The panorama was an endless loop, like a roller towel turned sideways, which was set in motion by the rotation of vertical cyl inders supporting the canvas loop at each end. The canvas was painted 'to represent the grandstand of spectators. Hagen set a panorama on each side of the stage to enable the "cheering crowd" to completely encircle the action. The three panoramas were overlapped and synchronized to move at the same speed. The total panorama was advertised as the largest ever built. The Scientific American reported that it was 96 feet wide and 25 feet high. It was so heavy that ball-bearing carriers were hung from an overhead endless track to support the canvas. Hagen thought that the non-moving floor of the stage destroyed the illusion of motion. He therefore devised endless belts painted in earth colors and placed them parallel to the curtain line on the stage. These belts were rotated to give the illusion of ground moving beneath the feet of the horses. Several rows of belts were installed; they were motor controlled from below the stage, and their speed was gradually reduced in each succeeding upstage belt to vary the speec. Finally, special machinery created the effect of dust raised by the wheels and by the horses' feet through a system of fourteen ducts that led to small openings in the stage floor. Powders poured into metal bins on electric blowers were expelled through these ducts to simulate the "bouyancy of natural dust without its grit." The blowers also blew the skirts of the actor's costumes. Scientific American Below: The construction of the losing chariot. On cue, the actor pulled a cord that folded one of the chariot's supporting legs, at the same time releasing one of the wheels. Above: Drawing of the junction between the rear and one of the side panoramas showing one method used to rotate and synchronize their movement. Scientific American I USITT I THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY DECEMBER,1970 15