By JOSEPH W. LaBINE Three months ago a spangled crop of circus performers hit the sawdust trail amidst prom- ises of the biggest season since 1929. Today, many of them are hoping to get home without sell- ing the tent. The circus rough waters; has flopped altogether. At Scranton, Pa., a few weeks ago, the “Big One,” Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, folded its tent in a sea of mud and headed back to winter quarters at Sarasota, Fla Strikes, poor attendance rainy weather This thing wouldn't happened in the days of old P. T. Barnum or John Ring- ling, peers of the circus world. But it happened this year, for the first time in 54 seasons; it happened in a profession whose followers traditionally carry their ner through mud, starvat EIR} payless We about old bromide, " season has hit “The in must go on Maybe the performers ing their part, but that Maybe the audience is to blanve, the circus more than same elepl tricks and the same clown s turn the same somersaults, year year. Time Passes, Customs Change. These past ye ave been fraught with change in the enter- tainment field. ‘“The Perils of Paul- ine” lent gave way to talking | wtauqua ex- pired as a p people no long of culture; and made mopolitan. Through it uncha sive manager ana new aren't for th n the sam half a ants doing century wi the after 20 ars hi on the si screen ch: yictures; all came anged. Whenever Suggest ted there was someone to object, beca kind of entert one Kina i ainmen ent. It's ‘hnique use the cir ives on pure always been a ballyho loud-mouthed bag of trick everyone knows to be phoney enj for that very reason. never been bigger than the man in the checkered suit and derby hat who yells “Right this way!” out of one corner of his 1¢ other corner being preocc cupi ed by a cigar stub. So maybe the audience to blame for the Ringling recession. Maybe father's getting tired of sit- tng on a hard bench year after year, eating undigestible peanuts and watching the elephants. Per- haps America is now revolting against the old-time circus just as it revolted against chautauqua. They Call It “Collegiate.” But you can’t make the old time sawdust-trail followers believe that. If the “Big One” pever hits the road again, veteran circus men will always insist that it died John Ringling North tried to mod- sentin oys niouth ’ Re I this year and there- / ‘destroyed its ch That's a fruit cause John Ringling son of ‘Old John’ Ringling, he was only trying to regain of the old Ringling touch by ranging new costuming and hanging for the circus this year. » show arm. argument be- North, grand- insisted a bit ar- less Under the Smaller Tops. North is a Yale man and there were mutterings last spring that the circus going collegiate. Per- haps it was collegiate to import a giant gorilla, “Gargantua the and set him up for exhibi- tion in an air-conditioned cage, en- closed in steel and shatter- proof glass Perhaps other minor innovations were collegiate. But it will be hard for John Ringling wagging reason why his was bars exact Maybe it was the entertainment; ¥ THE HARD WAY-It's bad enough to merely stand on a tight- wire but Hal Silvers, top aerialist, chooses through a stick held by his two hands. It's a good constitutional, says Hal. maybe it was the public; maybe it was the management. reces- felt so the Ringling made the les Fortunately sion has not itself acutely ser circuses Probably it's because these smaller units play largely to non-metropoli- tan ‘audiences who h 't felt bad business conditions so acutely. Cer- tainly there's no drouth so far numbers are ¢ Feria] the current boasts six railroad shows and 16 to Add to that and hundreds of units, and you the 1938 circus among aven as 20 truck more than 150 carnivals fair and celebration have a picture of field. Tim McCoy motion pic fame is reviving the days of the Ranch and Buffalo Ba. Cly de Beat- ty and his cats frolic Brothe srs circus, which | show on the road under the nam of Robbins Brothers. Then comes Al G. Barnes-Sells-Floto circus and the Hagenbeck-Wallace Most of these are railroad si ith 20- to 30-car trains. shows. of 15 8 Se ond show OWS W the cir- you bef his ye: cus I ete should 's experience in ly goes to pre never count chickens Last April the } 3 said it was year on ve ore they winter quarte be a bigger mebody the cl son advance the preser an hatch. act best in years Fro Geor Yi £, one oi bookers of i carnivals and celebrations, came re- ports that the demand for new and unusual acts far exceeded sup- ply “We co we acts for circuses 4 vie yuld bool demant celebrations, Fourth of what it w ii was last for sucl 1wse around the July, is three times year." Circus in Retrospect. Old P. T. Barnum, were he alive today, might say the industry has become so big and complex that it's collapsing. The man who started out many years ago with a com- bined museum - menagerie - circus might scoff at huge institution his successors now tote around so painfully on special trains. the Certainly it's a far cry back to the ight of April 22, 1793, when George ington watched John Bill Rick- back of his galloping horse, regain saddle. That was one of the simple joys of a simple people, yet circus showmanship today is substantially the same, merely. augmented. It can be recalled that even in the earlier days the circus was a humbug proposition. P. T. Barnum, an old man when he reached the prime of circus life, chortled with inward glee at being +called the “greatest humbug of his time.” He was a genius at getting his name in It's interesting to speculate what will become of the dainty French equestrienne and the almond-eyed maid from Tokyo, the Hindu mys- tic and the rosy-cheeked English athlete, all of them members of the Ringling circus, all of them tempo- rarily out of a job now that the “Big One" has closed shop for the For old followers of the open road this will be a catastrophe. It will a phe- nomenon many of them have never before seen. This summer you're apt to find some top-rank circus talent filling out the season with smaller shows, anxious to make a living however they can. And next fall they'll find the road that leads back to winter quarters and home, or wherever they spend the cold months. Many of them will shake their heads and mutter: “Never again—I'm through.” But next spring they'll be around again and somebody will remem ber the bromide: “The show must go on!” © Western Newspaper Union. HALL, PA. and Most 6 FE ALL the foods known Oa of life. st 1st bodies for infants; strong children; helps to ma the onset of old age It contains a greater assort- ment of nutritive materials than It is the balanced any other single food. of Considering the services it foundation every diet. performs for mankind fancy to old age est food we have. Milk ways thi from in- it is the cheap- The Biggest Food Bargain Ne occasionally a that milk is too hig} t is a luxury to aff this master food to sup daily for e very pint for each adult. ulous! The « cheaper : And milk ndispensable necessity. I contend that no homemaker 8% New York City a veritable elixir health, efficiency and for her family, she must provide a sufficient amount of milk be- fore she purchases any other food. a A Food for Children and Adults Humankind needs milk as the flowers in the and the grains in the field need the bless- ing of rain. Deprived of milk, velop a multitude become thin and weak; their re- sistance is low; they fall easy vic- tims to the germs of disease; there is small hope of their reach ing normal manhood and woman- hood. Nor is milk only a food for chil- dren. It is likewise essential for adults who desire to live longer, happier, and healthier lives—to garden of saults of disease—to retain or re- gain mental and bodily vigor. It is indeed a Fountain of Youth! ay Milk for Pep and Power from two-thirds to three-fourths of to del lay and Milk for Minerals e of aq ile p able Without milk, it is practically impossible for the body to obtain enough of this cap- tain of the skeletal development, It has been estimated that wi the calcit ( ir I iK na or ' juirement Send for This Free Chart Showing which Foods are ACID and which ALKALINE One of the principles in plan. ning a balanced diet is to in- clude at least enough alkaline, or baseforming foods, to bal- ance the acid-forming foods. To help you distinguish the foods that belong in each group, C. Houston Goudiss offers to send a free chart list- ing the principal acid-ash and alkaline-ash foods. Address C. Houston Goudiss, 6 East 39th Street, New York City. In Praise of Milk Producers As milk is man’s finest food, the men who are occupied with its production are engaged in the world's most important pursuit. 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