How to run away and join the circus in 10 easy steps

Meanderer

Meanderer

Supreme Member
"First spend months bumming around on the beach, then get serious and go to circus school". - 10 Easy Steps

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jujube said:
I always wanted to run away and join the circus and now it's too late.....the circus is gone.

My grandfather was a side-show performer back in the 1920's, so it's in my blood. At the rate I'm going, I could aspire to be the Fat Lady.....
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The Circus ran away first and beat us to it, Jujube! :eek:nthego:
 

Not a circus but at around age 14 I traveled around the state of Wisconsin with a small carnival for a few months one spring and summer as a general laborer.......small wage and I slept in a tent bunkhouse.

Most 'carnies' are fairly descent people but you do have that element that are rough and on the run for one reason or another but at 14 I was pretty much an adult in my thinking and size and never got messed with.

I remember to save some of my wage I made friends with the fellas that ran the hot dog and cotton candy booth and ate for free most of the time......I still like the occasional hot dog but even the smell or thought of cotton candy now makes me about 1/2 way sick to my stomach. :)cotton-candy2.jpg
 
The Sig Sautelle Circus traveled along the Erie Canal on two canal boats and eventually became a railroad circus.

Sautelle had this building in Homer NY that served as his home and Circus training center, when I was growing up the building was being used as a coffee shop and bakery.

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This is a great link for Circus folks!

[video]http://www.circusesandsideshows.com/circuses/sigsautellecircus.html[/video]
 
There was a man who came around every year or two who had the most elaborate miniature circus and sideshow known to mankind. It took days to set up and covered a huge area. The detail was absolutely amazing. He had made everything himself and it took him years to complete. He charged a very small admission fee, so he must have been doing it for love as I can't believe he made much of a living on it. I loved going to see it; it was always set up in the exhibit room on the top floor of one of the big department stores in town.
 
jujube said:
There was a man who came around every year or two who had the most elaborate miniature circus and sideshow known to mankind. It took days to set up and covered a huge area. The detail was absolutely amazing. He had made everything himself and it took him years to complete. He charged a very small admission fee, so he must have been doing it for love as I can't believe he made much of a living on it. I loved going to see it; it was always set up in the exhibit room on the top floor of one of the big department stores in town.
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Is this it?
Joe's circus was set up in the basement of a local Beloit, WI department store
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or the Clyde Parke Miniature Circus.?

or replica of a circus, created by Harold Dunn and displayed at the Hieronymus department store in Roanoke, Va., to promote the upcoming Dunn Brothers Circus show?(Video)
 
I'm going to say that third one looks the most familiar. I just remember being blown away as a kid.

My grandparents took me to every circus that came to town. Grandma and Grandpa took off on the circus side show circuit when my dad was two years old and traveled around until he was about three and a half. Grandpa did an "electric man" act and my grandma was his pretty assistant. He lit up various electric bulbs in his hands and, as a finale, stuck his tongue out and lit a kerosene-soaked torch with a spark that jumped from his tongue to the torch. One time his other assistant turned the electricity up too high in the little platform he stood upon and it blew him several feet away. I wish I had a picture of him from those days.
 
My Life - Peter's Circus - CBBC
 

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