Word: alterity
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...blown Stetson. "All of that and all of that." The waving arms and lying words swished briefly before gaudy posters of improbable freaks. Somehow, out of the rain-bedraggled midway of the Gratz (Pa.) Fair, a crowd gathered. It always does when the harsh, vocal magic of Colonel Lew Alter begins to turn the tip (con the rubes) into his new "Can It Be Possible?" show...
...that a mark (sucker) got much for his money when he bought a ticket (50? for adults, 30? for kids) to Lew Alter's sideshow. It cost an extra dime to see the "Pickled Punk" (two questionable sets of Siamese twins preserved in formaldehyde), another quarter for a glimpse of Carmelita, the "Hermaphrodite." ("Ladies on one side of the curtain, please, and the gentlemen on the other. Wives may stand with their husbands.") Following the colonel himself past the animal cages was an olfactory experience. Living in a trailer with Devil, the two-nosed dog, a spider monkey named...
...shows employ up to 500 people, pay top wages ($125 a week for pig-iron operators, as much as $2,000 for big-name acts), keep their owners in the top tax brackets. The little 40-milers (trailer shows making short jumps between towns) sometimes let a Colonel Alter save something more than a Philadelphia bankroll, sometimes are hard put to buy groceries. But big shows or 40-milers, the carnies were migrating south last week, running from the bloomers (un profitable nights) and hunting down the red ones (good nights). And tough as times were, only the first...
...racket shows are slowly disappearing. They have run out of rubes, and they are about to run out of towns. "I just think show business is dying out," says Colonel Alter's wife Helen. "You can't get good freaks any more. Seems like they're all dying off." Lew agrees. "They take 'em and put 'em in an institution now," he moans. "They don't went 'em exposed. Now I ain't going to mention any names, but I know an insane asylum where there's three good pinheads right...
...promised to bring three yeaRs of auto labor peace at a price that Washington thought would add little to inflationary pressure. Ford's wage bill per worker will go up about 4% annually, which could be balanced by industry's gains in productivity, thus should not greatly alter auto prices...