Saturday, April 06, 2019

HOOPS #7


Posted by Chic Silber at 4/06/2019 12:18:00 AM

10 comments:

Richard King said...

Beautiful form.

06 April, 2019 06:36
Chic Silber said...


Indeed

06 April, 2019 09:34
Roger Smith said...

If she were my girl, I'd want a safety on what looks like a single link up there.

06 April, 2019 18:57
Chic Silber said...


Indeed Roger

I've never liked "quicklinks"

Real shackles & cable safeties

06 April, 2019 21:37
Chic Silber said...


I would require it even

if she were not my girl

(& have done for years)

I'm extremely proud of

my 58 year safety record

06 April, 2019 21:40
Roger Smith said...

CHIC: Your demanding expertise would have prevented those 9 girls' injuries when the Felds' hair-hang rigging dropped. It had one carabiner, and no safety.

Was it the case that most, or all the injured, were paid off with an NDA--a non-disclosure agreement--attached? We see these things, meaning if anyone releases the money amount, or the terms agreed upon, the jig's up and penalties set in. These ingenues could easily have been frightened into signing. And, in an unrelated story, we remember the 60 MINUTES coverage of how a Feld staffer most of us can name got silenced with an NDA.

07 April, 2019 05:08
Chic Silber said...


Many a time I had to fight with

new acts that brought both very

poor & other criminaly defective

rigging components so that they

would "allow" us to provide the

corrective devices & better cable

Not only from foreign countries

but some from our very own folks

I had a nasty drag out battle with

Danny Chapman on another show to

prevent him from rigging Sarah's

trapeze with the most awful stuff

It had mostly to do with his pride

He bad mouthed me for years

07 April, 2019 09:56
Roger Smith said...

I've never forgotten a critical lesson from Bill Strong, who told us, "Rigging has a life span." He warned acts against using dear old Grandpa's rigging out of sheer sentiment, when it was best to enshrine it in retirement and build anew for yourself.

I've seen aerial acts working with rigging that looked like scraps they picked up beside the road when they crossed the border.

07 April, 2019 18:26
Chic Silber said...


I had sympathy for some folks

from Communist countries that

either couldn't afford better

or were forced to work with

what they were given & many

of them were very grateful

for my help with improvements

& better quality components

It was as often that groups

from non communist countries

were beligerent & stubborn

"Do You Know Who I Am"

07 April, 2019 18:53
Chic Silber said...


I was technical director

for a newly organized

major building circus in

Lima Peru many years ago

& had the opportunity to

work with a fantastic

group of North Korean

performers under similar

tight fisted government

control as East Europe

I had brought an array

of specialty hardware

in my rigging box that

nearly brought tears to

their eyes so I donated

much of it to them & if

it were ever possible

to visit their country

I have a long standing

invitation to Pyongyang

07 April, 2019 19:01

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)