Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-06-19

| = y
| Gus employees. from the "razorbacks"
who tag along with a circhs to drive
| tent stakes and clean wagons. to the
press agent who slings adjectives, like
| the road season best. There is no mo-
| notony in going from town to town.
There is nothing but monotony in win
| ter quarters. The five circus centers
| in this country during the winter
| months are at Bridgeport. Conn;
| Newark, n. j.; Columbus. Ohio: Lam
caster Penn, and Caribou, Wis
Very few employees remain with a
circus after it comes off the road. The
pay for the men who do stay to take
care of the animals averages about
s12 a month and expenses. The per-
formers desert in "A body. going back
to the vaudeville stage, and the freaks
go to the museums. In the early days
of January the first activity is shown
in the winter quarters. when the paint
ers begin putting on the first coats of
paint.
Later the gold streaks and the other
coats that finally bring the wagons up
to the expectations Of Young America
are added Meanwhile all the horses
are shod. for the circus horse is just
an ordinary one, even if the young
sters believe him to be perfect. 1t
takes large force of blacksmiths to
get the horses hoofs in condition for
the active work OF the season to come.
Following the signing of contracts
with the talent" the first of the per
formers show up in these days. They
come in gradually until March. when
the force is about completely organ
lied and the press agent knows just
what TO say and the advance bill post :
ers Just what will be advertised most.
Pretty soon the vivid Autographs will
be pasted on billboards from one end
of the country to the other with pic
lures that are warranted to make the
Young idea shoot-shoot direct for the
circus tent.
How little the enchanted youngster
knows of tue ms and out of the circus.
He does not realize. for instance. that
keepers who ride in the cages with
lions and leopards in the parades re-
ctlye IS more a month than those men
who do not dare to ride in the IN
closures with the animals. lie does
not realize that the supposed fearless
trainers for the most part are inside Il
wire cage even when riding With the
ANIMALS And. what's more, he doesn't
realize that broken" or tame ami
mails are the only ones in whose cages
the trainers are allowed to ride One
of the stock fakes of the circus is thu
blood -curdline story that such and
such an animal "chawed' his keeper
up in q parade once when it got
scared.
Think of $50 a month for being al
lowed to go around the country with a
tiger or all elephant, Think of getting
s35 month for having the privilege of
being tinfoil and glittering hero.
Johnnie will think man should pay
to have such an honor. but Johnnie's
daddy knows differently.
Not one person in a hundred ever
thinks of the wages of circus men
whea the calliope is footing out those
wonderful tunes Of which it is cape BILE.
Little is known of the hard work nee
essary TO get the circus on its feet
ION the road. in other Words How
many nights the manager and the
owners and the press agent sit up and
tiiiiih II tic ptol wv Us W bTdW Iile
money from the public. SO when the
press representative starts ont with a
pocketful of wonderful thrllers, am,
the purchasing agelt comes alorg with
the money to buy provisions toe show
is really on its periodic migra ton.
The cook tent is only just behind him,
and the performers in the next section,
the animals and paraphernalia com
ing up in the rear. In all but the big
geSt CircuSes most of the clowns get
SO or SIS a month. The mana ger
hired them in January. He knows all
about how much to pay these funny
men who slap each other with boards
the same today as they did 20 years
ago He would have to be a prettv
funny clown who could command $50 a
month. And there are the trapeze
performers and the giant swing ar
lists. those wonderful beings who
swing by their teeth. What are they
paid? The manager knows, lie has
made all The contracts, and they get
everywhere from S25 week to $40.
A troupe will get set sum for GER
tain act
There is the formidable ringmaster,
too. He gets anywhere from SO a
week to $40. The average man in the
second class circus gets about SIS.
Being a ringnaster requires more in
genuity with popping long whip than
anything else. The highest paid ring
masters are generally equestrians
themselves. To be a premier with the
whip the ringnaster must be able to
keep the snapper popping like eXplod
ing tirecrackers. If all these multi
tudinous things were considered by a
youngster. he would lose his faith in
the circus. Happily. he knows only
the wonderful panorama of gorgeous
wagons wild animals. spangled women
and fearless and heroic men No
youngster would run away with cir
Gus if her could understand the ins
and outs of it. If he had, it would
long ago have robbed fiction writer's of
many a boy hero.
II was the wonderful glitter that
made Joe Kennedy. now the keeper of
the ZION house in Central Park Mena-
gerie succumb to the SPELL and run
away from home when he was Is years
old. He was living in Newark at the