Popcorn Man

Someone selling popcorn in an amusement park, such as Coney Island.

“At one place I heard the voice of a popcorn man raised in a dreadful note, as if he were chanting a death hymn. It made me shiver as I felt all the tragedy of the collapsed popcorn market. I began to see that it was an insult to the pain and suffering of these men to go near to them without buying anything. I took new and devious routes sometimes.”

Stephen Crane, Other Writings About New York, “Coney Island’s Failing Days” (1894-6).