Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Kelly-Miller 1952 #10


Scan13157, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

At first glance this looks like two tents end to end but this is the K-M
"shotgun" push pole big top with Kelly's living quarters spotted at the end.
4- 30's, 2- 20's and 40' in the middle.
No one knew how wide it was, some said 100' others said 90". It came
off the spool in two sections, they were spread out, laced together and
the stake driver drove a stake at the end of each rope. Sort of like going
on a camping trip.
The center poles were never completely vertical or in a straight line,
wherever the elephant stopped is where it stayed.
The only aerial act was Evalina Rossi's single traps in the center and you can see how it pulled the poles together.

On the other hand it was up and ready between 9:30 and 10 each
morning and we were at the pie car having a cheeseburger between
10:30 and 11 at night.

Posted by Buckles at 10/05/2010 05:56:00 AM

3 comments:

JIM ELLIOTT said...

Buckles
Another fabulious set of photos.
THANKS for sharing.

05 October, 2010 09:12
Lane Taburt said...

I saw this show as a young teen in 1952 or '53 in my Oklahoma hometown (about 60 miles north of Hugo). Tim McCoy was the after-show star and appeared during the performance to tout his skills (I passed on it, not wanting to spend the quarter after having earned a free pass for the matinee by unloading a dozen or so saddles from a truck and placing them on nearby sawhorses.) Having seen the big Clyde Beatty tent in 1948, I was not the least bit impressed by the height of the K-M canvas. It seemed to me at the time that if the trapeze artist had attempted a heel catch, she would have scraped her nose on the rocky lot. But I was very impressed by the K-M great white fleet of trucks and the fan-friendly nature of Kelly-Miller people, both in the backyard and on the midway.

05 October, 2010 12:50
B.E.Trumble said...

Buckles, any idea what the length was on the center poles? In interior pictures it always looks like a very low slung tent for its size.

06 October, 2010 10:18

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