| Buckles: Here are Dave's cages from pretty early in his career. From the wheels, I wonder if these were built on old Railway Express wagons? I always thought Eddie Kuhn's cages were. |
Saturday, November 01, 2008
DHcages
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4 comments:
Any date on this photo? Perhaps late 1950s or early '60s. And yes, the undercarriage looks exactly like railroad baggage carts. IIRC, Graham Bros. (a West Coast mud show from the early '60s) had cages made from these types of carts.
Paul: No date given; I just lifted the pic from the net.
I first knew Dave on Carson & Barnes and I don't recall this paint etc job then. Nor do I recall a tiger in the act as advertised here.
This must be post-Carson & Barnes and pre-Beatty-Cole, so early 1960s.
These were the cage wagons that Dave Hoover had when I first met him in 1964. He had them also in 1965. When he went on the Beatty-Cole show in 1966, a whole new set of all steel cage wagons were built. They were similar is design to those used by Ringling. As the years went by, these cages were modified and replace with solid ends and only one side with open bars.
The old "Railway Express" wheels on the older cages in this photo ended up here in my circus barn after Dasve passed away. They were sold to the L.A. Circus in California.
Dave Hoover was traditional circus to the last details, here reflected early on with his equipment. He always had his cages well-painted and lettered, even numbered like the wagons of yore. He loved to add these touches. I was amused when I joined out that when the cages were lined up, starting with D-A-V-E, etc., the V was missing in Hoover, and the cageline read DAVE HOO ER. I stood it as long as I could, finally took some time to mask off a proper letter, and painted him a V. I smiled at his double-take when he saw it.
We note here Dave even had sunburst designs on his railway wheels. These must have been perfect for buildings, but literal hell on soft lots.
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