The circus plays a big role in my new book Keep That Day Job! Here are some excerpts:
The Dark Side of a Spangle
Wallace Bros hired me to usher. A few weeks later, they recruited me to replace a fired clown. Now I was “with it and for it,” and now being one of them myself, soon — all too soon — reality’s wry sense of humor struck, when I was introduced to a real life sledgehammer. Sure, such a pleasure to meet you!
Dining, Haute-off-the-lot at Wallace Bros. Circus
$25.00 a week ... Not bad given the sweet free extras that come with the glories of performing — your flat bunk in the truck you share with the band, and the three full-course adventures served you each day in the “gut foundry” as some called it — while others preferred “ptomaine joint,” for cookhouse. One of our musicians regaled us over his having ordered chicken fracases for dinner and being served “fried flower”
Pitching Elephants to ABC from a Payphone
I am off skates, on a pay phone at the Greyhound bus depot in Chicago, having just arrived with a list of media contacts in hand. Time is of the essence, only three days before the circus of Sid Kellner, now titled George Matthew’s Great London, is to open in the suburb of Oak Terrace. I shove a lot of change into the phone, and start frantically dialing up local TV and radio stations, hoping to land free coverage
Typing through Tears
Up to my clerk's desk at a chemical company in Century City, steps the office manger, handing me a just published rave review in Variety of my musical, Those Ringlings. After reading it, I continue pecking dutifully away as a flood of tears come rolling down my face. No town like this town.
The Ringlings, as Cast in Hollywood
Jeffrey
Rockwell, who played Al Ringling was the son of Robert, who had played
Mr. Boynton on the TV version of Our Miss Brooks. Hal Landon, Sr.,
who played August Ringling, was in real life the father of Hal Landon,
Jr. The closest geographical link to Ringling history was Wisconsin
native Joseph Lustig, who took on the role of Alf T.
Wishing I Could Be with Sid
At my first Kaiser Steel Christmas dinner on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, while walking back to a private dining room the firm had secured, I spotted a former boss, Sid Kellner, sitting on a bar stool chatting with a woman of looks sitting next to him. How I wished I could be sitting with Sid instead. But Sid was from another time. And he could have been so much more, as I would profile in my book Behind the Big Top.
Buy your big show tickets now at the Amazon Annex!
2 comments:
You don't seem to have a concept of how difficult it is to be a performer in the US. You seem to imagine that performers are just warehoused someplace for producers to pick like a grocery store. The fact is that most of the performers in the US are poor people. Most live in their trailers year round, usually parked on a friend or family member's property during down time. A lot get food stamps. Circus workers have it even worse. In the 'good old days' those who stayed at winter quarters worked all day for no pay, just some shitty cookhouse meals and a bunk. Highly illegal in any country. I doubt it is much different on the few tent shows still around.
In order just to survive, you need to be able to book your act for a minimum of 2/3 of the year. Down time comes with no salary, though performers coming off a season can get unemployment. There are not enough places to work. If you can find spot dates, now that most of the Shrine Temples have given up on circus, you have to travel sometimes, thousands of miles just to work for a week or so. Fuel costs can eat up a good portion of the pay you'll be getting when you get there.
In Europe, almost every show runs a Christmas Circus and they are filling their programs now. A half day drive across country borders can get you to a new spot. Apart from the fact that there are dozens of shows with high end acts, theme parks of all sizes hiring circus acts, cabarets, etc.
You say you want more animal acts. Even a dog act requires that all the animals be vaccinated. Ten dogs can cost $4-5,000 to vaccinate, and they preclude being able to find part time work during down time because they always have to have someone around.
Frankly, your knowledge of the facts of circus life and performing are like the naive child who thinks the circus just magically shows up on the town green one day and you don't know or care where it goes or what the people do when they leave.
Whaooo ... That’s a heavy load you dumped on my midway. I can say this: I’d rather be the naive child you take me for than a bitter old man. And there is maybe one thing we can agree on: circus people make tremendous sacrifices to keep their acts in motion, the shows on the road, and deserve our deepest respect. The saga goes on ....
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