To Chic Silber

I think they started the "50 Elephant" bally about the time of the Ringlings 50th Anniversary year. Roland butler even proved it by doctoring up this picture. By the late 1930's after the Great Depression had eliminated Hagenbeck-Wallace, Sells-Floto and Sparks they had a lot of elephants on their hands but the herd usually remained in the mid 40's. The show carried 4 elephant cars that comfortably carried 12 in each car but I believe one had a room in one end for storage of sections of the previous years big top in case of an emergency. So they got close to fifty in those days but no cigar. You couldn't begin to squeeze that many into the Old Garden or the New one for that matter. When I saw the show in 1955 they had 52 elephants on the lot, Smokey told me that they left Sarasota with 51 and the small African "Louie" (later "Diamond") had been delivered in Detroit. I never thought to ask if they had them all in the Garden but I suppose they did since that herd (20 adults, 7 half grown and 24 little guys) might have fit in. While there I noticed them building a pit show type truck that would take two punks ahead of the show reducing the herd to an even 50. As fate would have it, in St. Petersburg while the show was playing it's final week, "Big Jewel" was struck by a car while the herd was marching to the train at night and died the following day in Tampa. So the show only returned to Sarasota with 49. The final year under canvas Benny White took out 50 and returned with 50 but having folded half way thru the season so I don't know if it qualifies.