Bodnar wasn't paid, but the going rate for adults was $15 a week. This was in the days when a hot meal would cost a quarter, he quickly pointed out.

Hygiene was not a top priority, he said.

"We had to maintain our cleanliness with a bucket of water in a tent somewhere," he said.

Trickery from the carnies frequently came into play, he said. Young Les worked behind the scenes on the "cat rack," where players tried to knock over a large, wooden feline placed in a row. But Bodnar said the barker had a level that would raise a shelf behind the cats, keeping them upright.

Knocking down the milk bottles with a baseball? It was rigged with heavier bottles on the bottom.

The sideshows slowly began to disgust him, he said. He was shocked at how the women in the carnival burlesque show were treated, and it sickened him to see a two-headed baby on display, even if it was a wax casting of two baby dolls bottled in water.

"After seeing enough of that and seeing suckers taken in games, I knew it was wrong," he said.

Wanting a different life, he ended up going to medical school and then was in practice from 1947 to 2005, occasionally working pro bono the last few years.