Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1916-11-26
EXTENSIVE BUSINESS PLANS ARE USED
by THE OFFICERS OF JOHN ROBINSON'S
CIRCUS WITH GREAT FEAT OF SYSTEM

4
vance car with twenty bill posters; an
opposition brigade with ten bill post
ers, photographers and banner men. In
addition three days ahead of the show
travels the program brigade, follow
ed by the checker or route rider" and
finally, one day ahead of the show
comes the twenty-four hour man.
The general agent is a man of long
experience in the show business. Gem
orally he is a person who has done al
most every line of work of a circus
and Is familiar with every angle. The
general agent is really an advance
ct all that appertains to the front Of
the show. The general agent in con-
junction with the owner of the circus.
lays out the prospective route for the
manager. He is absolutely in charge
season. Frequently, following a con,
ference with the proprietors he sub.
mits one or two routes. All of the
towns and cities are discussed and
gone over. A careful lookout into the
plans of the other circuses are con
sidered. The general agent is George
Meyer
The first man to leave winter quar-
tiers about the first of each year is the
railroad contractor. He goes to the
| general offices of the various railroads
and discusses rates, etc. Here he is
able to get line on the prospective
routes of other circuses There are no
published tariffs governing the move
nent of circuses. All the big shows
own their own railroad cars and they
arrange with the railroads for the use
of their tracks and motive power. It
requires two, three and some times
more sections of trains to transport the
John Robinson Ten Big Shows from
one city to another. To be a circus
railroad contractor one must not onlJ
be familiar with every angle of the
railroad business, but must also know
the character, size, ETC., of every city
he contemplates visiting with the cir
Gus. The railroad contractor must
know all about the various roads en-
tering a city, about the size and char
acter on tunnels, so there will be no
difficulty in handling the long heavy
circus cars. Frequently the circus
i changes from one railroad to another;
the contractor must be familiar with
the cities in which transfer tracks are
! located. In the course of a season A
circus the size of the John Robinson
Ten Big Shows travels nearly 10000
miles in about twenty-five different
states and move over about thirty-five
different railroad systems.
The Local Contractor.
The local contractor, the next man
in line, travels from three to six
weeks ahead of the circus. His duties
are manifold. He is given the route
and visits each of the cities and con-
fers with city officials, also state and
county, in regard to license, rent or
grounds upon which the circus ex-
hibits, etc. In selecting the show
grounds or lot" as it is commonly
termed, the local contractor must view
the location from many different angr-
es Its accessibility for the show going
public; are the car lines and highways
adequate to take care of the expected
crowds and of people and vehicles; it's
size, for the lot much be large enough
to house the various tents of the CIR
Gus without crowding; then it must be
within reasonable distance from the
point where the trains are to be un-
loaded; and carefully must he look
over the streets and roads the ponder
GUS circus wagons must be hauled
over, for in case of inclement weather
and muddy highways there is bound to
be delay in the well organized routine
of the show which it cannot we'll af
ford
In addition the local contractor must
arrange for board for the advance ad,
vertising brigade yet to come, for the
use of bill boards, for dozen or 50
livery teams to haul bill posters into
the country when they arrive ON the
advertising cars. He must also con-
tract for food for man and beast as
well as arrange for water and ice.
In the course Of season the contracts
run into hundreds of thousands of dol
lars and one readily sees that the con
tractor must know every detail Of his
work, The advertising cars travel one
and two weeks ahead of the circus
The show bills and posters are shipped
direct from the printers to the adyer,