AUBURN, Wash., Feb. 3, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Show business was in his blood from his early years when Robert Tanner was coaxed out of a warm bed at the break of day by his mother to go and watch the trains unload animals and trappings of the circus in the 1930s. With this, author Nancy Courtney sets the stage for Three Rings and a Side Show (now available through 1stBooks Library).
At thirteen Bob pleads with his parents to join the circus. He learns to play the drums and plays for a dance band until show business beckons him to the bright lights of vaudeville. He marries his school sweetheart and gets a mundane job driving a bread truck, but he quits his job after seeing a circus tent and joins the circus. Then, he's served with divorce papers.
Still Bob follows his dream and plays drums for the major circuses of his day and smaller vaudeville and burlesque theaters. He marries a small-town waitress he barely knows. She joins him with the King Brothers Circus riding elephants. After she becomes pregnant, Bob begins to drink and loses his job, later to become a "Joint Manager." His wife then kidnaps the baby, never to be seen again.
After losing another wife, in childbirth, Bob returns to drinking, and can only find jobs with carnivals. He tries his hand at managing a monkey speedway. Later, he sells the monkey show for $2000.00 and becomes a talker for side shows. Although there's union trouble, Bob finds jobs in the management side of show business as a talker and canvas man and he becomes close with his daughter as she joins in the side show acts. After twenty-four years Bob's son reunites with him and his half-sister, proving that all's well that ends well.
Nancy Courtney is an author, artist, crafter, musician and creator of other amusements. In Three Rings and a Side Show, the character Robert Tanner calls God "The Great Mahafajafe." Courtney, too, has strong faith in the Great Mahafajafe, as well. She spent many years as a clay artist creating magic with clay and selling her wares on the streets.
Words fascinate her; she started to write short stories, journals, inspirational, educational writings and now has dived into novels with a passion to be famous. Three Rings and a Side Show will take you back to your youth and the colors of the circus and the trickery of the carnival.
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