To Peter Rosa

Scan000010842, a photo by bucklesw1 on Flickr. Buckles, I was just watching one of the Joe Bradbury DUGGAN MALLEY CFA videos. In video No. 4, Joe states that RBBB had 55 elephants and that he thought the largest was 56 elephants. I had only ever heard of 52. Do you know what the largest herd was? And of that number how many were carried on the road? THANKS Pete From Buckles: Everyone agrees that the 50 elephant photo above was enhanced by Roland Butler when in fact the closest they came in those days was 47 in 1941 but unfortunately the show only returned to Sarasota with 36 due to the tragic elephant poisoning in Atlanta. The show went on the road in 1955 with 51 elephants and a 52nd was added while playing Detroit (a small African male DIAMOND), I was on the lot in Chicago and noticed they were building a "Pit Show" looking straight-job truck and Smokey told me that they were sending two small elephants ahead of the show, this turned out to be "Cass" and "Adele". This reduced the herd to an even 50. On Dec. 2 at St. Petersburg while marching the herd to the cars at night, the last team in line was struck by an automobile fatally injuring "Barnes Jewel" who died the next day in Tampa. Consequently, the Ringling Show never had a "portal to portal" 50 elephant season. I might add that the 1947 herd was almost all adults and must have looked more impressive than the '55 herd which was populated over fifty per cent by smaller elephants.