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Inside the Live Reptile Tent: The Twilight World of Carnival Midway (Paperback)

~ (Author), Jeff Brouws (Photographer) "Tracking the architecture of the American carnival as it careens through the twentieth century is a ride worthy of the pleasure grounds that speak this..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Coney Island, Vermont Jack Delano (more...)

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The traveling carnival with its freak shows, cotton candy, nausea-inducing rides and games holds a prominent place in the American consciousness. Photographer Jeff Brouws (Highway: America's Endless Dream) and anthropologist Bruce Caron explore its grotesque, amusing beauty in Inside the Live Reptile Tent: The Twilight World of the Carnival Midway. Some of the photos are desolate a clown sign, faded by decades, welcomes us to the "Fun House," but the "H" doesn't light up. Other images rides by night, a small child in the mouth of an enormous fiberglass shark capture both the artistry and childish excitement of the carnival. While the history in Caron's text will be familiar to readers of American cultural history, it lends helpful context. The book should appeal not only to photography lovers, but to those who love all the chaos and absurdity carnivals represent.

From Booklist

In the first of five essays accompanying Brouws' knockout photos, Caron apprises us that carnival midways, though related to the traveling circus, sprang from such more stationary amusement venues as the 1893 Columbian Exposition. The various, often scruffy, definitely vulgar playlands that sprang up in the wake of that epoch-making world's fair flourished until the 1950s, when TV and other home amusements burgeoned and Disney created the grander, politer, cleaner theme park. Caron argues that carnival architecture influenced the looks of plenty of later amusement centers, from Anaheim to Orlando and from Vegas to the nearest Indian casino. Influence aside, the old places looked great--garish and goofy even when the sun did the lighting, and the rides were turned off. Brouws' pictures of roller coasters, sideshows, and games of chance may be elegiac, given the paucity of people in them, but they are so vivid and evocative, especially when compared with the black-and-white historical photos that directly illustrate Caron's remarks, that you can hear the calliope and smell the corn dogs. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books (February 1, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0811828247
ISBN-13: 978-0811828246
Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 9.4 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #894,669 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Authors

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Bruce Caron

Jeffrey T. Brouws

Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Tracking the architecture of the American carnival as it careens through the twentieth century is a ride worthy of the pleasure grounds that speak this spatial language best. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Coney Island, Vermont Jack Delano, New Jersey, Santa Maria, United States, Asbury Park, Daly City, Las Vegas, Luna Park, Beach San Francisco, California Jeff Brouws, Gilded Age, Santa Cruz, California Tom Moore, Champlain Valley Expo Essex Junction, Louisiana Russell Lee, Santa Rosa, Texas Arthur Rothstein

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 7 books:

Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin on page 76
Pictorial History of the American Carnival by McKennon on page 23
Carnival, Hysteria, and Writing: The Collected Essays and Autobiography of Allon White by Allon White on page 76
Learning from Las Vegas - Revised Edition: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form by Robert Venturi on page 85
Working Women by Mendelson Joe on page 23

See all 7 books this book cites

Books on Related Topics (learn more)

American Carnival by Philip McGowan

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	73% buy the item featured on this page: Inside the Live Reptile Tent: The Twilight World of Carnival Midway 4.5 out of 5 stars (2)
	14% buy Approaching Nowhere: Photographs 5.0 out of 5 stars (4) $40.95
	6% buy With It: A Year on the Carnival Trail 4.8 out of 5 stars (4) $15.95
	5% buy Carny: Americana on the Midway 3.7 out of 5 stars (3) $29.92

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4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Step Right Up, Folks!, September 26, 2001

By	Chicky (Hyde Park, MA United States) - See all my reviews

Carnival fans and amusement park historians alike will delight in the many beautiful images of a dying breed - the small travelling carnival and family owned amusement parks. Mr. Brouws takes us up close and behind the scenes, and the many nighttime photos of the midway's dazzling lights are worth the price of admission alone. Mr. Caron's colorful commentary is definitely not your usually tepid "guided tours" that so many other amusement industry books offer, with wild insights and historic tidbits that are sure to amuse. Many never before seen photos appear from other photographers personal archives, bringing a rich sense of tradition to the subject at hand.
The final chapter is dedicated to San Francisco's Playland. Mr. Brouws takes a look back at the Playland of his childhood, echoing sentiments from any of us who have spent their afternoons strolling along those tawdry but always fascinating midways of yesterday. We see the peeling paint, the crooked games with cheap prizes, the worn out rides and run-down fun house. But we also realize why these places captivated us, the simple, carefree fun these places held for us for just a few days each summer. The few photos he did take (with his first camera) before the park disappeared combine with his childhood tales to add the perfect epilogue to this colorful story.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A history of a declining American institution, January 25, 2005

By	Charles Ashbacher "(cashbacher@yahoo.com)" (Marion, Iowa United States(cashbacher@yahoo.com)) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Hiawatha, the city where I live, has an annual summer event called "Hog Wild Days." It has a midway with games and rides. We go to it every year and ride some of the rides and play a few of the games. Over the last few years, the size of the crowd has decreased and that trend is the point of the book. Only a few years ago, before cable TV, computers and video games, the summer entertainment options were limited. Therefore, the traveling carnival used to be a major event in a city, as much a part of the American tradition as the Fourth of July fireworks and apple pie. Now, a carnival is not the broad-spectrum event it once was, the majority of the carnival activities are for people under 25. In the past, carnivals had a wide spectrum of entertainment, up to and including nudity. My favorite was always the sideshow with the freaks; I still remember the five-legged calf and the bikini clad women standing outside the adults only tent.
This book is largely a photographic record of the traditional carnival midway, with color pictures of rides, games and the occasional sideshow. There is a small amount of text describing the role of the carnival, when it was most popular and how it is now in decline. In looking at the pictures, you can see that very little has really changed in decades. There is a picture of a girl on a merry-go-round and even though it was taken in 1940, it could have been taken yesterday. I have had a personal experience with most of the rides pictured in these pages, some of the memories were of the fear I had when I rode them, but most elicited feelings of nostalgia.
If you are interested in the role that carnivals have had in the history of the United States, then this is a book you should take a look at.

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