Al G. Kelly & Miller Bros. Circus 1944 #9

Scan10086, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Big Top interior shows the peculiar arrangement of a 70' push pole top with five 20' middle pieces. Not only did this place the rings off center but for some reason, the one in this end has encompassed two center poles. This tent was put up just like a pup tent, to get it started, an elephant would crawl under one end, hook on to the beckets of two quarter poles that had been placed in a V shape and continue on to the other end. The problem was that if the canvas was wet and heavy, you ran the risk of snapping those wooden poles or even going right thru the grommet, so they used short middle pieces to lessen the weight. Of course, with the advent of aluminum poles and cable tops the show eventually went on to more conventional sized tents. When I first saw this show in the Fall 1949 it had grown to about a 90' with 7 middle pieces but as seen here, the center poles were rarely vertical. I remember asking my dad if it was safe to go inside.