Carnival Train Transcript
- [Carnie] Would you like to have some fun today?
- Let's take a ride, let's see, and we'll what's on the inside.
- Balls on a clown. Balls get ready.
- Here's the best one here, come on.
- [Man] No, you're, no, you're next.
- Come here, cotton candy, candy apples.
- [Narrator] There is no place on Earth like a carnival midway. It's the fun zone. The world of mirth. It's magic with an edge.
- I'm dry, water, forget it. Come on here little chubby kid, I dry.
- [Narrator] I used to be a carnie a long time ago and I came to love carnival people. Ever since then it's been my dream to make a documentary film about the life. Six years ago the filming started. And I found not only a great and huge carnival show, but the last one in America that travels on a train. And so, I made my way to Orlando, Florida to the winter quarters of the James E. Strates Shows. Winter quarters are the show's home base. From January to April the equipment is gone through and rebuilt or repaired. Carnies are hired on.
- Good job, Earl.
- [Earl] Veggie man.
- [Man] Tell you I like my veggies, Earl. For what?
- Said it's a good example of eating all your vegetables.
- [Man] I like my veggies, you know what I'm saying?
- Yeah, good example of eating all your veggies.
- This is my bedtime snack.
- Bedtime snack. Then you better take two pieces.
- Yeah, I better.
- Have another one.
- [Earl] Want a piece of cake?
- Hey Flock!
- [Earl] Want a piece of cake?
- Hey, you better get your picture, Flock.
- [Earl] Got it!
- And dunked in the ground.
- [Narrator] As is the tradition with a Strates Shows, the train was blessed before it took off. ♪ Who has ears to hear ♪ ♪ Let him hear ♪ ♪ And please let us pray to the Lord ♪
- TV channel puts their number on the bottom corner of the TV, like 2-5, can you put Coach 5 on the bottom corner of that?
- [Man] Oh, why sure, we can do that.
- All right bet.
- We Coach 5, this is Coach 5
- This is Coach 5.
- saying, , baby.
- [Man] That's it.
- Baby.
- Be safe now, drive carefully.
- [Narrator] Now, all was complete. The carnival train rolled out headed for South Carolina. In North Charleston, South Carolina we were set up at a shopping center. Playing the first of the still dates that come before the county and state fairs.
- The show started in the '20s, and that was a day with big immigration of people from the old country. My father was a Greek immigrant, he wrestled, and he worked out at the Y and they had swimming pools. Anyway, he became a wrestler. And, in those days they had athletic shows that traveled around the country, very much like carnivals do today. And they would go into town and they would have a bally out in front, and the wrestlers would stand on the bally, and they were challenge anyone locally to come in and wrestle. And if they could stay with the wrestler, not get pinned within a certain length of time, then they got $5. He wrestled for several years, and then he bought a kiddie ride, and that's how he got in the carnival business.
- I've been here, I've been around the family about I'd say 52, 53 years. Meeting Mr. Strates, a friend of mine knew him, he came to this country as an athlete, he was a wrestler. He wanted to break with a big story. And I had a friend of mine connected with the "New York Times" at the time, who was a big reporter, and we did a picture and a story on him, and I saw this thing.
- The first carnivals originated out of the Columbian World Exposition in Chicago in 1893, '94. There were very few rides. There was a carousel and maybe two or three other rides. And so, the shows were the attraction. And that's why they still, the Strates Shows, this title came from the time when they had very few rides but a lot of shows. And of course even the originator of the Strates Shows was not a ride operator, he was a showman.
♪ I've returned ♪
♪ Anyone stepping to me you'll get burned ♪
♪ 'Cause I got lyrics, but you ain't got none ♪
♪ If you come to battle bring a shotgun ♪
♪ Jump around ♪
♪ Jump, jump, jump, jump ♪
♪ Everybody jump ♪
♪ Jump, jump, jump, jump ♪
- They got the idea that they oughta go on a rail. But they had too much, and every truck you bought was a lot of money and they could move railroad cars around. And that was the era of the railroad where it was relatively inexpensive to move.
- [Narrator] Many carnival shows traveled by rail during this period. The show survived the Depression, even if it was pretty tough.
- It was hand to mouth, and the shows didn't make a lotta money in those days. People never got paid a lotta money in those days. And sometimes, it was very common when the show closed in the wintertime, all they did was feed the people. No one got any money at all. Everybody worked, and they had a common kitchen which they all ate out of, including the boss.
- There was a script made between the carnival owner and a cook house man, that he would feed these people with this script. So nobody around the carnival that was working and participating some way for the carnival, regardless of what they did, never went hungry.
- My father and mother bought the car that we lived in, the private train when I was seven years old, and I can remember when I went there and saw it for the first time, and climbing onto this train that was gonna be my home. It was all very exciting, you know, living on a train. None of my friends lived on trains. So, that was really something.
- We didn't know what it was like to have a home, and go to a local school, and be involved in the community. So we didn't really miss anything.
- [Narrator] World War II was a boom period for carnivals. Like the movies, they flourished.
- All the sailors, and all the Army men out there. You couldn't get by. And we used to sell, during the War, we'd get on the elephants and sell bonds. And we'd have parades and sell bonds. I mean, we did a lot of interesting things.
- [Narrator] By the late '40s the Strates Shows was a well-established carnival playing a strong route that included state fairs. James E. Strates fame as a showman extended way past the carnival gates. He was a consummate showman, able to relate to a ride jock or a mayor with equal ease. A disastrous fire almost wiped the show out.
- The fire, the show was wintering in Mullins, South Carolina, and they had a fire that destroyed the whole show. Everything. Every wagon, all the offices, all the electrical plants, in its entirety, burned everything down. My father went out, and it was a miracle, simply a miracle, and accumulated other equipment around the country that was for sale. He had a shop and he started building wagons. And if you can believe it, he put a show together in four months, and I, for the life of me, I don't know how I ever did it. I'm not sure we could do that today.
- Well, different shows gave him equipment. And then, three months after the show burnt he was back in business ready to get on the road again. I'd hate to see anything like that happen, but I just wonder what would happen nowadays, you know, if something like that happened.
- [Narrator] After graduating from Syracuse University E. James Strates enlisted in the Marine Corps.
- I was in the Infantry, I was an Intelligent Officer, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. And I enjoyed the Marine Corps. And the logistics are very much like a reinforced battalion, everything that we do here, they do there. They don't run rides, they shoot people. I met her at a party, in Laguna Beach. And the brother was in the 7th Marines and I was in the 1st. And I went home that night and wrote in my diary that I was gonna marry her, and I did. And she's probably the anchorman of the whole outfit. She raised the children, she took the children, every September when it got time for school or August, she just packed 'em up in the station wagon and took 'em home and put 'em in school. And, she's been the main spoke in the wheel, really.
- [Narrator] Father and son ran the show in the '50s, and young E. James was the heir apparent to the Strates empire.
- It went on and bigger and better, and he continued to build it, until he died in 1959. He died right in his, no, he didn't actually die in his wagon. He had a stroke and he was taken to the hospital. And he lived 10 hours. And they were playing Danville, Virginia. And their next spot was Raleigh, North Carolina. And what they did is they moved on to the next spot to Raleigh, North Carolina from Danville after he died. And when they did finally open in Raleigh, North Carolina they had an airplane fly over during the funeral, which was being held in Danville, Virginia, and they flew over the midway and they dropped all these red roses, all over the midway. Yes, he was quite something.
- They always say that if the owner of the show dies the show will fold, well, this is one show that didn't fold.
♪ Super faster, super faster, super faster, super faster ♪
♪ Super faster, super faster, super faster, super faster ♪
♪ A little time, before I invest my love ♪
♪ Don't walk away boy ♪
♪ Don't walk away ♪
♪ My love's right here for you ♪
- Hey Romeo, get over here and ride this ride. Romeo!
- [Narrator] With E. James Strates firmly in control the show moved into the '60s and '70s, ultimately becoming the last railroad show left in America. During this period a third generation of the family came into the world.
- I grew up, I think, knowing that I would do it. Enjoyed the business, enjoyed the people, enjoyed traveling, and I think it's still a plus in that you don't get tired of the routine. But, other satisfaction in having done a good job, and putting on a good show. Which is most productive for them, and also it's our livelihood. And having had a good event, it makes you feel good.
- And to grow up on a train was a lotta fun. That I did find kind of novel, I think my friends did think, and you're young, I think every kid has fascinations about trains. And they had never, a lotta my friends had never seen a train. So you take 'em over there sometimes, my mother would drive us over, and they would just think it was neat. Everybody had a little cubby hole. And it was for a kid, a compartment is kind of neat. I'm kinda like the creative one in the bunch, and that's what I like to do. And if my sister does the insurance and I think, oh my gosh, how does she sit there every day and deal with that paperwork?
- Go ahead.
- [Woman] He's on line two.
- Okay, thank you.
- So every year when school was out we'd come out here and travel, we'd do odd and end jobs around. As I grew older I started working in the office here and helping out around the office. And really, the main thing was just seeing the country, seeing the east coast of the U.S. every summer. My mom would take us places, visit the sites around the cities where were playing, things like that.
- You get to move around, it's not like being in an office. In winter quarters it gets old going to the same office from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday for the months that we're home. I really like moving every two weeks. Most of the year, we're out about 7 1/2 months on the road.
- One of the good aspects of show business is that you can wake up and your next door neighbor is your brother. The very best part about show business is if you get tired of your neighbor you can hook up your truck and move two locations away.
- [Narrator] After a 10 day stint the Charleston tear down began.
- [Carnie] That's good, that's good.
- [Carnie] Keep calm.
- [Carnie] Who?
- [Carnie] You!
- [Narrator] It takes about 20 hours to tear the show down. The train crew got busy loading.
- I got to liking the train crew. And I moved from there and I moved up handling wagon. Handling wagon, pulling wagon. And I've been on the show now, since 1962. I've been about 30, 33 years now.
- My job here on Strates Shows out there is guiding the trailers onto the, about six or eight trailers onto the flats.
- You have two different crews, one's working in the front, and one's working in the back. They can take anywhere from three to four wagons, five wagons at one time and hook 'em up. And take 'em off their shoes.
- I went to about five carnivals when I was young. But when I came out here and I actually joined, you talking about manual labor, this is manual labor. That's how it is, that's how we've got to be.
- We have about five, or eight, nine guys working on the train with us. And like, I teach 'em how to work and a whole lots of things they don't know about the train. And I take 'em underneath my wing, and I'm like a teacher.
- When they get to there, Red and Foot, they'll be tearing down while I'm setting 'em in. As they come along behind me, they be setting 'em in, and we have all of 'em set in, I get up, I get my wrench and help them start tearing down.
- There was one day, I was setting up there in Cedarville, up there at the restaurant. After, and that's when Kenneth daddy came up, and he done ask me after, if I'd like to work on a carnival, but just like I told him, I said, but I don't know nothing about it or anything like that. But he told me that he'll show me. And he showed me everything coming and going.
- Basically, there's a lot of correlation between what the service does and what we do. As a matter of fact the War College in Athens, Georgia came out and spent several weeks with us and studying our logistics, and how we can move and pack this whole thing up and get it moved across country in time that we do. We can leave Syracuse and the New York State Fair and we can close on a Sunday, or on a Monday, and then Saturday we're in Anderson, South Carolina putting the show up, and they'd like to know how. And, I guess they musta learned something from it.
- [Narrator] When all was said and done, we'd be out of Charleston headed for Gaithersburg, Maryland. We were ready to go. we left Charleston about one in the morning, and woke up to the wonderful cadence of railroad travel.
- [Hazel] We just kinda relax and kick back, and I can cook along the way.
- [Cajun] And watch TV.
- Watch TV.
- And watch the world, you know, we just watch the little towns go by.
- Train is the best. You don't have to worry about driving nothing, all you gotta do is kick back, look out your window, relax, and watch the scenery as it goes by. I remember one time me, Pappy, and an old friend of mine, Gypsy, rode the flats back there. That was absolutely beautiful, that was a beautiful ride. Something that nobody else sees is the back roads, it's really gorgeous.
- I love to travel. Because that's in my blood. Out there, and that's one thing I can't stay in a place too long.
- [Narrator] The Gaithersburg Fair opened up to solid business. For the train crew the work continued. Mike Watson is the head porter for the train. He keeps the physical plants going.
- I've been a carnie ever since 1968. I put fiberglass on the floors, fixing the train and everything like that. But I am building my arms up on it now again, because I used to have 22 inch arms and a 50 inch chest.
- I get up sometimes, I wake up at six o'clock in the morning. I be out there on the lot working when half the guys, they don't even know where I'm at. They be looking for me, I done be had half the stuff done when they get out there.
- Well, then I learned, I learned from the old guys. They taught me they knowledge, and I took my knowledge and put they knowledge together, and I move on like that.
- [Narrator] Every night over 100 people call the train their home.
- [Man] She was gone, she didn't know
- I was asleep.
- [Man] I'd be on here.
- [Woman] I was asleep.
- [Man] That sounded bad.
- Well, I've lived on the train most all my life. All but eight years of my life I've lived on the train. Right at 100 people lives on the train when the train is completely loaded. And of course, we got showers and we got bathrooms. And everything, we got everything that we might, some of us have got air condition. On the train is whatever you make it yourself.
- Yeah, that looks good.
- I live on Coach 5. I think Coach 5's one of the closest coaches there is, that everybody gets together as one big family. If somebody needs something from an egg, to a steak, and you happen to run short, on Coach 5, we can go to any one of us on Coach 5, and if we need something, everybody's always there for one another.
- It don't even look good.
- It is.
- You got crab there?
- Yeah.
- What, it's imitation crab?
- Yeah.
- What is it?
- A zoo zoo, bust it open.
- [Man] Load on time, yeah?
- We done pretty good, pretty good. We had a safe float out.
- [Man] That's good.
- Very safe. All everybody just work together, and work together pretty good. one of them things, Lee. We work together pretty good. Thank you.
- [Man] The train's loaded.
- It's been a pleasure dealing with you.
- Good job.
- Let me get on, y'all take care.
- [Leon] Good job.
- No, it's down that way.
- [Man] I'll see y'all when y'all get home.
- What's up, Nick?
- [Narrator] We moved on north pushing further into the Industrial Belt. Albany was our next spot.
- Ooh, I like that wheel. Wish it had the sides on it. I got out of the service, and me and some guys were hitching around. And one of 'em knew about that they were getting ready to take off back in '82. And, we said, "Let's go see if we can go out there." So we did, started in '82. Went down to Flagler, first time I touched pig iron.
- Hey, you did your second rods?
- [Man] Watch your neck, Soup.
- [Man] Throw that in there.
- [Dennis] Up and down, up and down, up and down. Wiggle it.
♪ Wiggle it, just a little bit. ♪
In. Here she go.
- Whoop, there it is.
♪ Whoop, there it is ♪
First thing I set up was the Flying Box. And then from there I went to the Spider. Stayed on that for a couple a years. And from there I went to the Monster. Then I left, came back, now I'm on the Independence.
- [Narrator] Dennis' wife, Mary, works in Kiddie Land. This summer his whole family is with the show.
- I love birds.
- You said 85?
- [Man] Left.
- Right.
- Oh no, we gotta bring it up and use the chain.
- It ain't even my fault, Joe, it was me and him, they just took it.
- [Joe] Who has it then?
- [Man] I don't know.
- [Narrator] Ride jocks are experts on specific rides. But are cross-trained on a range of equipment. They help each other out to get the show up.
- [Man] Set, come on.
- Why you stack 'em?
- Still on the cylinder, right?
- [Man] Yeah.
- The key is to not rush anything when you're going above that red iron up there, the horizontals. You don't rush it. I done construction work, and I've climbed trees and did a lot of tree work. But I think it was when I was a kid that I realized that I wasn't afraid of heights. I was born and raised in the city, and I had to jump from buildings to buildings, you know. I was one of them daring kids.
- I've always been a fan of fairs. I always, when I was a kid, I used to dream of traveling with one, working on one of the rides. I had a opportunity but I never took it until here, last February. And so, I came in and they put me on the Ring of Fire. Believe me, I'd rather be there than to be on nothing.
- [Narrator] You make a good team together.
- Oh, Joe and myself, we try to do it where we both can just focus in on each other, and just go from one point to the other with no problems.
- I showed up there at winter quarters in Orlando, Florida. And, I had talked with his foreman, and he said he needed somebody that could climb, and work topside. And I told him I wasn't afraid of climbing, and that's where I've been ever since.
- Mr. Strates was looking for a partner to run and operate a Himalaya ride. So we became partners, and I went to France to learn everything there was to know about it. Normally, we have six people, and it takes, probably two days to get the ride up. I've been operating it for the last 14 years.
- We were staying at home with nothing to do, a friend of mine used to work for Strates and talked me into getting a job here. I came out and started. Helped them tear down, and the next thing I know, I'm in the carnival business. The work is really pretty strenuous. We're electricians. We put buildings together, some of the rides that you've seen, they're massive pieces, it gets to be some heavy work.
- I used to be a truck driver. I used to deliver fresh produce to people. And the fair came to town, I looked at it, and watched the people, and realized something different. and I just decided to do it, and I've been here for five years.
- [Narrator] Cajun has over 30 years on the rides.
- I'm 'bout done. I'm done. Learned how to tear down the Tilt. Rock-O-Plane. And then I learned how to set 'em up, how to maintain the Ferris wheel. The Ferris wheel just wasn't my bag.
- [Man] Okay now, let's get it off.
- You gotta stick up for yourself, especially in this business. You gotta be strong, you can't be weak in this business. Can't be weak, can't be weak physically or minded. Otherwise you won't make it here.
- As long as you're strong in the mind you can do anything. There's an old saying, "Mind over matter." If you don't mind, it don't matter.
- It's always scary the first time you climb something really high. If the job has to be done, there's nobody else that's gonna do it but you.
- It's very important to pay attention, and watch what you're doing up there. Because you're walking on about a two inch piece of steel. You gotta make every movement count. So where that you don't get hurt, or your partner that's up there, doesn't get hurt. You gotta watch out for each other.
- [Narrator] The concessionaires were getting their games and food joints ready for the opening of the Albany City Fair. Back at the Zipper, the show safety expert was putting the ride through its paces.
- Most people when they come to the fair, they just come to have fun, they're not really looking out after their own personal safety. And that's what we're here for. We're here to look out for their safety.
- [Narrator] A steady stream of people came to the Albany Fair. Mr. Strates helped direct them to the parking lots.
- [Carnie] Well, well, well, well, by golly, there goes another one. Winner, winner, winner, winner, winner.
- Hey guys, you ready? No, you have to put one in.
♪ To the junior prom ♪
♪ July ♪
♪ Like a firecracker all aglow ♪
♪ August ♪
♪ When you're on the beach you steal the show ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah, my heart's in a whirl ♪
♪ I love, I love, I love my little calendar girl ♪
- We're trying to bring a little entertainment from one town to the next, and, put a smile on somebody's face.
- [Man] Come on now.
- [Man] That's it, that's all.
♪ Shake ♪
- [Man] Yeah, plenty seats up here. Please grab a seat.
- [Man] Yeah, just feeling around, we're gonna give you a little more power now, a little more.
♪ Play with your body, baby, make you real hot ♪
♪ Freak me, baby ♪
♪ Let me do all the things you want me to do ♪
♪ 'Cause tonight, baby, I wanna get freaky with you, girl ♪
♪ Baby, don't stop ♪
♪ Baby, don't stop ♪
♪ Baby ♪
- [Narrator] In the middle of all the action a ride jock wrote a letter home.
- Let's go get him one, I'll shoot.
♪ For that flame my heart beats on ♪
- For us it's like two separate worlds, you got the outside world, and you got the carnival life. And a lot of people get the misconception of the carnival workers out here. And, I mean, it's just like anywhere you go in the world today, you got good people and you got bad people.
- Every spring you say, "I'm not going out next year."
- And long about March or April, then feet start itching and you start moving 'em. And it always leads--
- You're doing all right, you're doing all right. You're sitting in this restaurant, you know, or this coffee shop, and you're sipping on this cup of coffee and this goddamn ride truck will go by.
- [Hazel] Uh-huh, and you gotta follow it to see where it's going.
- You gotta look. And all of a sudden here comes another one. And you set that coffee cup down and say, "Shit, let's go see where in the hell he going."
- [Hazel] It does, it gets in your blood.
- That triggers.
- [Hazel] It's hard to get out.
- Some people might call me a lost soul. I don't think so, I'm just a person who likes to do a lot of different things, a lot of different times. I don't like to do the same thing over, and over, and over, and over again. I'll hire green help here, and hire somebody that lives in this town, and they'll work with me for eight hours, and I'll never see him again for the rest of his life. And in that eight hours we share whatever. We work together, we accomplish a project, feel good about it.
- Being on the road is what we're here for. But Pappy used to tell me, you got sawdust in your veins, and once it's in there you just can't help but travel.
- I think this is what I was born for, to be a carnie.
- [Narrator] Always looming at the end of each spot is the tear down.
- Go, go, go, ho, wait a minute.
- [Narrator] With over 60 rides in the air it's a big job. At the Big Wheel, Curly will be operating the crane all night long. As ride foreman, he was in charge of the operation. The Albany tear down was over, the carnival city was gone. And now the show would leave Albany and head south to Pennsylvania. And the ride boys would do it again. The next destination was Essington, Pennsylvania. An industrial town located just south of the Philadelphia Airport. Two days before Essington opened, I encountered Barry and some other concessionaires. They were framing new joints. In the carnival world the game people are known as jointies.
- Let me show ya. All new toys. Lotta winners, lots of winners. Hey, Monday morning, three days later, gotta put more toys in.
- [Narrator] Barry has been with Strates Shows for a long time. Like most concessionaires, he's an independent. He hires his jointies and takes care of all aspects of the business.
- I was about 13 years of age, the carnival came in. And I said, hey, got any jobs open? Guy said, "Yeah." It wasn't the Strates Show, it was another show. I said, how much you pay? "You'll make $10 a day." I was 13 years of age, $10 sounded like a million dollars to me. And I said, okay, and I got a job. I got a job on the ride, I'm working on the Paratrooper, I was 13, about 12 1/2 years of age, 13 years of age, I got a job on the Paratrooper. Boy, I was setting it up, and I was tearing it down. Boy, oh boy, it was a lotta work. So a guy comes over to me, he says, "Hey, will you watch this for me for 15 minutes?" It was a game where you break three balloons and you win a stuffed animal. I said, sure, and he told me what to do. Well, in 30 minutes time I made $10. You understand? 10 bucks. Went back to the ride, came back, guy says to me, "Hey wanna watch this for me again?" I said, yeah. So he says, "Come back in about a hour." Came back, gave me a little bit of more money. I said, goodbye. I got off the rides. And went to the games.
- [Man] So what are you doing with the show now? Tell us about it.
- Handling the concessions, I book the concessions. And locate the concessions and handover the insurance, and most of the paperwork. As well as a lotta other things outside the concession department, whether it's maintenance, or management of the people. Being an owner you get involved in a little of everything. But my primary function in the show is the concessions. We don't own the games or food anymore. We strictly own the rides and we book in the concessions.
- [Narrator] Flash has been in the carnie life for 10 years off and on.
- Yeah, they come to town in Orlando and I started messing around with rides stuff. I grew up with at carnies, 'cause around my area it's a lotta winter quarters for the carnival. Working it in person. You stick 'em you get him. Prize be ready.
- All right, we need some more ball players over here.
- [Man] Give me one of 'em!
- Kids under 12.
- Mike is working
- [Narrator] an old time joint, the milk bottle game.
- We travel like eight, nine months outta the year. And, I love it, I love to travel.
- [Man] So do your whole family works with the show?
- Yes, it does. My dad, if you go right around the side of this joint here, go straight down, he's right there in the lemonade stand. My mom's right beside him in another little food joint. And brother's a little bit further down that way in another food joint.
- And I was at a fair one day and I saw a guessing game, and I said, damn that looks like fun. Maybe I oughta try this. So I talked to the old man who was running it, and he hired me. And I've been doing that on and off for about nine years now.
- [Narrator] Roger always wanted to be in the business. He works at the guessing game.
- Hang on I got a prize for ya for trying anyway. Yeah, by golly, I got lucky that time. How 'bout it mom? I'll tell ya how young you look, not how old you feel.
- God really intended some of us to be here, so there would be carnival midways and how fortunate I am. It takes a lot but it gives a lot. And it's kinda like life or a bank account, you know. You kinda get out of it what you put into it. But, as long as I have a roof over my head and feed myself, I get to do this, and I get paid for it, so.
- [Narrator] In my carnie days I worked as a jointy. I loved the interaction with the customers.
- [Carnie] I got a winner for the two party, they got a big ol' frog. One ring around there, hey, there goes a little one. Who does that? Getting the little. I got a winner right there. Hey big one, here's where you get a salad for a dollar.
- Hey, you ready buddy?
- [Narrator] Indian knows how to work a crowd.
- You gotta climb up to the ladder and ring the bell. Holy chihuahua, look at this one. Hey, watch this one, guys. Watch it, watch it, whoa!
- You let go.
- I's the rope ladder, it's an old game. Originally from the circus, now it's a carnival game. And, I just learned how to climb it. And I'm the type of person if I set my mind to something I'm gonna do it. It's just a way to climb it. And I show you the way to climb it. It's a fun game. Hey, you're next.
- [Carnie] You ready, dad? Come on over, dad. Hey dad, little guy gets two shots for a buck.
- [Carnie] All right, everybody ready now?
- [Narrator] Sarge challenges the people. He calls them all Mike.
- Oh, Michael, Michael! Come on big guy, give it another shot here, doctor. Right in the hole. Michael.
- I ain't never gonna get this.
- You gotta put some heat on it son, you gotta put a little bit of heat on it. You gotta get something, doctor. Right off the side, doctor, right off the side doctor. Micheal, Michael, come on, Michael, come on Michael, act like you wanna win, Michael.
- [Woman] Come on, Michael.
- Act like you wanna win, Michael, act like you wanna win here now. You gotta keep faith.
- I'm aiming for the ones on the top.
- That's one.
- [Woman] Come on, Shawn.
- You gotta get one.
- You gotta get one.
- I'm on my best two, right?
- You got it Michael, you gotta hit one big guy. Michael, Micheal.
- I can hit it.
- Well do it, do it like you mean it. Whoa, right in the hole big guy, right in the hole. Whoa! There goes one.
- [Woman] You got it.
- You did all right big guy, you next there, buddy, you next, talk to me.
- [Carnie] Watch it now, watch it now.
- Oh, muscles, muscles!
- [Narrator] Like all midways, the one in Essington boasted a variety of food joints. They're called grab stands or floss wagons for the ones selling sweets like cotton candy. These businesses are also independently owned and operated.
- My family started in the pizza business back in 1948. And this is my son, second generation of pizza man.
- How ya doing?
- And also with me is my daughter, Deanna. Hold on one second. Deanna?
- [Deanna] Yes.
- Say hello to the camera here.
- Hello. See lasagna, yum. Excuse me.
- All right, I got 'em all ready now, there's no waiting, goodie, goodie, goodie. And a lot of people say, "Boy, I couldn't wait "'til you got here." And a lady over in Naples, Florida she was having a baby, and she found out I was in town, and her husband was taking her to the hospital, she was in labor, and she said, swing by the fairground and get me an elephant ear before you take me to the hospital, and she was having the baby.
- One time for today, one time for a dollar, who's gonna be next?
- Anybody else, come on in, brave that box, try your luck, double up. Laying 'em down, get me ready. Come on in, don't be shy.
- [Carnie] Let's get 'em, let's go.
- How about you big guy, you ready? Look, sweetie, don't let him be a cheap date, make him win you a poster. Step up and step in, and win, come on in. It all depends on what you feel like telling 'em that day, it depends on what you feel like, whatever comes to your mind, you think'll get their attention. Like the empty styrofoam cups I take, boom, you gotta make a little microphone out of 'em. Balls one more time.
- They want me to interact with them. They want someone to interact with them. That's why they're there, they're there to have fun, and they're there to interact. And what I have to do is provide that for them.
- Basically, like I said. Cut the whole thing short. My life is out here to make kids happy, long as kids are happy, I'm happy.
- What you wanna know? We're ready, we're ready, we're ready. She got to two, nothing there.
- [Narrator] Like many show folks, the jointies get caught up in the midway action.
- [Carnie] Hey, she got to 10, that's what happened!
- [Narrator] We left Essington and headed 30 miles south to Newark, Delaware. One of the premiere illusion acts in America was booked with the Strates Shows for the Newark spot.
- [Announcer] Ladies and gentleman, on the inside of this show, the Gorilla Girl, the Ape Girl, she's alive. Have your tickets ready. No waiting, no delay, come in now, it's showtime and you gotta go. The Gorilla Girl, the Ape girl, she's alive.
- In the old days you used to have the old stand by, the Merry-go-rounds, and the Tilt-A-Whirls, and the Scramblers, and the Octopus. And you had fun houses, and glass houses, and fat shows, girl shows, and we had two girls shows and one minstrel show. But the show line was dominant.
- When I first got in the carnival business it was show oriented. As an example, 30 years ago with the Strates Show, you would've seen probably 30 big shows on the backend of the carnival, and there would have been maybe 15 or 20 rides.
- [Narrator] The backend was the live entertainment zone of the midway. Offering everything from freak shows to vaudeville, magic, and illusion acts.
- The traditional carnival layout was to start at the front, they'd put up a front entrance, and then the concessions came down about a third of the way on each side. And in the center would be, traditionally, the carousel would be first and then the kiddie rides. And then, where the concessions ended you started with shows and the shows were formed in horseshoe all the way around, which, that's why they call it the backend.
- [Announcer] Locked into a steel cage then changes into a gigantic gorilla bridges the gap between man and beast using virtual reality.
- I got out of the Gorilla Show business for about, I don't know, eight years. And then I just brought it back two years ago. And it seems to be doing better than it's ever done before. It's like a whole new generation that has never seen the Gorilla Show before.
- [Announcer] Go back 5,000 years in time. First, the clothing falls away from the body. Then down the neck and over the breasts. Down the entire length of the body. Four to six inches of hair will grow. Her eyes will sink deep into the back of her head. Her nostrils will enlarge and swell. Then, right in front of your eyes, she'll change into a gigantic, ferocious, 450 pound gorilla, a gorilla so strong, she can bend a steel bar with her bare hands.
- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to open up the curtain, Zahara! Gorilla, meet, gorilla. Way back in time, the entire molecular structure of her body began to change. Four to six inches of hair are growing over her body now. Her eyes sinking deeper in the back of her head. Her nostrils begin to enlarge and swell. Meet gorilla, meet the gorilla as her body goes back in time. Meet gorilla. Ladies and gentlemen, the once beautiful Zahara standing in front of you every ounce a female gorilla. You are safe in here at all times. The gate is electronically locked. Zahara, at the sound of my voice I want you to come to the front of the cage, and awaken. Awaken Zahara!
- This is actually not an act that I created. It was brought to America for a world's fair, the New York World's Fair in the '30s. And it was presented as the Teutonic Wonder. The woman who lives, survived a train crash. Was decapitated, and managed to survive, and lives without a head. And we've had a lotta success with it, lots of people pay a buck and a half to visit her.
- She's still alive?
- [Lee] Absolutely.
- The old strip tease, which was in the '30s and the '40s. And just great. Risque, nothing vulgar or nasty about it. And they were just great dancing and they were strip shows. And the guys used to hit the midway. And I mean, you would just have packed houses, show after show, after show, you know.
- Girls would dance, they call 'em Coochie Hoochie Coochie Shows. It was nothing vulgar. It was all clean entertainment.
- There was real production. It wasn't something cheap or insignificant. It was just beautiful productions. And they had spotlights and indirect lighting on the stage. And they had live bands playing the music. It was just great, it was great entertainment.
- We had a man here, his name is Nate Eagle for a good many years. He had about 10 or 12 midgets. They had little midget houses inside this big tent. And they'd step in, they'd step out. They'd perform, they'd sing, and they'd tell stories. And then, the climax of their act would be to sell a little Bible. It was about that size, for $0.25. And they sold many of 'em, many thousands of 'em. That's an act, they're gone. They'd be tremendous today, but they're gone.
- We had a bunch of real small midgets that went through the same routine, more less that they do in the girls show. Only they were just anywhere from three foot high to maybe 3 foot 6 high.
- [Narrator] So what would the routine be?
- There was one or two of 'em, they would strip, as they would in the girl show, and they would dance, and they would sing. It was really, a nice show.
- A lot of people think of the minstrel show as being white people made up in blackface, this was not the case. They never had that kind of a show, I don't think, with the carnival. They had black performers, African-American performers, and they put on marvelous shows. These shows often would carry 40, 45 people, with a full orchestra. And a line of girls, and comediennes, and specialty performers. Then along about the mid '60s, those shows went out of business. And, it's a shame.
- And we had a motor drum, and we had the lions outside. and inside you would have the motorcycles going around a wall, and you would have one of those lions sitting in there with the driver of the motorcycle going around the wall. That's right, I don't know whether today they have anything like that.
- [Narrator] Bally acts tantalized the crowds up and down the midway.
- Dainty Doris! She is so big, she is so fat, it takes four boys to hug her and a boxcar the lug her! Dainty Doris measures 108 inches, nine feet around the waist. 48 inches around the thigh of her leg. That's more than most men are around the waist. She is so fat, and she is a lovely fat lady. And, she's not married fellas, but she's willing to be. And she'll make some lucky guy a mighty fine wife. She'll provide him with lots of shade in the summertime, she'll keep you a nice and warm in the wintertime. And give you plenty of good heavy loving all the time. They're on the stage right now, there's no waiting! So get tickets, hurry in and see them all here, real and alive! The thing that attracted people to the carnival, so, the games operators, and ride operators could make money. The thing that attracted to people were the shows. Were the performers. And so, they had a sort of a star status.
- [Narrator] Newark drew to a close. Now, the big time was about to begin. The show was about to play the Delaware State Fair.
- First of all, you gotta lay the lot out. And that means, where every ride is gonna set. And, where all the concessions are gonna set. And where all your fun houses and dark rides are gonna set. Where your office is gonna be. Where your shop is gonna be. Where you're gonna park your empty trailers. Where you're going to put your fuel tank that's gonna fuel your generators. The location for all your generators. That's all gotta be laid out first. We unload the train, we take that to the grounds. And they have a lot man that locates it, and then we put the rides up. All the wiring to all the rides has to be laid out, and all the junction boxes have to be put out. All of that has to be coordinated at one time and put together, so when you're ready to open it's all in place. Otherwise, you're not gonna get open.
- [Narrator] For many years George Ellison has designed the Strates Shows midways. George shared his plan with Little Paul, the ride superintendent.
- The inner aisle, faces to the rides, the outer aisle faces into the concessions. And there's concession stands in the center. Gives you more or less a runway for the people to walk back and forth around, usually a long circular corridor, or in this shape, in this particular instance this midway's a L-shaped midway. Just like an artist you kinda draw the thing in your head, you do it year after year. And you get a new piece of equipment, or somebody wants to make a change, or there is a change in equipment. Or, you move the pieces around. You don't leave 'em year after year in the same place. You move 'em someplace. certain pieces stay where they at, they get the best revenue there. Well, we're gonna go back over here and get with these boys now on these two rides that we're setting up early here.
- I mean, we're just a part of something that's a lot bigger, you know. But it depends on the fair, some of the fairs are not as big as the show, and then other fairs are huge. But, it is a logistical, it's a logistical nightmare unless you have everything in line.
- [Narrator] We finally hit the big time. A real state fair with all the bells and whistles.
♪ And, here we go dosey doe ♪
- [Narrator] Once the show is up, the various specialists can do their best work. Ben Braunstein has been in charge of the public relations dept, for over half a century.
- They broke more records here. When I get up in the morning I don't use an alarm clock. 6:30 to quarter to seven, I'm up. I'm starting my day because with me every day I get outta that bed, it's a great thing because I'm 86 years young. People ask me will I retire? No. Retire when I go in a hole. Because, I don't wanna sit home. And I don't have to go to work, that's the funny part of it. But I have something to do. This is a therapy for me.
- [Narrator] The show's nerve center is the office compound.
- Go ahead.
- [Narrator] It's the communication center for the show, and their main business office.
- It's kinda odd that it happened so naturally, that everybody had a different interest and that they found an area that they really liked. It wasn't like, you know, I came in and I wanna do this and someone else was already doing it.
- Yeah, we each fell into a niche. That wasn't planned, I don't know how it worked out that way, but, my older sister does our insurance. My older brother's in operations, traveling all the time. And then Sibyl is doing the marketing. I fell into the accounting in the computer side of it, and my brother John is out here in operations also. And like I said, there was no plan for that to happen that way, and no one assigned anyone the position, everyone just fell into it. which, I think worked out well.
- [Narrator] Stoney is the show's assistant train master.
- I came to the Strates Shows from the Henner Show in 1947 in January, and I've been here ever since. Load and unload the train, do the purchase, anything there is around here to do. It always falls back to the train. Even back as a child I'd go down watch 'em load the train because it's fascinated me. Their horses loading it, and everything like that. I've got in 47 years here now, and I'm bound determined to make it 50 years. I really don't wanna retire, but my wife, she wants me to retire. But, if I can stay in it I probably won't ever retire. I'll probably die right here on the show.
- [Narrator] The ticket department works in tandem with the business office. Bert Whiteman runs this key operation.
- [Man In Hat] Hey, Bob.
- Hey, man.
- All cans are numbered, tells us what ride they belong to. Then when we get 'em all in here, we stack 'em up here. I get a sample count. And I put the bags on and I weigh the tickets.
- 46. 984. 845.
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I had not worked for Mr. Strates but for eight years. I had my own games, went bankrupt, so I had to get a real job where I got paid every week. My wife said, "You get a job where you get paid every week, "or else!" So I got a job get paid every week.
- [Narrator] Like other veteran show people, Bert has done it all.
- When I got out of Vietnam I moved around over there. I went to Hue, I went here, there. I was in the Signal Corps, I worked on generators. And when I got back I had all these different jobs, I had worked for Johnny and Mack by the railroad track in Miami. And I worked in this place that made recapped tires for the airplanes. That job was terrible. The damn floor was made out of cement, you couldn't put your hand on the floor, that's how hot it was. I mean, hot! And I just feel I must have been bored or something, 'cause I didn't wanna say there. I didn't wanna stay no place where I had to stay more than 10 days. So, one thing I can never say about a carnival person, he did not sleep his life away. 'Cause you don't. We're like bears, we go in, in the wintertime and sleep. We hibernate for four months.
- [Man] Waiting for the trial, man.
- Okay, Tank approved, Don, and his three are outta here.
- Between traveling.
- [Narrator] Jimmy Strates Jr. is an operations director of the show.
- Sometimes there's a lotta aggravation that takes place with relocating your business every two weeks. I imagine some people move their house and they swear they'll never do it again. But, we change, we move our whole business and our living accommodations for about seven months outta the year every two weeks. So there's aggravations associated with that, but at the same time you don't get the stagnancy you may get with going into the same office 9 to 5, five days a week for 10 or 15 years in a row. We finish up at night. We go to sleep at work, and we wake up in the morning at work. And from the time we wake up until the time we go to sleep, if we don't go off the lot to go to dinner or do a few errands, we're basically at work all our waking hours, and this occurs seven days a week, for the better part of seven months outta the year. About the only thing we require when we set up is water access. We need a place to put the lot down, adequate space for the midway, and the empty semi containers, and the trailer park, but other than that, if we get a water supply, we produce our own electricity and everything else we have.
- [Narrator] It is a city that the carnies create.
- You come into town, you go out there, and there's nothing on them grounds.
- [Hazel] It's bare.
- It's bare. But the next day you walk out there, you got a city built. It's a carnival city, but you got a city built.
- [Narrator] George Weston plays a central role in operating the carnival city.
- People that came in, so we usually get together once in awhile throughout the season to clarify some points. And we'd like to cover just briefly some areas here today which concern us all. Primarily what I do is when the show is moving I am moving with it. I plan the moves, I handle the personnel, and created the support group to do that. I've changed how we've move the equipment to make it more safer. Primarily from moving from the loading site to the play site, and back from the play site to the loading site again. The truck routing, handling of the drivers, the maintenance programs. That's basically what it has evolved into.
- [Narrator] Raul Hoffman is a veteran Strates manager who boasts a circus background.
- I ended the year with Ringling in 1959. And at the end I came here with the Strates Shows myself. And at the time I didn't know Strates' father passed away, it was the same year. But I remember that he called me in the office and he said, "I have a ride for you. "If you can fix it you could make a living out of it." But I did every phase of the carnival. So, I worked in the office, I handled tickets. Hard work, very hard work. Sometime you work all night and all day. But carnival people are very very hard workers. And when they don't work they think about things to do to make it better, to get more people, more money, and so on, and so on, it's never an ending battle. A lotta carnival went under because of that. They didn't keep up with their work because it is a lotta work. And it is time consuming. And it is headaches. And it is buying parts, put it together. Buy paint spray, and the day in and day out there's no stopping, you know, there's no rest.
- [Narrator] Walter Gould is the show's electrical supervisor, a 24/7 responsibility.
- I was basically raised on a show that, the name of it was Center 21 Shows, which is no longer in business. I've been a ride superintendent, a foreman rides, I've owned rides, I've owned some concessions. Sold tickets, I've done about all there is to do out here. We get on a fairgrounds like this, generally, they might as well lock the gate 'cause we can't get off, we're here. Here we have 17 generators. We have a total of 5400 KW, which is over 5 million watts. We could pull a small city with that amount of power. An inner city, more or less. Most cities do not have enough power for us. The carnival people are probably some of the hardiest and hardest working people right there. If something breaks down out here, there's no question, you go and you fix it. If you can't fix it, then either go learn how to fix it, or, you get somebody in who can fix it, or show you how to fix it. But, anything breaks down out here, it's not like a factory, say, "We'll we'll fix it next week." We gotta do it right now. It has to run all the time.
- [Narrator] The Delaware State Fair reached its zenith, then was done. Our next jump moved us from Harrington, Delaware to Hamburg, New York. We follow the river towards New York state. The Strates Shows has played Hamburg for over 60 years. Hamburg is a site of the Erie County Fair, one of the largest county fairs in the United States. A lot of attention is lavished on getting ready for it. I encountered Blaze Pasquarelli, a longtime booster of the Erie County Fair. Every year Blaze puts on a luncheon prior to the opening of the fair.
- I've been around here, I've seen 'em go, and I've seen 'em come, but now it's all different. And I donated a greenhouse up in the front of this place over here. And, I did a lotta other things, helped out and everything. And, this is what I talk about, so.
- Almighty God at this moment in life as we gather for the opening of the fair, we your children ask for a sense of your presence with us. Excitement.
- [Narrator] The celebration of agriculture is the core of what fairs are all about.
- I believe that the tradition of the American fair, was it was a marketplace to get people together to show their agricultural products, and their crafts, and things like that. And they got together as a place to display it, to show their goods and wares. And as a place of market it. And along the way it actually became quite a festive event and they began getting other things along the way, such as country western entertainment, and the tractor pulls, and the carnival rides, and those things. But it was really an offshoot of a showplace for agricultural products.
- [Narrator] Carnivals and fairs are closely bound together. It's hard to imagine one without the other.
- Just not gonna stand on the left hand side, how ya doing?
- [Carnie] Hey, you like to go fast? Put your hands in the air to step on the gas. Faster boy, faster, faster.
- [Narrator] The show moved on to Syracuse, New York for the State Fair and then to Anderson, South Carolina. From Anderson the show move to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for the Dixie Classic Fair. The Dixie Classic midway was jammed up from the get go. North Carolinians love their fairs. We met some nice folks who let us tag along for awhile.
- There's your swings, Dan.
- [Carnie] Hey now.
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Come on, come on ♪
♪ Come on, come on ♪
- All right now, woo!
♪ Want to lie to you, but I needed an easy way out ♪
♪ Coulda found ♪
♪ It's the Bow to the Wow, creeping and crawling ♪
♪ Yiggy yes y'allin, Snoop Doggy Dogg ♪
♪ Me and I and I am him ♪
♪ Slim with the tilted brim ♪
♪ What's your name ♪
- Hey.
- [All] Hi!
- Regardless of where they go, it's inexpensive. It's the cheapest form of good, clean entertainment that you can find.
- [Narrator] The carnival train rolled on to Raleigh. We were finally at the North Carolina State Fair. This was a huge fair with sprawling grounds and non-stop action from eight in the morning until midnight for 10 days straight.
- [Woman] How ya doing?
- Hey there.
- [Woman] Let's go, come on down.
- [Announcer] Julia Perry and Terry Clark, Julia Perry and Terry Clark, please go to Red Cross building immediately. Julia Perry and Terry Clark, go to Red Cross building immediately. She is there waiting.
- BBQ sandwiches, and the best foot long hot dog at the fair with everything on it. Chili, onions, mustard, slaw.
- All you can eat, right here, honey. Come on in and get it, baby.
- Tell 'em sister, tell 'em.
- Come on right in here. Hey girl, come on feed your man, girl.
- [Narrator] We met Jim Graham, the agriculture commissioner for the state of North Carolina.
- Something here for everybody, if you like it I think you can find it on the state North Carolina State Fairgrounds. If we ain't got it, you don't need it anyway. Where you see a grandfather, a father, and a son, or daughter there, three generations involved, you get real good family.
- This is somewhat challenging to us. We bring 80 people for this particular event. We'll run two shifts of 40. And then on the Saturday of the State Fair, where traditionally we also have a football game at a nearby event site, the Carter-Finley Stadium, we'll usually bring in about 15 more people.
- [Narrator] Being on a jammed up midway, it gets in the blood. This is the heart of it.
- It's everything, the people. And the people that comes to the fair, the noise, the excitement. I went to different businesses and when that month came I felt lonely because I knew that all my friends were on the road.
- Once the springtime comes and that sawdust starts boiling, I gotta go. I can't stay. So yeah, I'll always be showman, I'll always be out here on the road somewhere. There's no doubt.
- It's just a variety of things that your life, your hours in your day are made up of, that just gives it that punch. And you get away from it, I'll tell you, if I didn't leave town, I think I'd nearly die. I probably would. And some have decided to get off the road and have an easier life. And it's a very very dangerous thing for people that have spent a lot of time on the road. And you deteriorate very rapidly.
♪ Electric Avenue ♪
♪ And then we take you higher ♪
♪ Oh no ♪
♪ We gonna rock down to ♪
- [Narrator] For the carnies it's more than the travel and the freedom. The show is its own world, its own society. If you're integral to the show, you're taken care of.
- And you don't retire if you don't want to in this business. You can stay here forever, until you can't move. Some of them that can't move are still here. But, no, there's a no retiring around here. You don't have to.
- I'm walking down the midway everything was up, walking down the midway. Two women came towards me. One was Jen McDaniel, she had the arcade. And the other one was, she had the sideshow, Mrs. Kelly. And as they confronted me they handed me an envelope, and I said, what's this? He said, "You pay us back when you got it." And inside was $1,000 saying "We heard about your wife being sick." "This will help you a little bit "until you get back on your feet." And from then on, I knew that they were special people.
- I haven't been home in about 11 years now. Since my grandmother passed away I just stayed away. And just making my home right here, this is my home. Not that I don't have a home to go to. But I made the show my home.
- [Narrator] The show provides and identity for the carnies, whether they're veterans or just starting out, they are a part of the show, part of a community.
- It's the people that you work with, day to day, year after year. And not the one's that come for two or three spots and leave. It's not them, it's the people that have been here since I've been, and they're still here. You work with 'em, you get to know 'em. And it's like, you become almost like a family. You stick up for each other, you help each other out if they ask, I mean, it's not a problem. We stick together.
- This is a very tight knit bunch of people, and everybody's a family here. We all enjoy each other's company. We eat together, drink together, live together. We just enjoy it, and it's a very nice lifestyle.
♪ Happy birthday, dear Shannon ♪
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪
- [Narrator] For a number of carnies, the midway is not only where they make a living, but a place to raise a family.
- The children that belong to the families of the carnivals, and we travel on this show with 100 families, if they're on the lot, everybody's caring for them. They're always watched over. And the people that have them, who are carnival people, very good fathers, and very good mothers. They give them what they can afford to give them, and the best is always none too good for them.
- [Narrator] The State Fair stayed jammed up 'til the end. The train headed south. First to Albany, Georgia for the Exchange Club Fair, and then on to the Broward County Fair, and Hallandale, Florida. Finally, we had come to the end of the line.
- Round and round, take you 76 feet upside down.
- [Carnie] Hold on to your booty booty.
- I think a carnival guy, if he lost his job, he can go wash a car and he can get something. And it wouldn't be belittling to him, it would be a stopover until he could get something going again.
- The carnival industry is a great teacher, providing you become a student and wanting to learn. There's an awful lotta good things comes out of a carnival.
- We look at you individual and say, "You know, he's a nice guy." No matter what you did before, that's not of our business. Now, you started now with us, from now on we'll keep your record.
- [Narrator] Thanksgiving came and as is the tradition Mr. Strates provided the show folks with a complimentary dinner.
- I think probably, they have more of a feeling of where they're going and what they're going to do. Without a doubt, rightly or wrongly, they're the great segment of the population that's out there.
- They're not born carnival people, or they're not born workers for carnival. They come from your town. Those are the people you threw away from your town. We took 'em and made 'em a little bit something.
- [Narrator] This is why they unload the wagons. The carnies say, "I'm a part of it." "I'm part of something big." For a little bit longer the midway shouted its power into the night sky.
- [Girl] Brandy!
- Brandy, look up and say hi.
♪ Hey ♪
♪ And everybody come on ♪
- [Woman] It's all right!
♪ Play me some mountain music ♪
- Oh, I almost got one there.
- Come on in and have some fun over here tonight. You don't have to be scared.
♪ Warm it up Kriss ♪
♪ That's what I was born to do ♪
♪ Warm it up Kriss ♪
♪ I'm about to ♪
♪ Warm it up Kriss ♪
- [Carnie] Put your eyes up on this thing.
- [Carnie] What do you think, people? You wanna do it one more time? Yeah, can I get a welcome tonight?
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
♪ Strike it up ♪
- [Carnie] Spinning ball, but I'm gonna spin that tall for y'all. Please exit to your right. ♪ Come on, uh-uh, let's go, let me see the tootsie roll ♪
- When will I retire? You know what? It was General MacArthur that said, "Old soldiers just fade away." And probably, if I were to take a guess, then probably as long as I live, then I'll be out with the show. And doing some function that I would hope that's what we can do to make carnivals better.
- [Narrator] The train rolled on home to Orlando, its mission now complete. All was quiet at the winter quarters. Though it was exhilarating to have come full circle. I felt a sense of regret that the season was over. As night shrouded the lot, I said goodbye to the train. It had carried me safely, and I loved living on it. I hope it rolls forever.
