Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-09
CTRCUsEs PAsT ANp PFRsENT.
What Manager Bailey Rsmemhers--.Ko
More Boy TumbIers-
New Haven Rosister.l

manager, at is nothing TO run chi
show it is the easiest thing in tn
world. 1t is just like clockwork, an,
/ everything moves along withOu
trouble or fuss of any kind, and it i
much easier to look out for our con
Germ now than it was to run a circu.
thirty-one years ago, when | first wen
into the business. We have NOR,
people connected with this show to
day than there were engaged in the
business throughout the entire coun
try at that time. | first went into tn,
business with my father-m-law Aaron
Turner, of Danbury, in 194S, and al
that time our show was considered
, one of the best that travelled. Our
tent was about the size of the tent we
now use as a dressing-tent, or for our
menagerie alone. 1t was a ninety
foot, round-top canvas. When we
started out then, we had, | remember,
twenty-four horses, who not only
dragged the wagons containing the
p%araphernalia from ten to fourteen
miles a day. but worked in the ring at
two performances. Now this show
travels by rail, and yet we have to
carry with us nearly two hundred
horses to do our work and carry out
our programme. The ring and trained
horses don't do any work at all, ex-
cept such az they do in the ring, and
our goods are transported 10 and from
the trains by the rest Of the animals.
In those days a circus used to take
out only eight men as performers,
in addition to the canvasmen
and apprentices, but here we have
on our payroll ffty-fve per
sons who are drawing salaries
from us for ring work only, and all of
them performers, though some of
them do not appear at the perform
ances. For instance, Mrs. Dockrill
and Mrs. Jeal, our leading riders.
have their husbands with them. but
they do nothing except appear in the
ring as ng-masters while the ladies
are doing their acts, In oldep times
we took out eight men, as | said be-
fore, as our list of performers, and
took them because we had to have
eight for the grand entree act. If any
of them left us some of the baggage
men would be put in their places and
do the riding in the entree. We
never hired new ones to take the
places Of those that left. These eight
men would give the entire show. and
| have often seen it done by fewer
men than that. They would appear
as tumblers, riders, ring-masters. and
in the minstrel scene with which a
circus always ended in those days.
The great features In those DAYS were
a good clown and ring-master, and the
more fun they could create the greater
the attraction. Then tumblers were
a great feature and the riding only a
secondary attraction. In those DAYS
all the riders used a pad, and it was
very easy to be a rider. A man that
could ride on a pad and turn a somer-
sault in those days was a star, and
sometimes commanded S35 a month
salary. though usually not over $50.
The tumblers received from 50 to SO
a month for their services, and musi.
clans from SIS to SIS, and they helped
in erecting and taking down the can
vas. Now We pay our people by the
week, and some Of our stars receive
weekly ten times the salary we paid
u best people for a months work.
and more, too. A weeks salary list
in this show to-day is larger than the
whole capital Invested to start a show
for a season at that time. Think of it.
1t takes what would form a good-sized
regiment to run our show to-day: and,
although 1t may seem an exaggeration.
1t is a fact nevertheless that Mr.. Bar.
mum has on his pay roll connected
with this show about five hundred and
fifty men | cant give the exact fig
ures, because | haven't my book here.
but it won't vary but a trife either
way from that number. Then look at
our chariOts, cageG and wagons. |
won undertake TO say how many we
have, but it's in the ne~ighborhood off
two hundred. A dozen to twenty
would have suficed to carry us ali
over the country when | went into the
business, and now it takes two hun
dred when we travel on the carsl |
hadn't thought what a change there is
IN the business then, and now. until |
come to talk about it, and there GER
tainly is a big difference when one
comes to think of it. Why, we didn't
have any street parade in those DAYS.
though once in a while when we came
into the town our band. seated in a
rickety old band wagon, would play
MS into town and up to the tavern.
but this was not always the case.
particularly when we made a long
jump, that is, fifteen to twenty miles,
between two days. Twenty-one or two
hundred miles travel was a big thing
then for a season that extended from
April first to the middle of November.
Now we run all over the Northern and
Southern States and the Dominion of
Canada between May and October.
treveling thousands Of miles and civ.
ing nearly the same number of per
%formancgs.
There is too vast a difference in the
capital employed, millions being used
now in the circus business where
thousands suficed then. When I first
went into the circus business. six or
eight thousand dollars was the capital
Invested, and if we took in seventy.
I'VE to one hundred dollars gross re-
eelpts daily, we were doing a good
business. Now it takes three thousand
dollars a day to run the show. and we
can only take IN the largest places, and
can't stop there but one day al a time
whereas, in the old times. If a Mace
had three or four thousand iubabi.
tants, we would staytwo or three days
and if it was a fair sized city two
weeks would often be the length NJ !