May All your Days be Circus Days!

When I retired in 2009 I had the honor of participating in ‘meets’ held all over the United States by the Circus Music Historical Preservation Organization known as Windjammers.  We would meet in different locations and perform a week’s worth of circus music performances, twice a year.  The following historical fiction is based on their research and is very accurate as to what it might have been like to be a circus musician.

My name is Tommy.  It is 1930 and I am 16 years old.  My parents work a farm in Iowa and I am expected to do so as well.  My schooling had been spotty depending on harvest seasons and how much help was needed on the farm.  I can read and write and I play a mean trombone. I was playing lead in the community band and also played with a small group that met in a friend’s house.  It was June of the year and the posters were going up that told everyone that the Ringling Bros. Barnum and Baily circus was coming to town.  A ticket was $.25 but I only had a nickel.  So I was thrilled when a stranger approached me and asked if I was the hot trombone player he’d heard about.  I said, “probably”.  He asked if I could play fast notes. I asked him if he wanted a demonstration.  He laughed and said no. Then he asked if I’d like to sit in with the circus band when they came to the town.  I was floored.  He said there was no pay, but the band often invited local musicians to sit in.  The famous Merle Evans was the conductor and he warned me that the music was fast and furious with no learning time. The train would bring in the tents in the morning. The rehearsal was late morning and then you play two shows – an afternoon show and an evening show.  You and your family get free tickets and you get a meal in between the shows. Then the tents pack up at night after the last show and the train moves on.  He said if they like you, you may be invited to the next town to play too, but you’d have to find your own way home.  I said yes even though I had to ask my parents.  My entire family was thrilled at the opportunity that had suddenly come my way.  They told me to take whatever I was offered, even if they weren’t there to approve it on the spot. There wasn’t much going on in farm country in the 1930’s, so this was big time entertainment under the BIG TOP!

I started practicing in a flurry.  Circus music is hard because it is very very fast. Gaining the musical chops to play it would not come easy.  I greased my slide and ran every scale faster and faster until I could do it at the fastest setting on the metronome, my reliable time keeper.  The two weeks passed quickly.  Between farm chores and practicing, I had no other life.  Finally the day arrived and I got up early to greet the train.  It pulled into the station and started unloading at 6 a.m.   The animals were making a racket and the train wheels were squealing.  They unloaded circus floats, and animal carts.  The air was electric.  The excitement was beyond my ability to contain myself.  I watched as the circus guys went through the early morning crowd and offered $.50 to any big muscled guy who would help unroll the tent.  15 men were hired.  They laid out the tent and the poles. They put a person every 5 feet for the entire length of the tent.  Then they pulled the tent forward all at once.  The tent stretched out across the entire length of a field.  They started attaching the tent to the poles and brought in the elephants to lift the poles up to standing height.  The men dug around the poles so they poles sank into the ground.  The same men who had been hired to erect the tent were told that they had to come back that night after the last show, to take it all down. During the set up time, the circus had a parade through downtown Main St. tolet everyone know they had arrived.  I was fascinated with the band float. It was 10 feet tall and the guys were playing on the top of it.  They were literally playing to the sky. When the parade was over, the scout who had found me the first time came over to me and told me to go to the uniform tent and get a band uniform.  I arrived at the tent and was fitted for a dark blue uniform with overlaying gold braid all the way down the front that covered the buttons.  It came with a matching military style flat top hat.  I looked good!  I quickly returned to the big top, which was now all set up. I found the band in the back corner of the tent and joined them.  The scout was there and introduced me to Merle Evans, the director.  He was really nice and said he looked forward to hearing me play.  He warned me that everything was in 1. It didn’t matter what the time signature said, there would only be time to have one beat to each bar.  He also said if I got lost, keep the horn up and fake it.  He had an opening on the 2nd trombone book. There were small electric lights that wound their way through the bandstand, as the corner was fairly dark. For the shows a corner of the tent was lifted to get a little air. He told me that different styles of music were used for different acts.  Gallops were for the horse acts, Waltz were for the Trapeze artists, March’s were for wild animals and anything that needed extra attention.  He said to be especially ready for trombone smears anytime the clowns showed up.  Trombones were the motif instrument for the clowns – play loud and proud. He warned me that if he had to call the song STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER by Sousa, that it meant there was a disaster and to evacuate, as you played.  It was a code that the entire circus knew about. Merle played cornet and would conduct with the horn in his hands.  He told me to do my best and have fun.  The performance started and it was 2 hours of non-stop playing.  One tune went right into the next. My chops got tired but I mostly did OK and felt pretty good about it when we broke for dinner.  We went to a mess tent where all the circus performers, still in costume, were grabbing a plate of the special of the day –whatever that was.  Everyone was friendly and the sights and sounds were thrilling.  I found my family and got them settled in the Big Top for the second show and it was time to do it again.  I figured the 2nd time should be better because I was now familiar with the book of music.  However, I found out that by the 4th hour of constant playing, the muscles around my mouth weren’t cooperating.  I know I built chop muscles that day, but it was tough by the end of the 2nd show.  When it was over, I was exhausted but still thrilled to have had this opportunity.  Merle called me over and thanked me for playing.  Then he asked if I’d like to do it again.

Chapter 2

Merle had been very happy with my performance and had asked me if I’d like to do it again the next day in the next location.  The train was leaving at 1 am, or as soon as they could get it loaded.  Time was flexible. They were going to a town 15 miles down the road.  He told me that there wouldn’t be any ride home.  After the show I’d have to walk the 15 miles back home.  I liked to walk, so I jumped at the chance.  He said ‘great, go home and get a few things you might need.  Pack an extra set of clothes so you can change out of the band uniform.  I’ll see you at 1 am at the train depot. Tomorrow you’ll perform on the band parade float as well.

I ran and found my parents and they were very happy at my success. They said that if I wanted to stay overnight in the next town, they’d send a note to a friend’s house and I could stay there. I could walk back the next day in the daylight.  So the plans were put into motion. I packed and returned to the train depot by midnight, grabbing only an hour nap in between. Things were just too exciting to sleep.  When I got back the same electricity was in the air; the animals were roaring, the train was clanking, men were yelling, things were being loaded at a very fast pace.  I found the band guys and joined them.  We settled down and had guy talk or slept as the train rolled out and arrived in a couple of hours at the next town.  Then it all started again.  Disembark the animals and floats, find men to set up the tent and set everything up.  This time I had to climb up the 10 feet to the top of the circus float, called the bandwagon.  There was a single ladder attached to the back of the float without much toe space.  I was eager and zipped up the ladder while someone held my trombone. On the top of the wagon was row after row of hard benches. Most of the guys had the music memorized.   I had the book but it was difficult to read it while getting bounced around on the wagon.  The calliope on the wagon was impressive.  The guys asked me if I liked being a ‘windjammer’.  I wasn’t familiar with the term.  They told me that circus marches were called screamers because they were high, loud and fast.  Band members were called windjammers because they jam so much air into the instrument in an attempt to play the high screaming notes.  It was like being in another world.  I loved it.  The rest of the day went on like the previous day had; rehearsal, 2 shows.  It was a thrill I would never forget.  As I was about to turn in my band uniform, Merle came up to me and said,  “You did good.  I like your sound and you kept up.  Do you want a job?  I need a permanent player on the 2nd book and you handled it. Now before you answer, let me tell you the particulars”.  He then went on to explain that being a circus musician was one of the most strenuous jobs a musician could have.  The windjammers were expected to play for the circus parade, sometimes play a pre-show free concert for townspeople, make rehearsals, play the 2 shows, and sometimes play post shows on the grounds or sideshows if asked.  If there was down time, they could be asked to help clean up elephants or other menial chores.  The pay started at $10 a week and if you became section leader it could go as high as $15.  You got room and board in the band car – sleeping with about 8 other guys and free food at the mess tent.  You worked 6 days a week.  The circus route started in the winter headquarters in Sarasota Florida and usually went northwest during the summer months going inland to perform to the farmlands of Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin.  It was an exciting life but not an easy one.  There was no room on the band car for romance.  Matters of the heart would be on one’s own time.  The winter months could be spent at the winter headquarters in Florida, or one could go home to the snowy fields of the mid west.   He didn’t make it sound very inviting, but I was intrigued.  Spending my life playing my trombone sounded a lot better then spending my life picking corn, even if it was harder.  I asked him if I could ask my parents.  He said, “ Sure, go home like you planned and if the answer is yes, come back in a wagon. Bring one of your brothers with you to take the wagon home. Meet us at the next train stop 50 miles away. We’ll be there for 2 days because it is a larger city”.  I honestly wanted to say yes right away, but I wasn’t sure.  And there was the issue of the farm, could I be spared?  So I decided to be safe.  I went to my parent’s friend’s house that night and then walked back the next day to our farm.  I found my dad and 3 of my brother’s in the field working the harvest.  Dad grabbed me and hugged me and told me how proud he was of me. I told him my news and he was excited.  He asked me why I hadn’t accepted the job on the spot since he’d already told me that they would support my musical career.  I said I was worried about the farm and leaving for months on end.  Being gone for 2 nights was different than being gone for 7 months at a time.  The entire family headed to the farmhouse for lunch and to talk it over.  I also knew that while my family was proud of me, it was also unfair to my oldest sister who played clarinet and sax better then I played trombone.  The bandwagon was only open to men.  In spite of this everyone said I should take the job and send some money home in hard times.  When the corn crop was good, the money wasn’t needed.  But drought and pestilence really cut down on the family’s income.  So I packed my bag and hitched the wagon.  My brother went with me.  He got to see the show again since he was going to make the trip and bring the wagon back home.  We got back to the circus on the 2nd day of their stay.  Merle was happy to see me and told me the harmonies just hadn’t been full enough on the day I missed.  He got me signed up and settled in and I started my career as a Windjammer.