Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1925-03-13
THE
BALLYHOO
GIRL

By ALBERT M. TREYNOR

YOU'VE seen the brazen, rouge
daubed females who pose in
l. front Of side shows, while bark
ers scream coarse hyperbOle to
the crOwding yOkels outside the tent.
They are known professionally as bal
lyhOO girls. The term, usually, is op-
probrious: but not always, not always
Applied to Miss Nadine Vance 1t
gained a new and lovely Significance.
Miss Vance was one Of the four bal
lyhOo girls who were employed by the
side show Of the great Baum and Bag
gley circus She was neither brazen
nor rOuge-daubed. Therein she diff
fered from nearly all of the others.
Afternoons and evenings she stood on
the small platform In front Of the
lesser tent with her frazzled and hag-
| gard sisters-the center of leerlng,
masculine interest, blushing picture
Of tortured and fiinchlng modesty.
Once / saw a delicate Corot hung in
an auctioneer's shop between two vul-
gar, strident Autographs, and my feel
ing then was a muffled echo Of the
| pang that used to clutch at my heart
when / saw Miss Vance In her poor
little red dress, standing beside her
| garish companions.
l was sort OF an assistant manager
and publicity man for Baum and Bag
gley In those days-one Of the pioneer
press agents, you might have called
me. I'll have to answer for that, too,
suppose, when my time comes to ex-
plain about the things l have done or
have failed to do.
knew Miss Vance quite well, and
tried to be good to her Every per
son with the show, from the most be-
soften canvasman to Madame West
phalia, the featured member of the
Westphalia troupe of aeriallsts, of
course, knew why Miss Vance was
ballyhoo girl. There are no closets
with circus, you know, and the skele-
tons have to be hung up, grinning,
where everyone can see.
Miss Vance had once been a highly
paid aerlallst-a member of the West
phalia outfit, In fact-but she had
lost caste. There is nothing worse
that can happen to sawdust artist.
You can see how this is true. Yet,
Miss Vance loved Harry Westphalia,
the madame's eldest brother. That,
perhaps, made 1t worse. Otherwise,
she might have found courage to leave
the show, even though she was born In
the life and knew nothing else.
don't know. But while young West
phalia remained she patiently suffered
even the hades Of social ostracism
He Ignored her, It is true, yet she
could see him every day, and that gave
her something to live for.
Miss vance's fault had been an In
voluntary one. She had '1ost her
nerve" To a worker under the dizzy
top canvas that phrase has a hideous
significance. Performers should take
out Insurance on their nerve; but
don't suppose any company would as
sumo the liability. Kubelick had a
policy on his fingers and Gene had one
on her toes. There are companies
that will protect any one against the
accidental loss Of almost any essential
function. expect there are some that
would have taken risk on Samson's
hair. But I've never heard of any In
surance organization on earth that
would agree to indemnify a performer
for a failure of nerve There Is toe
much uncertainty involved.
Miss Vanee's trouble came one hoi
evening In the midsummer when the
big top was straining to capacity
crowd. She was working over q net
on the flying trapeze with the West
phalias. Young Harry was hanging
by his knees from one of the rowing
bars. Miss Vance had jumped for his
hands, and had brought up cleverly
in his muscular clasp. Twenty feet
away the madame was also swinging
head downward, waiting easily and
confidently for the live weight which
she knew would come hurtling towards
her In the next few seconds
The music cue came, presently, just
as Miss Vance was flashing towards
the madame in the long, graceful curve
that prefaces the double somersault
through space. Young Westphalla re
leased his hold at the critical second
but, to his horror, the girl still pulled
at his arms. She was clutching at his
wrists with the madness of mortal feai
in her fingers. The imp Of perversity
that sports with our subconscious
selves had frightened her grip, you see
until II was too late to let go.
In that moment there came to Mis-
Vance a terrifying intuition Of human
fallibillty. For the first time, she real
lied that force, allen and inexor
able, controlled her physical actions
and that the bidding Of her own mint
was not the supreme command Tn
nerved trembling, shaken to the prin
ciple OF her being, she could only clinI
to the mans wrists while their oscll
lations grew less, and she finall,
dared drop TO the net below, her spirl
broken, her wonderful self-confldenc,
destroyed.
The act OF course, had to b,
stopped. The madame was indignant
That's one Of the pecullaritles Of a Ger
tain tyne Of professionals. She a
once saw the truth concerning Mis-
vance's trouble and knew that an,
performer. herself included, ut an,
moment, might he similarly attacked
/ Yet there was no sympathy in he
manner as she slid to the net, swun
to the ground. kicked into her slip
pers and swept off. without a WORD