Millions to Catch the Dimes
Copyright 1904 by T. C. McClure.)
T MUST have coat a pile of money
I la the universal comment of tha
crowds that Itsue forth many
"- tlme from tha portals of
l-'j-J ine average auramer amusement
ce. "It mutt have coat at laaat aeveral
thousands of dollars."
Multiply tha thouaanda by ten and 704
erlll be much nearer tha coat of tha aver
are production 11 nine tha beaches at sucn
places as Coney Island and Atlantio City,
and tboaa drawing tha Quarters from you
pockets as you stroll along tha Pike at,
6t Louis. But If you want to have some
Idea of the money poured Into tha premier
attractions, then reckon In hundreds of
thousands up to tha million point, and be
fond. ... -'
Tha day baa passed when tha public can
fee wheedled Into tha belief that It Is having
a fine old half-day's outing In aome chean.
contraption of a building watching thj
antlca of a second-rate soubrette or lis
tenlng .to tha - witticisms of "America''
leading burnt-cork artist." . That could be
Cone ' fairly successfully aven five year
ago; In England tha chief form of recrea
tion still centers around Punch and Judy.
But then tha English are conservative,
while tha pleasure-seeking American of to
day demands that tha whole world con
tribute to bis outing, and that these aW
tractions from tha uttermost ends of tha
earth be shown him In buildings which,
both by day and night, ara, feasts for, the
ye and continual cause for wonderment.
Jlcnce the outpouring of millions of money
by the capitalists buck of the promoters
nd neither' party has causa to complain
about the. returns on their Investment of
capital and brains since they Inaugurated
tha new order of thlnga, replacing the
Cheap and tawdry with tha artistically
Striking and the enormously costly. . .
Take tha representative show of today,
ttemlse its cost, and you will find that
money has' been spent like water all along
the line. . The building alone, designed by a
capable architect to ba an attraction In
Itself, coats all tha way from eight to ten
thousand dollars, a sum of money. that a
few yeara ago covered the entire cost of a
loading amusement If tha show la an illu
sion, aa for example the creation of the
world or a trip In an airship or under the
sea, . there are hundreds of square yards
Of scenery, painted at an expenditure of
five thousand dollars to say the least, and
tha machinery to produce the desired op
tical effects, also representing an Invest
ment of thousands. The initial cost of pro
duclng tha Illusion of tha world'e creation,
exclusive of tba great domed structure In
which It is shown, was close on to thirty
five thousand dollars, while that amount,
less eight thousand, was spent on the Illu
sion which takea the World'a Fair visitor
under the ocean In a submarine boat to
Paris, up tha Eiffel Tower and back again
to Bt Loula In an airship that runs Into
Violent storms, and altogether gives . the
passenger a realistio Journey through space.
Illusions are popular, this year. At. one
big resort there are no fewer than a holl
ar's doaen of such attractions, the aggre
gate Initial cost of which all but reaches
tha three-quarter million mark. ' ' "
But this is by no means tha most ex
pensive form of amusement, although It
U well up to the top. The show made up
Of queer peoples can truthfully claim an
Investment of $2,000 to every II put in an 11
luslon, and as for tha trained menagerie
the interest alone on tba money tied up In
hundreds of animals would make a com
fortable fortune for the man whose as
piration Is to get enough money together
so he can live In comfort off its Income
In a third-rate American city.
One of these trained menageries boasts
of four trick elephants that $26,000 could
Dot buy. Another has a small school of
porpoises, " each of which can ba driven
to bit and bridle, and whose broad back
gervee aa an equipage, for children. Quite
naturally, each of these mammals is placed
In tha menagerie's Inventory as being worth
$5,000.
This earns show has.no fewer than 600
animals. Its mlmlo jungle alone, wherein
by an Uluslonary panoramic trick, lions,
tigers, elephants, camels, deer, sebras and
what not are shown feeding together In
their wild stage, covers two acres. Tba
.entire show takea up a ground space of
five acres, and the money Invested runs
close to the million mark.
Just as the beasts of the field, are
gathered the world over to make a sum
mer holiday for Americans, so the peoples
of the earth are got together for our
amuaement at no alight cost For example.
In - round flgurea there are 1.000 anlmala
along tha Ilka and 4,000 people, three
fourths of whom came from the north pole
Country, the Jungles of Africa, the little
known wilds of Asia and other equally
outlandish places.
These people do not agree to Juggle,
dance and reveal tha customs of their
lands to wondering Americana for a song.
Even a donkey boy from the banks of
tha Nile deraanda $10 a week as wages,
and gets It A dancing girl from Poland
or Egypt or a Blngaleee stick dancer can
Boi be secured for leas thaa half acala
m
IL.
REPRESENTATIVE BIT OF AMUSEMENT PLACE" ARCHITECTURE THIS PARTICULAR SIMULATION OF BAVA- ,
RTAN PALACES AND TYROLEAN ALFS COVERS 8FVFN ACRES AND COST NF.ARLY A MILLION DOLLARS TO
ERECT. Iv
as much; so tha attraction that numbers
its foreign performers by the hundred has
a weekly payroll mounting up Into the
thousands. The American Indian sells his
services more cheaply than the Asian or
Egyptian, but notwithstanding this f'.ct,
the man who manages a troupe of 600 red
Skins has to pay his war-whooping per
formers a weekly stipend of some $3,C00.'
This Is exclusive of their keep. As the
Indians are hired . to appear during the
twenty weeks of warm weather, the total
Investment in .wages alone sggregates
$70,000. ........
.. Moreover, every show numbers among Its
drawing cards the domestic animals that
are associated with Its particular type of
atrange peoples camels, Eskimo dojs,
Egyptian donkeys, llamas and so on.
Everything considered, $476,000 v. as ipent on
a show of this kind at Coney ltlicd, and a
. like sum on one at the St. Louis Fair,
which consists .of . buildings covering four
acres, 750 people, camels in sufficient num
bers to make a good s Bed ca: avun and sev
eral animals of minor else and commercial
Importance. r-
Many bf the donkey boys, the dancers,
the Jugglers and the swordsmen who do
their turns' in the various "street" have
been making their living In this fashion
since the days of the Chicago Fair. Whsn
the season closes in America tl.ey return to
their respective lands, and until a promoter
comes after them again, live in opulence off
the money made when' they were on ex
hibit Once they get the show fever they
are good for nothing else, and their Utile
farms along the banks of the Nile, or their
reindeer in Lapland may go hang for all
they care. For If they were to labor a
life-time in the ways of their fathers they
could not make so much money by half aa
they can get together in ona
good aeaaon In this country.
Large aa are these figures
they sink into Insignificance be-!
aide those wtlch represent thai
'expenditure ' on what' may bai -called
the - "three-ringed" at-,
tractions for want of a better.1
term.
Such an amusement has agj
many, If not more, offerings tot
divide the pleasure seeker's at-'
tentlon as a big circus, with its
'rings and trapeses and plat
forms full at one and the same
time. Within Its circumference
are twenty of thirty separate,
shows, each taking thousands
of dollars to get n operation
and employing all the way from
a score to three or four hun-
dred persona 'v
One of theae colossal amuse
ment places at Coney ' Island
was built at a cost of $3,600,000.
This sum is Inclusive of the
price of the ground, and ex
clusive of tha money necessary,'
to establish a line of three
steamers running between New
Tork and the Island. A sturdy.
rival has a capital of $1,000,01
for running expenses, and one
of Its . leading spectacles is so
mammoth, that sixty-seven ele-
FAC
Mm
v
1 '
phnnts take part In it None of I
the far-famed circuses carry such
a large troupe of pachyderms, and
the number of people who And employ
lights, would make a town of 6,000 popula
tion. The Chicago Midway was hailed as a
record breaker in the amusement line, yet
all the shows along Its seductive length
.did not represent a combined Investment
of much more than $2,000,000. That was
ten years ago. Today we have conservative
capitalists pouring their - money by tha
millions into a single enterprise, and, .what
is more to the point with them, getting
It all back, with goodly Interest to boot,
the first season. This Is a little circum
stance which causes them ruthlessly to
tear down what was good last year and
replace It with something the amusement
promoters In partnership with them de
clare will surely astonish, pusxle, capti
vate, frighten and thrill the public more
thoroughly than ' anything ever before at
tempted. ARNOLD M. GARDNER.
According to Man
Men marry by accident; women by de
sign. Matrimony Is a stratagem of the allmo
nlally Inclined.
The world Is divided into two great
classes: the women who love him and the
woman he loves.
His wife never displays any tact; either
she makes a fool of herself by sitting up
for him, or shows her negligence of !
comfort by retiring.
The squalls of the aea of matrimony
have never been so perilous as to deter a
woman from taking tha last boat out
Town Topics.
- " .id.".
' - ". . -. .. .; . . r vv"
V .1- . I X i! iV
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BTMTXjfl OF PAGE HBADINO IN JULY NUMBER OK ST NICHOIAS FOR
WHICH r. MILES CRfc-UNLEAF OF OMAHA WAS AWARDED A CASH FRIZ hi,
&
,.-s-f -Vi ? ;
if 1
DANCING FROM POLAND
ONE OF THOUSANDS OF FOR
EIGNERS WHO COMB FROM.
THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THB
GLOBE TO ENTERTAIN AMER
ICANS DURING THE BUMMER
MONTHS.
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