Scouting, Volume 79, Number 2, March-April 1991 Page: 6
50, E1-E12, [36] p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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BOY SCOUTS'* AMERICA
WHEN SHOW TIME
MEANT BIG TIME
The
Way
It Was
Scout shows and rallies
added to the appeal of
Boy Scouting in the
movement's early
years.
BY ROBERT PETERSON
HE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
enjoyed phenomenal growth during its first
quarter-century, reaching the one-million mark
in membership in 1935. Key reasons for such
success included Scouting's high visibility
through home-front service during World War I,
and Good Turns at the grass-roots level in peace-
time.
A third reason was the public demonstrations
that were common in the early years. Scout ral-
lies, the forerunners of today's camporees, and
Scout shows and circuses enhanced the image of
Scouting as an exciting adventure for boys.
Like camporees, Scout rallies featured patrol
and troop competitions in knot-tying, first aid,
fire-by-friction, and other Scout skills, but they
were much more public. Rally sites usually were
athletic fields, public parks, or gymnasiums
rather than isolated camps, and many rallies at-
tracted people by the hundreds and even thou-
sands.
Scout shows and circuses were even bigger
draws, especially in the large cities. They were
held every year or two in big auditoriums and
offered pageantry and mass demonstrations with
thousands of Scouts taking part.
The first Scout circus, the brainchild of St.
Louis Scout Executive Earle W. Beckman, was
held in the old St. Louis Coliseum in 1923. More
than 5,000 Boy Scouts participated; 1,668 were
recruits who took the Scout Oath, administered
by Missouri Governor Arthur M. Hyde, while
10,000 people looked on. Then 101 troops took
the floor to demonstrate their Scouting expertise.
"It was one of my greatest thrills since the
development of the Scout movement," Chief
Scout Executive James E. West reported to the
National Council.
By the 1930s, the St. Louis Council had moved
its circuses to the old St. Louis Arena, and the
shows were even bigger.
Some troops spent months preparing their
performances. Former Scout Robert C. Koerner
recalled that his Troop 129 devised a show-stop-
per—the assembly of a full-scale log cabin in
seven minutes.
"We worked for months getting ready—cut-
ting the logs, trimming, notching, and numbering
them, and practicing erecting the cabin," he said.
"Other troops built towers and other pioneering
projects. For the finale of the show, the lights
went dim, and when they came up again you had
almost a frontier town on the floor of the arena."
Not surprisingly, the biggest Scout shows were
staged in the Big Apple, then site of the BSA
national office. The Greater New York Councils
packed the old Madison Square Garden in 1936
and again in 1940 with spectaculars called Scout-
O-Ramas. The first, in 1936, ran for two nights
and was opened by Gov. Herbert H. Lehman.
Five thousand Scouts from the city's 500 troops
made a grand entrance to the music of three Scout
bands and 25 drum and bugle corps conducted by
Edwin Franko Goldman, one of the era's premier
bandmasters.
The show included tableaux showing Scouting
as a melting pot embracing all boys, and pioneers
in a covered wagon visiting Indian villages. A
highlight was a "living flag" made up of 1,500
Scouts, each bearing a piece of red, white, or blue
cloth, forming a gigantic U.S. flag on the arena
floor. The Scout-O-Rama ended with a huge
campfire, presided over by Dan Beard, the BSA's
85-year-old National Commissioner and one of
the best known figures in Scouting.
The early Scout circuses and shows were not
focused entirely on Scout skills and historical
pageantry. Some offered clown acts, pillow fights,
chariot races, tight-rope walking and trapeze
acts, mass boxing, dressing races, the building of
human pyramids, and skits and stunts.
Most big councilwide shows and circuses were
held in alternate years. But Scout rallies were held
two or more times a year, and were usually—but
not always—confined to district competition.
The earliest rallies were held in New York City
a few years after the birth of the BSA in 1910.
More often than not, either Dan Beard, James E.
West, or Ernest Thompson Seton, the BSA's
Chief Scout until 1915, was on hand to instruct,
praise, and lend prestige to the event.
By the 1930s, rallies in Manhattan were draw-
ing 3,000 spectators to the 102nd Regiment Ar-
mory to watch 2,000 Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts,
and Sea Scouts go through their paces. Besides
interpatrol competitions, the Scouts demon-
strated signalling, tower-building, tent-pitching,
March-April 1991 Scouting
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 79, Number 2, March-April 1991, periodical, March 1991; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353654/m1/6/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.