The herald., 1898-10-31
THE MODERN CIRCUS
Where and How It Differs From That
of Days Gone By

"Some elderly people declare that there
is nothing new in the circus; that the cir
Gus of today is about the same as they saw
when they were young; that, In fact, 1t Is
not as good as the old one-ring show that
came to the village forty or fifty years ago;
that even the pictures that announce the
coming event are not as brilliant as those
at winch they gazed in open-mouth wonder,
as they flashed in the sunlight from the side
of the town livery. stable" said Bert Davis,
the press agent of the Wallace shows yes
terday. "Circuses of today are con
of dozen or more years ago, and every sea-
son sees changes in the manner in which
they are directed, both as to the entertain
ment and the methods of management.
'The circus. in addition to the menagere
feature. is presenting performances that are
seen on the vaudeville stage, only the can
vas gives greater facilities for presentation.
The three rings, to which some of the old
timers object, on the ground that they can
not keep track of the whole show, give an
opportunity for the satisfying Of all tastes
! If the auditor is not interested in one per-
formance he can devote his attention to an.
other; out of the three he is likely to find
something to his taste.
"In the management of the circus there
have also been marked changes. 1t was not
many years ago that the attendants about
a circus were regarded as hard characters
that they were not the kind of people one
would care to meet in the dark. A few
seasons ago Mr.. Wallace inaugurated re-
form that old circus men declared il was
not possible to carry out; that was to put
up and take down the tent without the as
sistance of profanity. There were men who
had worked years about the canvas who de.
clared that no man could get tent erected
without the use of swear words; that the
more assistance he had from those who were
helping him, the quicker the work would
be done.
"The first season that this reform was in.
augurated it was not entirely successful, but
the experiment convinced Mr.. Wallace that
| it was possible to carry. it out. So the fol
lowing season one of the questions asked
of the men who We're to be in charge of the
various parts of this work was: DO you
swear? That was a surprising query. II
staggered some of the old hands. They re
garded the interrogation with suspicion they
thought it might be Joke; it was foreign
to that department of the circus business
Gas they saw it was not joke, that it wa:
one of the requisites, the reply came in the
negative. The matter was then impressed or
the mind Of the applicant he was given tc
understand that swearing was to be tabooed
that the canvas must go up and come dowr
without this timehonored assistance; that
no man in the employ of the show was to he
allowed to swear above his breath: that il
he had any inclination of this kind he must
take it out in thinking. The result of this
has been very satisfactory; the canvas goes
up and down without any friction whatever
and all the duties-the hard work of the
circus-are attended to with as much deco
rum as in any other line of business.
Eyes, the circus has changed in more ways
than one and think that the change is for
the better. The entertainment, from thu
remarks of the clown to the acts Of the per
formers. is all on a higher plane. The change
may have been so gradual that the genera
you that the circus people fully appreciate
!, it. and if those who were in the business il
, the days of old Dan Rice could come bacl
again to the saw dust arena they would not
know it; they would he strangers"