Woodstock, Vermont, 1973
Glossary of Girl Show Terms, 1975
Variant for "Team Dream," Woodstock, Vermont, 1973
The women I met ranged in age from seventeen to thirty-five. Most had left small towns, seeking mobility, money and something different from what was prescribed or proscribed by their lives that the carnival allowed them to leave. They were runaways, girlfriends of carnies, club dancers, both transient and professional.
They worked out of a traveling box, a truck that unfolded to form two stages, one opening to the public carnival grounds, another concealed under a tent for a private audience. A dressing room stands between them. Again and again, throughout the day and night, the woman performers moved from the front stage, with its bally call—the talker's spiel that entices the crowd—to the stage, where they each perform for the duration of a 45 pop record.
(From Carnival Strippers book, 1976)
Notes on fair schedule for Carnival Strippers, 1973
Competing for clients, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1975.
Lulu and Debbie, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974
Playing strong, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1975
Patty's Show, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974
Notes on Lena, date unknown
Alternate for "Lena" or "Tom with Lena on the Bally Box," Barton, Vermont, 1974
Ready for the last show, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1973
Ideas for sound recordings, 1973
Contact sheet of dressing room, Fryeburg, Maine, 1975
Between Shows, Fryeburg, Maine, 1975
The all-male audience typically included farmers, bankers, fathers, and sons, but "no ladies and no babies." The degree of suggestion on the front stage and participation on the back stage under the tent varied greatly from town to town, depending on legislation and local leniency. The show stayed at each spot for three to five days each year; then the carnival was torn down, the truck packed up, and the women followed.
(From Carnival Strippers book, 1976)
Notes on Men, date unknown
The Wives, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1974
Curtain call, Essex Junction, Vermont, 1973
Shortie and Larry getting ready, Showhegan, Maine, 1973
Lena's notes on her audio transcription, 1975
The Bally Call, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974
Before the show, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974
Gawker, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974
Notes, date unknown
Shortie in the Bally, Barton, Vermont, 1974
“Backstage or on stage, before show and after, Meiselas handles the charged material with the precision of computing a complex equation, mindful of mystification and deprivation but never letting either take charge, always focusing on the person who animates the idea.”
—Buffalo Evening News, June 4, 1975 by Anthony Bannon
Shortie, Presque Isle, Maine, 1973
Variant for "Waiting for the Tent to Fill," Essex Junction, Vermont, 1973
The Girl Show, Tunbridge, Vermont, 1974
Playboy Book Club, November 1976