THE STRANGEST SHOW ON EARTH!: Tales from the Midway as told to Kevin Gerrone by C.M. Christ Hardcover – Large Print, June 23, 2025

“STRANGEST SHOW ON EARTH, Tales of the Midway as told to Kevin Gerrone by C.M. Christ”One of the greatest and most influential backend showmen of our time has decided that after 60 years in the business it’s time to share his never been told jackpots with the world. Chris Christ knew from a very young age that he wanted to not only work in the carnival but that he wanted to work specifically in the side show. Every spring the James E. Strates Shows would play an early date at a shopping center about 3 miles from his home in Buffalo, New York. And every day while the carnival was operating the young Chris Christ would make the long walk to the lot and find a wagon hole to sneak through (so that he didn't have to use the little lunch money he had managed to save) to get in. When he got a little older, he got a summer job setting up and tearing down kiddie rides for a local guy who had a small-time carnival. Though it was a good summer job it still wasn’t the sideshow. In 1965 during his junior year of high school, his parents got him a subscription to the Amusement Business (the weekly amusement trade publication that replaced the Billboard) for Christmas. This was in Chris’s mind, the best gift ever. He wasted no time writing to every independent backend show operator listed. Not long after, he received a response from Ward Hall, a name he was still unfamiliar with. Hall, who at the time was working with backend show impresario Nate Eagle on an engagement overseeing the side show for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Shows at Madison Square Garden, asked Chris if he would like to spend his Easter break helping out. Chris jumped on a bus, and the rest is history… Read more