The mirror., 1914-04-09
CARNIVAL COMPANIES
How They First Came Into E.xis-
tence and How They Have
Improved A Big Busi-
ness Proposition.
By SIiuers

For many years New Orleans has
held its Mardi Gras during the
month of February; and the year
after the Worlds Fair in Chicago,
few showmen who had had con-
cessions there. organized what,
believe, was the first travelling car
nival company in this country. and
from that day until now, the carni-
val Snowman has had a pretty hard
name.
The early carnival Snowman made
good many mistakes, mistakes that
it will take years to undo. His big
gest mistake was in letting grafters
work with his company, and in
some cases either selling them space
for their joints or running the Joints
himself. The company was made
up of five or six rag fronts and
dozen JOINTS that he called conces-
sions, but they were not concessions
of the kind we have now. Usually,
all the manager owned was one of
the shows and a suit case. The COM
pany travelled by regular passenger
trains. when they had the price, and
once th e town was worked, (and
worked was the correct word u, II
was worked for all time, so far as
that company was concerned.
After few years there came
new class of meD into the business,
men who recognized the fact that
there was future for the carnival
companies If they were conducted
on business principles, and one of
the greatest of these men, and one
who has done more for the business
than any other, was G. w. Parker.
His first step was to eliminate the
grafters. and the word was passed
along that G. w. Parker was bad
medicine' to fool with. Others
who had the interests of the busi-
ness at heart, followed his lead, but
the name that ranks highest in the
carnival business today is that of
Parker. and any company that he
is interested in can always come
back.
Improved Methods.
There was another class that was
we'll known in the good old days"
(?). l mean 'gip" you twenty-five
cents glass, or in other words,
over charge you. This class also
is nearly all gone. The carnival
company of today is business Or
ganization from the ground up. 1t
travels on it's own train and the rag
fronts are replaced by built up wa
gOn fronts. many of them hand
carved and costing thousands of
dollars. The joints are also re-
placed by real concessions where
you get value received for every
copper you spend. The shows have
kept in step with the rest, and
where you would spend dime in
the good old days to see the wild
grip or "Bosco,'' you can now for
that same dime spend an hour at
good vaudeville or musical comedy
show. The old standby plantation
and animal shows are still with US.
and always will be, but they are as
much different from the old time
ones of a Gozen years ago, as red is
Is from green.
A first class band of from ten to
forty pieces is carried by all COM
panies now, and it is real band,
not a would be. High priced band
and singers are employed and the
free acts are the best to be had.
The Carnivalites.
The people of the caravans of to-
day are for the most part, just one
big happy family, and are the most
free hearted people in the world.
The shows are usually owned by
several different people, each one
acting as manager of his own show;
but all are under the general super
vision of the manager of the COM
pany under whose name they trav-
ell and who owns the train and wa
gons-