I'm looking for published sources for a bally-ho; the opening spiel of a carnival barker. Any thoughts?

CW

Number 1: The "bally" or "ballyhoo" would be the spiel you're loking for. I would guess that a "bally-ho" is a slutty girl who does a bally.

Number 2: The person doing the bally is the "outside talker." A barker is a dog.

Number 3: While there are no start-to-finish ballys there, I have online, in my "Carny Lingo Compendium," enough lengthy excerpts to put together a bally for almost any sort of act. See http://www.goodmagic.com/carny/car_a-c.htm - go down to the box about midway down the page for several paragraphs of the very best examples.

Here, I'll give you a headstart:

"THAT’S RIGHT FOLKS, WE'RE GONNA HAVE A FREE SHOW RIGHT HERE, COME ON OVER FOR THE BIG FREE SHOW! GATHER AROUND AND WATCH WHAT WE’RE GONNA DO, IT'S ALL FREE AND IT'S STARTING RIGHT NOW! THIS IS THE ONE YOU'VE READ ABOUT, YOU'VE HEARD YOUR NEIGHBORS TALKING ABOUT IT, AND HERE IT IS, ALL LIVE, RIGHT HERE AND STARTING RIGHT NOW - WE'RE GONNA BRING OUT THE FIRE EATER, THE SNAKE GIRL, THE INDONESIAN MIDGETS … WATCH THE DOORWAY, HERE THEY COME, WE’RE GONNA BRING ‘EM OUT HERE, ALL FREE, SO YOU CAN SEE WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE. HERE COMES THE PRINCESS OF FIRE, SHE'S GOING TO SWALLOW A LITTLE FIRE FOR YOU RIGHT NOW … WATCH THE DOORWAY, KEEP YOUR EYES WIDE OPEN, YOU DON’T WANNA MISS ANY OF THE ACTS, AND IT’S ALL FREE!”

I also have an hour of ballys on my audio CD named (logically enough) "BALLY - SOUNDS OF THE SIDESHOW" - extraordinarily reasonably priced at http://www.goodmagic.com/websales/index.htm

Also go to John Robinson's site http://www.sideshowworld.com

I have two DVD's out on "Building a Tip " and the "Svengali Pitch" Go to

http://www.magicpitch.com

scroll down and you can see a clip from both of them.

Don
P.S. Ross,
Never knew you had a site and were selling CDs and the DVD on sideshows.Great stuff,you'll be hearing from me.
Don

Thanks for the tips!

No a tip is the crowd you are building with your bally... oh never mind

True - and so much to learn...