The Billboard 1924-03-22: Vol 36 Iss 12 (1924-03-22)

OA ane PSE. MARCH 22, 1924 The erally does have some policy or principle by which he guides his business. Often it is merely mental, but as farreaching and effective is a published trademark made familiar by wide exploitation. By eras business man should have and gen One of my earliest recollections as a showman is the oft-repeated observation of a veteran carnival manager: “It's a ‘racket’, and it'll never be anything but a ‘racket’.” The gentleman been a good showma Was wrong. He may have , but he was a poor prophet. The carnival business today own. After years of disorganization, discouragement, to say nothing of disrepute, it has gotten over the “hump”,’is on the upgrade—and who shall say what strides of substaniial and wholesome accomplishment the future not hold for it? To the purveyor of amusements, the outdoor field, is given a ds the recreational life of the it is, with his rides bands ani has come into its great does especially in function in American people. He tented attractions, * his midway, alone can give a 1 joy to youngsters and turn the veriest grouch into a kiddie for a night! It is a trust which should but has been too often, betrayed. nite his who ind his 1 the holiday sp'rit certain healthfu not be, Far be it from me to preach or to scold. let us, as carnival owners anc inventory of ours: But i minagers, take an ‘Ives and our organizations. Let us, as most of us already have, resolve to live full up to the opportunities of our calling and to follow it as legitimately as the niche it occupies in the trade of making this old world a merrier place in which to be. been written in the vear. Out of disorder, perhaps questionabl competit‘on and public distrust have emerced organization, business co-operation and confidence of press and public. And all within twelve months! The Showmen’s Legisla been the greatest dynamic terment and public cemented rast A teen wr romance of the business world hes tive Committee has force for business bet good of recent years It has in a common cause men whose inter ests were identical but who met perhaps onh once a year for a day or so, then scattering to the four winds, and almost out of touch with one another of necessity becoming embittered by sharp competition and suspicion. Of its accomplishments little need be said here. They have been brordcast to the remotest hamlet of the nation by periodica'’s the names of which are version of these household words. The consame pwblicat'ons, unfriendly one short vear is only one of the tremendous triumphs of one of the things for which the committee stands—organization. Organization! Therein Les our future. were tardy in realizing this. Practically other line of business endeavor had been intensively organized, with paid and able counsels trade papers and trained field agents, ten years before we ever thought of it. But we have made the start. velop what we have. ago, We every Now let us deThere is much to be perfected this vear. Already new problems are arising for solution. There will be many more constantly presenting themselves. Let's recognize some of them. Do not the financtal arrangements many of us are making, voluntarily, of course, with fair managers and directors call fora heart slowing-up process, a heart-to talk among ourselves, to be followed by some coneerted action? Fred Terry, of The Horseman, has suggested a national organization of county fairs. These things call for thought and action. I am one of those who believe the new orranization comes pretty near being the panacea for all the ills and evils that have followed us as carn'val men. To indicate what the “get-together” spirit alreacy has brought forth, we will consider one Instance or condition. This refers to the adverse publicity in many influential periodicals Which unrestrictedly condemned the manner in which they declared the amusement or midway features of State and county fairs and expositions were being conducted, Many of us knew, of course, that conditions arraigned were not general, that they did not apply to scores of large and small fairs. But the seed of distrust had been sown and speedily gave By John M. Sheesley a deep tinge of dissatisfaction with carnival attract:ons among managers of the larger fairs. These same after siftmg down rereal evidence, generally found amiss only in isolated instances. And after hearing what the showmen themselves had done to further a process of leansing, the fair managers and secretaries have managers, rumors and that things were ports, then, come and are coming every day into our fold. They want to become a part of the committee’s movement. That they are hand in hand with us is apparent by the many who are joining the organization and sé@nding their membership fees to Commissioner Thomas J. Johnson. With the future support of such men as these great things can be done; our business no longer is under fire. And we have the satisfaction of knowing that we did it ourselves! rates” paid for fairs by carnival owners about the very conditions that have 1ined against. Because ambitious concessionaires contracted to pay more for privileges at fairs than they could well afford or legitimate business justified, they succumbed to the temptation to operate and to sell E* “ESSIVE percentages and prohibitive “flat brought been compl showmen and John M. Sheesley games which were not up to a: standard of fairness to the public. In other words, clean games were not conidered as profitable as other games, and the man who had contract to abide by lived under the menacing shadow of the excessive figure which the fair management could exact from him under contract. . Now if prices and percentages paid for fairs or to auspices committees, either, are based upon reason and business judgment, it can well be d that much of th's striving to get all and than the “traffie will bear” will be eliminated. I believe that just and thoughtful percentages accepted by fair managers and insisted upon by carnival men will automatically clear out the so-called bad concessions. It will be said that the Toronto Exhibition charges a whole lot for concessions. But it must be remembered it has a whole lot of people to whom to play. And so do a sAumber of other fairs. Overcharges lead to abuse. To “get even” certainly is a very human impulse. But, with fair men and carnival men understanding one another as they never have before, the prospect surely is that this problem will work itself out, the claim more INSTANCES of excessive railroad rates are now I being efficiently handled by the Legislative Committee and are given immediate attention. This is in furtherance of the good work of the Car-Owning Managers’ Association (COMA), instituted under Mr. W. H. Donaldson, to whom we never gave the support to which he and ourselves were justly entitled. In short, the skies are bright for us of the realm of the little tops and red wagons. And to the unbelievers or scoffers, who think we may have fallen for the wiles and blandishments of the Goddess of Reform (if there is one) I want to recall what a hard-headed business man, on the witness stand, said to a heckling lawyer: Becoming sarcastic, in an effort to embarrass the witness, the attorney said: “Then, sir, you want this court to believe that you place your business upon a very high, moral plane?” “Oh, no,” was the reply. mon honesty, that’s all.” “Only plain, com Why Is a Menagerie? (Continued from page 7) “main boss” who rules over several minor bosses, who in turn rule over weaker ones, and so on down to the common herd. This with the usual rebellion and upflares against power, to be successful or a failure, as the case may be. It isn’t so different from our Government, is it? Your town, for instance, with its mayor, bossing or trying to boss; the aldermen and the chief of police and the head of the fire department. And the aldermen bossing the ward healers and precinct captains, the firehead bossing the men under his tommard, and the police chief bossing the policemen, who in turn boss you. So it goes, thruout the whole fabric of animal life. Where humans may have a ruler who has succeeded th-u the strength of his brain, the animals have one who has achieved his position thru physical prowess. A few years ago a vessel from South America brought into New York a tremendous black jaguar, heavy of head and stocky of shoulder, to say nothing of a weight of courage. He was placed in a den with three tigers from India. The tigers took one look and moved forward to annihilate him. Nig, as he was called, had a different viewpoint. He went at his job thoroly and quickly—and whipped the whole bunch. Now in that den where rest three tigers and a black jaguar, the great, striped creatures wait until Nig has decided what he wants to do before they have any thought of their own. He is the boss, the ruler. And, as the animals accept and revere a ruler among themselves, so do they accept and revere a ruler in their trainer. To them he is the highest form of government, the one who gives commands which must be obeyed. And here they tccept a power of mentality in addition to a physical one. The trainer who is a real success is the one who asserts his authority and who establishes himself with his animals in the same wise that religion is established with human beings. In our childhood we are taught a number of things about God. That He is a just God, a kind God, a God who will provide for us, care for us, watch over us. But that He is a jealous God. We must have no other Gods before Him. We must obey His commandments. The system of animal training used today is founded upon that thought. The animal trainer is the god of the beasts under his command. He must be kind, he must be watchful, he must be just. When he is otherwis: animals lose that thing which has made them obey respect. Then they kill him. Not so long ago I stood for a half hour watching the most thrilling thing I ever had seen in the way of an animal act. It was that of Herr Shroeder, the polar bear trainer, and he was putting on a show in winter quarters, a private exhibition, at which an editor and myself were the only witnesses. The bears weighed from three hundred and fifty to four hundred pounds apiece, and the “act” consisted of wrestling with the three of them. For a half hour it continued; the beasts made lunges which threw the trainer against the iron bars with sufficient force to move the whole arena. When he would attempt to escape them, one would grasp him by the ankles, another come at him from the front and a third seize him from the rear. His leather coat was ripped to shreds from their teeth. Yet, at the end the of it all, when Herr Shroeder bared his flesh, there _ (Continued ow page 98%) 7 Wp arose. seems mentee “\