Step Right up Vintage Book a True Story of Carnival Life by Dan Mannix C1951

Reference id: K6rDTs7uudE 680

Vintage illustrated book "Step Right Up!" A True Story of Carnival Life, in which the author learns the tricks of the trade, meets some wonderful people (and some crooks) and lives an odd and interesting life, by Dan Mannix, Harper & Brothers, copyright 1951.

Dust jacket is worn with some tears, corner fold on first blank page, illustrated may have a few markings or smudges, but appears nice and clean. Brown covers with minor corner bumps, spine has blue text/decoration.

(The first sentence of STEP RIGHT UP!) "I probably never would have become Americas leading fire-eater if Flamo the Great hadnt happened to explode that night in front of Krinkos Great Combined Side Shows."

Opening with a bang (quite literally), Dan Mannixs true personal story of life with a traveling carnival moves through some of the damnedest adventures. It also introduces a fascinating group of real people -decent people for the most part - and quite logical, once you nderstand their point of view.

The day after Flamo the Great exploded, the author set to work under the tutelage of a veteran "carny" type, the Impossible Possible, to learn the blistering art of fire-eating. Dan was apt to be a little overenthusiastic at times (as when he became an "escape artist" and realized at the bottom of a muddy river that the mail sack really was locked), but he did survive a varied career. He moved from fire-eating to sword-swallowing to neon-tube swallowing (nearly fatal), to "mind reading," and even got involved in magic of a sort. His size and strength also came in handy at times.

It isnt surprising that Dan Mannix got a big head. He had joined the carnival as a green college boy - exceptional only in his interest in magic and allied sciences, which made him something of a misfit as an Annapolis plebe and a fashionable Philadelphia Main-Liner. But his new friends soon brought him back into line.

In addition to a five-legged horse and the above-named jailbait (the Impossible) there were Krinko, the Human Pincushion; Bronko, who was a "Real" cowboy and had no use for the mechanized West; Aunt Matty, the palm reader - really an underpaid psychiatrist; Jolly Daisy, the fat lady, who was proud of her half-ton natural talents; the Human Ostrich, who swallowed anything; May, the snake charmer; and a numbef of others, including a very pretty strip artist.

There were some wild characters in this carnival, but they taught Dan Mannix a great deal. Readers will share the authors excitement in discovering the many "tricks" of the trade (surprisingly genuine skills for the most part); learning about some wonderful people (and some crooks), and in living a life as exciting as it was fascinating.