The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-03-11
FERNS, ~ Mail, in Advanct
aaIAY REGISTER.
The Tcnting Season.

The prospect oil the tenting business
this year is not as suspicious as usual.
Asa general thing circus propsietors
engage their peopl. before the 18th day
of January, and in the past years it
has been almost impossible after that
date to find performer OF any note in
want Of situation. This year the situ-
alton is vastly changed. There are
dozens Of good performers lying idle in
New York to- day, and many ofthem
will not be able to obtain a situation.
The season usually extends from about
the middle o! April to the first Of o.
tuber. When the cold weather sets in
the managers discharge nearly all their
employees, and house the stock in some
town where the expense will not be
very great during the idle season. New
York and New Orleans are the only
cities in this country that have ever Of
erred any encouragement to circus in
the winter. In placing circus on the
road, q manager must first purchase
about $4,000 worth OF canvas. A Cir
Gus tent. dressing.room tent, cook tent,
aud tent for the horses, must also be
provided Then the centre poles, bra
ces, wooden seats, &c, must be purch-
ased, at 60 additional cost OF several
hundred dollars. After this. a stock OF
trained horses and ponies costing On
an average about $500 apiece, must be
secured. In fiIst.clsss "ring-snow,"
from seventy to one hundred and fifty
n cad OF stock are usually kept on hand.
Next, "baud chariot" OF elegant ap-
peraLce and dozen or two baggage
wagons must be built, and the expense
varies from 81 1000 to $4,000 or $l0,e
600 to $4,000. 10 addition. however,
the manager must purchase large
number Of electrotype plates, cut to
represent features OF arenic display.
These cuts, fastened on blocks OF wood,
are used 10 newspaper advertisements.
Alter making these purchases, the
manager engages a company OF from
thirty to fifty or sixty performers. Fee
male riders command on au average
1925 per week. Lady gymnasts, Jug
elers, and slack wire performers can
obtain SIS a week. Leading male
eouestrisus demand from 500 TO 5000
per week. Trapeze performers, cannon-
ball iugglers, contortionists, Dc, gener-
ally average $50 a week. Ordinary
gymrasts, who can leap horses, tumble,
&c, are rated at so average OF about S5O
per week. Clowns are scarce. and
readily obtain from $50 to 500 per
week. Amoag the leading performers
Of the day are Madame Dockrill, Carr
lotta De Berg, Lucille Watson, Leona
Dare. James Robinson. Robert Stick
ney, the Cookies, Nat Aastra, Dan Co.'S
telio, Dan Rice, Nictorelli Brothers,
George NJ. Kelly, and others. The
figures given are IN All cases exclusive
OF expenses, aud when salary list in
GLIDING htv nance, and no figures be-
low s30a week, il reckoned up, the ag-
rregate becomes formidable sum. IL
addition, there are always between one
hundred and two hundred working peo-
pie. grooms, canyasmen, drivers, &c 4,
and their salaries average SO week
each. In addition to the performers
and working people, the manager must
have O railroad agent, prvss agent, one
or more contracting agents. boss
bii-poster." four or five assistant bill
posters, aud two lsyers-out. The IL.
cepse to exhibit in towns vareis from STU
to 81 900, and it can be readily seen
that the expense OF "show" 10 by nc
means moderate.