Throwback to July 12

100 years ago: 1922

Streetlights in Lewiston turned blue shortly after the last photo shoot last night, and clouds gathered to extinguish the light of the moon. The city was shrouded in gloomy darkness until the sun rose this morning. It was discovered that the municipal lighting plant slipped from time to time. Not because of too much lube or anchor ice or eels in the gears, but because the cogs had been overworked and broken so that she had slipped something terrible.

Early in the evening, the sky looked like a perfect fit for natural lighting as the moon rose as clouds gathered in large numbers and took over the sky. Therefore, the moon will be held blameless for failing to fulfill the vacation obligation for the city’s lighting factory.

Anyway, moon or no moon, someone held the lantern and passed the new cog to the Cogman, “who creaked the wheel like it hadn’t been done in years”. The lights are expected to be on tonight as usual.

50 years ago: 1972

As the city slept early this morning, a caravan of 15 trucks converged on Lewiston Fairgrounds, and soon after, a strange but fascinating cargo spilled out. It was the Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus, the “world’s greatest circus”, in town for a one-day stand for the first time in seven years. Very early on, young people from the region began to gather at the fairgrounds to see the activity and offer their services to the already numerous circus teams. “Need help?” many young people were heard asking. Andrea Millett and Kelley Case, both 10, told this reporter that they brought water and rags to the workers and were rewarded with a free pass to the performance of these afternoon for their generosity.

Boys of all ages helped set up the seats under the 300ft by 150ft main tent, their efforts were seen by an ever-growing audience of area residents. Two-year-old James Childs with his grandfather, John W. Childs Sr. They are also residents of the fairgrounds. “I had everything I could do to keep little Jimmy restrained as he turned his attention to the lions and tigers in nearby cages. He just seemed to fall in love with all the animals,” Childs continued. He, too, was eager to see the show, which was brought to town by the Lewiston-Auburn Jaycees.The three-ring Beatty-Cole Circus is considered the largest tent circus in the world.

A lion tamer, 12 elephants, several animal acts, wire acts, aerial acts and the ever-popular clowns are part of the great circus contingency. Jimmy Jones is one of 30 clowns who work with the show. “I play a happy clown and I wear white makeup,” as he explained a bit about clown makeup and their acts. “Actually, there are three types of clowns,” he added. “Happy-faced white clowns are traditionally American, but there are also character clowns and tramp clowns,” he said.

25 years ago: 1997

A videotape of “Musicale!”, a tribute to lighthouse keepers, will be screened at 7 p.m. Monday at the Packard Activity Center, United Church of Monmouth. Donations will benefit the Cochrane Archives and the Monmouth Museum Art Gallery. A strawberry shortcake will be served. An exhibition of lighthouse memorabilia will also be available to the public.

The material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared, although spelling mistakes and errors may be corrected.

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