On to Nashville, More Stories Under the Big Top

After we were under canvas and on the road, Ringling Brothers came to the realization that the show was short of working people such as ushers to set up the stands, place the chairs and seat people. Management then asked for volunteers from the performers to help other departments. A few of us younger fellows pitched in and set up the stands and placed the chairs. Some of the older ushers were there and showed us how to make a few dollars for ourselves. By lapping each chair one inch over the one next to it, you would have room for one extra chair in each row, which there would not be a ticket sold for. So, with approximately 30 extra chairs, that you sold for $3.00 each, which was less than the ticket price, you made $90.00 per show. When we went back to the dressing tent to get ready for the show, and the "old-timers' saw all that money we were making, they all wanted to volunteer to help. I don't think the ushers were paid, and that's how their money was made.

While playing small towns under canvas, there is not time for the work crews to go into town and sight-see or just enjoy leisure time. Consequently, crap games develop around the trains at night. A six by six piece of canvas was laid down on smooth ground and lanterns places at each corner. A houseman furnished the dice and bank roll, and the game would begin. Late one night I wandered down and got into the crap game. All I could do was win. I made several trips to the 'virgin car' to give Betty the cash I was winning and then I would go right back and win some more. About the time I believed I owned the circus, the houseman called the Pinkerton security people, who traveled with the show. He had them watch me. The Pinkertons took over the running of the crap game and it wasn't long until they had the circus back, and, all the money I had given to Betty to hold. I don't know how they stopped my lucky streak, but I wasn't fool enough to ask or complain.. With the Pinkerton's this was very serious business. My lesson learned, was that there is always someone luckier or smarter than you think you are.

A couple of days prior to playing Nashville, Tennessee, a meeting was held in the men's dressing tent by a group of the older clowns. It seems that in Nashville there were some bordellos that were favorites of the old timers and they felt a party would be in order. However, they wanted the money to be handled by one man, due to past experiences. So, one of the Bulgarian bar actors was elected to pay for everything. Each man gave $50.00 the day we arrived in Nashville. There were clown, actors, acrobats, midgets, dwarfs and so on. Probably close to 30 men.

At the first Bordello, when the Bulgarian bar actor tried to settle the bill a huge brawl erupted.
The police were called to break it up. One of the policemen asked what had caused the fight? The madam said, "The Bulgarian only wanted to pay half-price for the midgets and dwarfs.
She wanted full price. The policeman said it would be settled very easily. He told a dwarf to drop his pants. When he did the policeman said, "Pay full price!" There was no half-price warranted. A good time was had by all.

On hot summer days between shows, we would gather up a group of the younger performers and have the show bus take us to a local swimming pool. the show bus did not have a sign on it that it was the circus bus, so the local people didn't know who or where the 20 or 30 of us came from? After a few minutes of letting the local guys and gals get their eyes full and all excited, we would go into a few acrobatic routines and then start in on the diving boards. The local people had no idea what was happening . If they had paid $100 each, they would not have seen a better show than a group of young circus performers trying to out-do each other. Naturally by the time we left the pool, we had made many new friends, which made for a large crowd for the night show.

Speaking of trying to out-do each other.... I can remember when the circus train would be stopped for an hour or two. The performers would become restless and walk along the stopped train cars and visit with each other. Some of us young fellow, Christianni's, Zerbeines, Ivanos, Eddi Kohl, Billy Thompson and I would make bets as to who could do the most forward gains when doing a back somersault from a standing position on a railroad track. What we were doing was far more dangerous than anything we did during the show. We would have been in big trouble if any of our bosses had seen what we were doing. If I can remember correctly, the most I could gain was 2", but the Christianni's could all do better than 4".

One of the more uncomfortable experiences that would occur quite often while traveling on the circus train, was the very rough handling and moving of the performers' railroad cars. Every so often the engineer driving the locomotive with the performers' cars attached would bump and bang the railroad cars so badly that you would literally be thrown out of bed and knocked about on the floor. Eddy Ward, a catcher in the trapeze act, was trying to shave one day. This was after the cars had been bumped and banged for three days by the same engineer. The day before, Eddy had gone up and talked with the engineer about handling the cars more gently. The engineer gave Eddy a smart remark like, "Can't you take a few bumps?" This morning was all Eddy could take. His face was bloody from trying to shave and being bumped. He threw down his razor, jumped out of the car and ran up to the locomotive. He told the engineer to stop the train and come down on the ground. When he did, Eddy hit him square in the nose and asked him how he liked being bumped? When Eddy came back to our car, the car porter said to Eddy, "That was an awful thing to do" Eddy's reply was, "Yeah, but I sure feel a lot better." We had same engineer for another week, and we could hardly feel the train move.

What most of the performers did enjoy was what we called a "Dukie Run." It was a 2 or 3 day run over a long distance. The 'dukies' were the box lunches that everyone received. The 'Dukie Runs' were a social time for us, a time for for card games, stories and dreams. During these runs, the trains would have to stop, by law, every so many hours to feed, water and exercise the animals. Of course the performers took advantage of this law. The train was stopped in a very small town that only had a drug store and a movie house for local entertainment. We talked the
the movie house owner into opening up and showing a movie while we were stopped. In the middle of the movie, the circus train blew its' whistle and that meant it was leaving, and it did. Some didn't make it on time and had to hire a taxi to catch the train at the next stop. After paying one of those taxi cab bills, you learned to not wander too far from the train.

During the 1942 season, the circus was hit hard by the war. In 1943, it was almost a disaster, due to the labor shortage of all the crews. Even the circus band converted to canned music. In March of 1943, I turned eighteen and reported to my draft board in Detroit, Michigan. Within
a few months, I was told to report for induction at an army camp at Kellog, Michigan. The next few days were spent taking tests and physical examinations. After the tests, and examinations, the officer in charge asked what I did prior to coming into the army? I told him I was an acrobat and had been with the Ringling Brother, Barnum and Bailey Circus. He said, "I have just the right job for you. Here sign this!" If course, being young and stupid, I did. He said, " You are now in the United States Army Parachute Troops." The next day they shipped my butt off to Fort Benning, Georgia, which is a whole new story.

To be continued....... World War 11