Evening star., 1941-05-17
BY ALFRED TOOMBS.
And there was Mysterious Red.

from the North Pole, and wasting
no time whatsoever getting across
Montana. 1t was colder than a
polar bears instep and this particu-
lar part of Montana, where the
Ringing ranch is located, is some
distance from nowhere at all.
They opened the door at the ranch
house that morning and there was
Mysterious. He said hello to John
Ringing North. the circus propri-
etor, and explained that he'd just
dropped by After a while he went
along about his business. They
don't know yet how he got there.
Mysterious Red is one of the 1900
employees of the Ringing Bros, Bar
mum and Bailey Circus. He got
the name because nobody ever
knows where he is going to show up,
or how he got there.
Accomplished Getter-About.
You'll be down at the railroad
siding talking to him and you'll hop
in cab to get up for tea and crum-
pets with British Purchasing Com
mission. When you get there, you'll
find Mysterious wheeling in the tea
tray. You don't know how he got
there. But his ability to get around
is understood and appreciated by
other circus lot workers, such as
Straight Ahead Willie, Walk Away
Murray, Chimpanzie Charlie, Tan
gle-eyes, or Mutt.
There is a rich vein of dizziness in
the circus personnel. A man is
Judged and labeled by his peculiar
| tiles and all due allowance is made.
| Straight Ahead Willie is a deaf
ticket taker. He can't hear a word
that any one says. Many customers,
make inquiries of Willie, in a low
voice. such as What time is it?"
Where do they keep the gorillas?"
or When do you play in Scranton?"
One Answer for All.
Willie has a stock answer for all
questions. 1t is simply, straight
Ahead
Walk Away Murray Is a canvas
man who just decides he's tired OF
working every now and again But
shows up again. Tangle-eyes is a
little man, just slightly too large to
be a midget, who handles elephants.
He is cross-eyed, an attribute which
his fellows believe accounts for his
successful career with the pachy-
derms. He just confuses the ele-
plants so that they obey him.
Chimpanzie Charlie has been ham
ding the medium sized monkeys
on the show since the invention OF
sawdust. After a half century with
the higher anthropoids he has &C
quired many of the physical char
acteristics-walk, expression, habits,
etc.
The status of Mutt with the circus
is unique. He holds the title of
| privileged trailer" He is, in fact,
the only privileged trailer. He doesn't
work for the show, but he goes
everywhere with it.
Nobody knows how he gets from
town to town. But he's there on the
| lot at dawn every time. Mutt
that's all the name anybody knows
| has the loudest voice in the Western
Hemisphere. If most people shouted
like Mutt whispers, the telephone
would never have been invented.
Serves As Traffic Loudspeaker.
His talents have been developed,
therefore, as director of traffic
at the circus grounds. He can make
| himself heard above the thunder
of tractors and trucks when the
show is being set up Mutt also
sells fruit in season to the perform
erS.
Mutt won't take any money. Sew
eral times, the owners of the show
have offered him a good salary to
work regularly. Mutt turns them
down every time, with the simple
explanation that he's afraid of
| steady pay.
Its much EASIER he says, ito
live without an income"
About one-third of the circus COM
plement is performers. The perform
ers can be divided roughly into four
classes, the stars, the joeys, the
kinkers and the kids.
The stars are the center ring
performers and most of them have
their own tents to dress in. They
are people like Art and Tony Con-
cello, the stars of the flying trapeze.
They're usually pretty level-headed
people, but not dull.
Five Generations in Circus.
The Christiani family keeps life
moving along at good pace. They
are bareback riders, in the circus
business for five generations. No
body at the circus knows quite how
many Christians there are. Some
say 18, some say 20 or %. There
are always enough of them to leap
in unison on the back of the nearest
Percheron. They are Italians and
speak their native tongue most of
the time.
The joeys are the clowns who