The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-26
Working Days and
Nights of the
Actors.
EARLY MORNING
IN EXERCISES
How Every Feat is Built Up by
Constant Striving-Ma Up
and Performance.

r IFE under a circus tent, wherever
il may be passed, is so full of
IL event that the smallest things
lose their perspective and what seems
infinitesimal grows to proportions
which overshadow the greater events.
In all things of existence there is an
element of strangeness yet these ele-
ments are so drawn into the daily round
of these performers that they lose
much of their unlikeliness. What with
practice in the early morning. bruises
which must be borne without comment,
and criticism in an amount which would
drive the ordinarily -nerved individual
out of any profession, the rider or
tumbler gives much more of his life
to his business than any other enter
tainer.
The daily round of existence for the
worker for the amusement of the peo-
pie who strives beneath canvas, begins
when the east begins to crimson with
the dawn. In fact during the short
stay of the circus now in the city there
have been mornings that the perform
ers who the evening before rode or turn
ed before the crowded or half filled
seats were in the tents when there was
not enough light to show them the
curves of the ring, who We're waiting
for a chance to begin the practice work
which is necessary to give them the
finish needed before they may hope to
gain appreciation from the people in the
benches.
This is an element which does not en-
ter into the daily life of the worker in
the colder climates of the United States
or Australia for this early work is
made necessary from the fact that the
work is very hard upon the animals.
and to escape the troubles which come
from the perspiring horses it is wisest
to work upon their backs before the sun
is up. and in the case of the tumblers
and trapeze performers they find that
they can do their best when the heat
of the sun is not factor as it is not
when they are at their tasks in the
evenings.
a morning in the circus tent is a
revelation to those who see the people
only when doing their regular tricks
or turns. The first people to take their
turns upon the track are the horse
workers. The animals are brought out
ready for the work, but there is a diff
ference. There is more than the or
binary harness upon them Where
there is a bareback presented to the
audience in the tent, there is a surcin-
gle which carries a ring, and when the
worker If there is to be tried a difficult
feat, mounts the horse line is passed
through this ring and then to the per-
former being attached to a belt. This
line is known technically as q lunge
line. Sometimes there are two small
ropes, one placed from the front so as
to prevent the performer from falling
* backward, and the other from the side
ITO prevent falling away from the ring.
gThe other ends of these ropes are held
! in the hand of the ring master and the
official with the whip acts as the guard
of the worker.
Then begins the work of the practice.
The horse is sent along and the rider
goes through the turns and twists. the
somersaults and the jumps, so as TO be
in form when the evening comes. If
there is new act in preparation, there
is more Of this preliminary than on 9th
CT days. when it is only d Iimbering-up
operation. There is however no differ
ence between the practice work and the
performance other than the dress Of the
worker, for there is not the same detail
taken into considera ton for the eye Of