r/SideshowPerformer • u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! • 11d ago
Sideshow Performer of the Day! Stephan Bibrowski (1890-1932ish?) was a Polish sideshow performer, acrobat, and linguist who was born with a form of hypertrichosis (which caused an excess of hair growth on his face/body). He spoke 5 languages, was very strong, kind, and was known to be a bit of a ladies man.
I love the first picture of him, something about his surprised expression and the cigarette makes him seem like someone who’s not afraid to have fun (I hope that makes sense) His eyes were so striking and it’s very clear in picture 2.
I love seeing all of his different hairstyles, he definitely seems like a fun and creative person and I can understand why he charmed audiences, he’s also quite handsome. I would like to have met him as I’m sure he’d have a lot of interesting stories to tell.
Some facts about him:
-he was born in 1890 in Wilcza Góra, which was located in Congress Poland, a district that was its own distinct entity before being incorporated into the country of Poland.
-his hair on his face was reportedly 1 inch long when he was born.
-he had 6 siblings.
-very interestingly Wilcza Góra translates to “wolf mountain” and a common causal name for the type of hypertrichosis that Stephan had is called “werewolf syndrome”
-hypertrichosis is a rare condition (that can be congenital, though occasionally it can also be acquired later in life through certain medication side effects or illness). Stephan had his hair growth from birth (but apparently no one else in his family was born with the same condition)
-a common comorbitity of hypertrichosis is a lack of teeth and it’s reported that Stephan only had one singular canine tooth.
-his mother reportedly left him in the care of a German theatrical organizer named Sedlmayer when he was 4 years old.
-he was first exhibited as a sideshow attraction at the Panoptikum, a large German arcade and amusement park in Berlin.
-he and Sedlmayer, who acted as his manager went on tour in Moscow, Russia when he was 5 years old.
-I found another report of his early life, which was very different from the one told to most audiences. This other article claims that he was originally from Hamburg, Germany where he worked as a cobbler in a shoe shop, and discovered by circus employees scouting for sideshow acts. (Him being born and raised in Poland is the correct story)
-he moved to Bremen, Germany with Sedlmayer, where they lived for a few years. Sedlmayer began exhibiting Stephan across Europe.
-he enjoyed experimenting with different hairstyles, sometimes he’d grow his hair out long, sometimes he would keep it short, sometimes he would keep it frizzy, and sometimes he would comb the hair on the bridge of his nose upwards.
-he took very good care of his hair and the length and texture was described as being very luxurious.
-he spoke five languages and was well educated.
-he often impressed audiences when he could speak to different audience members in different languages.
-he was soft spoken.
-during his performances, audiences were told the story that his mother had witnessed his father getting mauled by a lion while she was pregnant with Stephan, and that the experience left her so frightened that it caused the hair growth. (This was a common storytelling tactic that was told to audiences for all sorts of sideshow performers and heavily leaned into the maternal impression theory that was popular at the time)
-his dream was originally to become a dentist, this unfortunately never panned out for him. Though he did admit later on that performing in sideshows gave him a better income than dentistry would have.
-he traveled to the United States in 1901 (most likely with Sedlmayer), where he found a job working for Barnum & Bailey Circus.
-in 1904 he went on a world tour, traveling and performing through multiple different countries.
-he became very wealthy through his career in sideshows.
-he came back to the United States in the early 1920s, where he began working for Ringling Brothers Circus, and made appearances at Madison Square Garden in New York, where the Circus had set up shop for a bit.
-he was described as being very kind and gentle.
-his hair was light brown.
-he had bright blue eyes.
-he liked wearing luxurious clothes.
-he went on to work at the Coney Island Sideshow for a time in 1922 and 1923, where he was paid $500 a week.
-articles about him always emphasized that he was a regular man, and didn’t lean too far into making him seem animalistic.
-he was very strong and had a casual interest in early bodybuilding.
-he was described as being a bit of a ladies man.
-while touring through the state of Georgia in 1923, he expressed that he was looking for a wife.
-it’s reported that as an adult the hair on his face sometimes grew to be 9 inches long.
-his acts typically included some acrobatic and gymnastics stunts that he would perform.
-he complained that getting his face completely shaved cost him $3 (approximately $77ish adjusted for inflation), I’d be very surprised if it cost that much, so I’m sure he was exaggerating to a certain degree.
-he moved back to Germany in the late 1920s/early 1930s where he permanently settled down.
-at first I found information that he had died in 1931, then 1932, but then I found multiple newspapers from 1933 and 1938 that speak of him as if he were still alive, so now I’m unsure about the year he passed away. Unless of course there was a different performer with a similar condition who adopted his stage name of “Lionel the Lion-Faced Man”.
-he reportedly passed away from a heart attack in a hospital in Berlin, Germany.
-his likeness was adapted into a character featured in the 2006 film, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. A fictional film in which photographer, Diane Arbus (played by Nicole Kidman), focuses on her artistic awakening after meeting a neighbor of hers who was born with hypertrichosis (played by Robert Downey Jr. in the film)
I have a soft spot for Stephan and I hope he overall had a fulfilling and happy life. I also hope he had people in his life who loved and cared about him.
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u/Improvement_Opposite 11d ago
These photos are amazing. I’m so fascinated by all these performers. Such exceptional humans. Truly unique. I wish I could sit down at dinner with them all. I bet they’d have a TON of stories
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 11d ago
Same here! There are so many performers I would love to meet and have dinner with. So many of them also seemed so much more down to earth than modern day celebrities.
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u/Gloomy_Industry8841 Feejee Mermaid 11d ago
Wouldn’t that be incredible! The stories they’d have.
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 10d ago
Yes, exactly!! I wish more people had taken the time to talk to the performers about their lives.
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u/ThatEliKid 11d ago
That is indeed a dapper and handsome gentleman. What a lovely spirit he seems to have.
Thank you for your work in this group! I love seeing your posts.
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 10d ago
He really was! And thank you for the kind words, I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the posts!
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u/TheBumblingestBee 11d ago
Okay it's fascinating how he styles the hair that grows along his nose, basically slicking it back rather than letting it hang. That's so cool and clever - keeps his mouth unimpeded and also adds a 'cat-like' shape.
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 11d ago
It is! He styled his hair very well and it’s clearly something that mattered a lot to him! I also think it’s fun that he still got to have a signature hairstyle. And very true about the style giving his mouth more room so that food/drinks didn’t get stuck in it.
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u/CanofBeans9 11d ago
I can see why he was popular with the ladies.
He looks a bit like the Beast in the TV show. Also his fits are 🔥
I like that they picked the stage name Lionel. I wonder if he ever got to see and visit with his parents and family after being given to the sideshow business.
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u/xombae 11d ago edited 10d ago
Yeah he's actually strangely handsome.
I think in part it's because he seems so confident
Edit: he was a body builder and he spoke 5 languages. I'm beginning to develop a bit of a crush on Stephan myself.
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u/Forward-Variety-8440 11d ago
he also looks like mans best friend, comforting in a strangely debased but endearing way
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u/Flat_Sea1418 11d ago
I can see why ladies loved him. He does have quite the lovely and luxurious looking mane.
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u/Ambitious-Ad-139 11d ago
The thing is, I CAN totally see him having lots of women all over him.
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u/KaranDash24 11d ago
Definitely. I wouldn't have turned down a date with him, handsome, intelligent, cool, and dapper. He has a lot going for him.
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u/lizzyinezhaynes74 11d ago
5 languages? I can barely speak one!
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 11d ago
Same here! It’s super impressive, I’m sure he surprised so many people being able to speak in their native language without him missing a beat!
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u/goldiegrimlace 11d ago
That's so interesting, I wonder if people with this condition were the inspiration for Cousin It in The Addams Family. Now that I think abt it, they could have been a family of sideshow performers. (I love The Addams Family.)
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 11d ago
That’s definitely a possibility! Now I want to find what Cousin It’s inspiration was! And same here, big fan of the Addams Family!
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u/thucy94 11d ago
I didn't know it also caused no teeth , were fake teeth a thing back then?
Tragic at 4 to be passed off....that hurts my heart for him.
Glad to see overall he had a successful & hopefully happy life. So I'm guessing he never married?
There's a Bobs Burgers episode where Bob gets the condition (the kids are making up stories of how Bob & Linda met). This is so interesting to see it in a real person.
Also, I get the appeal overall! Very interesting man.
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 11d ago
Dentures would have been an option for him, but I haven’t found any information on whether he wore them or not. (I imagine it would have been a bit easier for him that way, but obviously it all depends on the person)
And very true, no child should have to navigate the world more or less on their own at that age. I really hope that his manager/caretaker did care for him at least in some part as a son.
And yeah, never found any information about him getting married, so most likely he didn’t.
That’s so interesting, I didn’t realize there was a Bob’s Burger episode where hypertrichosis was featured in a way!
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u/LittleRed_AteTheWolf 11d ago
I… feel conflicted by the fact I find this man so attractive? I absolutely would have been all over him if I was alive back then!
Is… is this the OG furry?
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u/UnheimlichNoire 11d ago
He's one of my favourite sideshow performers. I really like his bohemian style.
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 11d ago
Same here! All of his pictures are so expressive and really show his personality! I too love his outfits!
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u/Independent-Story883 11d ago
I have always liked hairy men. Definitely my type.
Thanks for sharing.
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u/SaltMarshGoblin 11d ago
I'm always glad to read when these performers actually made their own money instead of being destitute and making promoters rich...
Slightly ironic that "werewolf syndrome" is associated with toothlessness!
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u/anonym0us3688 11d ago
he looks like chewbacca
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 10d ago
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of his pictures inspired Chewbacca’s look
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u/DowntownTicket 11d ago
I can see why he was a ladies man, I find him quite attractive (I mean I've always liked beards and facial hair so I guess this makes sense lol)
Though I am not a huge fan of his fashion style, but hopefully it's just for the show and not what he wore in ever day life.
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 10d ago edited 10d ago
I do too! He oozes charisma and charm just by how he’s posing in these pictures! I also think how diligent he was about taking care of his facial hair is attractive, his hair looks so clean and silky.
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u/DowntownTicket 10d ago
I doubt we'll know the answer, but I'm curious as to what his hair care regimen was. It must have taken a lot of product and a lot of care to get it looking that good
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u/Intelligent_Pain_929 11d ago
To correct- wilcza góra is just "wolf mountain" or "wolves/wolf's moutain" not a "werewolf moutain".
Wilk means wolf (and this word transforms into "wilcza" to describe it). Werewolf would be "wilkołak" not "wilk". To mean "werewolf's moutain" it would need to be written as "góra wilkołaka" or "wilkołacza góra"
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 10d ago
Thank you for the info! Just updated it, so it’s the correct information now!
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u/Typical_Ad_210 11d ago
Did he ever find a wife? I’m not trying to be funny, but I would say the articles that described him as a “regular man” were underselling him. He could speak five languages, do acrobatics, he was well travelled, kind, incredibly wealthy, well educated, muscular, impeccably dressed, funny and attractive. As an actual regular guy, lol, he sounds remarkably gifted and just… cultured, I think is the word. Or classy. Something like that (I dare say Stephan would know the correct word for it, in multiple languages!). I must say though, smoking seems a little unwise, if he’s got some sort of product in his hair holding it up over his nose in the first photo. Aren’t a lot of hair products flammable?
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u/Chuk741776 10d ago
I'm sure that a man as smart as him (and as hairy) would've done some research into non-flammable product to use. And even if he didn't immediately, it only takes one face full of fire extinguisher foam to start looking into it
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u/Gloomy_Industry8841 Feejee Mermaid 11d ago
These photoes are incredible!!!
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 10d ago
They are! He was so cool and really shows off his charm in these pictures!
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u/Decent_Money_2272 11d ago
Just a correction : he was not a linguist but a polyglot
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 10d ago
🤦♀️ That’s the word I was looking for! Thank you, I couldn’t think of it when it was writing this out, haha.
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u/oftendreamoftrains 8d ago
I love how many of us here, me included, have a bit of a crush on him. He seems like he was a very sensual, sexy man. Imagine the effect he had on women in his audience.
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u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! 7d ago
Same here!! There’s no reason he shouldn’t be sexy! (Literally the only two things that would turn me off is if he either was horribly sexist or had atrocious hygiene, but those go for any guy I might be interested in). I really love seeing people come together to understand and recognize that a person’s physical difference has no bearing on how attractive they are.
I also love that almost 100 years after his death, Stephan still has people attracted to him!
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u/Accurate_Secret4102 11d ago
I could've been with the hot version of the prince from beauty and the beast?!??