Tuesday, August 23, 2016

#1 Acme Corp.


12 comments:

Chic Silber said...


"Acme Shows" included

"Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros"

(shown here) under the

prime corporate title of

"Acme Circus Operating Co"

"Sells & Gray" under title

"Kit Circus Operating Co"

"King Bros" under the title

"General Circus Operating Co"

All are only memories now

Chic Silber said...


Mid 60s with new laundry

tub over ring lights I

built but with the old

open 1K PS52 chandeliers

Chic Silber said...


Either the 1st or 2nd

Gaona flying family

Mike Naughton said...

How many bulbs were in each tub and what was the wattage of each? Must have been a lot to light the ring. Just curious to compare the 1960s with the present day technology. Were the insides of the tubs painted white?

Chic Silber said...


The final corporate title

of the "Cole Bros Circus"

was Branchwater Productions

created in May of 2008

Chic Silber said...


The corporate address

for Branchwater is still

713 South Orange Avenue

Exactly the same address

that all the Acme Shows

used from their inception

Chic Silber said...


The galvanized wash tubs

had an aluminum disc set

back a few inches from

the outer edge with 4

holes to accept "Alzak"

ellipsoidal reflectors

I used long neck ER 40

1000 watt lamps well

recessed in the units

The setback was often

proven to save lamps

Chic Silber said...


I created 1 similar unit

for Dave Hoover using a

wider pattern reflector

to offer more spread

Chic Silber said...


In the early spring of 89

I designed & created an

entirely new age complete

lighting system utilizing

Halogen Quartz Iodide lamps

of different wattages in

custom frames to hang above

rings as well as between

the quarter poles as to

illuminate rings & track

independently & all of

these units traveled in

custom road crates that

we also provided

Mike Naughton said...

Opps - Chic will be disappointed that I called the "lamps" bulbs. Sorry, old habit. I hope this comment gets to him before he answers my previous question. I will never hear the end of my "flub about the bulb".

Chic Silber said...


Not to be worried Mike

Much more common that

folks use that term

The bulb is only the

glass part of a lamp

There are also bases

& filaments (where

they still exist)

Chic Silber said...


In the future almost

all illumination will

be by LED technology

using a tiny fraction

of electric current