Small Town Vaudevillians, 1924
100 years ago these kids were #1 in amateur rankings
My dad’s father was a huge inspiration and a major influence on me as a kid, even though we didn’t spend all that much time at our grandparent’s house. The Kinyons, as we called them, didn’t like kids. Despite that, they chose to have two of their own a little late in life. And after suffering through raising them to adulthood, they secretly hoped they’d never see another kid again.
By the time my sister and I were born, The Kinyons were easily rattled and irritated by “little troublemakers.” So, despite living just a few blocks away, we’d rarely see them. At most, we’d drop by their house one or two times during the holidays and go to dinner once in a blue moon. Our infrequent visits became highly anticipated events, especially for me, because I was fascinated by hearing stories of my grandpa’s childhood–all of which seemed fantastical and make-believe, like a fairy tale.
The American Boys Radio Club (ABRC) were contemporaries of Hal Roach’s The Little Rascals. They chose their name not because they were techies but rather because it sounded exotic and cutting edge–commercial radio broadcasting was brand spanking new at that time.
The best part of Grandpa’s storytelling was that it was all documented. I could see and touch the Indian arrowheads and other relics he dug up, his exceptional postage stamp collection (he ran a mailorder stamp business as a kid), political memorabilia dating back to Lincoln’s “Honest Abe” campaign for President, and most importantly, I could see photographs and read newspaper clippings about his childhood gang’s exploits in an old scrapbook he kept on a shelf in his home office. I made a beeline for it every time I hit the front door.
The American Boys Radio Club (ABRC) were contemporaries of Hal Roach’s The Little Rascals. They chose their moniker not because they were techies but rather because it sounded exotic and cutting edge–commercial radio broadcasting was brand-spanking new at that time. They also fantasized about one day bringing their talents into the living rooms of America via radio.
“Our shows drew two to three hundred people sometimes,” Grandpa told me. “And that’s a really big crowd for such a small town.”
He grinned as he flipped through the pages, sipping occasionally on his scotch.
“We did drama and comedy shows at the local theater, playing instruments and dancing and singing,” he said. “I’d usually do a magic show. I was known as “Carrots Kinyon” because my hair was a little reddish back then. But it was our annual carnival show and staged boxing matches that were the biggest hits.”
Sure enough, the articles clipped from Minnesota papers confirmed his story.
OWATONNA GIVEN PUGILISTIC FAME THROUGH BOXERS
April 23, 1924 – Owatonna, lying quietly in the shadows along the banks of the Straight River, has at last been thrown in the limelight of the sporting world with a group of pugilists who have recently threatened to acquire unlimited fame.
The American Boys Radio Club, an organization of small boys in this city, has started an unusual competition among gifted boxers in its ranks, and the result is that John “Lefty” Dinsmore has been acclaimed world champion. The title holder won the right to the championship through an exhibition boxing match staged late last week when he knocked out Bob “Bob” Josten in three rounds. The loser accredits his loss to overtraining.
The champ is now ready to take on any member of the club and will again defend his title Friday evening when he is to meet Carl “Battling” Zeiger in a scheduled ten-round bout. Two preliminaries are on the card to precede the big fight, which will take place in Whiting's barn on Broadway. Ringside seats sell for 5 cents.
Arrangements have been made to prepare the ring for the title match Friday. Four large electric reflectors have been erected directly above the ring, illuminating the entire arena.
The reporters on these numerous news stories, as well as their reading audience, were clearly in on the joke. All of the articles touted these bouts as if they were legitimate pugilist competitions, not comedy-boxing events–which happened to be extremely popular back in those days.
There was another article I wanted to believe when I was very young, but when I grew up, I realized that the newspaper had spun and exaggerated the story to great comedic effect:
BOYS CLUB WILD ANIMAL CIRCUS KICKS OFF
Six Canopies Pitched On Grove—Broadway Show Site
Animal Trainers Experience Thrill As Horse Laughs
Another circus has moved into Owatonna and is showing today on the big lot at the corner of Grove Street and Broadway.
Stupendous in its brilliant congregation of death-defying performers, wild and ferocious beasts from the very heart of Africa, obnoxious reptiles defiant of the human eye, corpulent man-eating brutes with gleaming tusks and bellowing utterances, the American Boys Radio Club, famous for its athletic exhibitions, has set up under canvas and is now ready to show; A visit to the circus lot yesterday revealed many interesting sights. The crew, a busy lot, were engaged in pitching their six large tents and arranging the arena for the opening performance today.
Snakes Make Escape.
Coupled with usual circus life is the sad disappointment of losing the show’s most valued animals. It is known that many times, horses and elephants are lost in storms while more cunning beasts make their escape in the confusion.
But this case is different. Promoters of the circus Wednesday afternoon and evening spent a daring hunt of the wilds surrounding Owatonna in search of glamorous reptiles as one of the features of the wild animal show. After the hunt was completed, the expedition returned to the grounds with a beautiful collection of snakes that could not have been duplicated in seventeen counties. Then, in the dead of night, after the owners had retired to await the coming eventful day, the restless serpents stealthily made their escape. Even the horse laughed.
Thousand Attractions.
The loss of the highly prized reptiles did not dampen the spirits of the showmen, who immediately set out on another scouting expedition to collect the wildest animals available from homes about the city and farms about the county. As a result the show is featured with a splendid array of a thousand attractions with beasts of every description.
The five leading sideshows offer clowns, musicians, fortune tellers, acrobats, fire-eaters, tightrope walkers, and countless other attractions well worth the price of admission three cents.
According to the managers, the opening performance will be given this afternoon sometime after two o’clock.
In addition to the many performance events the club put on, they also operated an immensely popular Haunted House for Halloween and participated in the annual Steele County Fair every year. The young entertainment entrepreneurs deposited all of their proceeds in a bank account and then used the money to pay for extended summer vacations, which included many hiking expeditions, weeks-long camping trips, and the renting of cabins at an upscale lake resort, where they swam, fished, and sailed.
I couldn’t help but be awed by the tales of their exploits. There weren’t any kids my age doing such enterprising and exciting things. These boys (and their honorary girl member) set out on this journey in sixth grade and continued it until they had a big blowout celebration after graduating from high school. All paid for out of their own pockets.
I learned later that a few of their parents helped them early on, of course, but that hasn’t lessened my admiration for what they pulled off. Hearing this stuff when I was young really sparked my imagination and set my creativity on fire. My sister and I used to write plays and act them out with our neighborhood friends when we were in grade school. Then, after Grandpa Kinyon gave me his old Super-8 film camera, I started making short comedy films and screening them in our living room for small audiences.
That need to create and entertain has followed me all of my life. Hell, I made a career out of it. I also know exactly where my lifelong love of dabbling in parody and my risk-taking entrepreneurial spirit come from.
Thanks, kids!
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