The Floon Family

I discovered an interesting group. It was a group of performers billed as the Floon Family Follies. This traveling show was the last of the old time Medicine Shows that traveled around the country in the mid to late 40's. They entertained and sold an ointment that was "good for what ailed you". Although they were not all family the core of the group was Ethel and Fred Floon (in this picture the couple sitting in the wagon).
The group was one of many that traveled America in the early days of the 1900's. When the era of the traveling medicine show ended in the early fifties, the Floons took their money and invested in a brown stone building in New York City. It is rumored that when the creators were looking for the "next door neighbors" in the TV series "I Love Lucy" they patterned the Mertz after Ethel and Fred Floon, even keeping their first names.
It is believed that a ventriloquist performed with the troupe for a season. I have not found a photograph with him in the picture. It would be impossible to identify him without a photo since he took on the Floon pseudonym of Kent Floon. I have located a picture of Fred and Ethel alone that is much better quality than this old photo. I am doing some research and will publish it with a detailed story of their lives in a blog to come.
Whether the connection to "I Love Lucy" is valid or not it is still a fascinating story of how entertainers used to make a living. Those days are gone now and although I tend to romanticize them I am sure it was a hard life. I guess when the only entertainment people ever got to experience was live and of the moment it sounds great to me.
As you were,
Jay