The Life of a Carnie in the Early 1900s
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About the Book
VW Bates, his body lay lifeless in the hospital, was dying. His daughter, Shirley Ann, willed him back to life. She knew he couldn't die until his dream of writing this book was fulfilled to tell the valuable side of the carnival life that only a devoted Carnie had, and he was one of them. Some young boys ran away from home to join the carnival, but V.W. was left homeless because his mother and father passed away when he was 15 years old, and he was pushed away from the homes of his brothers and sisters. He was homeless, alone, shocked with fear and sadness. He found the midway of a carnival and inside there was a whole new world for him and was to be his new found family of what the outside world saw as freaks and strange people. VW felt a deep soulful connection with the carnies and could see the inside of their soul, not their appearance. He felt God didn't make misfits, but society made misfits. He learned that the carnival people were happy in the bodies they were born into. He started life with a home, a mother and father, siblings, and going to school. A new life in his teenage years was soon to be built as he traveled with the carnival. When VW got older, he married, had a family, faced the depression years, and life was still much like living the carnival way. He never liked staying in one place too long. The Bates family made many moves in their life together. The book and CDs will explain his whole life as a carnie and his life's journey. Sad to say he died before the book was finished, but I know he is looking down on it all now.
About the Author
Shirley Ann Bates Bryant is a singer of honest country music. She is a Kansas City, Missouri, girl. She has been in the music business since she was 14 years old, has made records, and was on live television. During those years, Shirley met and performed with many of the country music artists such as Bob Wills, Texas Play Boys, and Ray Price. She is a wife, mother of two wonderful sons, and grandmother of 7, and a great grandmother of 2. She writes her own songs and has had several CDs out, which there is one currently out now.
Thirty years ago, Shirley promised her dad that she would write the book about his carnival life and depression years, and has now become an author of her first book.