Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-08-13

4 C~Jf
feel a tug OF
- - exc tement
MR.. PICKERING when the
circus press agent walks in. In
recent years, IT 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 he stopped In, this
week, Butler told us that the
swing shift performances 10 he
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 by officials who said
IL might help the absentee
problem. whats become Of al
the talk about that, anyway
The circus couldn't arrange
It's swing shift show then, but
will this year. Detroit In n cir
cus-going city. The big top stays
here for only one less per
Torrance than II does In Chi
cago.
This year. the clown fire de-
partment is 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
inc back into their memories.
decided 10 give the old fire de-
partment a new tryput. New
generations Of children. who
never heard Of il, laugh Just az
hard rs the eaFiieEeHee2= 81 chill
dren did.
The n-shot-from- a-cannon
no longer IL with the show. The
novelty Of the net wore off. but
~. too, may he back In 1860.
For that matter. the Zacchinis
weren't the originators. Old Y.
T. Barnum himself. before the
show became Bsrnum and
Bailey, had q girl named Zazel
who was actually fired through
space from a lannon's mouth"
And that was I'm the l880s.
The cannon In time became
old stuff and disappeared until
Hugo Zacchini revived II. a few
years ago. Now it's palling
again.
THE BOMBS FALL. Equipped
with suitable credentials. we
spun through Detroit, the other
evening. 10 sec the mock air
raid.
Like NAV. another Detroiter. I
! viii confess that. year or so
J ago. / looked on this civilian
defense bushes as pretty
sketchy and amateurSh. ! now
beg leave 20 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 10 admit that We
might be-theSe fellows Will be
able 10 do "A great deal more
than merely walk around the
streets and tell us 20 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, II made you think.
They COULD he real.
This was not a demonstration
. 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 AZ Hancock and Six
tecnth. When we got there,
Red Cross cars, a mobi Q
kitchen, a crew OF auxiliary
firemen. telephone men with a
phone already set up in A truck
IN a vacant lott, gas men, road
clearing and repair men. even
steam shovel 10 clear away
debris, were at work. There is
much more 10 this business than
Just block wardenS.
Then, we went Ia Western
High School, one Of 200 centcrs
: where refugees will he fed and
sheltered. These centerS are
equipped with supplies of cloth
Ing and a supply of food, dried
milk, canned soup, crackers -.
which Is kept on hand all the
time. Western can feed $50
refugees on a moments notice.
Even money Is ready. Police
stations have $1,000 locked In
their safes. 10 he taken to evac-
uation centers when needed.
No. indeed, this Is not A toy