2 ON THE MIDWAY

THE MIDWAY IS LOCATED BETWEEN the entranceway and the big top of a circus. A carnival is basically a midway traveling on its own. At a fair, a midway may be an even larger formation, consisting of both the carnival and what is called the “independent midway,” which contains separate amusements booked by the fair's own committee (Taylor 1997, 94).

Creating the Midway

The traveling aspect of the carnival presents tremendous problems. The owner of such a “collective amusement organization” (known as a show) must not only sell the myriad attractions to the public but also compete with other traveling enterprises and route the show (that is, lay out the play dates for a season). The booking of a route for a new season begins long before the present one ends. Spots that have proved lucrative are rebooked, if possible. At various outdoor meetings (which are actually held indoors) to plan the outdoor show routes, “the amusement park men, the fair managers, the amusement device manufacturers and the outdoor showmen hold simultaneous conventions as they ‘wheel and deal’ for sales and bookings” (McKennon 1972, 2:151).

Regardless of their size, all outdoor shows require advance agents who see that contracts are signed, routes are laid out, and all final arrangements are made. Shows travel by road with fleets of trucks, semis, motor homes, and other vehicles (McKennon 1972, 2:145, 151–52). Only one remaining American carnival, the Strates Shows (founded by Greek immigrant James E. Strates in the early 1900s), still travels by rail with a fifty-five-car train, but even it is adapting to truck travel (Chandler 2002).

The independent owners of rides and shows pay for their location (allotted midway space) as well as fees for trailer space, water, electrical connections, and whatever else those in the office (the carnival business trailer) require. After the engagement has played—unless it has been cut short by a blowdown (the leveling of tents and equipment by a storm)—the show is sloughed (torn down for travel). This teardown (see figures 2.1 and 2.2) may begin the night before closing, with the removal of some nonessential elements. on slough night, the carnival remains open until the usual closing time; then, except for a couple of central lighting towers and work lights on the rides and other attractions—the midway is darkened.

Empty trucks are pulled onto the midway and loaded. The first ones filled are those that will be required last when the show sets up again.When everything is packed, the run (the move between towns) begins. Specially printed arrows that have been tacked to utility poles and the like by advance men may be used to guide the drivers and keep them from blowing the route (getting lost) (McKennon 1972, 2:15–354).

It was not always routine getting from one date (engagement) to another. Showman Ward Hall (1981, 18) tells of an incident that happened in 1951 in ogden, Kansas rained on opening night, and “a couple of days of rain later, Soldiers with bulldozers from Fort Riley pulled our trailers off the lot just as the water was lapping at the door. A week later the flood-waters had subsided. we got the show out of the mud but could go nowhere for another two weeks as all the roads out of town were washed out. oh well, we'd had a busy spring and enjoyed the rest.”

The history of American outdoor entertainment is filled with similar hardships and even outright disasters, including fatal truck accidents, like the one that took the life of Seal Brothers Circus owner Bud Anderson in 1950 (Hall 1981, 15–16), and train wrecks, including two multiple-fatality derailments in 1918. (The second of those was “the most disastrous wreck in outdoor show history” [McKennon 1972, 1:91, 93].) Accordingly, dates sometimes have to be canceled, but most are met. Whether they are first of May carnies (newcomers) or troupers (those who have worked at least one full season), carnival people tend to be resilient. At the end of the jump (the move between dates), the midway will be resurrected (McKennon 1972, 2:147, 149, 150).

The course of a modern midway is shaped (when possible) like a racetrack a carnival arrives at the lot (the show grounds), the lot manager (or lot man or layout man) uses a tape line to mark off the area, indicating the various units by placing pegs at the intended corners as he and his helpers move around the delineated course (Gresham 1953, 30; Keyser 2001).

FIGURE 2.1. During the teardown, a workman partially dismantles the Ferris wheel at a 2003 carnival operated by Hammerl Amusements, Clarence, New York. (Photo by author)

FIGURE 2.2. The dismantled Ferris wheel is collapsed onto its platform and hauled away. (Photo by author)

Then the midway begins to take form, usually with the help of some roughies (“green” or temporary help). The ride jockeys (the mechanics who put up and take down rides) assemble their pieces like giant erector sets. The fire-resistant canvas tops are spread out and secured with the ringing of sledges on iron stakes; the center poles are then raised and the side walls hung. Light towers are erected, games and concessions set up, and ticket boxes moved into place. The house trailers of the carnies and showmen who have traveled by road are parked behind the rides and tops (Gresham 1953, 31).

When the midway is ready to open, its front end includes the entrance and contains some of the flashier concessions and larger rides. The games range along the sides, and the rides are usually in the center of the ringed area. At the back end are the sideshows, along with some of the more popular games and rides. small concession stands may be located nearly anywhere space allows. The setup is designed to invite patrons inside, draw them along to the more sought-after attractions, and then allow them to flow back to the beginning—minus as much of their money as possible (Rinaldo 1991, 53–55; McKennon 1981, 203).

Concessions

A concession is a grant of part of some premises—such as a midway—for some particular purpose; the term is also applied to the enterprise or to the activities that are carried on. Any part of the midway can be licensed to a concessionaire, if the carnival does not already own and operate a similar enterprise itself. Games, rides and amusements, and sideshows are treated later in this chapter; here we look at food, beverage, and other concessions (figure 2.3).

Considering that every crowd requires food and drink, vendors of these essentials were present at entertainments and amusements from ancient times. For example, merchants at the Roman circus sold various pastries and beverages, notably wine (Granfield 2000, 7). At London's Bartholomew Fair in 1721, numerous vendors sold their wares. As pictured in an old aquatint (Jay 2001), some set their barrels or baskets directly on the cobblestones, while others rested them on stools or benches. Baskets held fruit (including what appear to be apples, pears, and plums), pastries, or pies, and there were spigoted kegs dispensing wine or other beverages. The print also shows a small box-shaped stove that is obviously filled with hot coals, which the vendor (a woman wearing a broad hat) is blowing with a bellows. The items baking atop the stove seem oddly modern; indeed, their figure-eight shape indicates that they are pretzels.

FIGURE 2.3. Concession worker prepares for the opening of his stand at the Erie County Fair in New York, 2004. (Photo by author)

At the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, concessions for all “temperance” (nonalcoholic) drinks—except lemonade—were awarded exclusively to one Aaron Nusbaum. The lemonade and popcorn privileges went to Nichols, Gillies, and Martin, and the Waukesha Water Company had another exclusive contract (McKennon 1972, 1:36). Food stands were among the “gaudy” elements of the Midway Plaisance (Nelson 1999, 81), and the hungry, thirsty crowds had a great variety of foods available. For example, one could “dine in as many languages as he chooses” (Shepp and Shepp 1893, 334). One novelty, served at the Ostrich Farm on the Midway Plaisance, was the ostrich egg omelet—or so it was supposed to be. since about 3,000 tickets were reportedly sold for the attraction daily, and at least half of the patrons paid the extra for an omelet, demand was great. Obviously, the few large rds present could not lay sufficient eggs for 1,500 omelets each day. McKennon (1972, 1:39) states wryly: “The poultry farmer, who supplied the hens’ eggs for the concession, made his deliveries just before daylight each morning.” Elsewhere at the world‘s fair one could find “excellent ice cream” dispensed in the Woman‘s Building restaurant (Shepp and Shepp 1893, 334). The first ice cream cones were dispensed at the St. Louis world‘s fair of 1904 (McKennon 1972, 1:63). for an omelet, demand was great. Obviously, the few large birds present could not lay sufficient eggs for 1,500 omelets each day. McKennon (1972, 1:39) states wryly: “The poultry farmer, who supplied the hens’ eggs for the concession, made his deliveries just before daylight each morning.” Elsewhere at the world's fair one could find “excellent ice cream” dispensed in the Woman's Building restaurant (Shepp and Shepp 1893, 334). The first ice cream cones were dispensed at the St. Louis world's fair of 1904 (McKennon 1972, 1:63).

About 1900, Moxie—originally a type of snake oil touted as “nerve medicine”—added carbonation and transformed itself into the prototype of the American mass-market soft drink. soon, Moxie stands, along with peanut and popcorn stalls, had become staples of fair midways and carnivals (Nelson 1999, 82).

Cotton candy—known to carnies as floss candy or simply floss—is made by a special machine that spins melted granulated sugar, colored with food dye, into a fluffy mass (figure 2.4). There is controversy over details of the invention, but cotton candy debuted at the st. Louis world's fair in 1904. It was sold by Nashville candy makers William Morrison and John C. Wharton, who called it “fairy floss.” It was dispensed in cardboard boxes for –half the fair's admission price—yet 68,655 servings were sold (“Cotton Candy”; Mariani 1994, 96).

Concession stands at fairgrounds also include those offering full meals (often run by women's clubs or local church groups). They lure midway passersby with the irresistible smells of grilled pork, fried chicken, and roast beef. “For snacks and desserts,” states Derek Nelson in his American State Fair (1999, 148), “fairgrounds have always been free-for-alls of savory, sweet, high-calorie goodies: buttered white popcorn (once a novelty, now a staple), huge crocks of pink lemonade, cold bottles of orange drink, and sticky sheaves of green cotton candy.”

FIGURE 2.4. Concessionaire closes her mobile cotton candy stand at the end of the day in 2003. (Photo by author)

About that pink lemonade: According to the memoir of circus lion tamer George Conklin (1921, 228–31), the discovery that pink lemonade would outsell the common variety was accidentally made by his brother Pete in 1857, when he was traveling with the Jerry Mabie show. At the time, says Conklin:

 

Pete was a youngster and did not mind taking long chances, and, besides, he had saved a little money, so he bought a couple of mules and an old covered wagon and had enough money left to lay in a stock of peanuts, sugar, tartaric acid, and one lemon. In telling the story Pete always says that “that lemon was the best example of a friend I ever met. stayed with me to the end.” With this outfit he followed the circus, and every time the tents were pitched he would mount his box and begin to sing:

“Here's your ice-cold lemonade
Made in the shade.
Stick your finger in the glass,
It'll freeze fast.”

How did the lemonade become pink? Well, it seems that Pete ran out of water one hot day, and there was no nearby well or spring. Rushing around the show looking for water, he finally got lucky:

Fannie Jamieson, one of the bareback riders, had just finished wringing out a pair of pink tights. The color had run and left the water a deep pink. Without giving any explanation or stopping to answer her questions, Pete grabbed the tub of pink water and ran took only a minute to throw in some of the tartaric acid and the pieces of the “property” lemon, and then he began to call out, “Come quickly, buy some fine strawberry lemonade.” That day his sales doubled and from then on no first-class circus was without pink lemonade.

Conklin goes on to report some other secrets of the old lemonade concessionaires:

The recipe for circus lemonade has not changed from that day to this. A tub of water—with no particular squeamishness regarding its source—tartaric acid, some sugar, enough aniline dye to give it a rich pink, and for a finish some thin slices of lemon. The slices of lemon are known as “floaters,” and any which are left in the tub at the close of a day's business, together with those which have come back in the glasses, are carefully saved over for the next day's use the same floaters may appear before the public a considerable number of times. The lemonade glasses, too, by the way, like some other things in this world, “are not what they seem.” Tall and large in appearance, they give the impression of a generous drink for “only a nickel!” but if examined they are found to taper very rapidly toward the base, to have extra-thick sides, with the bottom nearer the top than it looks, and the thirsty customer actually gets no more of the enticing pink liquid than could easily be poured into an ordinary drinking glass.

Concessionaires who sell candy on the grounds of traveling circuses, menageries, and carnivals are called candy butchers, a term that was apparently in use in the 1860s. According to Conklin's memoirs: “The privilege of selling candy in and around the show often brought as much as five thousand dollars for one season. The holder of the privilege employed several men to go along with the show and do the actual selling.” The most common candy items then were “barber poles” (red-and-white-striped stick candy). “Sticks that had become dirty from handling and broken pieces,” says Conklin (1921, 150–51) “were cut up into small bits and put into paper ‘cornies.’” He adds, “These the ‘candy butchers’ had a trick of selling to the ‘rubes’ [the locals] and their girls for twenty-five cents each, and represented them as being something ‘extra fine.’”

A legendary candy butcher of the Midwest was Mrs. Caroline Jessop, the “Lady Confectioner.” With her husband, she hauled candy-making equipment on the fair circuit in the 1850s she died in 1916, her recipes—including those for her celebrated taffy and Jessop's Butterscotch Corn—passed to her children. Today the business is continued by the fifth generation of the family at such venues as the Indiana State Fair (Nelson 1999, 150–51).

In addition to tasty treats, carnival and fair midway concessionaires hawk an assortment of toys and novelties. A vendor at the Bartholomew Fair in the eighteenth century is depicted in a booth with an array of small flutes, tin trumpets, little figures of people and animals, and other items displayed on the counter. shelves behind her are stocked with additional goods, including a framed mirror (see Jay 2001).

Moving ahead a couple of centuries, the Missouri state Fair midway of 1929 not only featured vendors selling caramel apples and ice cream but also “a man with a sewing machine [who] would put your name on a little felt Robin Hood hat for only a quarter.” In the 1930s vendor wares included miniature clown hats, little bamboo canes, and monkey-on-a-stick toys (Nelson 1999, 94, 99).

Many concessionaires run pitch concessions, which are operated by a pitchman, someone who sells merchandise by a combination of demonstrating and lecturing. A pitchman who operates from an elevated platform is called a high pitchman, and one working at ground level is, of course, a low pitchman. some of the latter work out of a small case they called a kiester. No doubt, pitchmen frequently have occasion (like most carnies) to refer disparagingly to lot lice, those people who spend time, but not money, on show grounds (McKennon 1972, 2:149; Taylor 1997, 94).

In the 1950s pitchmen sold “art studies” (pinups), potato peelers, cheap watches, Brazilian (faux) diamond rings, hair restorer, and ever-sharp knives, as well as special decks of magic cards. (i too pitched these “svengali” decks at the Canadian National Exposition in 1969, along with a selection of other magic tricks.) Vendor wares naturally change with the times recent years, as interest has focused on UFOs and other aspects of extraterrestrial mythology, big-eyed, big-headed humanoids in the form of balloons and stuffed toys have appeared at many concession booths. Concessions reflect the culture that they are part of. Their particular forms may change, but the human impulses they attempt to satisfy remain eternal.

Games

Today's carnival game agents are mostly honest, law-abiding folk. But because a carnival is a business whose object is to make money, there are both honest and dishonest carnies earlier times, due to carnivals’ transient nature, there was little attention—certainly little informed attention—from law enforcement. Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) was the rule.

In the period after the Civil War, an advance man called the fixer would visit the local police in each town where a circus or other traveling show was scheduled to appear. By skillful use of blarney, money, or both, the fixer attempted to persuade the authorities to look the other way regarding certain “little games of chance.” if the town could not be fixed, gamesmen had to take their own chances and perhaps be a bit more careful. “Like all holders of concessions,” states George Conklin (1921, 167), “they were obliged to furnish their own transportation. Most of them traveled with a fast horse and buggy, and, no matter if the town were ‘fixed’ or not, . . the crowd was being worked the horses were kept harnessed and ready, with a driver, so that at a moment's notice their owners could flee the town.”

Conklin remembers one concessionaire named sam Gibbons, “an expert three-card-monte man,” who “used to work his game with a pair of ‘forty-fives’ hanging from his belt.” since a queen is typically the target card, the game is sometimes called “Find the Lady.” in carny slang, the operator is a broad tosser (McKennon 1972, 1:55). He works the game by laying a board across a barrel or, more portably, using a plank suspended on a strap hung around the neck (Conklin 1921, 166, 168) is a deceptive game, worked by sleight of hand. The gamesman picks up one card by its edges with one hand, and picks up the other two cards with the other hand, the target card being on the front. The cards are shown, and as they are tossed facedown, the card behind the target card is secretly substituted for it by a certain practiced “move.” Therefore, as the mark (victim) tries to follow the target card while the three cards are moved about, he is tracking the wrong one all along.

Rivaling three-card monte for popularity is the shell game too involves sleight of hand. It has been termed “the surest and simplest method ever devised to take away a man's money.” Also called “thimble rig,” it is usually performed not with large thimbles but with walnut shells—hence its common name the game, a pea is hidden under one shell and the mark attempts to track it as all three shells are switched around (Gibson 1946, 40–41). The secret is that the “pea” is rubber, and when the shell worker (operator) covers it, he lets the back edge of the shell come down on the pea. He pushes forward on the shell (while doing the same with another, using his other hand), and the rubber pea pops out at the rear is deftly clipped with the little finger and stolen away, to be revealed wherever desired by reversing the process.

Despite these minor deceptions, by the early twentieth century, games were considerably less crooked. As Conklin (1921, 165) states, “the roughest show on the road to-day would not dare countenance the least of the methods by which great sums of money were regularly taken from the public by swindlers connected with circuses in the late [eighteen-] ’sixties and early ’seventies.”

In the modern carnival, games are located along either side of the midway. Locations on the right side cost concessionaires more than those on the left side, since patrons tend to turn to the right when they enter the grounds. Game operators on the right side therefore get the first opportunity to separate the rubes from their money carny parlance, a game is a joint. Those along the outer sides of the walkway are dubbed line joints because they are in a row; players use only the front of the concession. The inside area of the midway is where the four-way joints are located, so named because they can be played from any side (Rinaldo 1991, 53–55).

There are basically three categories of carnival games: games of skill (which depend on the player's own ability), games of chance (in which the player has no control over the outcome, thus constituting gambling), and flat games (in which the player cannot win and is “flat out” swindled). Carnival games are supposed to be of the first category, but sometimes a purported game of skill is actually not. such a game is called an alibi store, because the operator is ready with an “explanation” for why the player did not win: “You threw too hard,” for example (Rinaldo 1991, 3, 8).

A two-way joint is one that can be operated either fairly or unfairly. A crooked operator is a grifter who may use a secret gimmick, termed a gaff, to make it difficult or impossible for players to win. A gaffed (rigged) game may involve shills (short for shillabers), who are the grifter's confederates; their job is to pose as patrons and make the game look easy, thus luring the suckers or rubes to take a chance. The carny label Sunday school show describes a carnival that forbids crooked games (Keyser 2001; Rinaldo 1991).

Among the types of joints are the hanky panky (simple games with cheap prizes, such as a fish pond, dart throw, or the like), the count store (or add-up joint, in which a player wins by scoring a certain number of points), and the money store (which pays winners cash rather than merchandise). some joints make money on a percentage basis. For example, a dozen patrons may each pay $1 to play, while the odds ensure that only one or two players will win a prize worth, say, $3. The operator thus obtains a big profit.

A joint's stock (prizes) may be plaster (formerly chalk, such as ceramic or plaster-of-paris figures, Kewpie dolls, and the like), plush (stuffed toys), or slum (very cheap merchandise, like most carnival stock) (see figures 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7). Slum is the type of prize used for games that advertise “everyone a winner.” such prizes are bought cheaply in great quantities, so that the cost is much less than the price of playing.

FIGURE 2.5. Slum prizes are the midway's cheapest. (Antique items from author's collection)

FIGURE 2.6. Chalk (plaster) prizes were common at twentieth-century carnivals. (Author's collection)

FIGURE 2.7. Plush prizes (stuffed toys) are common in today's “joints,” like this one at the 2004 Erie County Fair. (Photo by author)

FIGURE 2.8. Old cat-rack figure has canvas instead of the usual fur to make it look easier to hit. (Author's collection)

Like the wares sold by midway concessionaires, the prizes offered by game agents have changed with the times. Take dolls, for instance. Kewpie dolls, six-inch figures based on the good-natured fairies of that name, were popular for several seasons after they first appeared as illustrations for a 1909 children's story.In the early 1930s Charles Lindbergh and Amos and Andy dolls were popular, while those depicting Shirley Temple were the “top choice” in 1935 (Nelson 1999, 91).

The games themselves have also changed, but here are a few common ones that may be seen in today's carnivals and can be operated either fairly or crookedly.

Cat Rack. The object is to knock stuffed cats off their shelves with baseballs. Typically, the cats are hinged, and the operator sets them up by pulling a wire; this raises metal rods behind them, thus pushing the targets upright. The player is given three balls and required to knock over one cat for a small prize, three for an expensive one. Often the player succeeds in toppling two but then fails to knock the next one off the shelf.

The cats look easy to hit, but they are outlined with long, fluffy fur that makes them appear larger than they really are (figure 2.8). Should the player miss on either the first or second throw, the expensive prizes are safe. But two straight hits may cause the operator to employ a gaff: a secret control that raises the push-up rods behind the cats so they cannot be knocked over (Rinaldo 1991, 24–25; Gibson 1946, 35).

Dime Pitch. The object is to toss dimes onto flat glass dishes; if the dime stays on the plate, the player wins a big stuffed animal. The game seems easy, but the stuffed animals hanging over the dishes force the player to toss the dimes on a straighter angle, thus causing them to glance off (Rinaldo 1991, 30).

Bottle Roll. Two soda bottles are stood side by side, touching, at the bottom of an inclined platform. The player's goal is to roll a softball down the incline and knock over both bottles with a single strike. This seems straightforward, but the ball is lighter than a regulation softball, thus making it essential that it hit both bottles with equal force. To ensure that it does not, the operator can set one bottle slightly forward of the other. This causes it to absorb most of the energy from the ball, with too little left to topple the other bottle (Rinaldo 1991, 28). Hence, the posted rules of one such Bottle Roll in 1988 stated: “Ball Must Be Rolled / No! Bank Shots / No! Side Shots / No! Rebounds”—$2 per roll (Brouws and Caron 2001, 104).

Wheel of Fortune. once a fixture at fairgrounds, the carnival wheel is now illegal wherever gambling is prohibited. (i have seen them at the Canadian National Exhibition, however.) To play, one places coins (or chips) on the laydown, an area of the counter marked with numbers or symbols that correspond to those depicted along the circumference of the wheel. For example, one type of wheel is called the Crown and Anchor. If the player places a $1 chip on the anchor symbol on the laydown, and the wheel stops at a section marked with one crown and two anchors, he is paid double: $2.

The Crown and Anchor (which I once ran in a casino) is a “percentage wheel.” Although carnival wheels have been rigged (Gibson 1946, 58–59), there is really no need for a “brake pedal” or other controlling gimmick. Over time, the odds simply favor the operator. (I always joked privately that if I could have rigged the wheel, it would have been to let players win a bit more often and thus inspire more playing.)

 

Even though one may learn much about games and their gaffs, it is well to recall the words of an expert: “The biggest suckers are those who think they know all about it. The bunco men like to see them come along” (Gibson 1946,

Rides and Amusements

Carnival rides are the most visible part of the midway. Indeed, the Ferris wheel stands like a beacon to guide people to the location. A forerunner of the wheel, called an “up and down,” was one of the earliest fairground rides. The previously mentioned aquatint of the 1721 Bartholomew Fair shows this type of ride, consisting of two parallel crosses with seats suspended between the ends of each of the four arms, the whole thing turning on an axle. operated by man or horse power, by 1801 these had become octagonal—doubling the number of seats—as illustrated in another print depicting a British fair scene (Jay 2001; McKennon 1972, 1:14).

The true Ferris wheel takes its name from George Ferris (1859–1896). A successful engineer, he had several bridges to his credit when he proposed a giant amusement wheel for the 1893 Chicago world's fair. The fair's management had been seeking some highly visible edifice (like the Eiffel Tower of the 1889 Paris exposition) and had signed contracts for a 560-foot tower with a restaurant that project failed to raise sufficient capital, Ferris belatedly got his chance. It was a massive undertaking. When completed, the steel wheel was 264 feet high, and it was driven by two 1,000-horsepower steam engines (figure 2.9). Ferris's wheel had thirty-six cars, each the size of a streetcar—twenty-seven feet long—and each with revolving chairs for 40 people, for a total of 1,440 passengers. It twenty minutes they were treated to two revolutions, with six stops. For this, they paid making Ferris's construction a veritable “wheel of fortune” (Shepp and Shepp 1893, 502–3; McKennon 1972, 1:28–35).

Ferris's wheel spawned others, including “a little Ferris wheel, and still a littler one” that graced an amusement area just outside the fair's own Midway Plaisance. The mammoth wheel, a “thirteen hundred ton steel miracle,” was the largest single Ferris wheel ever built, although double, triple, and even quadruple wheels were to come. Ferris's behemoth was eventually moved to the St. Louis world's fair in 1904. It lost money and was eventually sold for scrap metal, ending up as part of the USS Illinois and a bridge in indiana (McKennon 1972, 1:34–35, 38–39; Nelson 1999, 97).

FIGURE 2.9. Ferris's giant wheel towered over the 1893 world's fair. (Author's collection)

Subsequent Ferris wheels were popular, but they were heavy and difficult to assemble and break down.In 1900 the Eli Bridge Company in southern Illinois put out a lightweight and more easily handled model. Although known to carnies as a Big Eli Wheel, it and its successors were always popularly termed Ferris wheels (McKennon 1972, 1:51, 69) (see figure 2.10).

Among the traveling midways and carnivals that took to the road and rail after the 1893 world's fair, some, such as Otto Schmidt's, had no rides. That of Bostock and Ferrari, who had come from England, featured several British rides they had brought with them, including a carousel. This led later carnies to refer to carousels as “the first ride” (Nelson 1999, 97). The elaborate Bostock-Ferrari carousel was called the Golden Chariot.It was so successful that it was soon imitated by a lightweight spin-off named the Ocean Wave after its up-and-down motion. However, this version did not fare well because C. W. Parker of Leavenworth, Kansas, and other manufacturers had created the model that was destined to become famous: the jumping-horse merry-go-round (figure 2.11). Parker's carousel (unlike some of the early crude carousels, which had been horse drawn) was powered by a double-cylinder steam engine (McKennon 1972, 1:23, 51, 61, 80).

FIGURE 2.10. A large Ferris wheel dominates the midway at the 2004 Erie County Fair. (Photo by author)

At some venues, a Ferris wheel and a merry-go-round were the only rides. The next major development in the field was the creation of the Whip by W. E. Mangels in 1915 soon became a midway mainstay. The Whip featured small, tublike cars fastened to a center post by long metal arms; these, in turn, were attached to a continuous cable. This carried the cars along the straight sides of the course at a steady pace, but at the ends of the course, the cars were “whipped” around at a greatly accelerated speed (Nelson 1999, 105; McKennon 1972, 1:86–87).

The roller coaster was an early ride that was more suitable for permanent amusement parks, such as Coney Island, than for traveling carnivals. Small forerunners of the modern coaster were present in Paris by 1804, and a looping coaster was demonstrated in France in 1848. However, these were basically sleds on rollers, with limited potential. Then, in 1884, La Marcus Thompson introduced the 450–foot-long Switchback Gravity Pleasure Railway at Coney Island. Four years later a looping coaster, the Flip-Flop, also appeared there, and by the early 1910s, a roller coaster craze swept across the country. Ever more thrilling models appeared at state fairs and other venues (Nelson 1999, 101–3) (see figure 2.12).

FIGURE 2.11. Crude, early carousels led to development of the jumping-horse merry-go-round, still a midway standard. (Photo by author)

In the mid-1930s the Loop-O-Plane enclosed riders in two oblong cars set at the ends of long, vertically sweeping arms. This was among the earliest midway rides to invert passengers, who found the sensation thrilling.

Myriad additional rides appeared. Some were flashes in the pan, while others stuck around and evolved. The 1922 Caterpillar consisted of a train on a circular, undulating track with a canvas cover that slid over it during the ride, a boon to amorous couples. Other rides with undulating courses included the popular Tilt-A-Whirl (which was one of my favorites in the 1950s). No fewer than twenty-one “modern and thrilling riding devices” were advertised by the Nebraska State Fair in 1951. These included the Rollo-plane, Moon Rocket, Ghost Ride, and Wall of Death, as well as those intended for younger children, such as Kiddie Autos. (See figure 2.13.)

FIGURE 2.12. A roller coaster thrills midway patrons at a Cleveland fairgrounds in 1933. (Author's collection)

Along with the rides, other amusements competed for the midway patron's coin. Such amusements have a long history. For example, the Bartholomew Fair in the 1720s featured large boxes with viewing ports, and a contemporary advertisement described what customers would see:

The Temple of Arts, with two moving pictures, the first being a Consort of Musick performed by several figures playing on various instruments with the greatest Harmoney and truth of time, the other giving a curious prospect of the City and Bay of Gibraltor, with ships of war and transports in their proper motions, as tho’ in real action; likewise the Spanish troops marching thro’ Old Gibraltor. Also the playing of a Duck in the river, and the Dog diving after it, as natural as tho’ alive.In this curious piece there are about 100 figures, all of which show the motions they represent as perfect as the life; the like of it was never seen in the world.

FIGURE 2.13. Many old rides are seen in modernized versions, like this Wave Swinger of the Strates Shows. (Photo by author)

These peep shows were exhibited by magician Isaac Fawkes. The secret behind them was a Fleet Street clockmaker named Christopher Pinchbeck Sr., who had a genius for constructing clever mechanisms (Christopher 1962, 16–18). Such exhibits are obvious forerunners of the modern penny arcade (in carnivals, an arcade is a tent with coin-operated games and other amusements, usually found only in the larger traveling shows and fairground midways).

Such nineteenth-century “dime museum” proprietors as P. T. Barnum (whose admission price was actually ) exhibited a number of amusements that foreshadowed modern ones. These included exhibits of waxworks as well as curious automatons (reminiscent of Pinchbeck's). For example, Barnum featured an “automatic trumpeter,” created in 1808 by noted German inventor Johann Maelzel (1772–1838). (Maelzel also devised an ear trumpet for his friend Beethoven, a metronome, and a type of orchestrion called the panhar-monion.) In addition, Barnum exhibited remarkable automatons by the great French conjurer Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (1805–1871; the inspiration for magician Ehrich Weiss to become Harry Houdini). One such figure, called the “dying zouave,” bore a wound from which trickled an endless stream of “blood.” Barnum also had a Robert-Houdin automaton that could write responses to questions and even draw pictures on request (Kunhardt et al. 1995, 66, 188, 234).

The traveling midways at the turn of the twentieth century had some amusements, distinct from rides and sideshows, that heralded the later arcades and fun houses (figures 2.14 and 2.15). For example, the Bostock-Ferrari Midway Carnival Company advertised in 1901 “Edison's Animated Pictures” and a “$25,000 Crystal Maze, or Palace of Mirrors” (McKennon 1972, 1:58). Such a “Foolish House” was described in 1909: “The floor wallows and shakes. Horrifying bumps confront your feet. What with tempest and earthquakes and night and labyrinthine confusion and stumbling blocks combined, you wish yourself dead. Then relief! A crystal maze, humorous but alarming. A row of concave and convex mirrors, showing you yourself as Humpty Dumpty.” It was said to provide five minutes of glee (Hartt 1909).

Describing the early midways, amusement historian Rollin Hartt (1909) mentioned “tintype galleries,” “penny vaudevilles,” “graphophones” (early phonographs using wax records), “nickel-in-the-slot machines,” “strength-testing devices,” and “establishments where ‘you get your money back if I fail to guess your weight within three pounds.’” Weight guessers—and their brethren who guarantee to “guess your age within two years”—continue to ply the midway. (In carny parlance, they are known as A&S men—that is, “age and scale” operators.) According to Derek Nelson (1999, 84), “Folks are always happy to hear someone tell them that they look younger or lighter than they actually are, even if it costs them a nickel to win a penny prize.” (See figure 2.16.)

The midway's amusements, especially the rides, have tended to overshadow, and even crowd out, that other important feature, the sideshows.

FIGURE 2.14. Among today's midway amusements is Ghost Mansion, which combines carnival rides and fun-house features. (Photo by author)

FIGURE 2.15. I examine some descendants of the early automatons at a midway arcade.

FIGURE 2.16. Carnival aficionado Benjamin Radford checks out an age and weight guesser on the midway of the 2001 Allentown, Pennsylvania, Fair. (Photo by author)

Sideshows

The midway shows—the sideshows—can be categorized in various ways.In terms of content, there are girl shows (entertainments featuring dancing women), illusion shows (those consisting of magical illusions, such as the headless girl), life shows (educational exhibits of preserved fetuses illustrating the stages of gestation), menageries (animal shows in which the animals do not perform but are merely on exhibit), and others, including wax shows (exhibits of wax figures of notables, such as famous outlaws).

In the heyday of the carnival, these shows could take many forms. For example, girl shows could consist of various types of revues, including “Broadway” dances and more exotic theme presentations, such as Hawaiian revues (Stencell 1999). Or they might be the racier cooch shows, a carny term taken from the “hootchy-kootchy” dance (Taylor 1998, 93), a burlesque or sideshow derivation of belly dancing that debuted in America at the 1893 Chicago world's fair. The Midway Plaisance featured over a score of exotic dances, but authoritarian moralists kept them rather tame. Supposedly, Fatima at the Turkish Village was “the wildest of them all.” According to carnival historian McKennon (1972, 1:34), “this female impersonator when last heard of in 1933 was the father of five and grandfather of seven.” Legend has it that a racy dancer called Little Egypt also performed there, but evidence is lacking. (Possibly someone using that name danced at the unofficial midway that grew just beyond the gates.) Nevertheless, for the next quarter of a century, “an undetermined number of dancing girls calling themselves Little Egypt appeared upon the midways of Street Fairs and carnivals in North America”—invariably billed as “direct from the World's Fair” (McKennon 1972, 1:34).

The first of the traveling girl shows was with Otto Schmidt's pioneer-ing—if failed—carnival of 1895. Schmidt, followed by Gaskill and Bostock-Ferrari, included in his collection of shows a Streets of Cairo exhibit, a traveling version of the popular Midway Plaisance feature of the same name. Cooch shows were only one small part of these entertainments. Working the “streets” were also jugglers and other Middle Eastern types of entertainers, including glassblowers. The Streets of Cairo-type shows were eventually displaced, and “by 1920, the girl shows had evolved into the patterns they have followed ever since” (McKennon 1972, 2:155).

In addition to their content, midway shows are classified by their form and function. For example, a common back-end feature is the single-O, a show that consists of only one attraction. With the decline of the large sideshows in the 1980s, these small shows—often designed to utilize a single trailer—were frequently the only sideshows gracing a carnival midway.

This is somewhat ironic, since such individual features were among the earliest attractions of traveling shows. For instance (as mentioned in the previous chapter), in 1719 a showman exhibited a lion along America's Atlantic coast. According to carnival historian Joe McKennon (1972, 1:20), that exhibitor operated in exactly the same manner as did single-attraction showmen near the end of the nineteenth century at street and agricultural fairs.

In contrast to the single-O is a type of show that has become almost synonymous with the term sideshow—what the carnies call a ten-in-one. This is a midway show that has about ten attractions, often including freaks (the carny term for human oddities), working acts (such as fire-eaters), and other special exhibits (figures 2.18 and 2.19).

FIGURE 2.17. Carnival Diablo is a typical trailer-housed grind show; note the loudspeakers at the upper right. (Photo by author)

Whereas the terms ten-in-one and single-O describe shows by the number of exhibits, others refer to how the show is operated. For example, a grind show is one that operates constantly, its ticket sellers and grinders (spielers) “grinding away” all day. (Today, the grind—a set spiel—is likely to be recorded on an audiotape loop and played over a loudspeaker; see figure 2.17.) Single-Os tend to be grind shows. Another type of sideshow is a string show, one with a line of banners along its front (Taylor 1997, 93; McKennon 1972, 2:101, 148, 150). A common type of string show (though usually not a grind show) is the ten-in-one, which is detailed in the next chapter.

FIGURE 2.18. A large sideshow, like this one at the Hagenbeck & Wallace Circus, typically featured a giant and other oddities and acts. (Author's collection)

FIGURE 2.19. Giant Al Tomaini–billed as eight feet four and a half inches tall–stands beside a man of normal height at the end of a banner line. (Author's collection)