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Permalink Reply by Laurel Geare on July 9, 2008 at 9:11pm

Hey Shorty, who are these characters you speak of?! I would love some expert advice! :) Do you know of any company's I should contact directly?

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Permalink Reply by Olfatman on July 9, 2008 at 11:28pm

On here we get a lot of people telling us they are interested in our life style. Some are really interested most are Kooks. I must admit if you are who you say you certainly have credentials. I think a reality show would be at the least interesting. There are so many different aspects to the life of carnies. Each and every one unique in its own.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Hoey on July 10, 2008 at 10:14pm

BTW, shorty. I don't eat breakfast and if I did it sure would not be with Kizarney since I want to make it through the day without having a stroke. Might be an interesting thread. WHO would you be willing to eat breakfast with? Uh, uh. too dangerous. You would be sure to leave somebody important off the list. It would be like thanking everybody after getting an award.

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Permalink Reply by Laurel Geare on July 11, 2008 at 1:55pm

Thank you guys for all of you feedback! I am taking it all in! I'm planning on making some phone calls today to get a better feel of everything you are sharing. If anybody wants to chat about it...message me we can exchange numbers? :)

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Permalink Reply by Laurel Geare on July 11, 2008 at 3:34pm

Haha. I'm a professional. If you want you can speak with my male associate. Or I can speak with your wife? :)

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Permalink Reply by Olfatman on July 12, 2008 at 6:04am

my thoughts on a carnival reality show are: You should find some old timers like most that have answered. Get their opinions views and some of their stories.HBO had a series on carnivals not long ago it showed some of the real early things even before my time.Wasnt well recieved.Discovery Channel had a show concerning the oddities of the business and the starters of Gibtown the real carnival town in Florida. They also went out with a show for a few days and showed the life as it is or at least some of it.
My suggestion would be to get views from old timers and the new people compare them and show the then and now of the business. Every year 20/20 does an expose on various carnival games. This to some of us old timers is a comedy show. They expose only their ignorance. I think a Then and now concept would be interesting if you can get the then people to tell the real stories.The business has changed in my 60 + years on the road. I have recently retired for real. You can tell who the old timers are because all that answered you with one exception are old timers. Im interested in seeing your thoughts on this idea Olfatman AKA Don

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Permalink Reply by candy slinger on July 14, 2008 at 10:47am

Hi all just wanted to reply. A then and now would be great. I went to visit the show I work for and took along my longtime friend Cindy. We were shocked at how the agents were sitting around not calling people in. we looked at each other going we would have chased them off the lot. Our motto was if you got time to lean you got time to clean!!! Some of those games needed vacumned out cleaned up OMG what a mess. Now the ones that were owned by another person were clean and they were trying to get people in but whew wee..So as we progressed down the midway it was like everyone complaining about gas and how prices went up. Well back in the day!! We had a huge discussion about how we couldn't afford diapers and always shopped at Aldi's we use to buy sugar at Aldi's and all other ingrediants we could. We slept in tents with kids not these HUGE fifth wheels with everything convienent..We use to wash diapers out by hand and hang them on the tent to dry...Come on these kids just don't know what traveling is all about. They have the privilage of a bunk house with shower and a/c and heat and tv we didn't have any of that we were lucky to have a fan in the tent as in my hand fanning a fan! lol Aaahhh the good old days taking a tarp and making a make shift shower so us girls could get clean!!! The stories we could tell!!! I think the then would be way more interesting then the now.

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Permalink Reply by Olfatman on July 14, 2008 at 3:31pm

Ok since most agree a now and then reality show might prove interesting I would like to comment on the fact that I am available for consultation.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Hoey on July 14, 2008 at 6:52pm

Richie said:

I think Marcus put it best. how is every one doing today. and how often does this person come online and has any one confirmed this person is real just asking

She is real. I spoke to her at length. We had an interesting conversation.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Hoey on July 15, 2008 at 3:44pm

connie said:

Well Tom tell us more..or are you just going to leave us hanging? I am glad she is real..and I hope it works out. There is a show out there called 30 days..that would be an interesting concept 30 days as a Carny. Probably wouldn't end up really real though. At least not as real as it used to be.

The problem with reality shows is that they create so many of them that there is a problem syndicating them. So really, the idea, has to be sold first. The person that started this thread was involved with the unfolding of "Top Chef" and those of you that know this company are aware they come up with quality reality shows. This concept would be more like educating others into the carny world. The big question is do we want this? We are so used to a way of life that seems natural to us that we don't think sometimes how our customs and "rules" would be taken by those outside of our "world" Our world is still broken down into classes. The ride company owner is the king, his wife, the queen, their children prince and princesses with other ride owners and concessionaires being dukes and earls and so on down the social ladder. This is a far cry from the way that others live.

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Permalink Reply by Mr Blank on July 15, 2008 at 10:47pm

I have an idea! but first let me say where I am coming from... I organize a "carnivale" show a couple of times a year ("Mr Blank's Carnivale of Black Hearts". Involving small midway type games, and a show with performers like bands, trapeze artists, bellydancers, burlesque girls, sideshow freaks, and more.... see my site for more info on what I do)... I have never been a part of an actual fair or carnival but I have and do live the carny life (I am currently homeless, sleeping in a storage facility, delivering pizzas out of my breaking down car for a bit of extra cash, and planning my next big show happening on Halloween, Saturday Nov 1st in Athens GA), and I have lived the "sleeping in a cramped van or on some strangers floor in random cities" kind of life while on the road touring with my very unknown band ("Rat Babies" out of Athens GA). I read someones post about how easy the "kids" have it now a days, when in the old days they had to washing diapers by hand... like I said I have never been in a current traveling fair so I couldn't back that up, but I can say I have lived the life of the "then" carny! But I am a "now" carny and showman...

Recently I have wanted to take my "show" on the road, and do it true old-freak-show-carny style... have a huge tent in a hole on the midway, live out of vans or tents, have the true ballyhoos calling people into the show tent... and all that... cause in a way my show is bring back the old ways of the real "show" that made the carnivale, the circus, sideshows, and freak shows, so amazing to us now a days...

So why don't we hook up, you could follow us and film the whole thing!! Even though we have been doing our show over the last few years I am really just getting started with this, cause now I feel it is time to make the show portable, get out on the road and make it happen!! So you would be able to film "new blood" roughing it on the road for the first time, going thru the hardships day to day that carnies have to go thru, but from a fresh perspective!! Hell do it "MTV" style with us speaking into the camera talking to the viewers, show clips of our show, show us even getting ready to hit the road as we get it all together, show us starving along the way cause gas prices are too high, show us sleeping ten guys to a van/tent, washing our clothes in sinks at rest stops, setting up day to day city to city, maybe even being shunned by the more experienced agents out there, maybe being accepted... who knows... but you'll be able to get it all on film!!

I have recently seen a surge in my type of show all around the country, most of the time it's not in conjunction with any fair or carnivale at all, most of the time these "freaks" do their shows in bars, and music venues... but I want to do my freak-show-carnivale different by taking these new ideas and merging them with the old ideas!!!

I don't know this might be a completely different idea then what you came here to discuss... I just thought I'd throw my two cents worth of an idea in the pot!

- Mr Blank
myspace.com/carnivaleofblackhearts

PS: To everyone else on this site, I'm new here, and the reason I joined this site was that I am always looking for any "ole timers" who were (or are) in the business who might have pointers for us "kids"!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Lori (Carnival Poet) on July 18, 2008 at 9:24am

I think that it would be great to follow two people through the course of a season. A person who had just jumped in thinking that they could do it and an old timer.

I remember when I ran off when I was 18, it was a comedy of sorts. I had no background in the carnival life and it was a culture shock...especially when I had to deal with disgruntled people for the first time thinking they should win everytime.

An old timer who's been with it for life, that is also a whole 'nother story. What stories they can show and they are their own true characters who take sh*t from no one and nothing.

But, I doubt that a truly great show will ever be made about carnival folk without portraiting them as the crooks and creeps. However, the HBO show "Carnivale" was great.

What network are you a producer for?

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