From Richard Reynolds #2

!cid_X_MA1_1306178801@aol, originally uploaded by bucklesw1. Richard Reynolds says - - - Here we see the way RBBB presented its wild animal acts in 1921-24. This is a well circulated photo of the set up in the old Madison Square Garden in or about 1922. They were not presented in circular steel arenas in the rings, as we saw later. No they were in square cages on the stages as shown. That having been said, I have only this photo to go on. The multiple acts were presented in different displays throughout the performance. In 1922, for example, 7 different animal acts were put on in Displays 2 , 4 and 6. So maybe a round arena was used for some of them. We must figure that these square arenas were left standing, as we see, until the last display with wild animal acts was over. I figure the transfer or shifting cages were manhandled into the big top, possibly with some elephant power for shoving. There was no tunnel or chute leading outside as we knew from 1938 et seq. There was no tractor involved because Charles Ringling hated them. He goes into great detail about his dislike of tractors in the aforesaid memo to manager Warrell. We do not know which act was in the arena in the foreground but we can see polar bears in the transfer cage in the background. The ring between the two stages looks to me like it is set up for the pre-show band concert. Charlie Ringling gave this instruction in his memo to Warrell. "Concerning the SHIFTING CAGES FOR THE ANIMAL ACTS - - season of 1921 we had three - -all different sizes. For 1922, in order that we can handle the groups as we want to, they should all be made one size, namely, the size of the largest one we are now using. The present gears, axles, etc. will be all right for this purpose; it will only be necessary to build the one body and lengthen the other." So, in 1921-24 RBBB used shifting cages it does today. The cages that hauled the animals over the road were the ones that were brought into the big top in 1945, and from 1946 through about 1986. In or around that year, the veranda style over-the-road cages went into use with shifting cages bringing the beasts into the indoor arenas from what now passes for the backyard.