The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-02-07
The Route OF q Circus.

On an express train which was oasnlpR
along the iron rails toward New York,
James A. Bailey, of the Barnum Show,
said to a reporter of the Tribune: "The
public, as it watches the tour of great
circus through The States, has little
knowledge of the immense amount Of
planning which manager must do to
arrange the route which his show is to
follow during the Summer. There are
some people who have an idea that all
we have to do is to make out q list of
available cities and send out our advance
agents to do the advertising. This is
just where they make great mistake.
The fact is, it requires as much ability to
lay out well.paying route for seasons
exhibition as it does to organize the show,
itself. That statement sounds oddly, l
know, but it is true. There are many
things TO be taken into consideration.
In the first place, only those towns must
be visited which can be relied upon to
fill your tents. There are hundreds Of
cities in this country which have large
population but would not prove to be
good SHOW towns should we pay them
q visit. How do know this? A long
headed manager must keep himself pos
ted upon the financial condition of every
section of the country in which his show
is to travel. He must know how the
crops are likely to turn out in Illinois,
what the condition is Of the mining in.
terests in Pennsylvania, and manufactur-
ing industries in New England, and the
agricultural productions of the Middle
and Southern States. As it would be
folly for him to take his show to city
in which there had been within year q
long strike among workingmen by which
the amount of surplus money had been
seriously reduced, the manager must so
lay out his route as to avoid that city,
even though it might be on the direct
line of travel. To do this often requires
a very long run between one exhibition
town and the next; but it is better to
follow out such plan than to run the
risk of o failure.
"When, after mature deliberation, it
has been decided what route the circus
will take the following season, agents
are sent to visit the cities in which we are
to exhibit, to make the necessary arrange
ments. One agent secures the grounds,
and makes contracts with butchers and
grocers, and others for supplies; another
plans excursions and makes contracts
with the railroads for transportation.
Following these agents are the ADVERT.
sing cars, which in our own show are five
in number. When at length the circus
arrives at city in which an exhibition
is to be given, everything is in readiness
for its reception. The bills contracted
during our stay are all paid before we
leave that night The route which the
Barnum Show is to take next season is
all laid out now. I can tell you just
where we shall be on any day you may
name.
'The show business, like many others
I might mention, has become science.
There is some difference between the
haphazard way the circuses used to be
dragged over country roads by spawned
horses twenty years ago and the present
systematic express train arrangement
which whirls them across one State into
another in single night. Now instead
of one tent capable of seating 1000 peo-
pie, we have three, the seating capacity
of which is more than $4,000. Yes, the
days of the old road shows are numbered.
One by one they disappear from their
old haunts, Soon the last one will have
housed its golden chariot and struck its