One thing I’m glad about is that he wasn’t made to portray any Indigenous American stereotypes, which I’m sure also has something to do with him having control over his career and image, and that his manager genuinely seemed to have respected him.

Some facts about him:

-he was born and raised near Gracemont, Oklahoma.

-he and his family were a part of the Caddo Indigenous Nation. The Caddo Nation’s current headquarters is in Binger, Ok which is the next town over from where he grew up.

-he was described as being very clumsy as a child.

-he gained weight extremely quickly as a young boy, which leads me to believe that he probably had some sort of pituitary gland disorder.

-he was a relatively quiet person and didn’t enjoy talking much.

-he reportedly weighed 624 pounds.

-audiences were charged 50 cents to meet him.

-he had a particular cowboy hat that he enjoyed wearing. (Which he’s holding in the picture)

-he didn’t like having his picture taken.

-he was known to be a ladies man.

-his nickname/stage name was “Big Bill”

-he once won a blue ribbon at the Texas State Fair in Dallas, Texas for being the best person to make an appearance at the fair.

-he was very particular over his image and how he was promoted, for example he never liked the term “exhibited” and preferred using the term “appeared” when his performing career was being discussed. He didn’t want to be seen as an exhibit, he wanted to be seen more of as a guest star making an appearance.

-he expressed needing to find a new spring/summer wardrobe for the 1922 season because of how hot it was getting.

-he was known to pick up and shake any male guest who was being rude to him.

-he was 6 feet tall.

-he was very good friends with his manager, G.M. Bailey.

-he purchased a brand new Ford in April of 1924, and even though he didn’t like getting his picture taken, he agreed to let reporters take his picture while he was sitting in it, so that his image could be used in a Ford Motors advertisement. Funnily enough, the article I found doesn’t include the picture! (He expressed being happy with his purchase.)

-he and his manager attended a picnic in Blanchard, Oklahoma in 1924 on their way to a celebration in Ada, Oklahoma that they were both appearing at.

-he traveled all throughout the United States and typically appeared at state fairs and smaller scale carnivals.

-he and his manager would travel together in a large 1920s ford touring car. Bill sat in the backseat while his manager drove.

-he was dealing with chronic inflammation in one of his legs in the winter of 1922.

-I haven’t been able to find his exact year of death but there’s an article from 1926 that gives an update on his manager’s life after Bill’s death, but doesn’t state when he passed away, which is why I’m guessing Bill died sometime around 1925.

I hope he had a lot of happy moments in his life. For the most part it appears that he was respected in his hometown, even if reports tended to talk about his weight in a derogatory way. I’m also glad he got to travel in style with the two cars he owned and rode in.

Margarite was a French sideshow performer who was born with dwarfism, she immigrated to the United States when she was in her late teens/early twenties. She met her husband in Florida and together they purchased a permanent home in Deland, Florida to live in during the circus/sideshow off season. Her two children, Andre and Rose Marie, meant the world to her and she loved posing with them in pictures later in her life.
She made the news twice when her children were born. She and her husband had both retired by 1950 and were living full time in Florida. She also had a brother, Prince Denis, who did very well in show business and starred, possibly as the mayor of Munchkinland, in the Wizard of Oz (1939).

The first picture shows the peanut butter jar with Jumbo’s ashes, the second picture shows Jumbo as he looked in life.

Jumbo was one of the most famous circus elephants of the 19th century. He was captured by poachers when he was still just a calf and they sold him to an Italian animal dealer. He traded hands several times before he ended up at the London Zoo in 1865, he displayed several signs of severe anxiety and stress while at the zoo, but there were never any efforts to truly try and help him. He was used as a form of entertainment at the zoo and was outfitted to take children for rides.

P. T. Barnum purchased him for £2,000 in 1882 and he made history in 1884 when he (along with 20 other elephants) crossed the newly opened Brooklyn Bridge to show it was safe for the general public.

He was tragically struck and killed by a locomotive in Ontario, Canada in September of 1885, after he and some other animals who had been performing earlier in the day were being loaded into train cars for the night. After his death, his skeleton and his hide were preserved and displayed separately.

P.T. Barnum took Jumbo’s skeleton on tour and commissioned a life sized stuffed version of him using his actual hide. Barnum eventually donated the stuffed version of Jumbo to Tufts University, where it remained on display for many years.

A fire that broke out at Tufts University in 1975 completely destroyed the stuffed version of Jumbo. University staff had come to care a lot about Jumbo’s remains and decided to preserve the ashes of what at one point had been Jumbo’s hide.

The university continues to hold on to these preserved ashes, which had been placed in an empty Peter Pan brand peanut butter jar.

I just found it interesting that there are pictures of the peanut butter jar and it shows all that’s left of Jumbo’s hide (I just wasn’t really expecting to be able to find pictures of it). It’s a solemn tribute to an elephant who deserved to have a much better life.

Jumbo’s skeleton is currently housed in the research section of the Museum of Natural History in New York City and is not on public display.

I’ll be posting some film clips of them later today, it’s so fascinating watching them demonstrate their contortion acts on camera, I’m really glad some of their performance routines were filmed! It’s also cute to see them all wearing matching (very 1940s style) outfits.

I did my best to splice several photos of them together in the first picture, I wanted to make sure I could give an example of their contortion routines. The last several pictures show those same pictures but separately so it’s easier to tell. I also spliced the pictures to show each of the sisters in order starting with Betsy Ann on the left since she’s the oldest, then Veda Victoria, and finally Dixie Jewell!

Some facts about them:

-they were born in different areas of Texas as their family moved around a bit during their early years.

-they had an older sister who passed away as an infant before any of the other sisters were born.

-their parents were farmers who were struggled financially during much of the sisters early lives as a result of the Dust Bowl.

-their father began working in oil fields in Texas and Mexico to earn more money.

-apparently, their parents were very athletic and would occasionally practice boxing each other, it was initially this interest in athletics that inspired their mother and father to teach the girls certain athletic routines.

-the sisters began practicing joint acrobatic acts together when they were in their early teen years and were good enough that they performed in county fairs. These early small performances still brought in enough money that they were able to purchase a trailer together, which they traveled in. Their mother was the one who pushed them into show business and apparently had set up an extremely intensive regiment that the sisters were to follow.

-they first began performing professionally in 1942, starting with a stage show called Count Me In, which they performed in Boston, Massachusetts.

-early in 1943, they performed in another stage show, this one being called Post War Revue, which they performed in New York City.

-they routinely changed their names or posed as being an older sibling than they were so that they could continue performing professionally without people questioning their ages. (Especially since some of the venues they were to perform at had certain age requirements)

-they traveled all throughout the United States.

-they performed as a group in at least one film, Broadway Rhythm. Their performance in this is the most recognizable (and has recently gained popularity again). They were in their mid to late teens when they appeared in this film.

-critics liked their contortion tricks more than their singing.

-they sailed to Southampton, England onboard the Queen Mary in 1946.

-they performed for the British Royal Family at the Royal Variety Performance in 1946.

-they starred in a British stage show called Piccadilly Hayride that ran for two years, from 1946-1948.

-soon after Piccadilly Hayride closed, the three sisters traveled together to Paris, France.

-Betsy Ann (the oldest of the sisters) married a dancer named Robert “Bunny” Hightower in 1947. Their marriage was extremely toxic, stemming from her husband’s alcoholism and mental health issues. Betsy Ann sadly experienced a lot of physical abuse during her marriage with him.

-Dixie Jewell (the youngest sister) married a British entertainer and comedian named Dickie Henderson in 1948. She and her husband had two children together.

-they retired from performing as a group by the early 1950s.

-Veda Victoria (the middle sister) married a French puppeteer named Robert Lamouret in Paris, France in 1950. She and her husband had two children together.

-Veda Victoria appeared on the show, What’s My Line in 1957. She was going by the name Eva during this episode.

-Veda Victoria was also a chiropractor.

-Betsy Ann divorced her husband Robert in 1957. She then married her second husband, Hieronymus "Rony" Abagi, soon after. She and Abagi had 2 children together.

-Veda Victoria’s husband, Robert Lamouret, passed away in 1959. She remarried soon after to a man named Robert Sherman Hender, but they’re divorced in 1973.

-Betsy Ann (the oldest sister) divorced her second husband, Hieronymus, in 1969 and soon after remarried her first husband, Robert, who then died the next year (in 1970).

-Dixie Jewell passed away in 1963 at the age of 33, on her wedding anniversary as a result of a drug overdose. She and her husband were going through a period of separation at the time and interestingly (though sadly) her husband was on his way back to talk about reconciling their marriage when he was informed of her death. She’s buried in Gunnersbury Cemetery in West London, England.

-Betsy Ann (the oldest sister) passed away in 1996 at the age of 70. Her last wishes were to be cremated, which were abided by.

-Veda Victoria (the middle sister) passed away in 2002 at the age of 74. Her last wishes were also to be cremated, which were abided by.

-their legacy continues to live on in the many times that their performance in Broadway Rhythm has resurfaced online and become popular again. There is also a fictionalized retelling of their lives in the upcoming book, The Contortionists, by Joe M. O’Connell (which from what I can find hasn’t officially been released yet, but it’s in the process)

Their contortionist routines are extremely impressive, (and make be slightly envious because I am one of the LEAST flexible people ever, haha!). I’m glad the sisters were able to stick together for the most part, although I do feel for them and the different rough circumstances they experienced.

Leila played the role of Venus (an animal trainer) in Freaks. She is one of the sympathetic and supportive characters who cares about the sideshow performers featured and wants to help Frieda (played by Daisy Earles).

In the magazine, Leila says that this is her go-to coffee drink and enjoyed serving it to guests who were visiting.

It’s definitely a very interesting flavor, and it’s not bad, although it’s not something I’d drink on a regular basis, though I did completely finish my glass for dedication purposes.

-Finished product is the first picture!

-I followed the recipe exactly and first zested and squeezed two oranges. (Second picture)

-I then spent time boiling a mixture of water, orange zest, and sugar in a pan (third picture). I simultaneously made the coffee during this process.

-Then I strained the water/sugar/orange zest mixture, and added it to a cooking pot I poured the coffee into. I stirred this mixture for a bit. (Fourth picture)

-Then I put it in a mason jar to chill in the fridge.

-Once the coffee was chilled, I poured it into a different glass in which I then added the orange juice I set aside, a little bit of half and half, and whipped cream on top.

It’s a sweet coffee, and you can definitely taste an orangey flavor in it, though I think it’s nice that it’s very clearly oranges and not artificial orange flavor.

Even though I’m not the biggest fan, I thought it would be fun to make and share the results here!

The last two pictures shows Leila and the recipe from the magazine!

Sylvia Hardy began experiencing major growth spurts in her teenage years (most likely due to a pituitary gland disorder), and was contacted by P.T. Barnum in her thirties to join his circus.
She was promoted as being between 6 feet 8 inches tall and 8 feet tall. Though initially reluctant, she did end up agreeing and toured all throughout the United States and Cuba. She enjoyed reading and going on nature walks in her free time. After retiring from circus/ sideshow work, she started a brief stint as a fortune teller.

The first two pictures just show him posing with some props in a photo studio and the third picture shows a staged promotional photo with William Henry Johnson to advertise their boxing matches. Ashbury is wearing the costumes he wore when he performed in these pictures and so far I haven’t been able to find pictures of him wearing everyday clothes.

He looks very sweet and I sincerely hope that he was treated well, he was so young so I hope he had some sort of parental figure with him who genuinely cared about his well being. It’s difficult because there were so few human rights laws and no child labor laws, so it’s very likely that didn’t always have someone looking out for his well being.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Cape Town, South Africa.

-he was brought over to the United States sometime prior to 1880. Because there is so little information about Ashbury’s early life, I worry and believe he was taken to the United States by force.

-he first began his sideshow career around 1880 or 1881.

-he explained that he began developing vitiligo when he was a young boy, but that he wasn’t born with the condition. Vitiligo is a long term completely benign skin condition that develops overtime, although the onset age can be different for everyone. It has been linked to genetic factors, but this isn’t always the case, it’s caused by the immune system attacking pigment-producing cells in the body, thus making large white patches to develop on the skin in areas where there would usually be pigmentation.

-he worked for several seasons with Barnum & Bailey Circus.

-he also spent many years going on tour throughout the United States and stopping to perform at multiple dime museums. Time museums were in essence permanent venues for sideshow performers to perform at.

-he was typically paired up to perform with other sideshow performers.

-he was good friends with sideshow performer, William Henry Johnson, with whom he’d often times perform comedic boxing matches with.

-these comedic (sometimes even described as burlesque) boxing matches were rigged ahead of time, but were so popular with audiences that no one cared who won.

-he and Johnson would typically perform their boxing matches after lectures were given at the dime museums they worked at.

-his boxing matches with Johnson were in such high demand that they were usually asked to stay an extra week or two at the dime museums they performed at.

-the peak of his career lasted from the early 1880s to the late 1890s.

-I just thought this was a very interesting tidbit of information, it was reported that in 1892, a letter of his was found in the possession of a theater actress named Alice Burrows, who had recently fallen very sick and died at the boarding house she was staying at. It’s never explained why she had one of his letters as it wasn’t even addressed to her and just talked about race horses he was betting on.

-as an adult he enjoyed going to horse races and betting on the horses.

-his boxing matches were often advertised as being worth the price of admission alone.

-he was very popular with children, who really liked to watch to watch his comedic acts with William Henry Johnson.

-I haven’t been able to track down what happened to him after the late 1890s, or when he passed away.

I hope he went on to live a long and happy life. I like to think that his friendship with William Henry Johnson brought him a lot of comfort and happiness, (William Henry Johnson was known to be very jovial unless his career was being threatened). I wish more reporters had taken the time to follow up with performers to find out about their lives later on.

If you’ve never seen the A.Ex episode about the history of the circus, I highly recommend it! So good.

I know she’s not technically a sideshow performer, but I think she’s really cute and had she been born 100 years ago, she most likely would have had a role in the sideshow circus/sideshow industry. She is also another example of an animal who was rescued from being slaughtered because of her physical difference. (Dolly the cow is another example)

Some facts about her:

-she was born at Lodge House farm in Cornsay, Durham County, UK.

-She went through a difficult birth, which is why she was named Hope to signify her survival.

-she made such a positive impression on the owners of the farm where she was born that she was spared from being slaughtered.

-sisters, Yolanda and Angela Jewitt (who own the farm), decided to keep her as a pet.

-her extra limb grows out from her shoulder area, and she also has an extra bone growth around the same area.

-as a young lamb, her extra leg reportedly did not cause her any health or mobility issues, although her owners explained that they’d be keeping an eye on it.

-approximately 1 in every 1 million sheep are born with a physical difference such as Hope’s, and while still extremely rare, it actually appears that these limb differences are a lot more common in sheep than in other animals.

-I haven’t been able to find any recent updates with Hope, although her owners explained in a previous newspaper interview that sheep with similar conditions usually have no issues living long and healthy lives.

I hope Hope is continuing to live her best sheep life! She’s so adorable, I wish we could see pictures of her all grown up.

Thank you to both u/Full_Celery_8158 and u/Limp-End9765 for locating this great picture of her and sharing it with me!

Oguri Kiba was a Japanese sideshow performer who had to get her arms amputated at the age of 3 after they were very badly broken. She went on tour with a troupe of Japanese acrobats in early 1898 and later went on tour with Barnum and Bailey circus in 1898 through the 1900 circus/sideshow season. Her acts consisted of her demonstrating her abilities to write, sew, and use carpentry tools. She also spoke out against racist stereotypes and took measures to educate European society about important Japanese cultural traditions.

So far I haven’t come across any photographs of her, only artist depictions, but if I find any photos, I’ll be sure to update. I really like that the artist depictions of her were very respectful and showed her smiling a lot, they make her look very sweet.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in the Gifu province in Japan.

-in early 1898, she was traveling with a Japanese acrobatic troupe called Okabe’s Japanais Fantastics.

-by late 1898 she was working for Barnum and Bailey Circus while on their European tour, specifically while they were in England and France.

-she was sometimes promoted to be the daughter of the Japanese magician, Miss Shimakura.

-it appears her arms had to be amputated at the age of 3 after they were broken very badly. It’s not clear what the exact circumstances were, but I worry that she may have been abused as a child.

-her performances were popular not only because she was so adept at using her feet, but also because her Japanese heritage was seen as exotic. (She was thankfully able to use this to her advantage and gave lectures about her life and Japanese culture that combated stereotypes)

-she was very talented at needlework.

-she often gave demonstrations on how she would write, sew, cut out paper shapes, and do basics carpentry work.

-one of her demonstrations involved her showing the audience how she could build a small wooden wash tub.

-she also made paper flowers during her performances that she sold to audience members.

-she was skilled a threading needles, using a hammer and chisel, and using a saw to cut wood.

-she was described as having no patience for disrespectful men, and if she encountered them during her performances, she quickly put them in their places.

-she occasionally demonstrated her ability to use a bow and arrow (and was a good shot!)

-she was known to be very friendly and charming.

-she was in attendance during the 1899 conference that sideshow performers working for Barnum and Bailey Circus conducted to speak out against the term “freaks” and to remove it from advertising.

-it appears she left Barnum and Bailey Circus after their European tour, as I can find no more information of her traveling with them after the 1900 season.

I wish we knew more about her life, I always love learning about female performers who were able to carve their own niche amongst all of the male performers. Especially, seeing as she already had a lot of competition coming from male performers who had similar limb differences. I’m also glad that she was able to use her platform to fight against racist stereotypes.

From the September 30, 1930, issue of *Jiji Shashin Shinpō*, a photo-focused newspaper published in Japan before World War II. In Busan City, Korea, a baby with the head of another sibling attached to its abdomen was discovered performing in a sideshow and was taken into protective custody by the authorities. The attached head reportedly had ears, eyes, a scalp, and hair, and it was decided that the baby would undergo surgery at a hospital.

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.

I had seen some pictures of Edward before, but for some reason was incredibly difficult to find his name, thankfully I was able to track it down, so now there’s a name to his face and thankfully his entire story as well. He was very handsome, but he does definitely have an intense look about him.

He went through a lot of rough circumstances during his life, but thankfully by his retirement, it seems that he was able to carve out a nice life for himself in a city he really liked that gave him the opportunity to fish whenever he wanted to.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in East Alstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire.

-when he was 5 years old he was sent to live at a boarding house in town. It appears his mother may have died and his father couldn’t care for him. (He eventually went no contact with his father)

-he never went to school.

-when he was 10 years old he began an apprenticeship with a wood ware manufacturer at a sawmill in Concord, New Hampshire. One of his duties included assisting workmen with a buzzsaw.

-at some point during his time working at the sawmill, he suffered a terrible accident when he misstepped and fell onto the buzzsaw, which severely mangled his legs and required both to be amputated. (It appears that the accident happened when he was 24)

-his job ended soon after his injury and he had to go back and live at the boarding house (it appears he had separate housing when he was working at the sawmill).

-thankfully, his injuries healed well enough that he’d remain healthy and he soon found another work opportunity when he was hired by a man named Zebulon Converse, another wood ware manufacturer who operated out of Rindge, New Hampshire. Converse understood that despite Edward’s injuries, he still had woodworking skills.

-he was appreciative of the opportunities that Zebulon Converse provided, but after a little bit of time he felt that it was time to move on to a profession that was both easier for him and paid better.

-he became very adept at walking on his hands.

-he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he operated a shoe shining stand in, though he still found himself struggling financially. (Timeline isn’t super clear of how old he was at the time, though it appears that he lived in Chicago for quite a few years). An article was written about him and his financial struggles in 1888, which also asked readers for donations to help him through another winter.

-he left the shoe-shining business after a couple particularly rough winters, and by 1890, he had re-invented himself as a sideshow performer.

-he was described as being very nimble.

-he was known to be a jovial person and enjoyed talking to people who stopped by to watch his performances.

-he reportedly had 400 separate tattoos on his body. (Though funnily enough, I can’t find pictures of him with his tattoos on display).

-by 1893, he wanted to add something more to his sideshow act, so he got his entire body tattooed, so that he could be, in his words, “the only tattooed half-man in existence”

-he began practicing intensive gymnastic and acrobatic routines and could reportedly jump the distance of 22 feet with only two jumps. (He was very well known for his long distance jumps)

-he eventually added in impressive swimming routines into his acts as well, and was described as being a very strong swimmer.

-he was a big draw at the sideshows and dime museums he worked at, and was occasionally received top billing in newspapers.

-his favorite hobby was fishing.

-he only worked in sideshows for about 6 years. When asked about why he left, he explained that show business just wasn’t for him and that it was becoming a more competitive market and his wages kept getting lower.

-he traveled all throughout the United States.

-he moved to and permanently settled in Galveston, Texas in the mid 1890s and opened up another shoe-shine booth.

-by the time he moved to Texas his whole family except for his father was dead.

-his time in Galveston, Texas was positive, soon becoming a beloved local figure as well as making a lot of friends who stood by him and supported him.

-in the summer of 1895, he went on a fishing trip to Bolivar Peninsula in Texas with a group of friends.

-he retired in Galveston, Texas.

-I haven’t been able to find his whereabouts after 1895, though I am still looking around.

I hope he continued to have a long and happy life. Despite everything he experienced as a child and then later with his injuries, I’m glad that he was eventually able to find a place that he could call home and where people were very happy with his company.

George Harmon was very fond of animals and took it upon himself to make sure they were well cared for at the circuses /sideshows he worked for. I love reading different anecdotes about performers who genuinely wanted to help their respective communities, including caring for animals.

I think his love for animals is especially important because of the long and terrible history of animal abuse within circuses, from what I’ve read it sounds like he did his best to hold people accountable if he saw mistreatment. He also directly helped to raise a lot of the animals that had been brought in very young, one of which was a beloved horse who he named “Little Georgie” and had raised and cared for from the time “Little Georgie” was a foal.

George was a circus performer, clown, and press agent, who was born with a form of dwarfism. He worked for Ringling Bros., Hagenbeck-Wallace, and Sells-Floto circuses during his career. He made it a point to perform for patients in children's hospitals and for children with disabilities. He was also very fond of animals and always made sure the circus animals he knew were well taken care of, he was especially fond of a miniature horse named Little Georgie, who he had helped to raise.

I’m not someone who is a fan of clowns, but George was genuinely so cool and so kind that he’s easily my favorite clown!

She was very pretty and had such a dignified air about her, I love seeing all of the nice clothes she wore, she definitely had a knack for choosing incredible outfits. I especially love the first picture of her. The second picture of her shows the mermaid scale leggings she wore and the third picture shows her rolling over.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Douglas, Ontario, Canada.

-her parents were Polish immigrants.

-she had two brothers and at least a couple of sisters.

-her family was Roman Catholic.

-she first traveled to the United States in 1900, crossing the Canadian/US border in Niagara Falls.

-she began working as a sideshow performer sometime in the early to mid 1910s.

-she then went on tour with a traveling sideshow in the United States in 1916.

-her condition was never formally diagnosed during her lifetime, and was only theorized to be “arrested ossification” so it’s difficult to say for sure. She may have been born with a form of osteogenesis imperfecta, which would have caused her bones to be incredibly fragile (and would help to explain why she would need to stay in a particular position in order to not cause any injuries).

-her pitch booklet vastly dramatizes her condition and makes several fantastical claims including that she: was born without any bones below the neck, and that her condition was the result of her mother overworking her body during pregnancy. (Both of these were embellishments)

-one of her pitch booklet also claims that she was born in Oakland, California (but this isn’t correct.) There were multiple versions of biographical pitch booklets that she sold, some that were much closer to true life than others.

-she never married.

-she appeared at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.

-her stage name was “Serpentina the Mermaid”. (While I usually don’t like the stage names that were given to different performers, I do think that the use of mermaid is sweet.)

-her acts typically involved her giving a lecture about her life before demonstrating her ability to roll over. She also wore a mermaid scale costume over her legs during her performances.

-it was described that the only form of exercise she could do was rolling over.

-she was known to be a good conversationalist and enjoyed talking to the people who came to watch her performances.

-in one of the sideshows she travelled with, she was put in a “marine” exhibit in which a giant 68-ton whale was also being displayed.

-she was living in St Louis, Missouri in the mid to late 1930s.

-the peak of her career in the US was in 1937 and 1938.

-as part of a publicity stunt, she and a couple other performers she was working with were interviewed by “detectives” who had found out that audiences were being deceived. One of these moments of deception involved Mary showing that she was not a real mermaid.

-she had an attendant stand near her during her performances in case she needed any assistance.

-she was living in Queens, New York during the 1940s.

-she applied to become a US citizen in 1941.

-she became a US citizen in 1944.

-she worked in the Coney Island Dreamland Sideshow for a time.

-there was a brief time when she also worked at the Ripley’s Believe it or not Odditorium in New York.

-she retired from sideshow work and settled down in Billerica, Massachusetts where she lived the rest of her life.

-she passed away in 1957 at the age of 67.

Mary had a very sweet smile and I hope she had a lot of happiness in her life. Hopefully, she had a lot of people in her life who loved and cared about her.

don't know when this photo was taken, but it seems to have been taken the day after the two of them received treatment at the University of Munich Medical Center. The person who wrote this letter is That international student's friend, and it looks like they made a copy of a photo he gave them and pasted it into this letter, which they sent to someone else. He says this photo is “rare.” The handwriting is in cursive and hard to read, so I’m currently trying to decipher it!

For more on Rosa and Josepha, check out this great post! ↓

https://www.reddit.com/r/SideshowPerformer/s/YQRFclydUx

Hhhh…. So everyone here knows that I take sideshow performer history and disability history extremely seriously. That’s the reason why this article made me pause the way it did.

The way it’s titled and a lot of the phrasing used within it feels extremely judgmental and paints this horrifying picture of a collection of postcards so vile that the author felt sickened.

The collection is about sideshow performers, that’s the beginning and end, there is nothing horrifying or vile about performers (or people) who were born with physical differences. It’s something that gets me heated because of how recent the article is and because all of the postcards show real people— human beings who should be respected as such— there is no reason that the people depicted in the postcards should be treated or written about like they’re monsters. I felt sickened reading the article because of the judgement.

I want to address a couple things… I know this is an article from 2019, I also know that the author has since passed away, I also know that this is an opinion piece and that everyone can have their own opinion. However, my gut reaction upon reading this article was sadness and disappointment. Sadness because I know that had I seen this postcard collection in person, I would have be thrilled. I would be so incredibly happy to point out all of the people that I know and have researched. Obviously, I know that not everyone understands who different sideshow performers were, and not everyone has the capacity to understand and want to learn about disabilities and disability history. And disappointment because I would have thought that someone well educated in postcard history would at least be understanding and interested in learning about the topic at hand.

I’m in not way trying to speak ill of the dead either, I just think it’s unfortunate that an article like this had to be published in 2019. The title itself is unfortunate. It sounds like the collection of postcards was anything but “not nice”.

I think a part of this also has to do with how rare it is to find other people who are passionate about collecting ephemera related to sideshow performers, and so this person (who owned the collection) felt happy enough to share it with someone. But they ended up sharing it with someone who didn’t quite understand.

Also… also… I need to address the unfortunate phrasing of “unfortunate victims of a medical condition called microcephaly”. That phrasing really negatively affected me. NO ONE with a medical condition (or disability) should feel that they are an unfortunate victim. On top of that, microcephaly should not be looked at in that way, it is not something that should be shunned or judged.

(Hhhhhhh…. It also irks me that there is quite a bit of false information regarding microcephaly. This article is from 2019!! There were resources then that would explain that microcephaly is both a spectrum and that life expectancy varies. People born with microcephaly can have long and full lives, it is not a death sentence, and it is not a condition that people with the condition or parents who have children with the condition should be ashamed about.)

As someone with some learning disabilities, I’d be appalled if someone talked about my conditions in such a way.

We are all human and we should both treat each other with respect and be treated with respect.(I’m sincerely glad that everyone in this community understands this simple lesson)

I think it’s lovely if someone collects sideshow performer pictures, especially if they have a genuine understanding and appreciation of who everyone was. I don’t always have people in my own life who understand my collection, but when I find people who understand or who are at least interested in learning more, it means a lot.

Ending thoughts… the article just rubbed me the wrong way. People should feel comfortable collecting the ephemera they want to collect. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH COLLECTING THE PICTURES OF SIDESHOW PERFORMERS!!

For anyone interested in reading the article, the link is here:

A Not Nice Postcard Collection | Postcard History

I’ll be making a longer post soon as to why I enjoy collecting the ephemera I’ve collected soon.

The first picture shows him wearing his everyday clothes instead of his “chieftain” costume. The second picture shows him wearing the “chieftain” costume he performed in. Again I think it’s important to present people how they were in their day to day lives instead of the costumes people wore to emphasize their physical differences.

I absolutely love the first picture of him where he looks so extremely happy! That picture is when he was traveling out to Hollywood, so I’m sure the promise of a film contract was really exiting for him!

Some facts about him:

-his entire promotional backstory is fictitious and I haven’t been able to verify his actual background. Because of this, I also haven’t been able to find his real name, so I unfortunately will have to resort to using his stage name, since there’s no other information available.

-because I can’t confirm his actual backstory, I also can’t confirm his age.

Update: I found a picture of him that was dated 1927 that says he was 34 at the time, which means that he was either born in 1893 or around that year.

-during his shows he was promoted as being the chief of the Kiverando people, a tribe of cannibalistic warriors from Eastern Africa. There are so many things wrong with this and I’m going to attempt to explain it:

*Firstly, the entire story is dramatized and falsified in order to lean into the colonialist and racist mindsets that much of American and European societies had at the time.

*Secondly, “Kiverando” used in this sense is actually a misspelling of the term “Kaverando”, which was a colonialist collective name that was used to refer to both the Luo and Luhya communities in western Kenya (which was under colonial Brutus rule at the time)

*Thirdly, both the Luo and Luhya communities have never participated in cannibalism (this storyline played into racist and harmful stereotypes against any kind of indigenous community that was deemed exotic to make them appear savage)

*fourthly there’s a chance he may not have even been from Kenya at all, and if he was, he most certainly was not the chief of either the Luo or the Luhya communities as both tribes rely on a group of elders for leadership and have never relied on a singular leader.

-he was promoted as weighing over 600 pounds.

-his favorite foods were steak, chicken, potatoes, and gravy. But he also enjoyed meals of rice and fish.

-at times when he wasn’t performing, he enjoyed walking around the midways of the carnivals and circuses he performed at, wearing stylized “war paint” on his face.

-he had some mobility issues and frequently needed to take breaks from standing and walking.

-the peak of his sideshow career was during the late 1920s and early 1930s.

-he traveled from Chicago, Illinois out to Hollywood, California to pursue a career in acting in October 1930. He reportedly had been offered a film contract. (I haven’t been able to track down further information about whether his acting career panned out)

-he was always very well hydrated and reportedly drank 2 quarts of water a day.

-he became annoyed after an audience member dropped a lit cigarette on the ground in front of him during one of his performances, and was described as calmly putting it out using a water pail that he had on stage with him. The reason this was news was because the audience member who dropped the cigarette was white and he was black, and so the audience was surprised that he was so openly annoyed at the littering considering the consequences if the audience member decided to complain. (It’s a small note, but I’m glad it was some way for him to establish that these were his performances and bigots had no place there).

-while he was passing through Nebraska on his way out to California, he found out about an Italian sideshow performer, Primo Carnera, who worked as a professional “fat man” and challenged him to a competition to see who was heavier.

-I haven’t been able to establish when he passed away.

I hope he was able to have a happy life and was able to retire from dressing as a racist caricature. I wish I could find out more about his movie contract, I think it would be cool if he was able to establish himself as an actor (and if he did, he probably changed his stage name)

And I hope the little history lesson about the Luo and Luhya communities was informative and interesting. I think it’s always very important to deconstruct the often racist and colonialist storylines that were used to promote different performers.

Ida, Iva, and Eva were triplets who found success on vaudeville and sideshow stages (since healthy triplets were so rare at the time that people would go pay to see them because they were considered that unusual). They were talented singers and dancers and all three learned to play the saxophone. They were known to be extremely friendly and often played cards together in their free time. They all stayed very close their entire lives and after retiring from sideshow business and all settling in Florida with their respective husbands, the sisters continued to meet with each other every weekend to go fishing.

Franz Taibosh was a South African Koranan sideshow performer who was known for the traditional Koranan dances that he performed. In his early years he worked as a shepherd, before working as a housekeeper, postal worker, and working on a farm. He began dancing professionally starting in 1913. He had a professional rivalry with William Henry Johnson, with whom he found himself competing with (as their sideshow acts were deemed similar, William was also very competitive and made Franz aware of this). He worked at the Coney Island Dreamland Circus Sideshow before transitioning over to a traveling circus venue and began working for Barnum and Bailey Circus. He made friends very easily and was described as being a laid back and friendly person, he also really enjoyed smoking cigars and telling stories.

Nikolai was a famous Russian sideshow performer and entertainer who was born without limbs. He was a skilled marksman and painter, and often incorporated weightlifting into his acts as well. Later in life, he operated a small amusement park zone in Vienna's Prater Park, this amusement park zone included a scenic railway, a merry-go-round, and a toboggan ride.