Our experience with the vast crowds of the season before had given us
the idea of building two rings and giving a double performance. This,
of course, doubled our company, but it kept the audience in their
seats, since they were precisely as well off in one part of the canvas
as in another, whereas in the old one-ring show we found it impossible
to prevent the people who were farthest from the ring from standing up.
They would rush to the front and thus interfere with many other people.
This two-ring arrangement seemed to obviate this difficulty, and, as it
at once hit the popular fancy, it proved a great drawing card for us
and others, for within a few months smaller showmen all over the
country began to give two-ring performances. Indeed, from that time it
seemed to me that the old one-ring show was entirely forgotten.
It was quite laughable, during the earlier portion of the season, to
watch the expression on the faces of our performers when they came on
to join us and were shown the Pullman cars which were to be their homes
for the next six months. "It is too good to last," remarked one. "The
expense will break the show," said another. To their surprise, however,
it lasted that season and has lasted ever since. Previous to that they
had been in the habit of taking breakfast at any hour from midnight to
four P.M., according to the number of miles they had to travel; but
now all is changed, and an era of luxuriant comfort has become
established for them. For many months, however, at the dawn of this
epoch, the performers viewed their regular meals and sumptuous
surroundings with a comical seriousness most ludicrous to behold.
Small shows had, prior to this time, traveled to a limited extent by
rail; but not with accommodations like ours. Such shows consisted of
seven or eight cars, whereas ours numbered sixty-one. All of these,
with the exception of the sleeping cars, we had hired from the railroad
company.