Circus Canvas #1 (From Richard Flint)

B-L tent catalog 1909, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. An interesting question about the early use of striped sidewall was asked when you posted the 1941 color Ringling view of the horse-drawn gilly wagon showing a red-and-white sidewall. The tent is probably the horse top (which was open to the public as a "horse fair" through a connection from the menagerie) as no other tents show such striped sidewall based upon an aerial view of the New Bedford lot that was published in Life magazine that year. Here is a photo that appeared in a dated 1909 catalog of Baker & Lockwood, a major supplier (based in Kansas City, MO) of canvas tents to major shows as well as awnings and camping tents for other clients. Such narrow- striped canvas was commonly used for awnings, some camping tents, and carnival game booths. Catalogs of the 1910s-20s describe it being used for some circus marquees as well as bally platform and concession counter curtains. Circuses also began to use striped canvas for concession tents as probably also shown in this pre-1909 photo. Chicago's U.S. Tent & Awning's 1914 catalog specified that the colors they offered for sidewall were any combination of red, blue, and white. Dick Flint Baltimore