Hi, my name is Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour and I'm collecting written bally from punk and other sideshows. I collect the patter from talkers selling kitchen gadgets to just about anything on the fair, carny, or rodeo circuit. Most of the great talkers are gone, but I'm trying to find their "pitches" if ever written down as well as the "new pitches" which might be out there. Any information you could supply as to where I might secure books, articles, stories (non-fiction), etc. of this almost forgotten material would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.   Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour, Eureka Springs, Arkansas

 

My Uncle Keely passed away about thirty years ago, but I'm sure he'll hear it wherever he is and grin. He couldn't remember where he got the pitch from. I don't think he made it up. He was a cop for awhile around Fulton, Missouri on or about the 30's or 40's, and may have arrested an old carny and heard him use it.

 

Uncle Keely Breid's bally.

Well, step right up ladies and gentlemen, and feast your weary optics on this little prize to sympathize, empathize, and put the blue back in those bloodshot eyes.

 

I'm talking about the one, the only, Sheema the jungle girl. She shimmies, she shakes, like jelly on a plate, has four eyes, four ears, four nostrils. Crawls on her belly like a reptile, eats hay like a mule. Was captured recently on the south sea island of  Hallamallagoola.

 

Such an interesting sight to behold, so step right up ladies and gentlemen, but be careful not to step in that fresh pile of cow....shame, shame, on you boys for stickin' your finger in that goat's.....ask your mama for a quarter so you can come inside the tent and see the elephant skin his...............Dick hand me that rope!

 

Arkansas Red-Ozark Troubadour

 

Fulton, and Jefferson City, Missouri (the capital) were always having tent shows of some kind. Of course Sedalia, Missouri isn't too far away and the state fair is there. That's where I saw my first sideshow with Electro-man, the woman sawed in half, and the gorilla girl back in the fifties.

 

Back in the mid-50's I lived in a town in central Missouri named New Franklin. We had one time Dot and Jess Sunn who had a Toby Tent Show come to town. We young boys would help set up the tent, pick up trash, etc. and get free passes for shows all week from Dot.  Watching their show is what made me decide to be an entertainer.   I'm with a Branson type show at night here in Eureka Springs, called "The Pine Mountain Jamboree (just celebrated our 30th year). http://www.pinemountainjamboree.com/

 

Arkansas Red's Bally/Pitch:

Now friends, I want to tell you about a product that I have available, and it is only available from me. It is not available in any stores, and you won't see this advertised on TV. I'm talkin' about this little item I hold in my hand that contains not one, but ten of the old time songs you have heard me perform for you today. Each and every instrument you hear on this tape as well as each and every voice you hear is me carefully executed by a wonderful modern process known as multi-tracking. This gem is not fifteen dollars, not twelve, but ten dollars, and if you purchase one in the next three minutes you pay only the sum of eight dollars. Now you can't beat that at your local Wal-Mart. This recording is guaranteed to to rip, slip, drip, or chip, run down you leg or smell bad. - John Robinson, Sideshow World