himself, before the
show becam . Barnum and
Bailey. had girl named ZazeI
who WAS actually fired through
space from n cannon's mouth"
And that was I'm the 1896.
The cannon I'm time became
old stuff and disappeared until
Hugo Zacchini revived IL. a few
years ago. Now it's palling
again.
THE BOMBS FALL: Equipped
with suitable credentials. We
spun through Detroit, the other
evening, 10 see the mock air
raid.
Like may another Detroiter.
Will confess that, a year or so
ago, I looked on this civilian
defense business as pretty
sketchy and amateuriSh. | now
beg leave TO apologize. It's my
\ opinion now that the civilian
defense people have developed
something that will work.
II We are bombed-and We
still have to admit that we
might be-theSe fellows will be
able TO do a great deal more
than merely walk around the
streets and tell US 10 shut off
our electric lights.
We saw the raid start, watch
Ing from the top of the Penob-
scot Building, where Frank Nc
Laury, Capt. Don Leonard, Col.
krech and some others were
watching the paper bombs fall.
Even knowing that these
were our own planes, dropping
ounces of paper instead OF tons
Of INT, IL made you think.
They COULD be real.
This was not a demonstration
10 impress the public. 1t was
done simply 10 find out whether
the civilian defense setup would
work, and how well.
There were so incidents" or
mock bomb hits in the city, the
biggest at Hancock and Six
teenth. When we got there,
Red Cross cars. a mobile
kitchen, crew of auxiliary
firemen, telephone men with
phone already set up in a truck
in a vacant lott, gas men, road
clearing and repair men, even
steam shovel TO clear away
debris. were at work. There is
much more 10 this business than
just block wardenS.
Then, we went 10 Western
High School. one OF 200 centers
where refugees will be fed and
sheltered. These centers are
equipped with supplies OF cloth
\ ing and a supply OF food, dried
milk, canned soup, crackers e.
which II kept on hand all the
time. Western can feed $50
refugees on a moments notice.
Even money Is ready. Police
stations have $4,000 locked In
their safes. To be taken to evac-
uation centers when needed.
M indeed this IL NOT a foy