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The King of Ballyhoo
Detail of the cover of Ballyhoo.
This Is Not a Reading Series launches its busy fall season of non-readings tonight with an event for all you circus freaks and closet carnies. A.W. Stencell, forty-five-year veteran of the big top and author of Circus and Carnival Ballyhoo: Sideshow Freaks, Jaggers and BladeBox Queens, will be interviewed onstage by Toronto’s own Derek McCormack, author of The Show That Smells and Haunted Hillbilly. Stencell will be hanging vintage ballyhoo banners throughout the room, and given his long association with the thrills-and-chills business, attendees can expect plenty of other surprises.
Stencell was kind enough to send us a few of his memories of his early days of running away to join the circus.
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