The sun., 1879-06-01
talk UITH 4 SHOWMAM
Great Changes thnt Time has brought About
In the Circus business.
Prom ne Nds Hrra R'qiJ,r.

Prom ne Nns Rro, Rgiser
"Why," said Mr.. George +. Bailey, n vet
eran Snowman and Barnum's manager. to run
this show is the eqsiest thing in tho world
Everything moves along without trouble or fuss
OF any kind. and it IA much easier to look out
thirty-one years ago. We have moro people
connected with this show to-day than were en-
gagged in tho business throughout the cntiro
country at that tlno. first went into the busi-
moss with my father-in-law. Aaron Turner OF
Danbury. in fsls. and our show was considered
one OF the best that travelled. Our toni was
about tho size Of the tent We now use ms dress
ing tent, or for our menagcrio alone;,, II
Sorses no sSS who 0nt not only only dragged the wagons
containing the pAraphernalia from ten TO four
teen miles day, but worked in the ring at two
performances. Now this show travels by rail.
horses to do our work and carry out our pro-
gramme. The ring and trained horses don't
do any work at all, excepting such as they doin
the ring. and our goods arc TRANSPORTED to and
from the trains by the rest OF the animals.
In those days circus used to take out only
canvasmen and apprentices. but here we have
ing salaries for ring work only. and ali of them
performers though some OF them do not APP
poar ut the poriornances. For instance. Mrs.
Dockrll and Mrs; Jeal our leading riders, have
while, the ladies are. doing their. acts.
iormers. because we had to have eight
for tho grand entr6e act. II any Of them left
their places and do the riding In the cntr6e, We
never hired new ones to take the places ot those
that LEFT. These eight men would give the en-
tire show, and i have often scen IL done by
| fewer men than that. They would appear as
r,SSss ,S 1ipIasters pI anu IN the MIN
those days. The great i5,.ss -Se ,,1Sa ,,ood
could create the greater the attraction. Then
tumblers were great feature and tho riding
the riders used pad, and il was worry easy to DO
rider man that could ride on pad and
turn somersnult was "A star. and sometimes
commanded s35 month salary. though usu-
ally not over $50. Tho tumblers received from
s. 10 80 a month toT their services and musi-
! ing aud taking down the canvas. Now we pay
| our people by the week. and some OF our stars
| receive weekly ten times the salary we paid our
best people for months work, A weeks sal
| airy list in this show to-day Is larger than tho
! son ut that time II takes what would form Il
| gOOd-sized regiment to run our show to-day.
| Mr.. Barnum has on his payroll connected with
| this show about $50 men,
| Then look at our chariots cages and wagons.
| won't undertake 70 say how many we have.
| twenty would have sullced TO carry us all ovor
the country when went into tho business. and
| now 1t takes 200 when we travel on the ears.
| Why. we didn't have any street parade ia those
| days, though once in a while when We came
| band wagon, would play us into town and uD to
| the tavern, but this was not always the case.
particularly when we mado long Jump. that
| IL, niteeen to twenty miles, between two days.
| Twenty-one or twenty two hundred miles travel
was big thing then for season that extended
| from April tho middle OF November. Now wa
| run all over the Northern and Southern Stntoa
| and the Dominion Of Canada between May and
| October. travelling thousands OF miles and giv-
ing nearly the Same number Of performances.
| There Is too vast "A difference in tho capital
employed. millions being usod now IN the cr~
| Gus business where thousands sum 'ct then.
When first went into the circus business, six
or oight thousand dollars was the capital in
vested. nnd II we took ~ $40 to 500 gross res
| celpts daily. We were doing n good business,
Now ittakes $1,000 day 10 run the show and
We can only take IN the largest places, and can't
stay lhere but one day at 4 tme whereis In tho
old times. II "A place had three or four thousand
and If il was n uir-sizod city two weeks would
often be the length of visit In those days
there were no newspapers. excepting wceklies.
10 spenk oI ana we dld no advertising then.
while that Is a big item now. In those days
there was no distribution of hig bills all over thu
country, and to-day our paste brigade who
do nothing but post bills numbers twenty
men. Tho way Wa uso to advertise then
was to send a man out in a single toan
with a small bill announcing the particulars Of
| the show ana the names OF the performers. one
Of each of these was generally tackled up in tha
office OF the tavern in the town we were TO visit.
and that was AN end to our advertising. trust
ing TO the gossipOl the town for the rest. Tho
| horses We used TO have cost 500. and for tho
same Kind of animals now we pay $3.50. and
there ~ tho same ratio OF lncrenSe IN The eX-
pense in all other departments. When the first
menagorle that was good Tor anything began to
| travel my lHthrr-in-law, Aaron Iurner, was
proprietor, ana when na started IN 1914 ne
rented hls animals. which were lew I'm number,
| from tho proprietor of menagerle; but after
| he had travelled "A couple Of years lie began to
! purchase his animals and owned host OF
them during his life. When he first went out
| his whole menugerie was cartcd around in oight
wagons, and now II takes fifty or more to carry
the animals.
" toll you it's fun to travel with show like
| this. A man gets his meals and sleep regularly,
and It's no worse than travelling Ns drummer,
| or with theatrical company. When | went
| into tho business we often had no chance TO
| sleep moro than an hour or two. ana then get a
| break fast Ut O'Clock in the morning and start
on a trip 10 the next town. II used TO be tough
once in a while when IL was dark and stormy.
and we had to 20 through country that wa
know nothing about. Many a time | have had
| to tako a circus Turner's or my own. through
"A country when we have had To use torches in
| order TO SEQ our way over the rOughcst kind
OF rouds and myself hNy0 often COMO ahead
of the wagons on foot, walking many miles
at night and in early morning finding tho
way Tor the teams to follow. Often my men
have had To stop and repair roads and build
temporary bridges so that We could 20 along
ana reach our destination. and the times havO
met with such nnnOynnces and surmOuntNd all
sorts OF obstacles IL almost innumerahle. In
those days we always used 10 have u great
many young people travelling with us IA ap-
| prentces Nowadays you don't see them in
crcuScs, because II Is against the law TO use tho
children in most Of the States in this country
and also in France Gormnny. and England
where many Of our best performers come from.
These lawmakers think IL is cruelty TO children
to make them do such work, That Is the veTiesl
bOsh and while there may be instances where
Chillran aro pruelly used nv THAR trainara fha