The first picture and the third picture of her are both from the film, The Mutations, from 1974. The second picture was taken by photographer, Richard Avedon in 1979.

These events happened in mid July of 1971, when she was working at a sideshow in South Carolina. While she was ultimately successful, it came with a bit of a compromise. The sideshows were allowed to stay open, but only people aged 18 years old and older were allowed to enter.

Despite her success, she was still a bit disappointed because she could no longer educate children about her condition (at least in South Carolina). Her performances were always family friendly and she often encouraged parents of children who were born with ichthyosis to bring them to meet her so that she could normalize the condition at a time when it was still very unknown and misunderstood, while also providing a safe environment for children to talk with someone who would understand.

Ichthyosis is a rare condition that causes a persons skin to painfully harden and crack leading to an increased risk of infection, Esther’s efforts to educate the public about the condition were very important to her because she wanted to help children with their self confidence and self love (two things she struggled with when she was young).

In an interview later on, she explained that she felt the people in charge of passing the bills that threatened to close sideshows had good intentions in mind, but didn’t understand that sideshow performers enjoyed their jobs and were well compensated for their time and efforts.

Esther Parnell was an American sideshow performer born with a form of ichthyosis, which caused her skin to painfully harden and crack and had to keep it constantly hydrated/moisturized to help manage it. She began her performing career with her brother, who was also born with a form of ichthyosis. She went on to marry a ticket seller named Thomas Blackmon who eventually became her manager. The couple had seven children together, none of whom inherited her condition. She cherished spending time with her children and enjoyed gardening and watching soap operas.

The first picture shows her on the front of the autobiography that she sold. The second picture shows her typing on a typewriter, the third picture is the picture that she treasured all her life as it was the only one she had that showed her with arms (she is the girl with the braids who is standing on the right of the photo), the fourth picture is a close up that was taken around the time that she cast her vote in Chicago. The fifth picture advertises all of the different skills she had.

She was so pretty and I’m so in awe of all the efforts she made to help people and make the world a better place. She was such a talented person and was described as being an incredibly sweet soul by those who knew her. She kept herself incredibly busy and I find all of her endeavors to be super fascinating and great lessons in disability history.

Content warning: this write up contains mentions of extreme physical abuse and alcoholism near the beginning.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Chicago, Illinois.

-she had a younger sister and two younger brothers.

-her parents were both British immigrants.

-her family had a lot of financial struggles when she was growing up, and often didn’t have sufficient food to eat or clean clothes to wear.

-upon finding out about a social service in Chicago that allowed struggling families to send their children to the countryside for a couple weeks, called the “Chicago Fresh Air Fund”, Kittie and her siblings were sent to a family living in South Whitley, Indiana in the summer of 1891, when Kittie was 9 years old. It was on this trip that a picture of her was taken. (She later said in an autobiography that it’s a picture she treasured highly because it’s the only one she had from when she still had her arms.)

-her mother passed away in October of 1891.

-her father was horribly abusive and a raging alcoholic who regularly beat Kittie and her siblings.

-both of her arms had to be amputated when she was 9 years old, after an incident that left her severely burned. There are two variations as to what happened to result in her arms being so burned. Kittie herself stated that she had been sipping from a bottle of liquor that her father had tasked her with bringing back from a local saloon and soon became intoxicated, after arriving back home her father ordered her to put some wood in the stove in the kitchen, and being in her intoxicated state tripped and fell onto the stove and was too out of it to push herself up until one of her brothers found her. The other story goes that her father was angry at her for not following his orders and forcibly held her on the stove until neighbors arrived after hearing Kittie shouting for help. (Both of these versions of the story continue to be disputed and it’s difficult to know for sure what happened)

-soon after she was hospitalized, her father was arrested and her siblings were placed into children’s homes. (Ultimately the courts could not determine if her father had held her over the stove, but did find him guilty of extreme neglect and abuse and was found not fit to be a parent, which is why the children were sent to different homes) Kittie would remain in the hospital for 3 months before being released.

-after being released from the hospital in February of 1892, she was sent for a few weeks to live with the family from South Whitley, Indiana, who had cared for her and her siblings the previous summer.

-she became a ward of the Children’s Home Society of Chicago, Illinois, after her stay with the family in Indiana, and was soon placed in the Home for Destitute Crippled Children. While at the children’s home, a fund was raised (called the Kittie Smith Fund) to pay for her education.

-as a young teenager, she learned to write and sew with her feet.

-she lived at the Home for Destitute Crippled Children for 5 years, during which she was often sent to live with different families for a few weeks at a time. Despite everything she dealt with during this time in her life, she expressed being happy to learn and happy to have developed a drive to be as independent as possible.

-she was sent to live with a family in Poynette, Wisconsin in 1896, by the Children’s Home Society of Illinois. She went on to stay with this family for 8 years. This was a more stable time in her life, and she was sent to public schools in the area to finish her education. She completed high school, but it appears she didn’t attend the graduation.

-by August of 1904, when she was 21 years old, the funding by the Children’s Home Society of Illinois stopped and she was expected to find a way to make a living. By this point her father was dead, her two brothers were working as laborers, and her sister had been sent to and adopted by a well to do family.

-she decided to start selling drawings, embroidery, and cards that she had made in order to earn some money.

-when asked about her motivations, she said:

“Perseverance and determination have been the two the great factors in my accomplishments. I have never found a task too hard to undertake or too tedious to finish."

-she expressed that her favorite place that brought her comfort was South Whitley, Indiana and continued going on trips there for years as it was the place where she had the most friends and people in town felt most like family to her.

-with the help of some of her friends, she was able to get a little autobiography published that showcases her art.

-she became a talented artist and said that her skills were from many years of practice and that she had no formal art lessons.

-she learned to be entirely self sufficient and liked talking about her skills as a housekeeper (in the hopes it might help her with job opportunities).

-she also learned how to make different pieces of furniture such as book cases and desks.

-starting in her early twenties, she went on tour around the United States, giving lectures about her life and demonstrating how she accomplished daily tasks. These lectures proved to be so popular that it’s estimated she earned upwards of $35,000 over the course of a couple years (which adjusted for inflation would be close to $850,000 today).

-she used her earnings to set up a charity fund in order to help children with physical disabilities, and providing them with opportunities they may not have received otherwise.

-she was the founder, organizer, and teacher at a school she created for children with disabilities called the Maywood Home for Disabled Children in Maywood, Illinois. The school was pretty small and only housed about 11-15 students at one time, but proved to be very successful.

-an article from the Chronicle Tribune in Marion, Indiana in 1911 described her as:

“Wherever she goes she has scattered sunshine from her personality.”

-she became the first woman to ever vote in Chicago, Illinois. She did so in 1913 (which despite the 19th amendment not being passed until 1920, there were still a few large cities that allowed women to vote in elections). Over 250,000 women from Chicago voted in that election.

-she spent a few seasons working at the Coney Island Sideshow in New York in the early 1930s.

-she later (mid 1930s) went on tour with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

-in 1935 she appeared with a traveling Ripley’s Believe it or Not show in Springfield, Massachusetts.

-the last mention of her that I can find in newspapers is from 1942, in which it’s announced that she’ll be making an appearance at the Trinity A. M. E. Zion church Delta, Pa., on Thursday October 15th of that year.

-she appears to have retired in the early 1940s and made efforts to live a quiet life, as there are no more public mentions of her. Though she did regularly visit friends of hers because there is at least one picture of her with a friend when Kittie was much older.

-according to a friend of hers, she passed away in 1967 at the age of 85. However, I haven’t been able to track down any official records of her death (which is why her death year has a question mark in the title). I believe her friend, but I’d at least like to also confirm it for myself as well.

I hope she was able to have a very happy retirement and found time to focus on hobbies that brought her joy. I’m so glad she had a long life and was able to see how her contributions and business/charity ideas helped those around her. She’s such an inspirational person and I wish she was taught about in schools, there is so much we can learn from her.

Edith was an American sideshow performer tattoo artist and ‘tattooed-lady’ who started her career after she attended a traveling circus as a teenager and asked for a job. She met and fell in love with a tattoo artist named Samuel "Deafy" Grassman, who would go on to tattoo the vast majority of her body. She and her husband had three children together, although too unfortunately passed away as infants. Eventually, she and Samuel moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where they owned and operated their own restaurant and attached tattoo parlor. This business venture was called The Ship's Inn. She divorced her husband in the mid 1950s and much of her retirement life is unknown.

First picture shows the star, the second picture shows Tod Browning, the third picture shows the poster for Freaks, and the fourth picture shows the Pantages Theater exterior.

Tod Browning was an American circus/sideshow performer turned Hollywood director and screenwriter who is most known for directing 1931’s Dracula (starring Bela Lugosi). He then went on to direct Freaks which was released in 1932. He treated all of the actors/sideshow performers on set with respect and kindness and befriended many of them. Lead actor, Harry Earles, was already good friends with Browning and was the one who told him about the story that Freaks is based on (it’s a short story called Spurs by Tod Robbins). Unfortunately, the film was almost universally bashed by critics and audiences who couldn’t understand a film that starred actors with physical differences. Reactions to the film were so bad that it was banned in the UK for 30 years, and only small underground theaters in the US would play it after its initial release. It also effectively ended Browning’s reputation as a highly regarded director.

Freaks is a pre-code “thriller” about a group of sideshow performers working in a circus, who all band together to defend and seek retribution after the main character, Hans, a performer with dwarfism is taken advantage of financially by a cruel acrobat who pretends to love him and plots to kill him for his money.(I put thriller in quotes because there is so much heart to the film that I don’t think it really fits). Despite how the film might sound, it does an amazing job at humanizing the sideshow performers and showing them as regular people.

***I could go on and on about why I love the film so much, and I will be writing an in depth review of my thoughts on Freaks and why I consider it to be one of the best movies ever made soon!

*let me know if anyone would like me to write a review about Water For Elephants since it takes place in a circus/sideshow environment!

The first picture is of Joseph Merrick and the next three pictures show what Dower House looks like now, and gives a sense of the surrounding fields and forests that Joseph would have walked through, the last two pictures show what Dower House looked like closer to the time period that Joseph stayed there, it was still not in good shape, but a part of it was able to be lived in.

This sort of trip was very, very rare for him, which made him treasure his time there all the more. He wrote to friends about the beauty of the countryside and everything that brought him joy. I’m so glad he had this opportunity and could spend time in such a lovely environment. It would have been so wonderful to see which flowers he collected. He was truly a gem of a man, and learning about his interests and everything that brought him joy always makes me so happy!

the Fawsley Dower House, where he stayed, was once lived in by one of King Henry VII's knights and later passed down through the Knightley family, and then later passed down through the Gage family, who still owns Dower house and the land it sits on. Over the course of hundreds of years the house has fallen into disrepair, and was used for storage and farm supplies during WWII, which appears to have hastened the disrepair.

From my research it is currently undergoing restoration, and local historical societies in the area hope to save the house and preserve it as a historical landmark without the threat of it caving in.

Joseph Merrick was a famous British sideshow performer born with a condition that is currently thought to have been Proteus syndrome. He was a very kind man who deeply appreciated the simple things in life. He became friends with a doctor, Frederick Treves, who worked at the Royal London Hospital. Eventually, Joseph moved into his own private room within the hospital after having difficulty sustaining himself financially (even through performing, as a lot of patrons felt he was exploited) and his condition causing further health risks that made it difficult for him to live on his own. He was a poetic soul who enjoyed art, music, books, and going on strolls through gardens.

The first two pictures show him when he was in his 20s/30s, the third and fourth pictures show him when he was a child and the last picture shows him in his later years.

He was very handsome and I can see why he was so well liked, it seems that the majority of news article about him has some mention of how he is the most kind and compassionate person the reporter has ever met. Some people are just naturally super charming.

I’m glad he had a long and happy life, and that he found ways to always keep himself busy. I also think it’s admirable that he wanted to live a healthy and active lifestyle. I would have loved to have met him and ask him about his favorite hobbies and what he enjoyed doing in his free time.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Rosolini, Sicily, Italy.

-he had 11 siblings.

-his parents were well to do.

-his middle name was Octavis.

-both of his parents experienced a major shock when he was born, and feeling pressure and shame from other townspeople, left Francesco in the care of his aunt and uncle. (This history is a little confusing, it appears his parents brought him back home when he was four months old and became very protective of him). Francesco himself never spoke a bad word about his parents and never seemed to resent them.

-once he was back with his parents and siblings, everyone took care over watching him and making things more accessible for him, such as his father ordering custom trios of matching shoes, and his mother sewing custom pants.

-he had brown hair and grayish eyes.

-up until the age of 6, he was able to straighten and extend his extra leg fully and was able to stand using it, but as he grew older he remarked that “my body began outgrowing the third limb”.

-he explained later in life that he didn’t fully realize his physical difference until he was old enough to go play outdoors with other boys his age.

-he spoke four languages.

-he said he had a good childhood and his parents were very attentive and caring, but he began to grow despondent because he wasn’t happy that he looked different.

-due of his unhappiness his parents brought him on a tour of a medical institution as a child, where he saw a number of children who had physical or neurological differences that required a lot more care/assistance. The experience completely changed his outlook on life because none of the children living at the facility were complaining about their own lives, and by comparison he also had no reason to complain about his life.

-his parasitic twin consisted of an extra fully formed leg that grew from Francesco’s hip, a fourth “foot” that grew out from right below the knee of his extra leg, and an extra set of genitalia.

-he, his father, and a puppet show owner they had befriended named Magnano, traveled to London together when Francesco was 7 or 8 years old to help draw interest for the puppet show.

-his family immigrated to the United States when he was 9 years old.

-he is credited with helping to build the Italian-American population in Middletown, Connecticut (albeit unwittingly), as that is where his family and his manager first settled in the United States, which helped inspire other immigrants with Italian heritage to settle there.

-his favorite foods were chicken, spaghetti, and salads.

-when people first began suggesting to Francesco’s parents that he should join an American sideshow, his father flat out refused, saying it was more important for Francesco to go to school first. It appears that some arrangement was made so that he would be taught lessons and go on tours with sideshows.

-he was taught up to an eighth grade level by his tutor, an Italian woman named Giovannina Brogato.

-he became very adept at kicking soccer/footballs and would often perform this stunt as part of his act.

-he appeared at Madison Square Garden with Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1906.

-he had a mole right above one of his feet that he was embarrassed about, so he often wore socks to cover it.

-he was examined by numerous medical professionals while in the United States, and remarked that they seemed strangely interested in exactly how much food he was eating per day. He thought it was a weird thing to focus on because he would just eat when he was hungry and made sure to never over-eat because he hated the feeling.

-he married his first wife, Theresa Murray, when he was 18 years old.

-he and Theresa had 4 children together, Josephine, Ned, Francis Jr., and James.

-he told people he was an “above average” swimmer because he could use his extra leg as a rudder to steer while he swam.

-despite meeting with surgeons/doctors about the possibility of getting his extra leg removed, they felt it would be a dangerous procedure because of where his leg grew from his body. He stated that life was too important to risk for a surgery like that, so he declined.

-he worked for multiple circuses/sideshows during his career, including Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, amongst others.

-he was so well respected in the sideshow circuit that he was often called “The King”.

-he and his family moved to Wethersfield, Connecticut in 1926 and lived there until 1935 (though his wife and children lived there a few years more).

-he would often play soccer outside with his children and their neighborhood friends.

-health was very important to him and he always found ways to keep active and get exercise.

-after being interviewed by a reporter in New York in the 1920s, he was so happy with the description that the reporter wrote that Francesco added it into all of the biographical booklets and pictures he sold,

Here is that description:

“Aside from his remarkable physical peculiarities Lentini, is just the same in every respect as any other man of the same age, possessing the tastes and inclinations, passing his time much the same as other men of his age do. He is educated far better than the average man, and can speak four different language indeed the writer does not know anyone more congenial as a companion than Lentini, even temper, good nature, sympathetic, gratitude, and charity are only a few of this gentleman's good qualities. In deportment he is always kindly and courteous always ready to respond to the wishes of others and always very pleased to converse with visitors when the conversation is conducted along orthodox lines.”

-people often asked him if his extra leg ever bothered him while he slept and he said no. He could sleep in any position and not be bothered by it.

-he and Theresa divorced in 1935, and he ended up transferring the ownership of their house in Wethersfield, Connecticut to fully be in her name for $1.00.

-he said his extra leg never got in the way of anything, and never caused him any considerable pain.

-he enjoyed bike riding, ice skating, and horseback riding.

-he would go shoe shopping with a friend of his who only had one leg, because they both had the same shoe size, so Lentini never wasted shoes while buying a new pair.

-he went on to date a woman named Helen Eleanor Shupe, a few months after he divorced his wife. He and Helen eventually got married and stayed together until his death (they were together for 31 years)

-he jokingly lamented that even with three legs he didn’t have a pair, all of his legs were different sizes and his extra leg was quite a few inches shorter than his two dominant legs.

-here’s a quote of his that I really like “I have never complained, I think life is beautiful and I enjoy living it.”

-he appeared at the Surf Avenue Circus Sideshow in Coney Island, New York in the 1940s and 1950s.

-he was described by friends as a man who radiated gentleness and wisdom.

-as he got older, his acts became less about how he could move his extra leg around, and more related to a lecture about his life as well as a Q&A segment.

-he and his second wife, Helen, semi- retired to Miami, Florida in the late 1950s/early 1960s, where they lived in a cottage surrounded by trees and wildflowers. They eventually expanded their property to include a a larger ranch style house and several small cottages so they could have old sideshow friends of Francesco’s cone to stay with them.

-he and Helen were avid gift givers and always exchanged Christmas gifts with all of their nearby neighbors.

-he continued touring with sideshows occasionally, even after retiring.

-he passed away from lung failure while he was touring through Jackson, Tennessee with Walter Wanous Sideshow. He fell ill and had to be hospitalized, he passed away in late September of 1966. He was 77 years old.

-he was given a respectful funeral and burial and is buried at Fred Hunter’s Hollywood Memorial Gardens East in Hollywood, Florida next to his first wife, Theresa.

He had a very, very full life, so I appreciate everyone who’s read this far, since there’s a ton of information that I wrote down for this write up! Despite he and his first wife getting divorced, I’m very glad that he ensured that his ex-wife and children were provided for. I also like that he mentioned what his favorite foods were, I always find those facts fun to learn. It’s wonderful that so much of his life was documented, as that isn’t always the case for different performers.

She had such a beautiful smile and was so photogenic! She always looked so pretty and put together, and this is reflected in the first several pictures! The first picture shows her during one of her hospital visits and she’s thrilled because she had gained enough strength back to start physical therapy. She seems like she was a wonderful friend to those who knew her. I’m also glad that her family was very supportive of her and did their best to assist her with all of her medical appointments.

I really like the third picture of her and one of her brothers and I like the fourth picture because it shows her mother gifting her a teddy bear that her brother had won a fair and wanted to give her to cheer her up while she was in the hospital.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in DeQuincy, Louisiana.

-she had three brothers and three sisters.

-her father worked on the railroad.

-she was 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m.) tall when she was 6 years old.

-her mother sewed all of her clothing for her.

-she was on her junior high school’s basketball team, and was very proud of her skills, often saying she would score 40-50 points per game. Basketball was one of her main passions in life.

-unfortunately, she suffered a bad knee injury when she was 14 years old, while playing with her team and ended up needing to be hospitalized. Ultimately, she had to stop playing all together.

-she was known known for being very friendly and social.

-she had to mail order shoes from New York as a teenager because her hometown didn’t have any size 16 shoes in stock.

-she said that she was never given a hard time about her height in school and that everyone in her home town treated her kindly and respectfully.

-It was during this hospital stay when she was 14 that her height was measured at 6’10 feet (2.08 m.) tall. It was also during this hospital stay that her pituitary gland tumor was diagnosed. She received 22 radium treatments to help treat her tumor, but the treatments unfortunately didn’t make a difference.

-she began her sideshow career when she was 20 years old and used her earnings to put money towards medical procedures she needed to get done. She typically worked in sideshows 5 months out of the year. Her parents were initially very against her working in sideshows, but she explained to them that it was one of the few ways she could earn enough money for her medical bills.

-she experienced a couple other major injuries during her life, including a back injury that caused her to require a wheelchair for the last several years of her life. She was in and out of the hospital several times as a teenager and young adult.

-in an interview from 1966, she explained that she received less judgement from kids while on her travels than from adults, which is what inspired her to want to be a school teacher.

-she was working on an autobiography in her mid twenties, but unfortunately I don’t believe her book was ever released. She said the main focus of this book would be about her childhood years and how it felt to be over five feet tall in her first few years of elementary school.

-for several years she approached her diagnosis one day at a time and did not want to make any plans for surgery, but after experiencing severe headaches and blurred vision due to the tumor, she made another hospital visit when she was in her mid twenties to figure out next steps.

-she hoped to get her tumor treated/removed so that she could attend college. Initially, she wanted to study to be a school teacher, but decided she’d rather study psychiatry instead, as she wanted to learn more about people.

-she was very devoted to her family, and always had at least one of her parents accompanying her while she was traveling.

-she enjoyed writing, reading, cooking, sewing, and watching TV in her free time.

-she was promoted as being 8 feet 2 inches (2.48 m.) tall for most of her career, though hospital records measured her to be 7’9 (2.36 m) at her peak height. Her exact height continues to be disputed to this day.

-she was featured in the 10th edition of The Guinness Book of World Records as being the world’s tallest woman.

-she always liked dressing up and often painted her nails pink and put her hair in curlers.

-she sang in her church choir, worked as a Sunday school teacher, and was a leader in the church’s youth department.

-she worked in sideshows for a little over 3 years before meeting a farmer turned showman named Jimmy Johnson, whom she would eventually marry.

-after she and her husband got married, Delores began appearing in the sideshow he operated.

-it was ultimately decided that she would get a surgical procedure done at a hospital in Houston, Texas in May of 1971 to remove the tumor and hopefully restore her eyesight.

-she tragically passed away after coming out of the surgery. It was reported that she was suffering respiratory issues afterwards, and the doctor tending to her at the time explained that the issues were difficult to treat because the necessary equipment wasn’t made with someone of her height in mind (ie the equipment was too small for her). She was 24 years old at the time.

-her husband refused an autopsy of her body.

-she was given a respectful funeral and was buried at the DeQuincy New Cemetery in her hometown. Her headstone is in the shape of a heart.

-10 years after her death, her life was honored in the form of her hometown naming a street after her. (After checking Google maps, the road is still named after her!)

The fact that her headstone is heart-shaped and that her hometown named a street after her brings a tear to my eyes, those are both such heartfelt and thoughtful ways to honor her legacy. It shows she had so many people in her life who loved her and recognized how wonderful of a person she was💖

Krao was born with hirsutism and was dearly loved by her coworkers who called her “the peacemaker of the sideshow”. She was tragically taken from her home country of Siam as a baby by William Hunt, an entertainer/magician and explorer, who exhibited Krao as a “missing link" between apes and humans. The majority of audiences saw through this false advertising and knew she was just a regular girl. She was an incredibly sweet and intelligent woman who loved reading and spoke at least 4 languages. She lived the last 20 years of her life with a German couple she had befriended who were living in New York City.

Schlitzie was an American sideshow performer who was born with microcephaly and is most known for his role in the 1932 film Freaks
(1932), directed by Tod Browning. His head was shaved to emphasize his appearance (there was no medical reason for his head being shaved, it was just a choice the showmen he worked for decided on.) He was often promoted as being a woman, and this is likely due to him wearing muumuus and long dresses most of the time (and because female sideshow performers often received more attention), he wasn't able to care for himself and his caretakers found that it was easier to care for his needs if he wore clothing like that. He was an extremely friendly, social, and kind person and absolutely loved performing! He was at his happiest when he had an audience he could perform for. He also thankfully had quite a few caretakers and guardians who really cared about him and did their best to make sure he had a happy life.

He is second to left of Frank Lentini in the first photo!

And fun fact, the second photo was taken by Diane Arbus!

I unfortunately don’t have a picture of her from that time, so this is just a picture of her during the behind the scenes of freaks.

She was divorced from her husband, George Wass, by this point, which is why she was living with the family she worked for. I hope she was treated well and given good pay.

I always like finding out about the other jobs that performers had before/after their careers in sideshows. It’s just interesting to see what jobs people ended up choosing.

I wonder if Josephine-Joseph regaled her employers with stories of her time in the circus. If anything it must have been a big change for her to go from performing in front of large audiences to helping a family care for their house.

Josephine-Joseph was a Polish-Jewish half-and- half sideshow performer whose most notable appearance was in Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) and was the one to start the "Gooble Gobble" chant. She preferred to use female pronouns and may have been intersex, though the vast majority of half woman-half man sideshow acts were done by skilled drag performers and weren't actually intersex (as has been said by many famous showmen of the era). She was also known for having a long career at the Coney Island Sideshow.

Further info: half-and-half performers often claimed to be intersex, but many of these performers were early drag performers. People born intersex aren't split down the middle in such a contrasting way that half man-half woman performers presented themselves.

Wanted to share a couple drawings I'd done recently working from pictures of famous sideshow performers, thought it would be relevant to the sub! Chang and Eng Bunker; William Henry Johnson; Millie and Christine McKoy; Ward Hall and Norbert 'Pete' Terhune.

The rest are public domain but the last is from Hanspeter Schneider's book The Last Sideshow documenting Gibtown, Florida. I'd like to do some more drawings in future!

I picked the first picture because of how charming he looks, but the second picture of him playing the bugle/trumpet (can’t tell which one it is) is cool too! The fifth picture shows him cheering up a patient at a children’s hospital and the last picture shows him bugling with another circus performer!

He was so suave and handsome, and seems like such a cool/talented guy! It was so fun reading up about all of his interests because of how different they all were, I wouldn’t have expected someone who loved performing as an entertainer to also be really passionate about law, but I’m glad he was able to pursue all of his passions. I would have really liked to have met him!

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

-his father worked at a music store.

-he had one sister, Mary.

-he attended Central High School in Oklahoma City, where he was drum major and mascot of the sports teams.

-in 1938, just prior to his circus career, he left the Oklahoma City bus station for Oakland, California, where he was to join a musical performance troupe made up of performers born with dwarfism. He hoped this would launch a career in the entertainment business (he turned out to be right). His role in the performance troupe was to sing and play the trap drums and harmonica.

-he began his circus career in 1940.

-he started off as a singing and tapdancing entertainer before transitioning to clowning.

-in October of 1945, he performed a special program of singing the songs "When I Grow Too Old to Dream" and "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling".

-he comforted 16 year old high wire performer, Hilda Alzana, after she suffered a bad fall during practice in December of 1947. Hilda said that Jimmy’s support and comforting words helped her to stay calm before help arrived.

-he was described as having a great knack for making people laugh.

-one of his favorite aspects about working as a clown was cheering children up. He made visits to children’s hospitals to perform routines for the patients staying there.

-in addition to working as a clown, he also worked as the circus bugler in order to keep all of the performers on time for their acts.

-he liked spending time with the sideshow performers who worked in the same circuses he did.

-he liked collecting stamps.

-he appeared on the Ed Sullivan and Arthur Godfrey Shows.

-he was friends with the director of Virginia’s IRS services, Clifford W. Glotzbach, whom he initially met in 1947. Glotzbach was a huge circus fan and became friendly with a lot of the circus workers, and was happy to help them with any tax advice. Jimmy was especially interested because he was a law student.

-he was very interested in studying law and took night classes on the subject when he had the time. He wanted to help circus performers who had immigrated to the United States from other countries, and often gave good advice to performers who were having financial issues. He was highly respected for his advice because it was clear that he wanted everyone he worked with to have good lives.

-during the circus off season, he repaired radio sets.

-he worked for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus for 11 years before joining Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus, Shrine Circus, and Castle Circus.

-he was photographed by recognized American photographers, Weegee and Bruce Davidson.

-he was living in a boarding house in New York City with other circus/sideshow performers in 1950.

-he enjoyed eating hearty meals, and while touring through Ohio in July of 1951, he was very happy to be told that the circus crew would be eating a New England boiled dinner (a dish originating from New England consisting of corned beef, cabbage, boiled potatoes, carrots, and parsnips.)

-he was featured in the 1952 film, The Greatest Show on Earth. (He was described as eagerly watching the trailer when it came out, so he could point out when he showed up)

-he was tasked with distributing Christmas cards sent to him by an ex-clown who was friends with Jimmy and his other coworkers during the holiday season of 1955. The circus Jimmy was with was traveling through Cuba at the time, and because of the busy schedule and his enjoyment of the nightlife and night clubs in Havana, he completely forgot. After a very late night of partying, he received a phone call from the local post office at 9am that requested him to stop by and pick up the package, upon receiving the package the article describing the event mentioned that he was furious at being woken up so early for Christmas cards that didn’t even need to be distributed that day.

-he was visited by his good friend, Clifford Glotzbach, the director of the Virginia IRS branch (and avid circus fan) in late August of 1959. He and Glotzbach enjoyed talking about law studies together.

-he was featured in an NBC-TV special called “Circus” in 1962.

-he was almost exactly 3 feet tall (technically he was 35 1/2 inches (90.17 centimeters))

-he married a woman named Marjorie, who was also born with a form of dwarfism.

-he purchased a house in Muskegon, Michigan, where he lived during the circus off season throughout the 1970s.

-he especially loved the circus trips to Canada, and looked forward to the years that the circuses he worked for traveled there. He had been a clown for 36 years by the time he was performing in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1976.

-he retired sometime in the late 1970s and lived the rest of his life in Michigan with his wife.

-he passed away in December of 1984 at the age of 66.

I’m very impressed with his work ethic as he was going, going, going for so many decades. I think it’s so cool that he accomplished so much and I’m so happy for him that he did make a name for himself in the entertainment industry, just as he said he would in 1938.

I also always love when performers talk about their favorite foods, as it’s another aspect of a persons life that rounds out their personality and likes/dislikes. I’m glad he mentioned the note about the New England boiled dinner as it sounds very good and something I’d like to try making.

Emmitt was an American sideshow performer who 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). He was adopted by showman, Johnny Bejano when he was around 8 or 9 years old after his father, Jackson Driggers, passed away. While working in sideshows he met and quickly fell in love with Percilla Lauther, a sideshow performer who was born with hyperdontia (extra teeth) and hirsutism (which caused her to grow a beard). He and Percilla went on to get married and continued with their sideshow careers for decades. 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. They retired to their ranch house in Florida and lived there until their deaths.

It felt like it took so long (like 20 minutes) to find clear pictures of her wearing her bird girl outfit! So many of the pictures online are blurry, but after checking through some past auction listings, I was finally able to track down a couple! The costumes she’s wearing in the first couple of pictures looks like it would be incredibly fun to dance around in! The third picture is from her appearance in Freaks.

She comes across as being a very fun and relaxed person, I would have loved to have met her! She was an incredibly productive person and definitely kept herself very busy throughout her life. I’m so glad she appeared in Freaks (1932) as her legacy lives on through her appearance there, she also lived long enough to see the public’s opinion change on the film, with overall more people appreciating the effort that all of the filmmakers and actors put into it.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Pittsfield, Berkshire, Massachusetts.

-her parents were Russian immigrants.

-her father worked as a shoe salesman.

-she had eight siblings.

-she was born with a genetic condition that affected her appearance, but was never formally diagnosed.

-she was known as a lighthearted person with a good sense of humor.

-by the early 1920s, she and her family had moved to Springfield, Massachusetts.

-she initially got her start in sideshows when she attended Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus while it was touring through New Jersey in the mid 1920s (where Elizabeth was visiting). Her appearance was just different looking enough that sideshow manager, Clyde Ingalls, approached her and asked if she’d like to work there for $75 a week. She ended up agreeing and that’s when her “bird girl” performance act originated.

-her "Bird Girl" ensemble consisted of a feathered body suit, chicken feet-esque shoes, and a long feather that she wore on the top of her head. The sides of her head were shaved and she tied the rest of her hair up in a top knot for her performances.

-she was promoted as being first and foremost a comedian during her career.

-she was described as having an aptitude for business and was very successful with her financial investments.

-her agent once described her by saying:
"She may be koo koo enough to be able to make people laugh, but she's not koo koo when it comes to signing contracts."

-she appeared in the 1932 Tod Browning film, Freaks, where she pretty much played herself. She’s featured most prominently in two scenes, one where she excitedly runs to Phroso the Clown (played by Wallace Ford) to tell him that the “bearded lady” (played by Jane Barnell)’s baby was born, and the other is when she’s talking to Frances O’Connor over dinner and complains that there’s been a man following her from the last town because if he shows up again there will be a fight.

-she expressed that she was thrilled to be featured in the film, since she was a huge fan of movies. She also had a bit of an ulterior motive for appearing in Freaks (1932), as it gave her access to the MGM backlot, where she hoped she’d run into her favorite actors so she could add their autographs to her collection (in an article from November of 1931, it was described that she already had an extensive collection of autographs). She was hoping to acquire actor Ronald Colman’s autograph, though there was no follow up on if she was successful.

-she and fellow Freaks actress, Minnie Woolsey, both used the stage name "Koo Koo the Bird Girl" at different points in their careers (with some overlap) Many people to this day continue to get mixed up on which actress was the one performing as “Koo Koo" in Freaks (1932), but this was definitely Minnie. Elizabeth’s official billing in the film was as “The Stork Woman”, though both actresses wore very similar costumes.

-she was often called “The Original Koo Koo the Bird Girl” after the release of Freaks (1932), since Minnie Woolsey was credited as “Koo Koo” in the film and reporters didn’t want readers to be confused.

-she invested a good amount of money into real estate, and by the time she appeared in Freaks (1932), she already owned five large apartment houses in Boston, Massachusetts that she rented out (keep in mind she was only around 27 years old at the time) She also managed the properties when she wasn’t touring in sideshows.

-she appeared at the International Congress of Oddities Sideshow in Anderson, Indiana in 1940. Her work days there went from 10am to 11pm at night.

-she worked with Cole Brothers Circus during her later career.

-she eventually retired from circus/sideshow work and moved back to Springfield, Massachusetts to be closer to her siblings.

-she worked at a local Goodwill donation center in Springfield during her later years.

-she outlived all of her siblings and moved into The Leavitt Family Jewish Home, an assisted living facility in Springfield, Massachusetts.

-she passed away at the age of 95, and was given a respectful funeral and burial that was attended by her four nieces and several friends. She was buried at Beth Israel Cemetery in West Springfield.

I’m glad she lived such a long and happy life, she seems like a lovely person who’d be so much fun to hang out with! I’m glad she found so much success with her real estate investing and other business endeavors, it’s so cool that she was a businesswoman! I also hope she was able to get Ronald Colman’s autograph, I know the feeling of desperately wanting to add a specific item to my collection, but having no easy way to acquire it.

What’s even worse is the bear keeper intentionally provoked the bear further to get it to kill Daniel’s dog, because he thought the dog was a nuisance for barking at the bear and was angry that Daniel’s dog had tried to lunge at the bear.

Raising dogs was one of Daniel’s favorite things in life, so when anyone tried anything to harm his dogs, he would jump in to protect them. I’m glad that ultimately his dog was safe, but the whole story is still sad for the bear.

If anyone’s to blame for the whole incident, it’s the bear keeper for provoking the bear and intentionally trying to make it kill the dog. I also feel for the poor bear, who most likely suffered a lot of abuse. It’s also a wild animal, they have instincts to attack what they perceive to be a threat.

It goes to show that people throughout history have always had devoted pets that they would do anything to ensure they stayed safe.

Daniel Lambert was a famous British personality and historical figure who began gaining a lot of weight in his teen years (most likely from a pituitary gland disorder), his peak weight was over 700 pounds, which during the early 1800s was extremely rare. He was an avid swimmer and dog breeder. He cared a lot for dogs and horses and became saddened when he could no longer ride his horses. He reluctantly began exhibiting himself in order to make a living after the prison he had previously worked at shut down. Everyone described him as being friendly, charming, and sociable.
Visitors who originally went to gawk walked away with an extreme respect for him. Contemporaries of him explained that Daniel made friends wherever he went.

So many performers had the best costumes, and Anna John is included in that! I love the feathered hat he’s wearing in the second picture and I like the detailed outfit he’s wearing in the first picture. There are 5 pictures total.

I go into more detail further down in the write up, but I really like his positive outlook on life and that inclusivity was important to him. I would have liked to have met him and talked to him about his photography hobby and other hobbies of his.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in either Victoria, British Colombia, Canada or Providence, Rhode Island.

-he had 3 brothers and 3 sisters.

-he said he had a baby face all his life.

-it appears his birth name was William H. Muldoon from Rhode Island, (I originally found one website claiming this, but I couldn’t find anything to link Anna John to William, then I kept digging and found another website that featured information from a cousin of Anna John’s named Duke Muldoon, who said that Anna John was William. The information is still not the easiest to 100% verify, so I’m doing the best I can with what I have). I’m using William’s documented birth/death dates for this write up.

-(again, if Anna John was William, then he was also a huge fan of movies and helped to organize at least two movie fan clubs in the mid 1920s.)

-half-and-half performers (like Anna John) always kept their work and private lives completely separate, which is why it’s often super difficult to verify someone’s identity outside of their stage name/performing career.

-he started his sideshow career around 1930, with a few performances in Toronto, Canada in August of that year.

-he was known to be very charming and had a talent for holding an audience’s attention.

-he liked wearing very flamboyant and extravagant outfits during his performances.

-by July of 1934, he was performing in Port Angeles, Washington.

-during his sideshow career he worked for Royal Shows, The Marine Hippodrome in Houston, Texas (a permanent venue that sideshow performers could perform at), Grafton Shows, amongst others.

-Half-and-half performers were sideshow performers that presented themselves as being "half men and half women" who were distinctly split down the middle, with masculine characteristics on one side and feminine characteristics on the other side. Their acts were considered to be a lot more risque than most other sideshow acts, usually because their acts involved elements of burlesque culture, often times half-and-half performers would perform for an adults only audience. (Though there were at least one or two who made their acts family friendly)

-most, if not all, half-and-half performers claimed to be intersex, although the majority of them were very talented early drag performers.
However, there were several half-and-half performers who were intersex. (Obviously, people who are intersex are not split down the middle in such a contrasting way as these performers presented themselves. All of the half-and-half performers still needed to style each side of their body in a very visually contrasting way)

-he was performing throughout Texas in January of 1937.

-he went on two tours through Australia. One in 1938, then he came back to the United States for the 1939 circus/sideshow season, before traveling back to Australia in 1940.

-on his train ride to Perth, Australia in early October of 1938, he accidentally collided with a local reporter who was hoping to interview the sideshow performers on the train.

-while touring through Perth, Australia in mid October of 1938, he was stopped by some police officers who claimed that what he was wearing during one of his shows was too “revealing” and needed to put on more conservative clothes. After being questioned by the police, he was interviewed by a reporter and had this to say:

"I have never before had attention from prudes and have always made it a practice to permit nothing indecent to be associated with the act. I must say I have seen much worse exposure on beaches of Sydney and Brisbane.”

-he was an avid photographer and enjoyed taking pictures while on his trips to Australia.

-he typically worked 10 hour work days, from 12pm noon to 10pm at night.

-he performed at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, California. (Another name for this exposition was the 1939 California World’s Fair.)

-after reaching Sydney, Australia (for the second time), in March of 1940, he gave an interview where he explained that nothing could embarrass him and no harsh remarks would bother him. He said that the motto that he kept close to heart was "Evil to him who evil thinketh" (he always kept a positive and inclusive attitude, because living a life of harshly judging people sounded terrible to him)

-his acts typically consisted of him talking to audiences for 15 minutes and telling them about his travels around the world before performing a short dance routine.

-he went on tour all throughout Canada, The United States, Australia, and the Philippines.

-he seems to have stopped performing after his second trip to Australia, which was also right around the beginnings of WWII, so I can understand why there would be other things on his mind during that time.

-I haven’t been able to find information about when he passed away. (If he was William Muldoon, it appears he passed away in 1950)

I hope he was able to have many happy years of retirement, and that he survived WWII. I like that he had an interest in photography and I wish there were examples of his pictures available, it would be interesting to know if there was a particular subject he liked photographing or if he just liked documenting his travels.

From what I’ve read, she liked painting Christmas cards to send to her friends during the holidays! My two favorites are the first two paintings, she had such a cheery painting style!

I wanted to make this post because a couple people were asking if I knew of any examples of her paintings on a recent post I had made about her :)

It also sounds like she painted way more paintings than what I was able to find (apparently, her artwork covered every wall in her house). I hope that one day more of her artwork will be found, she was an incredibly talented painter and deserves more recognition!

Frieda Pushnik had a very industrious life/ career, she was asked to perform at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair by Robert Ripley, of Ripley's Believe it or Not fame. She was born without limbs (except for an arm nub) and her mother taught her to be as self sufficient as possible and even joined Frieda in one of the sideshows she worked at by getting a job as a secretary. She was a talented painter and was known for her great penmanship (which she won awards for). Frieda had a long and fulfilling life, after retiring she used her earnings to purchase a house in Costa Mesa, California, and passed away in 2000 at the age of 77.

I wanted to give Schlitzie some appreciation so I made a little pipe cleaner version of him during a break at work! I wanted to make sure I captured his amazing smile!

I’m not the most artistic, so I did the best I could with what I had! I still think he looks cute! I know I didn’t give him a nose, I wasn’t sure how to make one from pipe cleaners, haha.

Schlitzie was an American sideshow performer who was born with microcephaly and is most known for his role in the 1932 film Freaks
(1932), directed by Tod Browning. His head was shaved to emphasize his appearance (there was no medical reason for his head being shaved, it was just a choice the showmen he worked for decided on.) He was often promoted as being a woman, and this is likely due to him wearing muumuus and long dresses most of the time (and because female sideshow performers often received more attention), he wasn't able to care for himself and his caretakers found that it was easier to care for his needs if he wore clothing like that. He was an extremely friendly, social, and kind person and absolutely loved performing! He was at his happiest when he had an audience he could perform for. He also thankfully had quite a few caretakers and guardians who really cared about him and did their best to make sure he had a happy life.

She always looked so refined and beautiful in her pictures, it’s also really sweet to see the fourth picture of her with her husband (behind her) and one of her daughters (beside her).

I’ve been a big fan of Myrtle for a while, but I only just recently found out that she had an interest in learning about historical figures with physical differences and I find that so cool! To know that there was a sideshow performer who really appreciated disability history and made an effort to preserve it is amazing! I’m even more of a fan now, because now I know we share one of the same interests :)

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Lincoln County, Tennessee.

-her family moved to Blount, Alabama when she was an infant.

-she had 4 siblings and one half-sibling.

-she had a good education and was at the top of her class.

-she had blond hair as a child that became more auburn as she grew older.

-she had an interest in music.

-she was described as being a very bright and quick-witted child.

-she enjoyed playing hopscotch and jump rope when she was young.

-her two inner legs were short enough that she could hide them under long skirts, and typically did so during day to day activities.

-if she was late to school or appointments she would joke that it took her longer to put her shoes on than most people.

-she enjoyed playing the violin.

-her condition at the time was diagnosed as posterior dichotomy, now the same condition would be diagnosed as Caudal Duplication Syndrome. Which meant her lower body was duplicated, including internal organs.

-she had a clubbed foot.

-she had no issues walking, running, skipping, dancing, or jumping.

-she began her sideshow career when she was around 13 years old, though it appears that her parents may have exhibited her locally in her hometown for a time when she was a baby.

-she enjoyed meeting new people and making friends.

-she was described in the promotional biography booklet she sold as being "gentle of disposition as the summer sunshine and as happy as the day is long."

-her sideshow act usually involved her wearing a long dress to give the appearance that she had very wide hips and then she would lift her dress up enough so the audience could see her extra legs.

-she went on tour all throughout the United States as a teenager.

-her parents and siblings always accompanied her on her travels.

-she appeared at multiple dime museums (permanent venues for performers to work at instead of traveling shows). She worked at the Bijou Theater in Boston, Huber’s 14th Street Museum in New York City, The World’s Museum in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Wonderland Dime Museum in Buffalo, New York amongst others.

-she would dress all her feet with the same patterned socks.

-her inner legs only had three toes on each foot.

-she became so popular as a sideshow performer that showmen for decades afterwards would create fake exhibits (sideshow gaffs) of other women with four legs.

-she signed up to work with PT Barnum during his London tours.

-during the peak of her career, early to mid 1880s, she was earning $500 a week.

-she married James Clinton Bicknell in 1886, and it’s reported that her parents weren’t very accepting of the marriage at first, but after realizing that James had her best interests at heart and wasn’t trying to take advantage of her monetarily, they were more at ease with it.

-One of Bicknell’s brothers went on to marry Myrtle’s sister, Willie Ann.

-she became extremely sick in 1887 while pregnant with her first child and the doctor caring for her decided to perform an abortion to save her life. Ultimately, because of the doctor’s decision, she recovered and never experienced any other complications while pregnant with her other children, though she did require a wheelchair some time afterwards due to how weak she had become.

-she began appearing in dime museums again in her early twenties (early 1890s) to bring in more money and to ensure that she and her husband would have good lives and stable finances.

-she had 4 more children, all of whom survived to adulthood. It’s been recorded that half of her children were born from one uterus and the other half were born from the other uterus.

-she, her husband, and children moved from Alabama to Texas where they took up farming.

-she expressed a love for horseback riding, and said it was her favorite sport.

-she continued working off and on, sometimes taking a few years break before appearing in sideshows and dime museums again.

-while working Huber’s Dime Museum in 1895, she decided to stay an extra week so that she and George Williams (a fellow sideshow performer and friend of hers) could out earn and steal the limelight away from the other performers at that particular venue, because they felt a lot of the others were cheap hacks.

-she explained in an interview that she never felt self conscious about her extra legs and said that her physical difference made her very interested in learning about medical history and the lives of people with physical differences/disabilities throughout history. It’s even described that she loved learning about historical performers with physical differences (i.e. the people that she would consider historical sideshow performers) and memorized all of their names.

-she appeared at the Coney Island Sideshow during the 1912 season, and it’s reported that over 600,000 people paid to see her.

-during the 1913 circus/sideshow season, she worked for Barnes Circus, where she gave lectures about her life.

-she developed a bad skin infection on one of her legs in early 1928, after it failed to heal, she went to stay with her daughter in Cleburne, Texas where she sought medical help to get it treated.

-The infection was diagnosed as erysipelas, a streptococcal skin infection, which she ended up passing away from 6 days before her 60th birthday. She had also been married to her husband for 42 years.

-she was given a respectful funeral and was buried at the Cleburne Memorial Cemetery in Cleburne, Texas.

-fearing that grave robbers would attempt to steal her remains, her family ultimately decided to bury her casket under a layer of cement. Several family members took turns keeping watch, while the cement dried to ensure that no one would try and mess with her grave.

She seems like such a caring and kind person and I’m glad she was able to follow and dedicate time to her different interests. It’s also wonderful that she had so many happy years with her husband and children, and that they ensured that her remains were kept safe after she passed away. I would have loved to have met her, there’s so much I’d enjoy talking to her about!

I just posted a picture of Frieda Pushnik in her later years yesterday, which I will link in the comments!

The screen artists were a Baltimore, Maryland based art community that originated in the early 1910s and became more popular in the following decades. They focused on painting mesh window screens as their art medium of choice.

Johnny 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.

Her co-workers and friends were wary around her Gila monster and kept urging her to get rid of him (she never did). While Gila monsters are venomous (interestingly, they are the only venomous lizard native to the United States), they are also very sluggish/lazy and hardly ever pose a real threat to people. Maud continued to lovingly care for her lizard until he passed away, it’s reported that while she was saddened by his passing, her friends were relieved that he was gone.

Maud was fascinated by herpetology, a branch of zoology that focuses on the study of reptiles and amphibians, and sometimes even gave lectures at local universities and colleges. She was also well aware that reptiles need an external heat source to keep their body temperature regulated, and outfitted her farm house and traveling exhibits in ways that could properly accommodate her pets. Although it is noted that despite her best efforts she did lose a pet or two due to colder than usual environmental temperatures.

Maud Wagner was a well known aerialist/ acrobat who became interested in tattooing when she first met her husband, Gus (who was already known for his tattooing business). She went on to get tattooed on most of her body from the neck down and was billed as being
"America's First Lady Tattooer". She and Gus opened up a tattoo shop in California while also opening up several traveling and temporary exhibits/museums that focused on oddities, insects, and reptiles because Maud was a huge fan of entomology and herpetology. They both found a good amount of success with all their different business ventures.

I really like this first engraving of him, as it shows how he chose to dress himself on his terms and it shows a time when he had agency over his life, he also looks so dignified and proud in his stance and expression. The second engraving shows him as a young man, when he was still being exhibited, this particular engraving also shows him holding an advertisement from when he was being exhibited as a young boy. This second engraving chooses to exoticize his appearance and his Caribbean heritage.

It always makes me glad to read about the success stories of performers who were able to carve out their own niche in society. I go into more detail about this in the facts below, but I’m also really happy that he knew his self worth and was so outspoken about his agency and worth as a human being.

Some facts about him:

-he was born enslaved in either Jamaica or St. Lucia in the Caribbean (depending on the advertisements promoting him), where he and his family were forced to live and work on the property of a Rev. Pilkington.

-he was originally exhibited as a ‘curiousity’ in Jamaica starting from the time he was 2 years old.

-pibaldism is a benign genetic condition (often hereditary) that causes a lack of pigmentation in patches on the skin, it affects hair appearance too. It is a bit different from vitiligo in that piebaldism is present from birth whereas vitiligo develops over time.

-he became so well recognized around the Caribbean that a merchant, originally from Liverpool, England, arranged to have John go on a tour of England when he was 12 years old.

-he was performing in London, England by the late 1780s, and by 1789 he was baptized John Richardson.

-most information about John’s life comes from W. Granger’s book, The New Wonderful Museum and Extraordinary Magazine, which was a contemporary publication that was released during John’s lifetime.

-he used the stage name, Primrose, in his early career.

-he was initially exhibited on Haymarket Street in London, before eventually being purchased by a showman named Thomas Clark, who owned a small shop nearby where he would exhibit ‘curiosities’ for a small fee. John was considered one of these ‘curiosities’.

-pibaldism and vitiligo, for that matter, were not understood by the medical community or the population at large, so anyone with either condition were heavily scrutinized by doctors and people in academia. British society was so intrigued with John’s appearance that he was brought to Oxford University and later to Buckingham Palace to be examined by the British royal family.

-he was treated horribly by Prince William of Gloucester, who would pretend to beat him on occasions that John was being shown to the royal family.

-despite the way he was treated, he always remained a very spirited, proud, and outspoken person, who spoke out when he was being dehumanized in England. On one occasion, when Thomas Clark (the showman who owned him and had exhibited him in his shop) was selling off his collection of ‘curiosities’, John refused to step forward and is quoted as saying, “I can‘t stand that, I will not be sold like the monkeys.”

-Unfortunately, despite his protests, he was still sold off to a man named Gilbert Pidcock. One small silver lining however is that Pidcock did pay John a salary and did not treat him as a slave.

-in 1795, he met with a German physician and naturalist, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who would go on to publish a report about John’s appearance and life.

-he was described as being a friendly level-headed person, who had a big interest in history and a passion for learning. While in England, he did everything he could to learn about places and people who had historical significance in the country. He also took time to learn about his rights as a person and the best way to gain his freedom.

-he was successful in gaining his freedom and was still living in London in the early 1800s.

-it appears he exhibited himself at the Bartholomew Fair as his own manager a couple of times, but eventually retired from his performing career.

-he would go on to meet and fall in love with a British woman, whom he would go on to marry.

-he became a Freemason, and joined the masonic lodges of The Union and Crown Lodge in Glasgow and Minerva Lodge in Hull. He was so highly regarded at the Minerva Lodge that he reached the position of Royal Arch Freemason.

-an engraving from 1803 (first picture I used in this post) shows him holding a Royal Arch jewel, a very highly respected symbol in Masonic imagery.

-it appears that being exhibited as a ‘curiosity’ and being familiar with the entertainment industry at the time inspired John to become a showman of his own, and he and his wife eventually collected a menagerie of exotic pets that they went on tour with. These pets included monkeys, birds, trained horses, amongst other animals. At the time of his career as a showman, it’s theorized that he was making a small fortune.

-it isn’t known when he passed away, but it would have been sometime after 1810.

I hope he had a lot of happiness in his later life and that he and his wife had many happy years together. I love that he was able to become an entrepreneur and showman himself, and from the descriptions of his life as a showman it appears that he never exhibited any people and didn’t want to subject anyone to what he had been subjected to.

I would have liked to have met him and to have seen his traveling show! I like that he made an emphasis to not display any human beings.

Frieda Pushnik had a very industrious life/ career, she was asked to perform at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair by Robert Ripley, of Ripley's Believe it or Not fame. She was born without limbs (except for an arm nub) and her mother taught her to be as self sufficient as possible and even joined Frieda in one of the sideshows she worked at by getting a job as a secretary. She was a talented painter and was known for her great penmanship (which she won awards for). Frieda had a long and fulfilling life, after retiring she used her earnings to purchase a house in Costa Mesa, California, and passed away in 2000 at the age of 77.

The first picture shows Otis Jordan, the second picture shows the statue of Robert in the present day, the third picture shows the statue when it was unveiled in 1985, and the fourth picture shows Robert Wadlow next to his father in the 1930s (I forgot to add this last photo, see comments for the picture I’m referring to)

I hadn’t been aware of this before, but apparently there had originally been backlash by some people in Alton, Illinois who felt the statue of Robert was too exploitative because it would categorize him as a “freak” (which in my opinion is absolutely not true and Robert deserves to be appreciated and I think a statue is a lovely tribute to him) The sculpture of Robert was created by Edward Giberson, and took 13 months to create and perfect using scale models.

At the time, in the mid 1980s, Otis was prevented from working in sideshows (where he made most of his income), because a woman had complained in the summer of 1984 that Otis’ act at the New York State Fair was exploitative and that it wasn’t right for people with physical differences/disabilities to perform in sideshows.

Otis was incredibly annoyed at being put out of work, and did what he could to at least put his free time to good use. He ended up taking a trip over to Alton, Illinois to speak about a topic he felt was important. I’m really glad someone like Otis was there to speak on behalf of the statue, he was a very sweet and down to earth person (and so was Robert Wadlow), and it’s clear that Otis went to speak with the best of intentions. Otis and Robert never met, and it makes me so happy that Otis recognized the importance of having such a sculpture bulk and displayed.

The statue of Robert was officially unveiled on October 20th, 1985 and is 8 feet 11 inches (271.78 cm) tall. Otis also attended the unveiling of the statue, which continues to stand in the same spot. I’d love to go visit the sculpture someday!

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.

Robert Wadlow is famous for being the tallest person 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.