New-York tribune., 1921-04-10
~<<T " URRY it up, gentlemenl" Captain
- Bill Curtis circus boss, barks at
his razorbacks Hurry it upl

his razorbacks. Hurry it upl
We're late"
You know the scene. Way down in Dixie
the 1921 circus season is opening. long before
the SHOWS have melted from the sidewalks of
New York. Captain Bill has charge Of the
underpaid army Of roustabouts. white, black
and tan, who handle the stakes and canvas and
other heavy impedimenta of one of the largest
travelling shows in America. His circus title
is "boss of the lot"
He calls his helpers gentlemen" This will
serve to introduce Captain BIZ as a teen,
practical psychologist. He is also an invsator
of ingenious labor-saving machinery. But
more about that later, after the captain has
been properly introduced. His labor problem,
we should hasten TO add, is quite as difficult as
that Of any manager Of a big factory or store.
...e circus cannot hope to compete with COM
merce in wage allurements and all of the help
that Captain Bill can hire is transient and
usually unskiled.
Consider the captain first in his role of psy-
chologist Along about sunset of every circus
day the "boss of the lot becomes a field mar
shal-the man Of the hour AS soon as sup
per is over down flops the canvas "cook house"
and the first of the shows horse tents, with
Captain Bills razorbacks swarming about
them like flies; and sturdy gasoline tractor,
ninety ty-fve-horsepower, bitches onto the heavy
range wagon, gigantic stove on wheels, and
lumbers away with it in a cloud of dust
toward the railway yards. For already even
before the night performance begins, the gyp-
sizes of the circus are packing up to be off
their endless pilgrimage, south to north then
cross-continent westward, then south again be-
fore the first snow flies.
Every Night Is "Getotuay Day"
With a Circus
Now dark shuts down. With triumphal
blare, rumble of hoof beats and roar of
applause the evening show has begun in the
big top, with grand parade around the hippo
drome track and considerable waving of the
Stars and Stripes.
By this time the last "towner" has had his
fill of gaping at the animals in the circus zoo,
so Captain Bill commands his troops to take
possession of the menagerie tent. A little
after $3.50 down it comes to the ground with
pillows of air running beneath it--a storm
scene on canvas lake.
Hurry it up, gentlemen!" the captain keeps
barking. Hurry it up We're late"
Geutl6Ineu!
Yes, this is keen, practical psychology.
Labor is sometimes scarce, and it is part of the
captains business to discover every method by
which to make the most of all of his available
man power. And one of the most valuable
ideas he has discovered is one for which he can
take out no patent. This is the fact that his
workmen, all the way down to the most igno-
rant of the negro roustabouts, will work more
willingly and speedily if he calls them "gen-
tlemen' No part of his task the captain de-
clares. is more important than this one of keep
ing his helpers cheerfully stimulated.
Once the circus used to trust to a bucket of
hard liquor to turn the trick, but wise circus
men learned long before Harvard's medical
faculty that the stimulation of alcohol is of
temporary duration, with bad reaction to fol-
low, and altogether an enemy of real efficiency.
Pride in their work. rivalry with other crews,
song or laugh serves the same purpose better
In fact, Captain Bill understands the prnci-
pies of stimulation so we'll that one chilly night.
when the lot was ankle deep in mul and water
and every one was particularly down on his
luck, he offered Full House, black roustabout
with a contagious laugh, So minute to get nm
on wagon seat and do nothing but dispe] the
gloom.
In the torchlight Captain Bills assistants