The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-26
HELD UP FOR PASSES
CIRCUS AGENTS GIVE OUT ABOUT
400 A DAY.
PEOPLE WHO GET IN FREE
DEADHEADs CUT a BIG FIGURE IN
CIRCUS BUSINESS

The Man Who Represents n Big
Show Has Many CalIers-Pass
Seeker Wants Them for His COu-
sins and His Sisters and His Aunts.
$4,000 a Day the Cost of Keeping
Forepaush & Sells Show Going
and Nothing Is Made After the
Ohio River Is Crossed-Expenses
of the Aggregation That Repre-
SCENTS Three Quarters of a MiIIiOP
Dollars.
The number of passes that big cir
Gus is required to give up is shocking
ly large, and according to those who
handle paper for the Forepaugh s. Sells
Bros shows, the demands made in Sa-
vannah is not by any means below the
average. The average number Of COM
plimentary tickets for day is put at
LOO.
The newspapers and those who have
bill boards must be looked after, but
the greater number of tickets are cir
culated in another direction. officials
of every description, and those who are
not officials. must be literally provid-
ed for, and a circus that makes Savan-
nah and gives away less than 1000
passes has got to get in ten minutes
before the performance and leave five
minutes afterwards.
Rush of the Pass Fiends.
If the circus agents and representa-
tives did nothing but answer requests
for passes they would earn their
mn no We a a nj laGS IN
They are spotted as soon as they ar
rive, and Immediately pounced down
upon by the man who thinks he is en-
titled to a pass. 1t is seldom that an
applicant is turned down, but it is also
seldom that he is pleased with the
number of tickets he receives. Invari
ably there is a kick. The man who
is seeking passes, however, finally gets
what he wants. He braces first one
agent and then another until he has
collected paper enough to take his
cousins and his sisters and his aunts.
Takes u Pile of Money.
The veteran Snowman, Peter Sells, is
authority for the statement that if a
circus can hold it's own after 1t has
crossed the Ohio river it is a money
maker. This because the money is
really made in the East and West. The
trip South is made to avoid long lay
up in winter quarters at a dead loss.
When the menagerie is off the road the
animals require the same attention and
eat just as much as when they are on
exhibition. Thus it is If expenses are
paid on a trip South the circus owners
are really making money.
G. N. Thompson, business manager
of the Forepaugh- Sel1s Bros aggrega-
ton, gave out some interesting infor-
nation yesterday. In the circus buSi-
ness the money is made in the East
and West, where the expenses are
lighter than in the South. For the cir
Gus to hold it's own there must be a
daily attendance of 1900, which in
cludes the LOO free admissions and a
percentage of children. 1t requires an
expenditure of $4,000 day to keep the
show on the road in the South.
Cost of Running Circus.
In the East 1t costs from $4,000 to So
900 a day to keep the circus going
licenses at the outside 500 a week. In
many places no licenses at all are re-
quired. Then, too, in the East the
show people and the animals can be
fed for less. In the South it costs
from $500 to $1,100 a run for transpor-
tation, and licenses are from $500 to
5000 a day. 1t also costs more for
food stuff in this part of the country
OF course there are places in the
South where money is made but there
are greater number of places where
1t is lost. Admissions for side shows
and concerts, and the revenue from the
sale of peanuts, popcorn, candy and
lemonade make up the profit after the
1000 people have gathered under the
mammoth tent. The tent under which
the Forepaugh-Sells circus is given is
the largest piece of canvas in the
world. The circus represents an in
vestment of three-quarters of million
dollars, and the life that the proprie-
tors, representatives and performers
lead is a strenuous one