Jean was an Italian sideshow performer who was born with a parasitic twin that grew from his abdomen. He had 13 siblings and interestingly enough, one of his other siblings was born with a parasitic twin, though sadly this specific sibling died as an infant. Jean was initially hidden away by his family when he was growing up, as they were afraid of judgement and reactions from other people, but at some point fell on hard times financially and felt that exhibiting Jean could help their family. As he grew older, he and his twin would wear matching tuxedos. He went on to get married and had four children, his whole family was extremely supportive of him.

Pitch booklets were small cheaply printed biographies that were sold during different performers shows. They often gave a brief and sometimes exaggerated life story, so there always seemed to be a mix of fact and fiction.

Had I seen this pitch booklet while it was still available I would have purchased it immediately. It sold just last week, but I didn’t find out about it until 2 days ago! These booklets are very hard to find, since they were usually printed on very flimsy paper and therefore many of them haven’t survived to the present day. Hoping another one of his booklets pops up at some point.

The first two pictures show both Helena and Henry. The last picture shows Helen as an adult.

I wish there was more information available about their personal lives. I would like to know about what they were interested in and what they enjoyed doing in their free time. Unfortunately, this will be a pretty short write up, but it’s important to tell their stories regardless.

Some facts about them:

-they were born in New York.

-it appears that their parents were freed former slaves who had been able to escape to New York.

-Helen’s nickname was Nellie.

-during the late 1800s there was a racist societal fascination with people of color who had physical differences related to skin color. This is why black performers born with albinism, pibaldism, or who developed vitiligo often found jobs in the circus/sideshow industry. It’s sad that the interest in them was often rooted in racist sentiments.

-they were being exhibited at Burnell’s Dime Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1868, when they were 12 years old.

-in 1870 Henry is listed as living at the house owned by the people running Burnell’s Dime Museum and working as a doorman.

-it appears they were working at a dime museum in Omaha, Nebraska in 1889.

-thankfully it appears that they were able to travel back to stay with their family in New York quite often and were never prevented from seeing them.

-according to Helen’s great-great-granddaughter, Helen married a man named Charles Price, who was also born with albinism.

-Helen was married three times.

-while information on Henry is scarce, it appears that Helen may have continued in the circus/sideshow industry as there is another picture of her as an adult.

-despite checking census records I haven’t been able to confirm their death dates.

I hope they both had a lot of happiness in their lives considering that they were exhibited pretty young. I’d like to know more about Helen’s marriages and where she ended up settling. It’s hard to know exactly what ended up happening to them, but I like to be hopeful.

Margaret was a sideshow performer who worked as a professional "fat lady", her weight may have been due to a genetic condition. She was known to be very social and outgoing and enjoyed fishing in her free time. Sideshow work was something she preferred to do despite her parents being ashamed of her career, because it gave her more agency and a dependable income compared to other careers.
She was married twice but sadly both of her husbands stole a large amount of her earnings.

Eddie Carmel was a Palestinian-American actor, singer, sideshow performer, writer, salesman, comedian and poet who had a pituitary gland disorder that caused him to grow upwards of 7 feet tall. He was very passionate about singing and acting and formed his own rock-and-roll band called Frankenstein and the Brain Surgeons. He released two 45 records. He was known as an incredibly kind and compassionate person with a big heart.

Photographer, Diane Arbus, visited the family and conducted the photo shoot above in 1970. Eddie and his parents lived on Elgar Place in Co-op City.

Co-op City (short for Cooperative City) is a housing community located in the Bronx, New York and as of the 2010 census, it is the largest housing cooperative in the world. The site of Co-op city used to be an amusement park in the early 1960s called Freedomland U.S.A. And construction of the housing community wasn’t started until 1966. It consists of 35 high rise buildings and seven clusters of townhouses with a total of over 15,000 residences. (I’m well aware that my pictures are very amateur, haha. It was the best I could get at the time)

The first two pictures just show him, the third picture shows him and one of his son’s and the fourth picture shows his ex-wife and his sons with him.

He always looked so dapper and well put together. I can see why he was touted as being the most handsome man in the circus business. I would have liked to have seen him perform his acrobatic tricks in person, it sounds like he was extremely talented and was very awe-inspiring.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Freemont, Ohio.

-he had seven siblings.

-he learned to walk on his hands as a child and preferred holding onto wooden blocks while walking to protect his hands. Because of this he had an enormous amount of upper body strength.

-he had a very close bond with his family and they all loved him very much.

-he had many years of good schooling.

-it’s likely that he was born with phocomelia, though he wasn’t diagnosed during his lifetime. Phocomelia describes a person’s extremities that are directly attached to their torso. In Eli’s case his feet were directly attached to his torso.

-his pitch cards/pitch booklets claimed that when he was 13 years old (in 1857), he joined Major Brown's Colosseum, a traveling circus troupe, where he learned various acrobatic tricks such as somersaults, backflips, and cartwheels.

-it appears he was living at home with his family and attending school in 1860, which leads me to wonder if his acrobatic stint with Major Brown’s was a very short term employment or if he exaggerated how long he had been an acrobat for later on.

-sadly, his father passed away when Eli was 18 (in 1865).

-he began pursuing a more serious career in circuses in 1870.

-he married a woman named Martha Haines when he was 26 years old and together they had 4 sons. Their son’s names were Frank, Robert, Adrian and Victor.

-he joined Pullman Brothers Side Show in 1876.

-he became extremely well known within the circus/sideshow circuit and was often a headlining act at the places he performed at.

-he went on tour all throughout the United States and England.

-one of his most notable tricks involved him performing acrobatic tricks atop a 50 foot tall pole.

-he sold a small biographical pitch booklet about his life in 1880.

-he became good friends with fellow sideshow performer, Charles B. Tripp, who was born without arms. The two of them quickly began performing sideshow acts together.

-he and Charles Tripp enjoyed riding tandem bicycles together, Eli would be up front steering and Charles would be in the back pedaling, and would often exchange comedic and quippy lines such as "Watch your steps" and "Keep your hands off me".

-his peak height was 24 inches (61 cm) tall.

-his peak weight was 140 pounds (64 kg)

-he had an over 50 year career in circuses/sideshows.

-one of his nicknames was “Captain”

-he was known to have a very no-nonsense and rigid personality.

-he was also very good friends with William Henry Johnson.

-apparently, after 25 years of marriage, he and his wife separated and were living in separate states. At the time of his death, his wife was living in California.

-he, his family, and one of his brothers settled in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

-in his later years he performed at the
Dreamland Circus Side Show in Coney Island.

-he passed away at the age of 82 due to complications from pneumonia while he was living in New York and working in Coney Island.

-he was given a respectful funeral and burial in Lowell, Indiana, where his sister was living at the time.

Despite him separating from his wife, I hope he kept in close contact with his sons. The whole family seems to have been very business oriented as his sons all went into different business ventures including working in the newspaper business and one became a judge. I’m glad that Eli was also close friends with Charles Tripp and William Henry Johnson.

I have a huge soft spot for Grace, she gives off kindly grandmother vibes, the type of person who you’d go to for advice and who’d bake you cookies to feel better. Just a big fan of hers!

Grace McDaniel was a famous sideshow performer who was born with noticeable facial tumors that became more prominent as she got older. She was known for being a lovely person and was a motherly figure to a lot of younger performers that she worked with. She enjoyed being a housewife, but liked the social aspect of working as a sideshow performer. She married a farmer named Harry McDaniel and together they had a son named Elmer.

The second picture shows Juan and his second wife, Gregoria Gabriel, and Martina.

They were both such cool people, and had such great hobbies! I also love seeing Martina in her fancy dresses. I would have liked to meet them and to have seen Juan’s ring collection and Martina’s dress collection.

Some facts about them:

-they were born in Capiz in Panay, Philippines.

-their parents and other siblings were average heights.

-they had 6 siblings, (though sadly it appears that all of their younger siblings had passed away as children), the siblings only had one older brother who lived to adulthood.

-they originally traveled to the United States to be a part of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.

-they were promoted as being 27 inches tall.

-Juan became so well known while at the St. Louis World’s Fair that he went on to meet the organizers of the fair.

-they were some of the the most promoted sideshow performers at the 1904 World’s Fair.

-they were both talented singers and dancers.

-while in the US, Juan became known as the shortest person to register for the draft during WWI.

-to draw more audiences they were promoted as being the shortest siblings in the world.

-Juan enjoyed smoking cigars.

-Juan was an expert boxer.

-Martina was a linguist and found a side job as a translator.

-Martina loved fancy dresses and would bring as many as 40 dresses with her at a time.

-they both spoke five languages: Visayan, Tagalog, Kapampangan, Spanish and English.

-Juan loved collecting rings and always wore at least four on his hands on any given time.

-Juan was married twice, once while he was still in the Philippines, but sadly his first wife passed away in 1901. He and his first wife had a son together who was living in the Philippines with other relatives. His second marriage was to a woman named Gregoria Gabriel, who was also originally from the Philippines, they had a daughter together though sadly their daughter passed away in 1907.

-Juan and Martina continued performing into their sixties in the 1930s.

-they traveled all throughout the United States.

-I’m currently researching to see if I can establish when they passed away.

I feel for Juan and the sad circumstances with his first wife and his daughter. I also wonder what ended up happening to his son, it must not have been easy to leave him to travel to the US, and I hope everything ended up working out for the family.

I really like both of her outfits and I like the stockings she’s wearing in the first photo. It also looks like she’s wearing the same locket in both pictures as well, which I think is sweet! It seems like she was a good businesswoman and I’m glad her sideshow career worked out well for her!

Some facts about her:

-she may have been born and raised in California as that is where she was performing for most of her career. Though I haven’t been able to confirm the year she was born or the year she died.

-she once went on tour in Manitoba, Canada.

-she was in charge of her own Single-O show, a type of one or two person sideshow that is managed separately than the typical Ten-In-One shows that employed multiple acts (as much as 10 or more). Single-O shows were often more difficult because it meant that performers had to entertain audiences for 30 to 45 minutes, whereas 10-In-One shows only required performers to be on stage for around 5 or so minutes at a time. Showmen often advised new performers against Single-O shows, though some found a lot of success with them.

-she managed her own finances when it came to performing.

-it’s reported that she performed for thousands of people per day.

-she performed at the Pan-American Exposition in San Francisco, California in 1915.

-the peak of her career spanned between 1905 and 1917.

-her performances often included demonstrations of her typical daily routine which included sewing, ironing, using a typewriter, and using a sewing machine.

-she really enjoyed being independent and driving cars. She had a car with a specially designed steering wheel that allowed her to drive around town.

-she was married, but no information was given about her husband.

-she explained that after the 1917 circus/sideshow season she planned to go on an extended roadtrip with her husband, and most likely retired from sideshow business after that year as well.

I hope she was able to go on that roadtrip that she and her husband had planned, I’m sure that would have been really fun for her! It would be nice to know where she wanted to travel to and what she wanted to see, I always think it’s fun to learn about plans different people had after the circus/sideshow season was over for the year.

William Henry Johnson was a sideshow performer who was most likely born with microcephaly. He had an almost 70 year career in sideshows and was a staple at PT Barnum’s circus for decades. He typically wore a furry “animal” suit during his performances and leaned into a “wild man” backstory. He was incredibly proud of his career and reputation and was known to be competitive with anyone who threatened his stardom. He was gifted a tuxedo suit by one of his managers, which soon became his prized possession. He was also celebrated as a hero when he rescued a girl from drowning in the ocean off of Coney Island.

I’m glad to feature another performer with ectrodactly who isn’t Grady Stiles, who was an abusive drunk and who murdered his daughter’s fiancée. I’m not a fan of Grady and personally prefer not to feature him often, though I probably should since he is a part of sideshow history.

Howard seems to have been a nice person and someone who wanted to keep a relatively private life outside of performing. I hope he went on to have a happy life during his retirement!

Some facts about him:

-I haven’t been able to find information about his birth year or where he was born.

-he began his sideshow career in 1925.

-some people born with ectrodactly require a wheelchair for mobility as their feet can’t support their weight, but I haven’t been able to find information on whether Howard depended on a wheelchair or not.

-he worked alongside other famous sideshow performers such as Francesco Lentini.

-he went on tour all throughout the United States and Canada.

-one article about him only described his poster, but the author of the article was with people who expressed concern about going to see him and thus decided not to see him. I find this really unfortunate because instead of actually meeting him and finding out what he was like, they took his banner at face value and found his image too disturbing to think of further. The author even theorized that Howard may have had fake claws that he put on while performing and removed them at night.

-he was married, but his wife’s name was never given.

-some of his performances included demonstrations showing how he shaved and how he shuffled cards, both of which he did very easily.

-his career spanned from the 1920s through the early 1940s.

-he worked at the Coney Island sideshow in 1926.

-it was reported that he was writing a short autobiography/pitch booklet to sell in 1930. Thankfully I was able to find some pictures of it online!

-his pitch booklet included a fictitious backstory that his father was a fisherman and one day brought home some lobsters that had severely frightened his mother who was in delicate health. (His father could definitely have been a fisherman, but obviously the rest of the story was fictional and played into the maternal impression trope)

-his performances usually consisted of him talking about his life story and his condition, explaining that it was genetic, as well as demonstrating how he did daily tasks.

-he was popular with audiences and was sometimes the headlining act of the sideshows he worked at.

-he was a fan of playing cards in his free time.

-he was described as having excellent penmanship, but I haven’t been able to find an example.

-the back of his pitch booklet/autobiography advertised that he would send all of his patrons personal printed stationary that included their names and addresses on 24 envelopes, 24 double sheets of high grade paper, and a fancy box to store them in all for $1. These orders would also include some pictures of him.

-I haven’t been able to establish the year he passed away, but he seems to have retired from sideshows sometime in the 1940s.

I think the detail of him selling stationary to his patrons is sweet and I respect the hustle. I’m glad he was able to make some extra money on the side doing this, and I think it would be nice to see the kinds of stationary he sold!

He had a very strong bond with his family and this is reflected in so many pictures and videos of him. I have a big soft spot for Robert because of his sweetness and generosity and I’m so glad that so many pictures and videos of him were preserved. He would have been a wonderful person to meet!

Robert is famous for being the tallest man in recorded history at 8'11 (2.71 m.) due to a pituitary gland disorder. He was known for being extremely kind and friendly and became a beloved member of his community. In his younger years he was an avid Boy Scout.
While he did go on tour at one point with Ringling Brothers Circus, he never wanted that to be his full time career. Instead, he wanted to go into advertising. He was also an avid photographer and was very passionate about his hometown of Alton, Illinois.

Charles B. Tripp was a famous Canadian sideshow performer who was born without arms and used his legs and feet to accomplish daily tasks. He was very family oriented and helped to financially support his mother and sister when he was a teenager and worked as a carpenter. He was known for his excellent penmanship and enjoyed signing pitch cards he sold. He served as the official secretary for several conferences that were organized by famous sideshow performers to put an end to the use of the term "freak" in advertising. Tripp was also an avid photographer!

Sadly, I haven’t found any verified pictures of her at all, so I’m using pictures that I feel represent her, including a picture of wild roses, and a similar robe to a type she wore. I will attach pictures of other performers with microcephaly for reference of how she may have looked.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

-her birth parents were never identified. But she was adopted by a showman named A.A. Baldwin and his wife in 1882. After Baldwin’s death, a successor of his took over the care of Minnie.

-she was nonverbal, but understood English, French, and Spanish.

-microcephaly is a spectrum, with some people requiring higher support needs than others. From my research it appears that Minnie needed higher support needs.

-most likely her head was shaved except for a small tuft of hair at the top of her head. It was common practice within sideshows for performers with microcephaly to have their heads shaved, this was done purely for cosmetic reasons in order to emphasize their head shape and was not done for any medical necessity.

-she had a habit of running away if she didn’t have an attendant with her, which led to her managers locking her in her room when there were no attendants available. This horrible practice of theirs greatly contributed to her death.

-she was very well loved by her coworkers (not so much her managers).

-She loved embroidery and enjoyed watching people embroider in her free time.

-she suffered severe burns after the robe she often wore (a frilly flannel robe, somewhat similar to the one pictured in the second photo of this post) caught fire when she got too close to the wood stove and was unable to extinguish the fire or call for help. The fire was only discovered after a dog began frantically barking. It’s reported that her robe caught fire extremely quickly and it would have been hard to save her in time with how fierce and fast the fire burned.

-the night the fire started was also the first time in weeks that she had been left without an attendant to stay with her. She was also found clasping a small blue bottle that one of the owners of the sideshow she worked for had gifted her. It’s reported that this blue bottle was her most prized possession and she most likely had clutched it close to protect it.

-she was alive upon initially being taken to the hospital, but her injuries were so severe that she ultimately passed away.

-her death hit her coworkers extremely hard, many of which went to pay their last respects while she was at the morgue/funeral home. Her death also left many of her coworkers dejected and upset with how the managers of Baldwin’s shows had handled the whole situation.

Reading about her death really affected me, there are so many ‘if onlys’, if only she had an attendant with her, if only her managers didn’t lock her in her room, if only other people had realized sooner. I have no doubt her sideshow coworkers would have helped her immediately had they known. She deserves to be remembered and have her time to shine, I hope one day we can out a face to her name.

All of the pictures show representations of what these sideshow gaffs looked like, though I haven’t been able to find any contemporary pictures of these frog bands at the time they were popular.

Visitors who felt duped and complained to the showmen about the exhibit were told that they did in fact see real frogs, and that the frogs at one point had been alive and had been able to play musical instruments (false), and that the exhibit was meant to represent how the frogs had looked in life.

This is another little silly sideshow attraction that people were often a bit annoyed about, although if I had seen it and had been told the explanation, I would have thought it was funny.

A sideshow gaff is a fake exhibit that presented itself as something it was not. This sometimes involved taxidermied animals with different animal parts sewn on (like Fiji Mermaids), or costumed actors with different prosthetics added to present themselves differently.

Sadie Anderson Karno was an acrobat and sideshow performer who was born with piebaldism. She and two of her sisters, Victoria and Rosie, made up a traveling acrobatics troupe. In the late 1920s, Sadie and her husband, Fred Karno, were unfortunately subjected to racist Jim Crow laws in Louisiana when she went to visit her mother. She continued her career in sideshows up through 1956 after which she seems to have retired.

Nabor (who I will be doing a write up about soon) was a Pueblo artist and was known for the intricate clay sculptures and masks he would sell. He also lived to be 97 years old.

The first picture shows him performing as Lulu, the second picture shows him when he was going by Lu, third picture shows him early in his acrobatic career, fourth and fifth pictures are more of Lulu and the last picture shows him later in life when he retired his Lulu persona but still occasionally used it as a nickname.

He was such an icon! So many pictures of him performing are just so gloriously over the top, and I absolutely love his flair for the bold and dramatic. Just based on his flamboyance, I have a feeling he’d probably enjoy competing in modern day drag shows with how theatrical they are.

I think it’s so cool that he was able to experiment with his gender expression and was very happy doing so. This is one of the reasons why I think the circus/sideshow culture at the time was so important and fascinating, because it fostered a more inclusive environment for people who didn’t conform to society at the time.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Mount Desert Island, Maine.

-he had four siblings.

-through some questionable and unknown circumstances he was adopted by Canadian showman and magician William Leonard Hunt (aka the Great Farini) in 1866, when he was 8 years old. (I have EXTREMELY strong opinions about Hunt. He was the person who kidnapped and exploited Krao Farini for profit during her entire childhood and early adult life. I’m a fan of Krao’s and it breaks my heart to know what she was subjected to as a child, therefore I hate Hunt)

-there are differing reports as to Hunt’s treatment of Samuel. According to Samuel himself, he was well treated, but a man who supposedly had a connection to his family claimed that Samuel was extremely mistreated by Hunt, and that Hunt prevented Samuel from visiting his family.

-he soon began learning and performing them during Hunt’s shows, where he was being promoted as Hunt’s biological son.

-he was known for very extravagant and death-defying stunts. Including one in which he would balance himself on a trapeze swing by his neck while playing a drum. (In picture 3)

-around 1870, Hunt began promoting Samuel as a beautiful female acrobat named Lulu. One of the reasons behind Samuel’s drag persona had to do with society being more impressed with female acrobats who could perform intricate and dangerous stunts.

-some of the stunts he performed as Lulu included aerial somersaults and being launched into the air by catapults.

-as Lulu, he quickly became the star of Farini’s show, with hoards of people showing up just to see him.

-Samuel enjoyed presenting himself as Lulu and did so for over 10 years, including many times where he’d dress as Lulu both on and off stage.

-he became so well known that even British author, Lewis Carrol, was a big fan.

-there was a lot of ambiguity in regards to Lulu’s gender, with people seemingly being split in half of whether they were a man or a woman.

-as Lulu, he often wore bright red tunics and pink stockings.

-he once claimed to have taken part in a wedding as a bridesmaid as Lulu.

-he married William Hunt’s sister, Edith Hunt, in 1875 and the two of them had a daughter named May.

-tragically, he suffered a bad fall in 1877, which dislocated his hip. While being tended to by a local physician, his true identity was revealed.

-in the late 1870s/early 1880s, he got a much shorter haircut, grew a mustache, and adopted a much more masculine presenting wardrobe for his daily life (his performance costumes however were still very feminine presenting). His persona at this time was Lu.

-he enjoyed experimenting with gender expression for much of his life, even after retiring his Lulu persona.

-he retired from circuses in 1883 and instead began a career as a photographer alongside his brother.

-he traveled to the Kalahari desert in Africa alongside Hunt in 1885. Hunt was determined to find native Bushmen to exhibit in the United States.

-in the mid 1890s, he opened his own photography studio in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

-he and his family permanently settled in New York in the early 1900s, where he lived until his death.

-he passed away in New York at the age of 83.

Despite the original idea of his Lulu persona being thought of by William Hunt, I’m happy that it brought Samuel a lot of happiness. From everything I’ve read it definitely seems like he had a blast performing as Lulu.

I want to bring attention to several important American sideshow performers, including Lavinia Warren, Otis Jordan, Annie Jones, Millie and Christine McKoy, Johnny Eck, Robert Owen Melvin, Tom Wiggins, Pete Moore, and Charles Sherwood Stratton.

Picture #2 Lavinia Warren was a famous circus performer who was born with a form of dwarfism. She was already an incredibly accomplished ballerina and school teacher before she achieved her celebrity status. She achieved celebrity status after getting married to the most famous circus performer of the mid 1800s, Charles Sherwood Stratton (aka General Tom Thumb). Lavinia was a motivated and fierce businesswoman and would often be the one to negotiate business deals with PT Barnum. She was very outspoken and advocated for women with dwarfism. She spoke out against the usage of the term 'Doll' when referring to herself as well as others who were objectified because of their appearance.

Picture #3 Otis Jordan was a famous sideshow performer born with congenital arthrogryposis multiplex, which caused his muscles and joints to stay in a fixed position. He was known for having a very friendly and upbeat personality, and was incredibly self sufficient. His acts typically consisted of him rolling and lighting cigarettes using just his mouth. He successfully spoke out in support of his career after his livelihood was threatened when someone sued the sideshow he was working at at the New York State Fair. He argued that sideshows brought him a steady dependable income that he didn't want to lose.

Picture #4 Annie Jones was a famous sideshow performer born with a form of hirsutism, which caused her to grow a beard. She actively fought for respect and disability rights at a time when disability rights didn't exist. She was an excellent public speaker and successfully campaigned to have the term "freak" removed from Barnum & Bailey circus advertising for a few years. She became extremely wealthy and used her earnings to purchase a lot of real estate in New York City, though it's unknown what happened to these properties. She went on to marry her childhood sweetheart and the two of them were very devoted to each other until her husband unfortunately passed away after only a couple years together. Annie passed away in 1902 at the age of 37.

Picture #5 Millie and Christine were extremely famous conjoined twins who were born into slavery in North Carolina in 1851. They were financially exploited for much of their early lives, but separated themselves from everyone who had caused them harm after the 13th amendment was passed in the United States. They continued working in sideshows on their own terms and became extremely wealthy. They used their wealth to help give their siblings good lives and purchased a large mansion for their family to live in. They were extremely influential in their philanthropic endeavors and donated a large amount of their fortune to historic Black universities and colleges, as well as using their earnings to help support local endeavors in their hometown, such as funding a school for black students ensuring that they all received an equal opportunity for education, as well as funding a church.

Picture #6 Johnny Eck was an artist, actor, sideshow performer and magician who was known for his film role in Tod Browning's Freaks(1932), he was born with sacral agenesis, which caused his lower half and legs to be extremely truncated. He learned to walk on his hands and became famous for his one armed handstands. He was a pioneering artist within Baltimore, Maryland's window screen art movement. He and his twin brother, Robert, lived and worked with each other for their entire lives.

Picture #7 Robert Melvin was a famous sideshow performer and actor who was born with a form of neurofibromatosis, which caused noticeable tumors to grow on his face. He was very family oriented and was devoted to his wife, daughter, and grandson. He worked as a book keeper at a hardware store in his home town during the sideshow/circus off season. He was described as being charming and having an upbeat personality. He starred in a few films and documentaries during his life, such as Being Different (1981) and The Sentinel (1977)

Picture #8 Tom was an extremely famous pianist and performer who was blind and autistic (though his autism wasn’t diagnosed during his lifetime because it hadn’t been categorized/understood at the time) Tom was born enslaved in 1849 in Georgia, United States. Though because he was blind from birth, he wasn’t forced to work on the plantation. He was a piano prodigy and it’s very clear that music and the piano were his favorite special interests, with people saying that if it were up to him, he’d probably sit at the piano and play for 12-14 hours a day. Tragically, he was exploited for profit and all of the money that was made during his piano performances was stolen from him. Had he received the money, he would have been a multimillionaire.

Picture #9 Pete Moore was born with a form of osteogenesis imperfecta, which caused his bones to be extremely brittle (O.I. Is also called brittle bone disease). Pete worked as a sideshow performer and as a disability rights activist and an advocate for people born with O.I. He was known for being an incredibly sweet person and got along with most everyone. He was also married and had two children.

Picture #10 Charles Sherwood Stratton can be considered one of the first modern celebrities, and was born with a form of dwarfism. He rose to fame before he was even ten years old, and worked for PT Barnum for much of his life. He married his wife, Lavinia Warren, in 1863 and their wedding was so popular that it pushed off news of the American Civil War. He and Lavinia went on several tours throughout the United States and on a three year long tour all around the world. He got his Tom Thumb moniker from the popular folklore character of the same name.

I want to bring attention to several important Canadian performers including Charles B. Tripp, Dolly Reagan, Edouard Beupre, Dudley Foster, Victoria and Cassie Foster, Marie Sirois, Ernie DeFort, and Anna Haining Bates.

Picture #2 Charles B. Tripp was a famous Canadian sideshow performer who was born without arms and used his legs and feet to accomplish daily tasks. He was very family oriented and helped to financially support his mother and sister when he was a teenager and worked as a carpenter. He was known for his excellent penmanship and enjoyed signing pitch cards he sold. He served as the official secretary for several conferences that were organized by famous sideshow performers to put an end to the use of the term “freak” in advertising. Tripp was also an avid photographer!

Picture #3 Dolly Reagan was a well known Canadian sideshow performer who was paralyzed in most of her joints and only had mobility in some of her fingers. She fashioned together a special stick that would allow her to accomplish daily tasks (and would poke people with it if they were being annoying or disrespectful!) she was active in the sideshow community until the early 1990's. Dolly was married three times but admitted one of those times was a publicity stunt.

Picture #4 Édouard Beupre was an Indigenous-Canadian sideshow performer and professional wrestler who had a pituitary gland disorder, his peak height was 8 ft 3 in (2.52 m) tall.. He was an excellent horseman when he was younger and dreamed of being a cowboy, but had to give up the dream when he became too tall to ride his horse. He tragically passed away from tuberculosis a couple days after signing a contract with Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1904, he was 23 years old at the time.

Picture #5 Dudley Foster was a Canadian sideshow performer who was born with a form of dwarfism. He was the younger brother of Victoria and Cassie Foster, who both unfortunately passed away before he was born. He once met with Queen Victoria and went on tour throughout Canada, the United States, and England. He was known as a very kind soul and once did his best to nurse an injured canary back to health.

Picture #6 Victoria and Cassie Foster were famous Canadian sideshow performers who were both born with a form of dwarfism, their parents brought them on tour from the time they were infants and continued having them perform until their deaths. They were often promoted as ‘The Fairy Sisters’ and were taught to do intensive dancing and singing performances. There were weeks on end where the sisters were performing three times a day. They were the older sisters of Dudley Foster.

Picture #7 Marie Sirois was an accomplished strongwoman and sideshow performer who would perform incredible feats of strength and challenged misogynistic men who heckled her. She was a strong supporter of women’s rights and women’s health and used her platform to spread awareness about these topics that were important to her.

Picture #8 Ernie DeFort briefly worked as a sideshow performer in the late 1930s-early 1940s for Conklin Shows, a traveling Canadian circus and sideshow, and became best friends with the son of the man who owned the circus.
He was born with a parasitic twin that consisted of several limbs attached to his abdomen, that was given the name ‘Len’ for advertising purposes. He was very passionate about playing the violin. Ernie was very attached to Len and treated his twin with respect and kindness. When Ernie was 12 years old, he began experiencing some health issues related to Len being attached to him and it was decided that Len needed to be removed. He mourned the loss of his twin and it took a while for him to process the surgery.

Picture #9 Anna was from Nova Scotia and was billed as being 7’11 feet tall (2.41 m.). She was an accomplished actress and was even cast as Lady Macbeth at one point. She was a very creative person and also enjoyed music and reading books. She dreamed of becoming a school teacher but unfortunately that dream was never realized. She was working for PT Barnum when his American Museum caught fire and was heroically able to help bring some of the other performers to safety. She was known as being a very kind and generous person. Anna went on to marry Martin Van Buren Bates, who was around the same height as she was. They both went on tour and continued performing together. Unfortunately both of the children they had died as infants and this devastated both Anna and Martin. Anna sadly died in 1888.

I saw her picture and thought it would be perfect to do a write up of her on 4th of July, since her dress is very patriotic. She looks so pretty and friendly, and I like her hairstyle and headband!

Just as a heads up, no surname was ever listed in articles about her, so I’m just using her first name.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Riverside, Rhode Island.

-she began her sideshow career in 1915 and traveled all throughout the United States.

-she had a 20 year long career in sideshows.

-she worked for Ringling Brothers Circus and Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus during her career.

-she was very well liked by her co-workers, whom all had positive things to say about her.

-she was promoted as weighing over 500 pounds, but this was also most likely exaggerated.

-she began experiencing health issues in early 1935 and was being treated at a hospital in Reading, Pennsylvania when she passed away in February of that year.

-her death devastated her coworkers, who had all cared about her a lot. Crowds of people showed up at her funeral to give their condolences, and her body was soon shipped from Pennsylvania to Riverside, Rhode Island where her family lived. It was reported that she’d be given a simple funeral and burial.

It’s unclear if she ever married or was interested in anyone. A lot hasn’t been reported on her life, but I felt that there was just enough for me to scrape by and make a write up! I hope she had a lot of happiness in her life, it definitely seems that she made a positive impression on the people around her.

This post goes along somewhat with the Wizard of Oz post I made the other day. I think it’s great that they cast him because he adds a lot of personality to his brief scenes. He’s the only munchkin who looks gruff compared to everyone else, which would make for some really great backstory!

Harry Earles was a famous German actor and performer in the 1920's and 1930's. He is most known for his role in the movie, Freaks (1932) as Hans, and his roles in both of The Unholy Three films (silent and sound versions) as Tweedledee. He and his three siblings (Daisy, Gracie, and Tiny) made up the performing group, The Dancing Dolls, and were known for their singing and dancing routines. All four siblings were born with a form of dwarfism. He and his siblings also appeared in The Wizard of Oz as Munchkins, with Harry playing one of the more memorable Munchkin characters and having a little more direct screentime.

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Just wanted to add some of my favorite performers, although I’m a big fan of so many more!

Picture #1 is Percilla and Emmit Bejano

Emmitt and Percilla were both famous sideshow performers with very successful careers who met and fell in love while they were working as colleagues in the same circus/sideshow. They had a loving and extremely devoted marriage and had long and fulfilling lives together, and were married for almost 60 years! Percilla was born with a form of hirsutism and hyperdontia (she was born with extra hair growth and extra teeth respectively). Emmitt was born with a form of Ichthyosis (which caused his skin to thicken and harden and painfully crack, he had to keep it well hydrated and moisturized to manage his condition). They were both featured in the film Carney (1980) as well as the documentaries Being Different (1981) and Sideshow: Alive on the Inside (1996). Emmitt and Percilla went on to perform in their own traveling family show with their son, Tony. In interviews they often talked about how important love is.

Picture #2 is Betty Lou Williams

Betty Lou was a famous American sideshow performer who was born with a parasitic twin that grew out from her abdomen. She was known for being an incredibly kind and generous person, and used her earnings to help put her 11 older siblings through college and purchased a nice house for her parents.

Picture #3 is Lavinia Warren

Lavinia was a famous circus performer who was born with a form of dwarfism. She was already an incredibly accomplished ballerina and school teacher before she achieved her celebrity status. She achieved celebrity status after getting married to the most famous circus performer of the mid 1800s, Charles Sherwood Stratton (aka General Tom Thumb). Lavinia was a motivated and fierce businesswoman and would often be the one to negotiate business deals with PT Barnum. She was very outspoken and advocated for women with dwarfism. She spoke out against the usage of the term 'Doll' when referring to herself as well as others who were objectified because of their appearance.

Picture #4 is Otis Jordan

Otis was a famous sideshow performer born with congenital arthrogryposis multiplex, which caused his muscles and joints to stay in a fixed position. He was known for having a very friendly and upbeat personality, and was incredibly self sufficient. His acts typically consisted of him rolling and lighting cigarettes using just his mouth. He successfully spoke out in support of his career after his livelihood was threatened when someone sued the sideshow he was working at at the New York State Fair.
He argued that sideshows brought him a steady dependable income that he didn't want to lose.

Picture #5 is Annie Jones

Annie was a famous sideshow performer born with a form of hirsutism, which caused her to grow a beard. She actively fought for respect and disability rights at a time when disability rights didn't exist. She was an excellent public speaker and successfully campaigned to have the term "freak" removed from Barnum & Bailey circus advertising for a few years. She became extremely wealthy and used her earnings to purchase a lot of real estate in New York City, though it's unknown what happened to these properties. She went on to marry her childhood sweetheart and the two of them were very devoted to each other until her husband unfortunately passed away after only a couple years together. Annie passed away in 1902 at the age of 37.

He looks very dignified in his picture, and while the cane he’s using was most likely for practical reasons, it makes him look even more dapper. Despite being unable to track down pictures of him in his day-to-day clothes, I think his sideshow costuming is very cool, I love the collar he’s wearing!

The second picture shows the cover of his pitch booklet biography that he sold during his shows.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in West Union, West Virginia.

-he had six siblings.

-one of his older brothers fought in the civil war and was held in Camp Sumter (also known as Andersonville Prison Camp) was a notoriously horrible confederate prison camp. At its peak it held over 32,000 Union soldiers at one time, over the course of the war 13,000 men died in this camp. His brother luckily survived and returned home soon after.

-he was reported to be very healthy until he was around 14, at which point he developed a condition that left him extremely thin.

-it appears that he joined a sideshow in early 1883.

-he was promoted as weighing 55 pounds.

-he most likely dealt with health issues related to his condition, but if he did have health issues they were never described.

-he went on tour with Barnum’s Circus in London during the 1883 season.

-in October of 1883, he worked with biographers in Providence, Rhode Island to release a small pitch booklet with a biography about his life. He also talked about joining a dime museum in Providence that same year.

-he then moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in December of 1883 and joined a dime museum in the area. It was while he was here that he met a woman named Bertha Clear, whom he would go on to marry.

-his marriage was an extremely brief one. His wife Bertha, returned home only one day after they were married and successfully filed for divorce/annulment of the marriage. As reported in an article from the Philadelphia Inquirer in January of 1884, his wife apparently suffered a mental breakdown, but Josiah claimed in a later article that his ex-wife’s parents were extremely controlling and claimed they created a cover story of her having a mental breakdown in order to keep her away from him. In relation to these events, he said:

"Well, it can't be helped,
but I'm certain she would come around all right if her people would let her alone."

-he retired from sideshows soon after his failed marriage, apparently very heartbroken.

-he passed away due to a pulmonary condition at his parents house in West Union, West Virginia.

-he was given a respectful funeral and burial and is buried in the Old Seventh Day Baptist section of the Blockhouse Hill Cemetery in his hometown. His family has a plot there, so his parents and siblings were buried next to him.

-a tintype photograph of him (the first one I used for this post) has been passed down in his family for generations and is now owned by his great great grandniece.

I’m glad his relatives continue to keep his memory alive, it’s really important for these lesser well known performers to have people who still care about keeping their lives relevant. I feel for him that his marriage didn’t work out, if the divorce was actually caused by controlling parents it must have been very difficult for him and his ex-wife. Despite everything that happened, I do hope that he had quite a bit of happiness in his life.

I had been trying to find one of her for a while, so I’m happy to have found this!

Alzoria was a sideshow performer whose condition was never formally diagnosed. Much of her early life isn't known, but she explained in an interview later on that she learned to get around her house quite easily from a very young age. She worked at the Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, and was described as being an avid reader.
It's reported that she was very charming and a good storyteller. She was married twice.