Wednesday, August 05, 2015

From Kenny Dodd #14


5 comments:

Chic Silber said...


The Beatty Show under "real" canvas

1 of Leif's last tops with real mud

I believe it was a 160

Cindy Potter said...

I'm pretty sure Leif built all the Beatty blue & white striped tops too, into the mid 1980's...1978 was the first year with the blue & white tops. I believe 1987 or 88 was the last before going to red & yellow vinyl.
:-)
Cindy Potter

Chic Silber said...


Butch Troyer was Leif's shop foreman

He had been with Leif since teenage

By the early 80's Leif became aware

of memmory losses enough to allow

Butch to take more of a primary role

I can't recall just when Leif sold

the business to some pleasant numb

nuts who couldn't find a clue with

a clue map but kept Butch in charge

It didn't take very long for "Leaf

Tent & Sail" to fold which allowed

Butch to create "A-1 Tents" that

continued to build Beatty tops

When Butch died at a fairly young

age his wife June decided not to

have the remaining crew including

Butch's brother Vern to remain

That gave Anchor from Evansville

Indiana the opportunity to build

a major tent facility in Manattee

County & take on big top business

That plant has since been closed

Only wish I could remember more

of the details (such as the name

of the numb nuts)

Chic Silber said...


Johnny Pugh certainly can

recall each & every detail

Roger Smith said...

Johnny Pugh used to sit out there with his palm, mending his Big Top. Kenny Dodd would walk by and tell him, "You have more hours in this tent than Leif."