Husband Ralph England Sharp Jr.
Born: October 1, 1925 at: Casey, Clark Co, Illinois 1
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Died: January 12, 1999 at: Juneau, , Wisconson
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Father: Ralph England Sharp Sr. (1900-1971)
Mother: Velma Loretta "Retta" Havens (1902-1951)
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Wife Rachel Worrell (details suppressed for this living person)
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Children
1 M Ralph England Sharp III (details suppressed for this living person)
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Spouse: Aleen Jean Curtis (living)
2 F Patricia Sharp (details suppressed for this living person)
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3 M William Andrew Sharp (details suppressed for this living person)
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Spouse: Lina Maria Palionis (living)
4 F Lisa Anne Sharp (details suppressed for this living person)
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5 M Bruce Edward Sharp (details suppressed for this living person)
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Husband's Notes
[UL:Circus Stirs Memories of Long-Ago Times Juneau-:UL] Ralph Sharp still gets a tingle of excitement when the circus comes to town. His roots to the traveling shows go back to his pre-teen years, when he was growing up in Casey, Illinois, A community near the Indiana border. "Casey was on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, between St. Louis and Indianapolis. It was a convenient stopping point for the circus, so it came every summer." said Sharp, who serves as Dodge County corporation counsel. Some of the circus wagons that will roll in Sunday's circus parade in Milwaukee were part of the Cole brother's show. Sharp remembers getting up before dawn on a summer's day in the mid 1930's and heading to the railroad siding in Casey, to help with the off-loading. " I was one of those kids who helped put up the tent and carry water for the elephants, so I could get in for free," said Sharp. " It was grunt work setting up bleachers and carrying water for those behemoths. I was somewhat apprehensive of the elephants at first, but they are not much different that a dog, just bigger." "Boy could they drink. They would empty a bucket in a few seconds. I kept hauling water until someone would tell me they had had enough." According to Sharp, the roustabouts were the core of the show. " It was fascinating to watch them drive stakes. Six of them would stand in a circle and drive a stake with their hammers in turn. You couldn't drive a stake with an air hammer any faster." Finally the reward would come, usually after a midday circus parade down Casey's Main Street- a ticket for the matinee performance. Sharp recalled that his ticket would not be the best seat in the three ring circus house, but a "free" ticket nonetheless. Sharp fast forwarding his memory to 1946, after he got out of the U.s.. Army. One of his friends owned a bingo stand that operated with a carnival and invited Sharp to join the enterprise. With nothing better to do after his discharge, he signed on. " The bingo stand was a 40 by 20 foot affair with tables and chairs all around. In the center was a pyramid-shaped shelf which displayed the prizes. "We would set a tent up over everything and one of us would call the numbers while about six of us would collect money, pass out cards and verify winners. " If we had a full set-down (60 to 80 people), we would have to call only four or five numbers and we would have a winner." Sharp said the $6 to $8 collected in a round would pay out a prize that cost the proprietor about a dollar. Prizes were called "flash", named for their visual appeal. Ceramic horses with clock mechanisms and sets of glassware were basic. The top of the line prizes were Indian blankets and cook ware. " It was fascinating. Some people would play all day. They would start with a $20 bill. You can play a lot of ten-cent a card bingo with $20. "If there was a tie the house got to select the prizes. They were always cake plates." Travelling with the carnival in the Middle West was not the greatest life, according to Sharp. The crew slept on cots inside the bingo stand and found it's meals where they could. " Our biggest problem was keeping clean. Few fairgrounds had a shower. Sometimes we would rent a hotel room so we could get a bath or shower." A room went for $1.25, but Sharp was sure they ran the proprietors water bill up by that amount. Two or three night stands were usually more profitable than week-ling shows, Sharp said. They got in and out before the novelty wore off. " A lot of characters travelled with the show. People lived that way because they couldn't handle restrictions. But they were all "extented family" in a way. " If anybody got in trouble, you always helped, you always sided with the carnival people." While there was a certain closeness among those who traveled with the show, each kept to his or her own business " You didn't stand around and watch the girlie shows. It was sort of an unwritten etiquette." The most exciting thing Sharp recalls while on the road happened one night somewhere in Ohio. It involved a man who operated a "roll-down joint" which included a type of keno game, and skill-o, a betting wheel of fortune. The man was sort of a competitor of the bingo stand, and Sharp said he used a lot of alcohol. "On this particular night, about 3 A.M.., he burst into the tent where we were sleeping, yelled "hey bingo", and proceeded to shoot a .38 caliber pistol into the tent roof." Sharp said authorities then hauled the man away for a cooling off. "Of everyone who travelled with the show, the Gypsies had the best deal. The old man would drive the truck. He would roll into town and park it in their assigned spot. Then he would go sit under a tree and have a smoke. The women would set up the tent, take care of the kids, make the meals, tell the fortunes and strike the tent. Then the old man would get in the truck and drive to the next destination." Sharp said his traveling show career ended before he entered law school in 1949. "I had a summer job, made a few dollars." And garnered lots of memories.
1 Cumberland County History.
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