CIRCUS SHOW: Rew resident Cliff Hastings read Pat Ross’ memories in our July 23 column about her father renting out a field near the family’s home to visiting circuses, so he stopped by to tell us his recollection of seeing a circus in that field.

The year was around 1944, and Cliff was about 8 years old. “It’s a day at the circus I’ll never forget,” he said.

Cliff tells us, “My father woke me up at some ungodly hour of the morning and said, ‘We’re going to see the circus.’”

Cliff, a boy at the time, was not happy about the early wake-up call, but his dad said, “It’s probably a sight you’ll never see again in your life,” said Cliff. “He was right.”

When the pair arrived at the field, “Daylight hadn’t even broke yet.” It was too early to participate in the circus; his dad brought Cliff to watch the circus setting up.

He remembers watching an Asian man — “a real gentleman,” Cliff recalled — setting up poles for the big top with the aid of “Jumbo” the elephant.

“All he had for control,” he said, was “a walking cane and a quiet, even-tempered voice.”

With Jumbo’s help, they would drive the tent poles “right into the earth,” then Jumbo would pull “the entire big top up over these poles.”

After watching the circus set up, they stayed to watch it.

Among the acts was the Flying Wallendas, who performed “death-defying acts with no net,” such as “jumping from one swinging trapeze to another.”

According to Cliff, the Wallendas would practice every day in their Tioga County barn, and the group is still stationed in Tioga.

That circus, he said, was also “where I learned music was amazing.”

He saw band leader Merle Evans perform with his band. “To me he was worth more than the president.”

It was at the circus that Cliff learned how drum rolls are used to hold the audience’s attention. “People would be amazed at the music. It put you in a world all itself.”

Additionally, “world-famous Bozo the Clown,” aka Emmett Kelly, made an appearance. Bozo “never changed facial expressions,” Cliff noted. He remembers lion tamer Clyde Beatty, too.

A Caterpillar generator on wheels supplied power for the lights and equipment. “I can still see those big generators,” he said. “They were huge.”