Inspirational Carnival Quotes

Traveling Carnivals are a microcosm of society, and we’ve found many carnival-related quotes that can apply to life in general. Enjoy!

Traveling fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, 2002.

 “No profession, trade, or calling, is overcrowded in the upper story."

— P.T. Barnum, 1880  

“Organized confusion.”

— Averill Wanous, when asked to describe her traveling show for a newspaper in 1974.

“You've got to keep the people happy. In my games I always give a little kid a prize. Win, lose or draw it doesn't matter to me, I'm happy to see the kid smile and walk away because I know sooner or later they're going to come back and have another go. And that's the way you've got to run your business, you've got to work to the public, and that's how it goes.”

— Richard Miller, fourth-generation Australian showman, 2020.

“There is no such thing in the world as luck.”

— P.T. Barnum, 1880 

"It’s real Americana. It’s part of our tradition and pretty soon it won’t be around no more. The carny is like a little city, you know. The rides are like the skyscrapers, and there are all those little stores on the midway. It has its Forty-second Street and its big, expensive rides and things for the little kids and things for the big kids and it moves. It’s sparkling and glittering. Lights fly through the skies and people are laughing and all of a sudden — whoosh! — it’s gone."

— Robbie Robertson, 1980

“We were a closed society, it was us against the world. That’s not the case today and hasn’t been for a very long time."

— Frank Zaitshik, 2023

"Poor fool! Not to know that the most difficult thing in life is to make money dishonestly!"

— P.T. Barnum, 1880

"I think life is beautiful and I enjoy living it."

—  Frank Lentini, known as “The Three Legged Man”, 1940

The Life of Percilla Bejano

While crawling the internet for Carnival history information and photos, we have come across the story of Percilla Bejano many times. She was a fascinating woman: a performer, singer, dancer, showman, and businesswoman, who appeared in American traveling sideshow exhibits, television shows, and movies. Her career spanned almost the entire 20th century!

It was shocking to learn she does not already have a Wikipedia page - although, interestingly, she does have one on the Spanish version of Wikipedia. So, we decided to make one for her.

Who was Percilla Bejano?

Percilla was born Percilla Roman on April 26, 1911 in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Percilla as a baby, ca. 1911

She was born with two rows of teeth (hyperdontia) and hypertrichosis, a condition which causes excessive hair growth all over the body. Her father took her to many doctors in New York City to find answers, and the doctors all told him there was no cure. So he started exhibiting Percilla for money, and eventually hired showman Carl Lauther to manage and promote the young Percilla’s career as “The Monkey Girl”. After her father was killed in Gainesville, Florida, Lauther and his wife adopted her and raised Percilla (now Percilla Lauther) as their own daughter.

Lauther signed Percilla on to multiple shows and exhibits, one of which was Johnny J. Jones Exposition’s “Oddities of the 20th Century”. On that show, she met the love of her life, Emmitt Bejano, known as “The Alligator Boy” due to his lamella ichthyosis.

They eloped and married in secret at midnight, due to the strict, overprotective nature of Percilla’s adoptive father, Carl Lauther. Afterwards, Emmitt was fired from Lauther’s show.

Percilla and Emmitt, performing together.

They lived, worked, and performed together for over fifty years as a “power couple” billed as “The World’s Strangest Married Couple” until Emmitt’s death in 1995.

Percilla and her husband Emmitt were some of the last living veterans of American “freak show” culture.

They retired from traveling shows in the ‘80s but continued making appearances: they both starred in the American movie Carny (1980) with Jodie Foster and Gary Busey, the British television show The Secret Cabaret (1990), and the Canadian documentary film Being Different (1981) narrated by Jason Alexander.

Percilla and Emmitt, enjoying life together.

In the video below, Percilla discusses how she met and married Emmit:

Percilla’s Legacy

She lived so long, there are color videos of her at a Christmas party in Gibsonton, Florida (known as the Showman Capital of America) during her retirement years. She did interviews for movies and TV where she talked eloquently about her own life, in her own words.

As of May 2025, there is still no English Wikipedia page for her. It’s currently in “draft” mode until some mysterious “higher-ups” at Wikipedia decide to approve it, which they say could take up to three months.

We will update this page with any news about Percilla’s Wikipedia page.

Learn more about Percilla’s life:

This post would not be possible without the following amazing resources:

• International Independent Showmen’s Museum article
• Doc’s Midway Cookhouse article about Percilla The Monkey Girl

About the Author

This blog is a branch of Apron: the Amusement Professionals Network.

Apron is a free-to-join network of Carnival Workers (Games, Food, Rides, Novelties, Artists, Circus, and Maintenance) that aims to promote Traveling Carnival History, industry news, resources, and information for anyone to learn more about or succeed within the industry.