
There are Many Kinds of Shows in the
Business
There are probably a
million buildings in the nation in which you could put on a
show, but at a fair they put thousands of people in front of you
each day, they're people with money to spend and looking to be
entertained.
A tent show can work small fairs six days a week and probably
take in a thousand dollars a day or play big fairs ten to twelve
days at a time and take in a great deal more.
It is a matter of
choice. I don't like the atmosphere of bars, I like to work to
family audiences, and I am willing to invest a quarter of a
million dollars in equipment and rolling stock in order to get
the big fairs which gross the big dollars. I carry a
payroll of about fifteen or more people, because in a
performance schedule such as we do, a performer only does one or
two special stunts, where it seems with most club shows people
are expected to do a least four or more "acts".
Our performance run
30 to forty five minutes. I have had many building shows. At one
time we played colleges and auditoriums and some armories with
World Of Wonders doing three day stands, grinding out the shows
from II am till I0 pm. I have had numerous musical shows
playing theatres that were full evening shows. But these were
full musical productions and were not sideshow type
entertainment. The theatre shows generally play one nighters,
for which we usually had union stagehands and performers, and
actors were not allowed by the unions to do other than just the
performance. Also a union theatre musical is only permitted by
the union to give eight performances a week.
There are many kinds
of shows in the business, whether it's a chicken **glomming
geek who only wants to make enough for a bottle of cheap wine ,
or an opera singer who gets a
million dollars for one performance, they are all show folks.
The main thing you can do in life is to do what makes you happy
and supplies your needs. I pray you find that happiness
and satisfaction in whatever way you do it. If you achieve that,
you will have achieved real success in life.
God bless all the
sideshow people, however they chose to bring some joy and
excitement into peoples lives.
Ward Hall
**“glom”
A geek show specialty, the act of swallowing, or pretending to
swallow, disgusting things. Fake feces made from peanut butter
and Hershey's syrup, and other gaffed plays. Genuine glomming
can be biting the heads off live chickens, and devouring live
snakes.
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