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2006-2007 Speakers Bureau Catalog

The Lighter Side of Life in the Country

The Midwest in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s was a special place where parents and children worked side by side and neighbors stuck by each other through good times and disaster. Apps will read from Every Farm Tells a Story (his newest book), Country Wisdom, and Humor from the Country. Audiences will hear about the difficulty of farm life, as well as the humourous side of things, such as the author's adventures peddling rutabagas, what it was like hoeing on a hot June day, and when the funny papers were funny. Within each story we see how loving and supremely educational growing up on a farm can be, for it is here that youngsters learn not only how to chop the heads off chickens and drive a tractor like a grown-up, but also to deal with illness, disability, and death.

Ringlingville USA

Audiences will learn about the seven Ringling Brothers who started with next to nothing and became the most famous circus family ever known. Based on Apps' book, Ringlingville USA: The Stupendous Story of Seven Siblings and their Circus Success, this talk explains how the Brothers got the idea for a circus, what circus life was like, and how the Brothers, through hard work, business savvy and some luck, became the largest circus in the world. Also included are the behind-the-scenes activities that make a circus operate successfully—the Ringling Circus was a self-contained city with barber shop, dining hall, blacksmith, livery and, of course, the big top that at one time held more than 12,000 people.

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