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Jugglers followed a certain rigid professional code then unheard of its the current world where the performer strives to break through the "fourth wall" to interact with the audience. Jennings explained, "The rules of juggling were stricter then. I didn't put anything in my act until I could do it 300 times without missing. We used to count how many shows in a row we'd go without a miss we couldn't cover. And when agents specified times for an act, they didn't want 10 seconds more or less."

Props were a rare commodity, too. Club manufacturer Harry Lind wouldn't make clubs for just anyone, customers had to be referred by performers he knew and trusted. Likewise, the source for purchase of lacrosse balls was a closely guarded secret because there was just one place in the US that made them - the Bacrac Raisin Company in Baltimore!

Jennings recognized performing as a quick way out of the Depression, and worked hard at it. His philosophy was that "there are eight letters in business and just four in show," so he spent twice as much time on business as his act. One afternoon a month he made the rounds to visit every agent in town. He carried calendars printed with his name and phone number that fit in their desk blotters, and sent them all Christmas cards. "If you were willing to go for it there was a lot of work," he said.

Like his close friend Stan Kavanaugh, who always dressed like a rich banker, Jennings carefully cultivated an image of success as a promote his business. "I was playing the game then," he said.

By 1936 he was doing well as an entertainer, and bought a new frosty green Chevy for $600. "It was an expensive car," he said. Admission to the vaudeville shows was a quarter for for as long as you wanted to stay, and you could get a full meal at a restaurant for 50 cents.

All the while he was learning to be an entertainer, he was courting a young woman named Ruth. Their courtship extended to almost seven years because Art was supporting his own family during the depression and didn't feel like he could afford to take on a wife as well. Finally they were married in 1938, and eventually had two children. Arthur Jr. was born in 1944 and Linda was born three years later.

When World War II broke out, Jennings tried to enlist, but was too old. Instead, the War Manpower Agency drafted him in 1941 into industry and assigned him to the Elliott Turbo Machinery Company. He didn't know it at the time, but his engineering skills were being used as part of America's Manhattan Project, the quest to create the atomic bomb.

The work was in Pittsburgh, and occupied him for about 70 hours a week. But Jennings was tremendously energetic, and needed just three to four hours sleep a night. That left him almost 70 hours per week free for performing, and the work was plentiful!

"A good act could work anywhere from six to eight months in a single major city," he said. "There were 27 agents booking acts in Pittsburgh alone. There were several levels of agents, some who booked you in the top places, and others who just did club dates. They went all the way down to those that booked stag shows. But at the time a stag show gal ended her act wearing enough clothing to be respectable in a shopping mall today! There wasn't any real nudity, just the suggestion of it!"

Pittsburgh had four or five major vaudeville theatres, and there were theatres in surrounding suburban cities, too. All the fraternal organizations, such as the Eagles, Elk and Moose which had shows, too. Radio was the only thing that might keep people in the house at that time. The people who had enough money went out some place every night.

At places like the Barbizon Plaza in New York City, the audience wore evening clothes to watch the juggling and other acts, and no one would dare stand to leave the room while an act was in progress.

There were also burlesque theatres, which offered a different type of entertainment - though it had very little to do with the nudity associated with the word today. Jennings said, "Burlesque meant 'making fun of.' When I was a kid my mother would take us to the burlesque show because it featured acts by characters from the newspaper funny papers."

There were also five or six amusement parks within a 50 mile radius of Pittsburgh, and each hired two acts for contracts of a week or two. "There would be a high circus act and a stage act, and you'd do two shows a day," Jennings said. "The high act, which could be seen from a long way away, would go on about 1 p.m. to bring the people out of the picnic area and into the park where the rides were The low act, which was me, would entertain them once they got inside."

There were also almost 10 night clubs in Pittsburgh up until about 1950, each of which featured two shows a night. During the war, there were also USO shows that didn't pay much, but provided steady work and were considered patriotic duty.

There was also significant "corporate" work at that time. Jennings worked for National Distillers in 1937-38, performing a magic and juggling act that involved their spirits. He also worked for Nationwide Insurance, and did a variety act sponsored by Pittsburgh radio station KDKA.

The colorful and vibrant world of entertainment also included mystery and danger. Jennings recalls a night club in nearby Wampum, Penn., that "wasn't the type of place you'd choose to work." The stage wobbled, and the clientele was shady looking. "It was run by the Mafia," Jennings said. "You didn't dare refuse to work there if you wanted to keep working!"