In 1935, The Billboard magizine ran an article about "Backstein's Minature Circus," which at the time was the largest complete 1/2" scale circus in the world. The article was read by thousands of readers, one of which was Charlie Bennett. Since Charlie was doing the same thing, building little circus wagons, he wrote to Bert Backstein. Later that year, Bert & his family visited the Bennetts. During thier conversation, they wondered how many other circus model builders there were in the United States and discussed the possibility of forming a club to help the builders exchange ideas. Thus the "Circus Model Builder & Owner's Association was born. Bert knew of two more builders that would be interested in these plans: George Graf of Peru, Indiana and and Ralph Killer of Memphis, Tennessee. The men formed a little club and called themselves "The Big 4."

       Charlie wrote the first article for The Billboard, calling for other members and explaining the objects of the club. In a few days, John Sheppard of Chicago joined, and our first officers were: Ralph Miller-President, Goerge Graf-Vice President, Bert Backstein-Publicity Man, John Sheppard-Secretary/Treasurer, and Charlie Bennett-General Manager.