When I was a kid, I certainly never wanted to run away and join the carnival! To me, carny workers were the scariest folks i'd ever seen. Greasers with tattoos and wallets chained to their belts, slack-skin women with loose dirty print dresses, and a sweaty fat guy who was obviously the boss wandering around making sure they didn't slip any coins into their dirty pockets. Even then, I saw through their tricks and scams, and I figured anyone who would cheat a kid out of a dime would certainly not mind giving you a shiv in the parking lot if you stayed around after closing. Every time I saw a child gypped out of a coin, I resented the local cops wandering around oblivious. They seemed much more interested in "preserving order" than in protecting allowances.
Who would guess carnies could even read, much less pay attention to rules other than "don't trip over the wires, dude." Well, they could, at least some of them, and the others could "see picturs." So here are selected pieces from "Employee's Manual for Amusement Parks" no date.
Carny Rule book, c. 1960 Collection Jim Linderman
As I was getting off a carnival ride, I remember looking down and starting to retrieve a bunch of change that had fallen out of my pocket and nearly being attacked by the carny. The change had left my pocket and was now obviously his by the laws of the carnival.
ReplyDelete