Access to rigging

I spent a week with a circus in Mexico, and they didn't even have the A-frame, just a straight ladder and 4 guys to hold it up while one climbed. Granted, they were the acrobats after they finished loading in.
@kicknargel Funny you should mention: Early in the fall of 1990, I found myself in the role of 2nd assistant LX responsible for operating the #1 spot, calling the cues for the operators of spots 2 and 3 plus focusing all of the approximately 300 lamps in our FOH. There were 13 IA members on the tour, 12 from local 58 Toronto and myself from Hamilton, Ontario's IA 129. When we arrived for our month in SanFrancisco, I focused all of our 2nd overhead FOH from a bosun's chair rigged from a focusing track supported by a pair of 1 ton CM Loadstars, all of which we were carrying . When it came time to focus our six FOH box booms the local crew went to a closet behind the second balcony bar and pulled out the lower two 20' sections of a near antique 60' wooden extension ladder, the ladder was from an era when approximately the lower 4' of its side rails were intentionally curved out approximately ten or twelve inches on each side to effectively broaden the ladder's foot-print by close to two feet. The crew carried the base section down to the rail of the second balcony where they handed it down to additional minions on the first balcony who prevented the ladder from damaging the building or our 2nd balcony rail instruments and passed the ladder off to even more minions awaiting at orchestra level. Once the lower portion of their ladderwas resting between the fixed seats at orchestra level, the 2nd balcony local brothers went back to their closet behind the second balcony bar to fetch what's normally their ladder's third (upper-most) section and brought it back by the same paths to the rail of the second balcony where they lowered it over and carefully mated it into the waiting lower section. Their local crew chief had pre-determined 40' of their 60' ladder would be sufficient for me to focus each of our six FOH box booms (3 per side) beginning in each case from the top and working my way down periodically descending to alter the ladder's height to focus our typically three instruments at each elevation. As I mentioned, part of my responsibilities were to focus all of our FOH, literally every lamp on the house side of the curtain line including fore-stage booms and our 1st FOH truss suspend by three more Loadstar's over our stage extension which extended out to cover most of their orchestra pit, partially to permit floor monitors to hang beneath the extension and be heard via painted grille cloth covered heavy gauge expanded metal and partially to extend our stage as close as possible to the first row since all of our music was performed live by the cast including from a rear corridor band room by cast members portraying characters not presently required on stage.
HERE'S THE PART YOUR POST REMINDED ME OF:
All of our deck electrics, side booms and 9 flown LX pipes were focused by our 1st assistant LX from one of several personnel lifts we were carrying. Due to our fore-stage being cantilevered out over their orchestra pit, our production carpenter was unwilling to risk rolling either of our personnel lifts across our non-supported stage extension.
When it was time to focus our 1st FOH truss, my trusty team of approximately six 'ladder lackies' were totally at ease with the concept of adjusting the height of their two 20' sections then supporting it nigh on vertical while I clambered up and made myself comfortable seated on the upper-most rung so I could have two hands free to focus and finesse gobos within their holders. All of our stage LX was touring with us but since there were only two stops on our tour prior to arriving at Broadway's Shubert, and since our stops in Calgary and SanFransisco were in RADICALLY different size venues, all of the FOH instruments we'd used in Toronto's Royal Alex' were stored and trucked directly to Broadway where the Shubert's FOH required essentially fixtures of the same beam angles. For the trip across our 1st FOH truss, our 'ladder lackies' carefully flip-flopped a couple of sheets of 3/4" ply over the painted grilles of our sunken monitor speakers all the while keeping my ladder and I safe and secure on our journey across our truss. Only once did things get a little tense when I'd just completed focusing the physically longest special on our pipe and couldn't possibly duck under it without descending a rung or two while the bulk of my team of 'ladder lackies' were attempting to trudge ever onwards. I'll admit to raising my voice a little as they valiantly attempted to push me through the fixture I'd just precisely finessed and it slowly sunk in that my end of their ladder was no longer coming along for the ride. I MAY admit to more than once having walked my own ladder across a pipe (and I MAY even admit to having done so on one occasion when I was alone in the venue) but I honestly can't recall ever having been waltzed across the very edge of a curved apron lip atop two 20' sections of a heavy OLD wooden extension ladder by a team of four to six (clearly experienced) IA 'ladder lackies'. If I were ever to author a book, that'd be one of the more 'unique' experiences I'd be sure to include. I can't remember the name of the venue but I'm certain CB'ers from SanFransisco will have heard of it; the stage door was located immediately adjacent to McArthur Park and opened to a lengthy run of steps leading down to stage level which was appreciably below grade. Now that I'm thinking about it, I believe our 7 densely packed trailers loaded in via their lobby.
Thanks for the memories @kicknargel
PS: When we were approximately 3/4 of the way across our 1st FOH truss we realized we just might be able to complete our FOH focus prior to end of day thus everyone, our LX designer, our button pusher. our 'ladder lackies' and I agreed to hustle just a tad harder so as not to have to return for another 8:00 call and then it happened. The unmistakeable sound of a motor chain spilling out of its bag and running out all the way to its end. The motor was supporting a scenic element and thus not LX's problem but the problem was the chain had spilled from a motor about six feet above our 1st FOH truss, the truss we were fast approaching completion of focus. This was about to necessitate the carps coming in for a seven or eight a.m. call and attempting to breast our meticulously focused truss out of their way to reach their motor's bag and hand-bomb its chain back up and neatly into its bag. There was no way we wanted the carps coming in without us and attempting to work around and over our 1st FOH truss. As I by now had established a great rapport with my faithful 'ladder lackies', coupled with the joy I knew they'd derive from having the carps crew beholden to them for the rest of our month, I boldly suggested it may be worth it for them to invest an extra ten minutes upon completion of the focus of our 1st FOH truss so I could carefully thread our ladder up the extra 6', hand-bomb the grease covered motor chain up and back into its bag then climb back down the ladder with my grease-coated hands and forearms. My 'ladder lackies' agreed it'd be worth it to tease their carps brethren MERCILESSLY for the remainder of our month and our Head carp was more than pleased to have a large towel awaiting for me upon my return to HIS barely adequately supported deck.
EDIT: Removed an inadvertently repeated word.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
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