Reminiscences of a Showman

"Here we are again, Mr. Merryman!" followed by the sound of the crack of the whip and the gleeful antics of the old clown as he apparently feels its sting! These words have fallen upon the ears of children for more than a century in this country. How far back the expression was used by the clown in the circus in other lands is a matter of conjecture. It is quite likely that if the archives of the ancient Chaldeans, the first people of the earth, could record their thoughts and deeds in writing and be thoroughly investigated, the expression might then be found.

Like love and laughter, however, the circus is always new. I think that it was P. T. Barnum who frequently remarked: "Every year brings a fresh crop of children who arrive at the circus-loving age and their wants must be provided for." So it has come to pass the circus is always new. Along with the amazement the actual circus performers arouse there is a personal human interest among the visitors to the circus and its personnel. To begin with, they are all of the same human family "even as you and I." Their life is in the open before the public in their professional career. Their private life is almost entirely unknown to the public with whom they are so familiar in their professional capacity.

This institution known as the circus embraces nearly every phase of mechanical life and work, and likewise every branch of art, music, color, beauty, form, designing and everything else in which art enters. This fact necessitates the employment of experts in nearly every branch of human endeavor.

There must be men to build the cars, wagons, cages and other structures, and these men must have knowledge of iron, steel, wood and paint to build them perfectly. There must be men employed who know all about making strong, substantial and fancy harness, the designing and making of costumes, shoes and hats and other articles of attire. Men must be employed who have an accurate knowledge of timber, poles, seating lumber, and they must know the gross and tensile strength of the different kinds of timber required to make them absolutely safe. Electricians, mechanics and engineers must be qualified to construct and maintain their plants; men who are familiar with the law of the land, general law, contracts, ordinances and regulations of municipalities, with an extensive acquaintance with law makers and law executors to complete their contracts. There must be men employed who know all about every description of printing and lithography, including the quality of paper, the combination and endurance of colors, the relative value and impressiveness of every form of type and style of lettering.

There must be men who can write intelligently and convincingly upon almost any subject and who are expert advertisers familiar with the press, its requirements and its prices. Then, too, there must be men who are practical zoologists who know the nature, habits and necessities of every beast, wild or tame. There must be skilled musicians whose knowledge obviates the necessity of studying a new score that may be placed suddenly before them and can execute upon their instruments any composition from the most classical to the latest popular air, immediately. In fact the entire gamut of human accomplishment is run in an exhibition of this character.

Circus Man Misunderstood

There is a great misunderstanding regarding the character of the circus man as a rule. His life and habits are to some extent like those of one engaged in the ordinary pursuits. His knowledge of human nature is made very keen by reason of his coming in contact with all classes of persons in all kinds of communities. He soon learns the important lesson of a temperate life; temperate, as a rule, in all things. No matter in what department he may be engaged, he is, for at least one-half the time, away from his home, and, in keeping with the old saying that "absence makes the heart grow fonder," it is quite safe to assume that the absence of the circus man from his home intensities his love for it.

And when, after a season of travel and hard work, early hours out of bed and late hours in bed, he reaches his own fireside, it presents to him a place of rest. It certainly seems good to him to be there. This may explain, in a measure, the fact that the circus man seeks his home usually in some quiet community. Many of them live upon farms where they can get away from the noise and bustle their business keeps them in one-half of the time. Many of them make their homes in the smaller cities and towns, while very few care to live, or do live in the larger cities.

Moral Standard High.

Contrary, perhaps, to the opinion usually entertained of the circus profession, the standard of morality, both mental and physical, among circus people is extremely high. As an evidence of this, the further fact may be cited that in almost a majority of cases contracts between circus men, one with the other, employer and employes, are seldom matters of documentary evidence. Their mere word passed is as sufficient to them as a bond. It is the custom of circus employes generally to make their employers their bankers. This is particularly true of the humbler class whose wages are of the smallest paid by the employer. Their contracts always include their maintenance while traveling; their eating and sleeping arrangements are made and paid for by the employer.

As a rule, they never draw money or ask for wages beyond their immediate little necessities in the way of laundry, tobacco and small clothes, of which footgear is in greatest demand. Muddy grounds, cinder-ballasted railroad tracks, dust and stones are hard on shoes, and the circus man buys more shoes than anything else.

The result of this system is that the circus man at the end of the season draws the bulk of his earnings for the entire season. As was said before, he frequently has nothing in writing to show that a cent is due him, and it is a pleasing commentary upon the circus man generally that cases of a betrayal of the trust of the employe reposed in this employer are extremely rare.

While on this subject it may be well to state that there is a surprisingly small number of changes in the working personnel of a circus. Among even the lowest scale of workingmen who do the rough work, handle the seats and the canvas, who attend the horses and drive them, load and unload the trains and perform the hardest sort of manual labor, which makes good dressing impossible, there are many with an exhibition who have been with it for a quarter of a century.

Circus Women Virtuous.

It is often claimed by circus men, and the most careful investigation fails to disprove their claim, that of all classes of women engaged in any sort of employment which brings them in contact with the public, there is no other in which the standard of physical morality is so high. Such a thing as a scandal, involving men and women in the circus business, is almost entirely unknown. There are scarcely enough exceptions to prove this rule.

The women of the circus lead arduous lives. Their work is hard and it demands unusual physical rest. There is no room in any circus establishment for any superfluous freight, whether it be animate or inanimate, and any person carried by a circus company must be of use. There may be no idle women with a circus, and therefore the women of the circus are not rapidly recruited. In this respect they present a very wide contrast to the women of the stage. I mean that class who possess no particular talent, and are engaged chiefly, if not solely, for their beauty of face and figure. The comparative ease of such life and its temptations from a broad and easy highway to dissipation, along which, unfortunately, many find their way. Dissipation soon ends beauty of face and figure, and its unfortunate victims present the melancholy spectacle, too frequently seen, of poor creatures miserably afloat in the flotsam and jetsam of great cities.

Among circus women none have shared such a fate to the knowledge of the writer, and his personal acquaintance among them numbers into the hundreds. It is a general rule among circus proprietors not to engage a woman in any capacity unless she be accompanied by some relative - father, brother, husband, son, uncle or cousin. Most women are born into the circus business, and are children of circus people. Some marry into it, but of that class the proportion is rather small, and extremely few women enter the circus world in any other manner. It is not all infrequent thing to find a woman who represents the third, fourth and fifth generations of a circus family in this country. Of course, where a large ballet is employed this requirement may not always be made, but the life of a ballet girl with a circus is extremely difficult. She has no leisure time, and is always surrounded by hundreds of men, who regard her as sacred, and woe be unto the man who would seek to do her harm.

Circus Woman at Home.

The circus woman at the close of the season goes to her home and finds its attractions doubly pleasing by reason of the inconveniences with which she has been compelled to exist during the half year just passed. While she finds time for an hour or two of embroidery between performances and other duties while traveling, and occasionally will visit some house, adjacent to the circus grounds and induce the housewife to permit her to do some housework, usually cooking, she is nevertheless practically homeless during that long period; and above all she is a woman with all of a woman's love for home and domestic duties. These she indulges to her heart's content while at home and cares for but little else.

She has her own little circle of relatives and friends with whom she visits. Out in her barn or in some room in the house she may have some apparatus arranged by which she may continue the work necessary to retain her suppleness and agility, but this takes up but very little of her time, and her winter is spent very much the same as the winters of ordinary women. There is a small proportion of them who continue, their work throughout the year, confined chiefly to dancers and acrobats.

Religion In the Circus.

Surprising as it may seem there is a strong undercurrent of religious feeling among circus people, especially circus performers. The danger attendant upon their work and the occasional accidents in which they see a fellow-performer suddenly lose his life, arouses in them much thought of the future, and this thought frequently finds expression in religious observance. Many of them are church members. One famous rider is a well-known and active member of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and every Sunday finds him at church and the services of the brotherhood. He is frequently invited to speak and does so fluently and with fervor. Circus women, as are all other women, are even more susceptible to religious influence, and there are very few of them who do not manifest their predilections in that regard.

Of all vocations, there is none in which there is a greater diversity of talent and accomplishment required, and there is none perhaps that engages the same number of persons in which there is a greater uniformity of good deportment and decent living than among circus people. Hardworking, sober and industrious, their life is devoted to the entertainment and diversion of their fellowmen, and, in this respect they are quite as essential as one of the cogs in the wheel of civilization as any of the others. Caring little for social distinction, although that phase of life is enjoyed by many of them and by some of them to a very high degree, they are, while of a class by themselves, as varied and distinctive in characteristics and disposition an other people; and among them there is a governing power of discipline, and discipline means that there must first be rank and distinction among them, which while not known or understood by the public generally, exists quite as much as elsewhere among that diversified class, which is individually described as a "circus man."

On the whole, the morality of a modern circus troupe compares favorably with that of any equal number of any other trade or calling. Rigid rules are set for their deportment; fines are executed and enforced for any violation; for the rest they are obliged to behave well. The proprietor has complete jurisdiction over his employes, which a pastor has not over his congregation. Would any clergyman dare to punish profanity by fine and drunkenness by expulsion? This is the very thing a circus proprietor can do and does. Business interests compel strict discipline, and who shall say that the employe is not better off at the end of the season for seven or eight months of compulsory sobriety, civilty and orderly living?

Circus People Work.

Circus performers are usually peristent workers. They are always rehearsing. All winter long, if they are disengaged, they will frequent the winter quarters of the circus, and hour after hour will be spent in rehearsing old tricks and endeavoring to accomplish new ones. When on the road this indefatigable quest for agility and perfection or something new continues without intermission. Day after day, between the shows, that is after the afternoon performance is over and before the doors open for the night show, the more ambitious among the artists will be found in the rings, on the hippodrome track, and often on the trapeze rings to put a more finished touch on their old achievements or attempt to work out new ones. The performer realizes that it is the novel and sensational act that gets the money, and it is well worth a season's practicing to be able to double the emoluments the following year.

It will be readily recalled that only a few seasons ago, one of the most beautiful and expert trapeze artists in the Barnum and Bailey show at Madison Square Garden not fully satisfied with her work in the afternoon, induced one of her companions and co-workers to go back for a private rehearsal after the performance was over and, not taking the necessary precaution to have the property men stretch the safety net, she undertook to go through with her stunts, and fell into the arena fifty feet below a broken and lifeless mass.

It is these individual rehearsals that account for the dexterity of the men and women of the sawdust arena. As a rule circus performers are naturally clever and proficient in their callings, but everything depends upon a clear head, stout heart and strong nerves and persistent effort to accomplish things; and this means practice, rehearsals, perpetual and untiring.

Behind the Scenes.

But very few among the public ever get "behind the scenes" at the circus. The compact tents under which the performers dress and change their wardrobe is a sacred precinct to which no one may enter except by special invitation, and then only under the most rigid rules. The artists, the grooms, the performers and the property men who set the circus scenes, may go back and forth without question or hindrance, but the stranger who attempt to pass the argus-eyed guard at the curtained entrance from the arena will find himself challenged and politely, yet firmly, requested to turn aside. Exclusiveness behind the scenes of the circus is an absolute necessity. A sine que non.

There is no room in that little world for any but those who are a component part of it - and this is especially true during the hours of the performance. Every foot of space is in demand for the purpose of the show; every trunk in the dressing room is measured and must conform to its allotted space every day; every performer has an exact and arbitrary location in which to dress and prepare for his or her act. Even in the padroom, where the horses are saddled, the grooms are compelled to economize on space in lining up the stock and leading them into the arena. In a zone of so much privacy, bustle and speed there is no room for visitors.

In the Dressing Tents.

If, however, you were to go behind the curtain during the performance you would see some very interesting sights. The dressing rooms or tents are divided into apartments with canvas hung as a curtain. A little less than half of the space is utilized for the horses after they have been groomed and made ready for the arena, and then led into the general assembly or greenroom of the performers for their mounts or to await their next number on the program. The remaining space in the dressing tent is divided between the male and female element in proportion to the room they may require, and no on would presume to encroach upon the other. In these dressing rooms may be found artists and performers from all parts of the world, and as many tongues as there are races, but seldom if ever any discord.

Around the canvas walls, running up and down the enclosure, are an equal number of trunks, nearly of exact size, so that they may be loaded into wagons of certain dimensions without any lost space, and these trunks when opened up will be found to contain everything essential for the comfort and convenience of their owners even to a folding chair, so constructed that it only has two legs with one side made to rest or fasten on the edge of the trunk, to save space and reduce weight. The toilet articles and make-up boxes are also compact, and when the lid is lifted it usually retains a mirror and all other articles essential to milady's boudoir or the transformation of a clean-looking gentleman into a clown or hobo.

Some of the performers may be getting out of their street clothes while others are changing their costumes for the next act. Here and there youngsters, and older performers, too, are turning hand-springs or limbering up the muscles that have grown stale. A small army of property men are rushing in and out with all sorts of paraphernalia used by the artists in the big show. The clowns are always busy changing clothes and making up their usually placid faces into grotesque human masks or converting themselves into buffoons of every type and character.

Good Fellowship Prevails.

The best of good-fellowship prevails. During the time the performers are donning their costumes there is a constant fusilade of comment and sharp repartee. Everything is discussed from the size and responsive chord of the audience to the financial situation or European war news. These rapid-fire discussions are sometimes cut short, as the artists hurry out to their acts, but when they return they take them up again where they were interrupted, as though nothing had happened. The dressing-room may represent a modern tower of babel, with all nations represented, but the English and French language usually prevails.

In the Paddock.

The common meeting place of the men and women of the circus is in the pad room or saddling paddock, which serves as a sort of greenroom, where they all assemble preparatory for their act or to enter the arena. It is here that little confidences are exchanged, quiet flirtations indulged in, and perhaps the fair equestrienne or aerial artist receives a flower or some token of esteem from a painted clown or the Apollo Belvidere of the arena.

But even here the life and bustle of preparation and readiness precludes the possibility of more than incidental sociability. There is no call boy with the circus. The program is arranged at the beginning of the season and seldom changed except in cases of emergency. The artists quickly learn their places on the bill, and can always be found in the entrance a minute or two before their turn, ready to take their cue and make their advent, smilingly, before the audience. Any delay would subject the delinquent to a fine, no matter how important or high salaried the offender may be.

The people of the circus are intensely human. They have their likes and dislikes, loves and enmities, pleasures and pains, joys and jealousies, their social gatherings and their birthday parties, just the same as the rest of the world. Afternoon teas are arranged, sewing societies meet in the shade of a friendly baggage wagon and the needle industriously used in making repairs on a dainty pair of silk tights or mending "hubbie's socks," when there is no fine embroidery to do; and while they are all eminently industrious, they have their hours of relaxation, when healthy amusement is devised and enjoyed, and the rider, the acrobat, the aerialist, the clown, the specialist - in fact, all of the people within the tented city - the people behind the scenes - vindicate their claim to being clean, normal, healthful natural human beings, just like other folks - even as you and I."

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