»Bedbugs and

BALLYHOO

A free show given outside a sideshow to attract a crowd (a 'tip') of potential patrons. Word came into being at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The fakirs, gun spinners and dancing girls from the Middle East that were working at the Streets of Cairo pavilion spoke no English, only Arabic. The interpreters used the expression "Dehalla Hoon" to call performers outside to the show fronts. The Western ears of the pavilion manager, W. O. Taylor, mistook it as 'ballyhoo' and used it when the interpreters were away for lunch. The phrase was picked up by the other showmen working at the fair and was spread throughout the outdoor show business industry.

A-propos of the 1893 Exposition, a few months ago I devoured Erik Larson's wonderfully-written Devil in the White City, the story of a greedy and cruel 'doctor' in the heady days of Chicago's Columbian Exposition. I later lived for two years facing the Midway Plaisance, part of the beautiful areas of Chicago constructed for the Expo.