Saturday, October 06, 2007

Lucky Bill Show 1921


Scan000010278, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Mrs. Newton.

"This overland show played so far off the beaten path, they still charged a War Tax.".
Buckles

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great photo. The wagon has the hallmarks of being commercially built, especially when looking at the driver's canopy and the undergear. The chassis is the usual spring platform type, the bottom resembling a particular style of fire department wagon. Such a vehicle might have become available as fire departments started to acquire internal combustion-powered devices.

Why would a war tax be assessed in 1921? Maybe 1918?

Anonymous said...

The War Tax was Ms Newton's butter and egg money.

Floyd King was still dinging them for a War Tax in the 1950s.

In 1962 we played Nashville with Beatty-Cole and I gave my parents some nice "longs" (reserve seat passes). My dad was a CPA and knew a lot about taxes but he didn't stand a chance with Frank Orman, who managed to collect a supposed "tax" when they turned in their passes.

Buckles said...

When my mother and I visited the Ringling Show in 1948, we got two tickets compliments of Cap Curtis.
As we were walking down the front track an usher approached us and asked to see our tickets, he then said "Follow me please" and seated us in the front grandstand.
I was astonished at such courtesy, but shortly afterward he returned and quickly sat down next to my mother and said, "That will be two dollars please".

Anonymous said...

Good one, Buckles.

You know what they say: Never feel sorry for the first guy to handle the money.

Mike Naughton said...

Did you ever notice that circuses used to have "Bannermen" who sold banners to the businesses in town and then along came ARENAS and now we have "Account Executives" who sell "Signage" to the businesses?

Did you ever notice that the "War Tax" and complimentary ticket "Tax" has been replaced at the ARENAS by the new "Facility Fee"?

Did you ever notice that the insides of these new ARENAS resemble a shopping center and that shopping centers now have "Carousels" near the food court and the shopping centers look more like the State Fair than the State Fair itself?

Identity Crisis?

Anonymous said...

An wonder that the show finally went belly up. The ushers were on the take from day one.

Anonymous said...

This type of wagon was used on the larger railroad shows less the top and the canvas. Pulled by a mule for use by the clowns with "police dept" painted on side.