Mac (not his real name) works for a major New England traveling carnival outfit. He is presently wintering in CT, having chosen not to follow his fellow roustabouts to the Florida shows. He is tall, attractive, and looks older than he actually is. I have agreed to conduct the interview in his winter digs, and am a little tired from the ride. We sit at a small, cheaply furnished trailer kitchen, and share a pot of coffee.
DC: How did you end up working for a carnival?
Mac: I ran away from home. My old man was gone, and my mother was nagging me all the time to do something constructive. The carnival came to a town near me, and I went one night, and got to talking to one of the ride guys. He needed help with the tear down, and was looking for someone to split a shift with him, so I decided to join up with them. I spent the first half of that summer running kiddy rides. We set 'em up in a night, and tore 'em down the next weekend. It was kind of boring. I hooked up with a guy who owned a couple of joints, games, later.
DC: What kind of people did you meet there?
Mac: ::laughs:: Interesting people. A carnival has a different kind of setup, you know? People aren't so concerned about where you come from, or what you do in your free time, as long as you don't bother them. There's a kind of family thing going, like you're all in it together. I met this girl once, who had run away from her husband. He was a jerk, you know? Really nasty. And he came to take her home one night, and hauled her to his car. She started yelling, and one of the guys heard her, and came running up to catch him banging her head against the car door. He grabbed the husband, and just before he hits him, he says "Do you work for us?" The husband says no, and pow! The guy knocked him out. I thought it was really funny. Not the part about the husband hitting her, but the part about him asking. I still wonder if he would have hit him anyway if he had answered yes.
That same husband came back to the lot the next day, and headed down the midway to where the girl's joint was, and as he was walking by, every guy he passed took a hammer out from behind his joint, and slammed it on the counter, loud enough to make him jump. It was incredible. They made it real clear that he'd better not make trouble. He left that day, and never came back. So you felt safe there, you know? Anybody that messed with you found out real quick that you weren't alone.
DC: Do carnies socialize in town? Or do they stay on the lot?
Mac: There's usually a place in every town that likes the business we bring, and doesn't give us grief. There's a little bit of partying that goes on after closing, usually. And some of the guys like to scope out the local wildlife...the female variety. ::sudden grin:: I remember a birthday party for one of the guys. We all had pitchers of beer, and someone passed a cake around, with everyone taking a bite. There was another place where there was a band, and a lot of drunk marks, and one of the girls brought a pony in onto the dance floor. Just walked him through, real easy like. ::laughs:: I guarantee there were a bunch of townies waking up the next day, wondering if it was a DT dream! We kind of like to stay together, especially in the more uptight towns, where someone might make trouble.
DC: Have you ever had trouble in a town you played in?
Mac: ::snorts:: Oh yeah. There was one place where we had to stay too long, a gig got cancelled, and the local lot owners were willing to let us rent for a while more, and before the second week was over we got written up in the local paper, as a bunch of ripoff artists and bums. That was nothing compared to one place up north though. The town marks decided we were cheating them, and came up to the lot one night after closing, with bricks and bats. Some of the guys on the lot travel with their families, and brought guns for protection, and they were all standing there, loaded for bear. I really thought we were done for that night, but the cops came and broke it all up. Moving on is definitely the way to go, and me, I stay away from the townies.
DC: What did you do when the season was over that first year?
Mac: Oh, I drifted down south, to work with one of the other shows. That's what a lot of the carnies do in the winter. At least the ones in the northeast. But after a couple of years I decided to stick around near home for the winter. My mother's not doing so well, so this way I can visit her a little.
DC: How do you support yourself here in the winter? Do you make enough during the season to pay your bills all winter?
Mac: Not hardly. ::laughs:: I work at a regular job in the winter, at a gas station a friend of mine owns, and I do a little snow plowing, for extra money. There isn't much money to be made on the circuit, even when you own your own games. But the expenses aren't very high, either, so it evens out. I don't do it for the money anyway. I do it because I like it. New places, new people every summer, you know?
DC: Do you own your own games?
Mac: Nope. I usually work a hankypank joint. You know, the Birthday game? You put a quarter on your month, and someone tosses a big ball with all the months on it into the center, and whatever month comes up wins a prize. ::barker style:: A prize every time, a winner every game! Of course, I can't let the ball go until I have enough people to cover the cost of the flash.
DC: Hankypank? Flash? ::laughs:: I'm getting lost already...
Mac: ::grins:: There's a whole "secret" language used in the circuit. "Flash" is what they call the prizes, at least the big ones, and a hankypank joint is a legal game, with a real chance to win.
DC: As opposed to?
Mac: Well, some games aren't as simple as they look. There are three types of games, the hankypank, which usually needs a lot of people playing it to cover the cost, the alibi, which is set up with a slight chance of winning, but comes with alibi's or rules that can be argued with if someone wins at the wrong time, and the "g joint," which no one wins unless the owner wants them to. The midway usually has a mix of all three, so the "marks" or players, don't get too antsy. Of course, usually by the time the "g joints" start getting people suspicious, we're packing up to leave. By next year, most people are willing to give it another shot. They forget.
DC: What does the "g" stand for?
Mac: For "gimmick." A "g joint" always has a gimmick. Usually, there is some way to set up the game so that the owner can do the trick, and show the mark it's possible, but when the mark plays, the setup he gets keeps him from winning.
DC: Can you give me an example of a "g joint?"
Mac: ::hesitant:: Well, I really shouldn't. It would be kind of like ratting. ::brightens:: But there is one I haven't seen used in a while that I've seen before. The eight ball game. A long, narrow strip that looks like a pool table is put across the platform of the trailer. Most joints are built into trailers, it makes them easier to haul. A black circle is painted on the end of the table, near the inside, where the owner is, and they put an eight ball on it, with a silver dollar on top. The object is to hit the eight ball with the cue, and make the silver dollar fall inside the circle. Depending on how the silver dollar is set up on the ball, the dollar will always fall either inside or outside. The owner will set it up one way, and show how easy it is, and then will set it up another for the mark, who flubs it. Then the mark usually starts getting stubborn, hating that it can look so easy, and he keeps missing. So he'll throw a lot of money at it, to prove what a pool shark he is. ::laughs::
DC: It sounds dishonest, yet it doesn't' seem to bother you. How come?
Mac: ::shrugs:: Hey, the way I look at it, all these people come to the midway hoping to get a stuffed animal for a half dollar or a dollar. They're looking for an easy way to cheat us, to get something for almost nothing. We just turn the tables on them. You get what you pay for, and what goes around, comes around, they always say.
Yes, they do. And I have learned a valuable lesson from this interview. The next time I go to a carnival with a guy, and he wants to try to win a stuffed animal for me, I think I'll steer him to the birthday game!