Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Jean Carroll - Love Hurts
What would you do for love?In her time, Jean Carroll was a popular bearded lady. More importantly, Carroll was the real deal. Born in 1910 in Schenectady, New York Jean Carroll possessed the genuine foundation of a fine silken beard at the age of ten, when she joined the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. As she aged, that foundation of follicles flourished and soon provided Carroll with a stable career in carnival exhibition.
As a young lady Carroll met a charming young Ohio man and quickly fell in love. The object of her affection was John Carson. Carson was a charming and handsome man. He was a contortionist and sideshow talker and he was actually quite taken by the sweet-hearted bearded girl. He was certainly attracted to Carroll but the beard was simply too much for him to overcome. While he continued to be friendly with Carroll, he pushed aside any romantic aspirations and focused on friendship.
For fifteen years the two saw each other almost daily. As Carson got to know Carroll for the woman she was, behind the whiskers, he fell deeply in love with her. Carroll saw that love in him and it pained her. She knew he would never be able to accept the beard and she, in turn, could not give up her source of livelihood and her home in the carnival. As she cried one night, sword swallower Alec Linton suggested a painful solution.
“Shave the beard and become a tattooed woman.”
Soon, the beard was gone and in its place were over 700 intricate designs by famed tattooist Charlie Wagner. The pain involved in the process was likely excruciating but the investment was wise. John Carson was completely smitten, apparently having no problems with illustration over facial hair, and the two wed almost immediately following the ‘close shave’.
They remained with the carnival. John continued on in his old job as a charming sideshow talker and Jean Carroll exhibited her new tattoos quite thoroughly, as a burlesque dancer.
The two remained inseparable until John’s passing in 1951.
image: Jean Carroll with husband John Carson. Inset, the bearded Jean Carroll. Image courtesy of James G. Mundie.
Read more about Jean Carroll in American Sideshow.
Related tales of love, in honor of Valentine's Day:
Bill Durks - The Man with Three Eyes
Percilla - The Monkey Girl
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Millie-Christine - The Two-Headed Nightingale
Millie and Christine were born into slavery on July 11, 1851 in the town of Welches Creek, North Carolina. The girls were joined at the spine and their owner, a blacksmith named Jabez McKay, was not sure what to do with the girls. Their parents, Monimia and Jacob, had previously sired seven children but clearly the twins would be of little use to McKay due to their bizarre appearance and sickly constitution. Eventually McKay opted to sell the eight-month-old girls and their mother to Carolinian showman John Pervis for $1000.Pervis began exhibiting Millie and Christine immediately but within four years the girls were sold to showmen Joseph Pearson Smith and Brower and then kidnapped. The kidnappers exhibited the twins privately, mostly to members of the medical community, for over three years while Smith and Brower frantically searched for their investment. They eventually located Millie and Christine while they were on exhibit in Birmingham, England. The law became involved in the situation and, as slavery was illegal in England, the girls were released into the custody of their mother. She, however, had no idea how to proceed with the girls in a foreign country and as a result she gave custody and 'ownership' back to Smith.
While Smith continued to exhibit Mille and Christine, he found the public was not very interested. At the time, the anatomical novelty of conjoined twins simply was not enough to capture public attention. Smith decided to develop Millie and Christine as a performing act. Furthermore, he endeavoured to make the girls as extraordinary in skill as they were in appearance. To that end, he and his wife tutored the girls in music and languages. Millie and Christine were taught etiquette, social graces and were given music lessons. It came to pass that the girls developed impressive singing abilities and their singing prowess soon became the focal point of their careers.
As ‘The Two-Headed Nightingale’ the conjoined girls started to gain a remarkable reputation. While Millie was a contralto and Christine a soprano, the girls were able to blend and harmonize their voices in incredibly appealing ways. By 1860, Millie and Christine were on the cusp of stardom.
In 1862 Smith died. The girls were willed to his son Joseph Jr. and it was Joseph who catapulted the girls to stardom by using a clever bit of showmanship.
Throughout much of their life, Millie and Christine were often considered one person. Due to their shared body, it was often unclear if the girls were legally and physically a single being or individuals. The girls themselves often referred to themselves in the singular, using ‘I’ in the place of ‘we’. Joseph Jr. saw opportunity in this confusion and opted to advertise the girls from a new perspective.
The girls became Millie-Christine, a girl with two heads, four arms and four legs.
The concept of such an incredible phenomenon drew immediate crowds and Millie-Christine enjoyed immediate and world-wide popularity. Furthermore, it was the singing of ‘The Two-Headed Nightingale’ that quickly gained predominance over appearance and Millie-Christine eventually performed for European royalty, including the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria. Mille-Christine became renowned for singing, playing the guitar and piano in unison and dancing the waltz in front of thousands of people in the greatest halls and venues of the world.
Soon, the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect and Millie-Christine was free. During the course of her career, Millie-Christine earned more than $250,000.
Millie-Christine preformed until the age of fifty-eight. Once retired, Millie-Christine became Millie and Christine once again. The sisters built a home in Columbus, North Carolina where they lived quietly until their passing on October 8, 1912. Millie went first, succumbing to tuberculosis, and her sister followed seventeen hours later.
They were sixty-one, the oldest conjoined twins on record.
To learn more about Millie-Christine purchase Millie-Christine : Fearfully And Wonderfully Made by Joanne Martell.
Related and in honor of Black History Month:
Willie and George Muse – The Men From Mars
George Williams - The Turtle Boy
Prince Randian - The Human Caterpillar
Zip The Pinhead - What is it?
Related and in honor of Black History Month:
Willie and George Muse – The Men From Mars
George Williams - The Turtle Boy
Prince Randian - The Human Caterpillar
Zip The Pinhead - What is it?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Rosa & Josepha Blazek - The Bohemian Twins
The conjoined sisters Rosa and Josepha Blažek were born in Skrejšov, Bohemia on January 20, 1878. The two were pygopagus - joined at the posterior. They shared tissue and cartilage but were also joined at a thoracic vertebra. It was that delicate fusion that negated any possibility of separation and when their mother took them to Paris at the age of thirteen, doctors told her just that.It was in Paris were the twins began their career in professional exhibition. Depending what story you believe, until that point their mother was either adamantly against displaying her daughters for profit or limited their publicity to local fairs. But the twins themselves saw Paris as an opportunity to get out of their tiny village. They found a manager, learned to sing and play the xylophone, and began drawing crowds.
Like many conjoined performers, much was made of their differences in personality and tastes. Rosa was considered the sharper of the two. She was witty and talkative while Josepha was introverted. Physically Rosa was the more dominant of the two sisters. Josepha was slightly more deformed than her sister, with her left leg being substantially shorter than her right. In matters of promotion the pair was heavily sexualized and posters for their appearance at the Theatre Imperial de la Gaiete featured with bared midriffs and tight corsets. As a result the public conjectured on their sexual activity and the complications their physical condition posed.
The Blažek sisters were famous in the 1890’s as they toured Europe. They eventually become quite skilled on the violin and stunned crowds with their enthusiastic duets. But, by the turn of the twentieth century, their popularity quickly evaporated due to poor management and overexposure.
Their obscurity was shattered in 1909 when Rosa claimed to be pregnant. Controversy spread like wildfire and rekindled their celebrity.
To the public, the idea of such a liaison was bewildering. Although the twins had separate vaginae, their physical proximity seemingly made any tryst a ménage à trois. The newspapers filled with rumour laced articles. Some believed the twins were sex crazed harlots; others depicted Josepha as an unwilling victim. Rosa claimed she had only had intercourse once and she refused to name the father. There was much speculation that their manager was the father and legend has it he gave the girls 95,000 marks for three years to keep the duo quiet. Regardless of the paternity, on April 16 1910 ‘Little Franz’ entered the picture.
As Franz grew, he joined the twins' travelling show as ‘The Son of Two Mothers’ and with their newfound celebrity the three of them left Europe and appeared in the 1893 Columbian Exposition in New York. The twins set their sights on vaudeville and established a base in Chicago but their dream of the American stage was cut short when Rosa fell ill with influenza. As Rosa recovered, Josepha became sick and her illness soon overcame her. Doctors were uncertain of the diagnosis and shortly after being admitted into Chicago’s West End Hospital on March 22, 1922, Rosa fell into a coma.
A brother, Frank, appeared out of nowhere and once Rosa also succumbed to a coma Frank spoke for the sisters. Newspapers disagree on the final days of the Blažek twins. Some claim Frank would not allow any attempt at surgical separation and others claimed Rosa was adamant about remaining joined or just as adamant about being separated. All newspapers agreed that Frank was a gold digger who only had his eye on their fortune.
Josepha Blažek died on March 30, 1922. Rosa followed her twelve minutes later. With their death, another media frenzy began around who was entitled to their fortune. Soon after they were laid to rest, the matter was a moot point. It was discovered that the pair only had a savings of $400 between them.
Postscript
Even today, much controversy exists regarding the origins of Franz. Many historians and authors believe that the boy was nothing more than a well timed publicity stunt. While an autopsy confirmed that the two had separate uteri, it fails to mention any evidence of pregnancy. In fact, any evidence points to the contrary.
In addition, stories of the paternity of Franz changed during the time the boy toured. At one point it was claimed that the baby boy was named after his father, a soldier named Franz Dvorak. It was claimed that Rosa married the soldier shortly before his death in 1917. But there is no record of the marriage, nor did the man ever appear publicly with his family. It was likely a story engineered to evoke sympathy and further attendance.
It is known that Franz did spend time in an orphanage, and some believe that is where the boy originated from in the first place.
The fate of Franz is currently unknown as he disappeared into history following the death of the Blažek twins.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Percilla - The Monkey Girl
The case of Julia Pastrana has long been held as a tragic example of exploitation. The remarkable bearded prodigy lived a life of manipulation and in death her body was abused and disgraced by callous souls and ignorance. The life of her contemporary could have easily followed the same shadowed path however her story is of true love, inner beauty and respect.During her long life Percilla Lauther was known by many names. Originally she was descriptively dubbed 'the hairy little girl' and later as 'the monkey girl', but it is quite likely that she will forever be remembered by those dear to her as Percilla Bejano – loving wife of Emmitt the Alligator-Skinned Man.
The hirsute Percilla was born on April 26 of 1911 in the Puerto Rican town of Bayamon. Percilla had been born with hypertrichosis, she possessed two rows of teeth and drew immediate attention from the public and the medical community. Percilla's father was a native of Spain and he did not know what to make of his hairy daughter initially. Percilla's parents traveled to New York City seeking answers from American doctors and there they remained for seven months until Percilla's father developed the idea of exhibiting his daughter for profit.
Percilla's father was not a greedy man. He merely saw an opportunity to make the most of the situation nature had thrust upon his daughter. However his limited knowledge of English and business made promoting Percilla difficult and he approached showman Karl. L. Lauther for assistance. Lauther was an accomplished promoter and he owned and operated several shows during his lifetime. He took an instant interest in Percilla and hired her on the spot. Lauther also hired an assistant to help Percilla's father care for the child after his wife returned to Puerto Rico. That arrangement was short lived however, as Percilla's father was shot and killed in Gainesville. Upon his death, and according to his final wish, Lauther adopted young Percilla as his own daughter.
Percilla never said anything ill of her adoptive father, thus one may assume that he was a compassionate and loving man. In fact all evidence indicates that despite exhibiting Percilla for profit, Lauther was extremely sensitive to the public perception of his adoptive daughter. Lauther disliked the fact that the public took to calling Percilla a 'monkey girl' and verbally lashed out at anyone bold enough to call her a 'freak'. But the 'Monkey Girl' moniker stuck and Lauther gave in and began to publicly pair Percilla with a trained chimpanzee named Josephine. He may have had the last laugh, however, as the two attractions were juxtaposed. Percilla would warmly and graciously welcome guests to her exhibit while Josephine would rudely smoke cigarettes and spit.
In the late 1930's, while performing with the Johnny J. Jones Exposition, Percilla met fellow marvel Emmitt Bejano, the Alligator-Skinned Man. Despite her heavy beard and his ichthyosis a sweet romance blossomed between the unique couple. The pair saw past their physical differences. Emmitt was a man with calloused skin who spent performance intermissions submerged in vats of ice water because he could not sweat. Emmitt was quite literally 'thick skinned' and he had a 'hard shell to crack' but beneath he was a compassionate, gentle, charming and passionate man. Percilla, despite looking more beast than beauty, was elegant, eloquent and possessed and enchanting singing voice. Before long Percilla realized that the gentle Emmitt was the love of her life and the two eloped in 1938.
A year later, the couple welcomed a daughter, Francine, into their family. Unfortunately pneumonia extinguished her life after a scant four months.
When Emmitt and Percilla returned to exhibition they were promoted as the World's Strangest Married Couple. Percilla and Emmitt shared the stage and most notably worked for Ringling Brothers and other shows successfully for over a decade. They appeared together in the 1980 film Carny opposite Jodie Foster and Gary Busey. Eventually the couple grew tired of life in the public eye and opted to retire to a private life in Gibbstown, Florida. There the two remained madly in love for many more years. Their union ended with Emmitt's passing in 1995.
Percilla carried on, clean shaven for the first time in her life, and briefly appeared in various documentaries and on the Jerry Springer show where she charmed the audience with stories of her beloved Emmitt and by shyly singing his favourite song 'It's a Long Way to Tipperary'.
Percilla herself passed away in her sleep in February of 2001. She is dearly missed by all who knew her.
Image: 'Priscilla' circa 1940.
You may read Percilla's pitch book here.
A transcript of her Jerry Springer appearance can be found here.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSLabels: bearded, hypertrichosis, women
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Sarah Biffen - The Limbless Artisan
The remarkable case of Sarah Biffen began with her birth in October of 1784. She was born without arms and only vestigial limbs to a family of farmers in At the age of twelve, the Biffen family contracted their unwanted daughter to a showman named Mr. Dukes. Dukes exhibited Sarah throughout
The paintings of Sarah Biffen progressed steadily in skill, precision and beauty. Soon people flocked to watch her paint, perched upon a pedestal, and they paid large admissions for the privilege. During her early years Biffen was best know for producing landscapes and miniature painted portraits on ivory cameos and medallions. She sold her creations for three guineas each and she could hardly keep up with the demand.
During her appearance at St. Bartholomew's Fair in 1808, the Earl of Morton paid Miss Biffen a visit. The Earl had heard of the painting ‘Limbless Wonder’ but was not prepared for the talent the girl possessed. In fact, the Earl was so impressed that he sponsored Sarah and made possible private lessons from
Sarah Biffen became so famous that Charles Dickens mentioned her in Nicholas Nickleby and Martin Chuzzlewit.
She fell on hard times in 1827 when her friend and benefactor, The Earl of Morton, passed away. However Queen
Sarah Biffen died
image: Engraving of Sarah Biffen from a self-portrait.
For more information on limbless marvels I highly recommend Mutants by Armand Marie. Leroi.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Minerva and Charmion - Strongwomen
The strongman has long been a staple in circus and sideshows. The image of handlebar mustached man garbed in a leopard print leotard has become the stereotypical image associated with feats of extraordinary strength. But, what about the 'fairer sex'? Was there ever a professional strongwoman?Truth be told, there were several.
Perhaps the best known and traditional of these brawny babes was Josephine Blatt, who was better known by her stage name Minerva.
Josephine Blatt’s early history is shrouded in carnival gimmickry. She claimed to have been born in 1865 in Hamburg Germany but other sources, most notably The Guinness Book of World Records, pegged her as an American born in 1867 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Regardless of this discrepancy, few questions exist in regards to her remarkable strength.
In her displays she demonstrated her strength by breaking horseshoes with her hands, breaking steel chains by expanding her chest, and playing catch with a 24 pound cannon ball. She was capable to lift a stone weight of 360 lbs with a single finger thrust through a lifting ring. Furthermore, The Guinness Book of Records recognized Minerva as having lifted the greatest weight ever by a woman. At the Bijou Theatre in Hoboken on April 15, 1895 Josephine Blatt lifted 3,564 lbs in a hip-and-harness lift. With that superhuman lift, Josephine Blatt nearly achieved the mythical status of her namesake.
She retired with her strongman husband, Charles Blatt, in 1910 and eventually passed away on September 1, 1923.
Around the same time that Minerva was raising great weights, a young lady named Charmion was raising eyebrows with her unusual strength-related act.
Laverie Vallee, Charmion, was a Sacramento born trapeze artist who possessed strength and a physique most men would be envious of. However, she was most well known for her risqué striptease performances.The act opened with Charmion taking the stage in full Victorian attire. She would then mount the trapeze and proceed to undress to her leotard while performing impressive and strength-dependant stunts. The act was incredibly impressive and provocative for the era. However, the controversy created by her performances did not prevent the formulation of a devoted, and mostly male, fan base.
One of her greatest fans was Thomas Edison. As a result of that adoration, on November 11, 1901 Charmion committed a simplified version of her act to film for Edison. The film, simply entitled ‘Trapeze Disrobing Act’ focused more on the erotic aspect of the performance, though a few remarkable feats of strength are featured. The film can be viewed here.
Charmion eventually retired to Santa Ana, California. She passed away on February 6, 1949 at the age of 73.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Mademoiselle Gabrielle - The Half-Woman
Mademoiselle Gabrielle was a legless marvel from the early 1900’s. She was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1884 and began her exhibition career at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1900 as The Half-Woman.
Her first foray into show business proved quite successful as she soon traveled to America to work with the Dreamland Circus Side Show, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Furthermore, in 1912, Mademoiselle Gabrielle embarked on a short-lived vaudevillian career with New York’s Hammerstein Theater. She eventually broke her contract with the theater agent and was subsequently sued for breach. A four year court battle resulted in a $2000 fine paid to the theater agent. Few human marvels appeared on the vaudeville stage, the Hilton sisters did so several years later, but Mademoiselle Gabrielle was a special case. She was beautiful, charming, graceful and demure enough for the general public to accept her deformity objectively.
Mademoiselle Gabrielle possessed no legs and, according to a 1929 London Life article, she possessed no stumps whatsoever. Her torso finished just below the hip gracefully. Her figure was impressive and she accentuated her physical qualities and natural beauty with opulent Victorian garb and striking jewelry. Mademoiselle Gabrielle was independent and never complained of her condition. She firmly believed that she was 'no less a woman', despite being physically half of a woman.
Mademoiselle Gabrielle attracted men in droves and married at least three times during her lifetime. First she was married to a man with the surname of Hunter and lastly to a German gentleman. Due to these surname changes, her later history is difficult to trace and her eventual date of demise is currently unknown.
Read more about Mademoiselle Gabrielle in American Sideshow.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Myrtle Corbin - The Four-Legged Woman
Myrtle Corbin, was known as the Four-Legged Woman – however that moniker was slightly misleading. While at a glance one could plainly see four legs dangling beyond the hem of her dress – only one pair belonged to her, the other set to her dipygus twin sister. Born in Myrtle was a popular attraction with P.T. Barnum, and later with Ringling Bros. and
At the age of 19 Myrtle married a doctor named Clinton Bicknell. It was then that other aspects of her bizarre anatomy became evident. It seems that her twin sister was also fully sexually formed – thus Myrtle possessed two vaginas. She had four daughters and a son and it has been rumored that three of her children were born from one set of organs and two from the other. Whether this is true or not; it is medically possible. In Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle it was observed that both vaginas menstruated – thus indicating both were possibly sexually functional.
To learn more about Myrtle and other Marvels purchase Very Special People.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Nora Hildebrandt - The First Tattooed Lady
Nora Hildebrandt was America’s first professional tattooed lady. Her place in history is due mostly to the fact that her father, German born Martin Hildebrandt, was America’s first professional tattoo artist. Nora stood in as a canvas for her father when he was not tattooing sailors and soldiers from both sides of the Civil War.Martin set up shop in New York in 1846 and Nora was born sometime in the 1850’s. Nora began to exhibit herself in 1882. By that time, she was covered in tattoo ink, neck to toe, with a reported 365 tattooed designs. She toured primarily with Barnum & Bailey Circus throughout the 1890’s. Initially, she borrowed heavily from the embellished origins laid out by the tattooed men of years past like John Rutherford and Captain Constentenus. In her fictional biography, Nora stated that she and her father were originally forcibly tattooed by American Indians. According to her story, she was tattooed daily for an entire year, while tied to a tree. At one point, she even claimed that Sitting Bull was involved in her torture.
Nora’s fabricated tale proved to entertain audiences but she eventually discounted it and regaled audiences instead with the details of the work done by her father while displaying her body for all to see.
She proved a very popular attraction among men. However her fame was rather short lived as another attractive tattooed lady debuted shortly after her. Irene Woodward quickly eclipsed Nora’s spotlight and Nora’s exact fate is still lost to history.
Image: 1942 reproduction of an Eisenmann cabinet card.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Sunday, August 06, 2006
Anna Swan - The Giantess of Nova Scotia
Today I, J. Tithonus Pednaud, have an interview with CBC Radio One. I though it was only fitting to induct perhaps the most famous of all Canadian Human Marvels.Anna Swan was born in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia on August 6th, 1846. She was a large baby. She began her life at eighteen pounds and simply continued to grow. By the age of four she was almost five feet tall. By the time she was sixteen, Anna towered over her parents and 12 siblings. When she was done growing Anna stood a staggering seven feet, eleven and a half inches tall.
She began her exhibition career shortly after her seventeenth birthday. She started at the very top, working with P. T. Barnum in his New York Museum. Anna was often paired with the famous midget Tom Thumb, to better accentuate both of their statures.
Anna made a great deal of money under the management of Barnum. Unfortunately, her career with the famous promoter was rife with disaster. The original Barnum Museum caught fire while Anna was on exhibit there and she barely escaped with her life. Trapped on an upper floor, Firemen were unable to carry her to safety. Instead, an outside wall was demolished and a crane was called to facilitate the rescue. When Barnum rebuilt his museum, Anna returned only to lose all of her possessions in a second museum fire. Anna quit the business for a time and returned to Nova Scotia. However, in 1869, Barnum invited her on a tour of the United States.
While on tour Anna met a Kentucky gentleman named Martin Van Buren Bates. Bates had been a Confederate Captain during the Civil War. He was charming, soft spoken and eloquent. He also happened to be nearly eight feet tall. The pair fell in love and married on June 17th, 1871. The pair, billed as the ‘World’s Tallest Couple’ were showered with wedding gifts. Queen Victoria herself provided the gown and diamond ring.
The Gigantic couple settled in Seville, Ohio and used their vast career earnings to build a colossal home. The ceilings were fourteen feet high, every door was at over eight feet in height and every piece of furniture was custom build for their frames. The pair continued to tour, but only sparingly.
In 1872 Anna gave birth to her first child. The little girl weighted eighteen pounds, just like her mother had, but unfortunately did not survive long after birth. In 1879 the couple had another child, this time a twenty-two pound boy. Sadly, he too did not survive past infancy.
Despite these tragedies, the two titans lived together in their custom home quite happily in love. In 1888, one day before her forty-second birthday, Anna passed away unexpectedly. Her husband, Martin, erected a great funeral monument to his wife.
Atop her grave towers a fifteen foot statue of a Greek Goddess.
Although Martin later remarried he insisted that, upon his death, he be laid to rest next to his beloved Anna and their children. He request was granted and today they rest together.
Image: Anna Swan pitch card. From the author's collection.
To learn more about Anna Swan and other Marvels purchase Carny Folk or American Sideshow.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Friday, July 07, 2006
Frieda Pushnik - The Little Half Girl
Frieda Pushnik was born without arms or legs on Feb. 10, 1923 in Conemaugh, Pennsylvania. She claimed that her condition was due to a botched appendectomy conducted on her pregnant mother. The validity of this statement is questionable, however considering no lawsuit was filed – the story is most likely a case of sideshow creativity.Frieda was a testament to human willpower. By all accounts she never considered herself disabled. She accepted her condition as a matter of fact and strived to live as everyone else did. Her mother was the driving force behind this aspiration and it wasn’t long before Frieda was feeding herself, sewing, crocheting and playing as children do. Remarkably, by holding a pen between her shoulder and chin, Frieda was not only able to write legibly – she actually won several awards for penmanship. Because Frieda was limited in movement, her mother would carry her to school daily and her brother or sister would carry her back.
In 1933, Robert L. Ripley, of ‘Ripley's Believe It or Not!,’ heard of Frieda and visited her and her family. He illustrated her story in one of his nationally syndicated cartoons, calling her ‘The Little Half Girl’, and he eventually asked her to appear at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1933.
At the age of 9, accompanied by her mother and sister, Frieda began appearing in Ripley’s ‘Odditorium’ with fellow child marvel Betty Lou Williams. Her act was little more than an introduction and a demonstration of her typing and writing skills but audiences were completely floored. She would repeat the five-minute show many times each hour through what was often a 16-hour day. In the six years she was on tour with Ripley, she was seen by millions. To make extra revenue, she would sell her pitch cards - a variety of portait photos. For a few dollars more she woould personally sign her photos. An example of her handwriting - or 'shoulder-chin' writing - can be seen above.
After a brief retirement, she joined up with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Her sister and mother again joined her. This time her sister actually performed with the circus as a skilled trapeze acrobat and dancing girl and even her mother worked for the circus office as a secretary. In 1944, the circus suffered a spectacular fire which claimed the lives of 167 people. Frieda was luckily carried to safety by a member of the minstrel show.
Despite that frightening experience, Frieda returned again to the circus and continued to perform until 1955, when ‘politically correct’ laws effectively forbid the display of human marvels and killed her livelihood. She retired to Costa Mesa California – fairly well off financially - where she lived quietly, adorning her home with her own oil paintings.
On Christmas Eve, 2000 the remarkable live of Frieda Pushnik ended. She passed away at the age of 77 - the victim of bladder cancer. She had never married, and despite being out of the public eye for decades, the news of her passing was the subject of many news stories. Even in death, 'The Little Half Girl' remains a testiment to human spirit.
Image: one of Frieda's autographed pitch cards dated from her circus days.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Friday, June 30, 2006
Mignon - The Penguin Lady
Mignon was born in the early 1900's, likely around 1910, with a condition called phocomelia. Phocomelia typically results in the stunting of limbs and the fusion of digits. In Mignon's case her fingers were fused in such a way as to resemble flippers. Furthermore, as her truncated limbs forced Mignon to waddle rather than walk – her stage name of 'The Penguin Lady' was both apt and easily assigned.Her name, Mignon, was not her birth name. Most reports indicate that her given name was Ruth. Mignon is the French word for 'cute' and she likely adopted it early in her career. In fact, for quite some time she was know as 'Mickey Mignon' and even today her true surname is debatable.
While Mignon often wore a two piece bathing suit to show off her unique physique, she was not content to rely on appearance alone. She learned to play the rather exotic marimba, an African instrument similar to a xylophone. She proved to be very proficient as she was not only featured in numerous sideshows, her act was also featured at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago and the 1939 and 1940 World's Fairs in New York.
Mignon married twice in her lifetime. She had a healthy son with her first husband, a 'normal' man by the last name of LaArgo and in the 1950's she married fellow sideshow performer Earl Davis, a gnarled and crippled former acrobat known as 'Hoppy the Frog Boy'. The two performed together for close to a decade.
Following her retirement in the 1960 Mignon disappeared from public view and the final chapters of her story remain shrouded.
To learn more about Mignon and other Human Marvels purchase American Sideshow.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Monday, June 19, 2006
The Hilton Sisters - Chained For Life
Contrary to popular belief, outright exploitation was not very common in sideshow. The majority of human marvels displayed themselves for their own reasons and quite often reaped massive financial and personal rewards for doing so. However, of the few performers who were exploited against their will, the tale of Daisy and Violet Hilton ranks as one of the worst.Daisy and Violet were conjoined twins born in Brighton, England on February 5, 1908. The sisters were born pygopagi, joined at the posterior. The sisters shared no internal organs and all that was truly uniting them was bone, muscle and skin.
Their birth name was Skinner however their impoverished and unmarried mother, Kate, could not fathom the responsibilities involved in raising a pair of girls joined. She sold the twins to her boss and midwife Mary Hilton.
Williams instantly saw potential profit in the twins.
According to many sources, including the autobiography written by the Hilton sisters in 1942, Mary Hilton was a strict, physically abusive, exploitive and corrupt human being. The twins were ‘trained’ and ‘groomed’ to sing and dance in the vaudeville tradition. While this training was in progress the horrific abuse and dehumanizing continued. When the girls finally began touring, they were seen as little more than possessions by the Hiltons.
The twins proved to be hugely successful and the toured extensively beginning at the age of three. On stage, the pair likely looked like dolls, their blond hair in curls and bows on their shoes. Violet played the piano while Daisy played the violin.
Billed as ‘The United Twins’, their tours of Germany, Australia and the USA often saw record crowds. The twin brought in enormous amounts of money. Mary Hilton kept every penny.
When Mary finally died in Birmingham, Alabama, the guardianship of the twins fell to Mary’s daughter Edith and Edith's husband, Meyer Meyers. They were even worse than Mary as they controlled every movement the twins made. They also proved to be poor agents as they insisted on keeping the girls ‘dolled up’ as little girl well past the age it was acceptable. Critics took notice and the twins were allowed to grow up, but only a little.
The mistreatment and corruption continued under the dictatorship of Edith. Edith purchased a mansion in San Antonio with the money the twins earned as a headquarters as the twins spent much of the 1920’s touring the United States on vaudeville circuits. It was on these circuits that they met Bob Hope and their dear friend Harry Houdini. Their popularity, at this point was near its peak and as a result they became subject to scandal.
The twins had befriended their advance agent, William Oliver. Oliver's wife Mildred was suspicious of the relationship and accused William of improper acts. A postcard from the twins signed to William ‘with love’ prompted Mildred to file for divorce and sue the twins for $250,000. Oddly enough, this frivolous lawsuit was the catalyst for the Hilton’s freedom.
During a visit to San Antonio lawyer, Martin J. Arnold, the truth came out. As the Meyer’s were out of the room the Hilton sisters told the lawyer of their life of abuse and captivity. The lawyer was flabbergasted and immediately took on the twins' case. He took the twins into protective custody.
In April of 1931 Judge W.W. McCrory awarded a large sum of money – some reports say as much as $100,000, to the sisters and granted the pair their freedom.
The girls had spent 21 years in abject slavery.
Daisy and Violet became citizens of the United States and returned to show business. They hosted their own show, ‘The Hilton Sisters' Revue’, and stared in the 1932 film Freaks.
Everything seemed to be perfect in the life of the Hilton sisters; however the pair soon began to self destruct. Due to too many years of solitude, suppression and deprivation the girl wallowed in excess. They had numerous affairs, legal problems, clashes with that media and a couple of short publicity marriages. Their popularity nosedived. In 1950, the sisters appeared in their final film Chained for Life. It flopped and the pair further failed in an attempted food franchise. By the 1960’s the pair were nearly penniless.
The Hiltons' last public appearance was at a drive-in movie theater in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1962. Their tour manager abandoned them there, as the tour was a failure and he was tired of losing money. He left them without any money or transportation and the twins simply decided to settle in Charlotte. A kind grocery store manager hired the sisters to work in his shop, where they checked and bagged groceries.
On January 6, 1969, the twins failed to report for work and were found dead in their pious home. They had no surviving family.
Despite the sad end to their lives, the memory of the Hilton sisters still lives on. In 1997, a Broadway musical loosely based on the sisters' lives, Side Show, with lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger, received four Tony nominations.
image: still from the 1932 film Freaks.
Excerpts of the above taken from the book Very Special People.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Krao - The Missing Link
Darwin's theory of evolution – and man's implied ascendancy from an ape-like creatures - is controversial. When it was first introduced to the public, most people though the idea was preposterous. Until the apparent 'missing link' between man and ape appeared in a Philadelphia dime museum.Krao was born is Siam, modern day Thailand, in 1876. From birth, the girl was completely covered with hair, including a mane-like track of hair flowing down her back from between her shoulder blades. She was discovered at the age of six by a promoter exuberantly named the Great Farini. Farini took the girl on a successful tour of Europe before starting a tour in the United State. While the dime museum was a starting point, it wasn't long before Krao was a sought after marvel featured by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
While often called 'The Ape Woman' Krao was principally advertised as 'Darwin's Missing Link'. To all those who saw her, she was proof of Darwin's ideas. It was claimed, somewhat ridiculously, that Krao was of a race of tree dwelling, ape-like people but many bought the story – including noted naturalists and scientists. Numerous papers were written on Krao and her role as Darwinian proof. In the 1896 tome Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, the authors noted her many ape qualities including her 'prehensile feet'. In reality Krao was a young woman of above average intelligence who was both well read and multilingual. She just happened to suffer from an advanced form of hypertrichosis.
Unlike Julia Pastrana, Krao was fortunate in that she was never exploited. She performed and displayed herself in her own terms for most of her adult life. She was free to do as she pleased and spent the last 20 years of her life in a private apartment, entertaining guests and neighbors with her cooking and charming personality.
Krao never married, although she had admirers, and she passed due to influenza on April 16th, 1926.
Images: Krao photo taken from Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, an early broadside advertising the infant Krao and Krao later in life.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSLabels: hypertrichosis, savage, women
Friday, June 09, 2006
Dolly Dimples - The Dainty Fat Lady
While Dolly Dimples was not the most famous Fat Lady or even the most rotund, her story is almost unparalleled in the history of sideshow.She was born Celesta Herrmann in
She met a man named Frank Geyer and, despite the fact that Frank was a slim and trim 135 pounds, he liked his ladies large and encouraged Celesta’s appetite. She gained a further 100 pounds in one year and the pair eventually married.
In 1927, the couple went to visit the traveling Happyland Carnival just outside of Detroit. The carnival owner spotted the colossal Dolly and noted that she outweighed his advertised Fat Lady by at least 50 pounds. He offered her a job on the spot and she accepted almost immediately.
She took the name Dolly Dimples – sometime Jolly Dolly - and she was billed as the ‘World’s Most Beautiful Fat Lady’. In an effort to become and even bigger attraction, Dolly began to ingest even larger quantities of food. Her daily diet also included pounds of potatoes, gallons of milk, multiple servings of meat and many loaves of bread. Her calorie intake was very close to 10,000, five times what is required daily. By the time she was touring with Ringling Bros. in the 30’s, standing only 4 foot 11 inches, she weighted in at 555 pounds. The dresses she wore on stage consisted of twelve yards of fabric.
In 1950, Dolly suffered a near fatal heart attack. Her doctors told her to alter her diet or she would die. Dolly was frightened by the prospect of death, she enjoyed live greatly, and so she paid attention to the advice in a most astounding fashion.
In fourteen months Dolly Dimples was gone, and in her place stood Celesta Geyer at a svelte 112 pounds. She had lost over 443 pound by limiting her diet to baby food. The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes this achievement as the greatest weight loss in the shortest period of time.
The now ‘Skinny Lady’ spent the rest of her life as the first diet guru. She wrote a best selling book called ‘Diet or Die: The Dolly Dimples Weight Loss Plan’ and followed that up with ‘The Greatest Diet in the World’.
She went on to run a small art gallery until her death in 1982.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Friday, June 02, 2006
Mme. Clofullia - The Bearded Lady of Geneva
Long before The Bearded Lady was a staple in the sideshow, bearded ladies were already revered in the mythology and folklore of the old world. In the fifth century B.C.E. Hippocrates himself, the father of modern medicine, documented a bearded priestess named Athena. It was believed that her beard empowered the priestess with special clairvoyant abilities. In the Middle Ages most bearded ladies were regarded as witches, however one 14th century Spanish nun - and bearded woman - was sainted. The festival of Saint Paula the Bearded is still celebrated every January 20th. Also, believe it or not, Saint Paula is not the only follicular endowed religious figure. July 20th is the Feast of St. Wilgefortis, she was the daughter of the King of Portugal and another rumored Bearded Lady. It has also long been rumored that the 15thcentury regent of the Netherlands, Margret of Parma, was bearded. However that tale is likely pure fiction. An embarrassing tale likely told by her detractors.
It wasn't until the Renaissance that Bearded Ladies began to exhibit themselves for profit. Julia Pastrana was likely the most famous of the Bearded Ladies. However Mme. Clofullia was a close second in her time.
Born in 1831 in the Swiss village of Versoix, Josephine Boisdechene was born covered with fine fur and she was bearded by the age of two. Today her condition is know as hirsutism, which is a variant of hypertrichosis. However, local doctors were baffled by her condition and most were hoping the young girl would simply 'grow out of it'. It was recommended that she be taken to doctors in Geneva when she was older. At the age of eight her parents did just that however, by that age, her beard was already over two inches long. The Geneva doctors were baffled as well and Josephine's parents did not know what to do, they even feared that shaving the beard would result in its growing back longer and thicker. Instead, they opted to hide Josephine as best they could and shipped her off to boarding school.
Boarding school provided Josephine with grace, charm and an elegant etiquette. Despite the fact that she was quite a fine lady, by the age of sixteen, Josephine's beard measured over six inches and her appearance was drawing crowds. Attempting to make the best of her unique situation, she began to exhibit herself in Geneva and France with her father acting as her agent. It was in France that Josephine met a bearded artist named Fortune Clofullia. The two fell in love and were soon married. Now known as Madame Clofullia, Josephine attempted to quiet the rumors that she was a man by becoming pregnant and giving birth to a normal baby girl in 1851. The public and doctors were satisfied by this, however the infant died after only 11 months. She bore a second child, this time a boy named Albert, only a few months after the death of her daughter. Albert was quite a handsome and healthy boy, however he too sported a fine beard as an infant.
P. T. Barnum eventually signed Madame Clofullia in 1853 and she began to appear at his American Museum in New York as 'The Bearded Lady of Geneva'. During her displays with Barnum, Josephine looked regal. Her femininity was accentuated by her Victorian wardrobe, her beard was styled after Napoleon III and it was often opulently adorned with jewels. As her popularity as an attraction grew, rumors again began to circulate that Josephine was a man. The issue eventually ended up in a court of law. The trail was a media frenzy. Doctors were eventually called to testify and three signed an absolute affidavit that 'The Bearded Lady' was indeed a complete female.
To this day, rumors persist that P. T. Barnum himself was the originator of those rumors. When one considers that during the trial over 3 million people paid Barnum to see Mme. Clofullia accompanied by her son Albert – as the 'Infant Esau', that hypothesis seems quite plausible.
Mme Clofullia continued be be popular for quite some time after her trial. However, despite her fame the happenings of her later years are unknown. Her later history is lost to time and her date of death is unknown.
Image: reproduction of a photo by Charles Eisenmann.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSLabels: bearded, hypertrichosis, women
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Betty Lou Williams - Ripley's Four-Legged Wonder
At the 1934 World's Fair, Robert Ripley – of the famed Ripley’s 'Believe It Or Not' empire – unveiled to the public his very first Odditorium. Previously, Ripley was known for his "Believe It Or Not" comic strip in newspapers. However, his World’s Fair Odditorium featured real anatomical curiosities and the most spectacular of his presentations was an infant girl named Betty Lou Williams.
Betty Lou Williams was born Lillie B Williams in
She was originally discovered at the age of one by a professional showman named Dick Best. Best changed the name of the little girl to Betty Lou – perhaps in an attempt to promote the parasite as a male, a lie that was popular in parasitic twin displays – and he began to display the infant in his
Working for Ripley, at the age of two, Betty Lou made an astounding $250 a week. As she grew into adulthood, she made over $1000 a week. With her earnings she purchased a 260 acre ranch for her parents and sent all eleven of her siblings to college.
The jump in Betty Lou’s earnings was due in part to the fact that, as she matured, she developed into quite an attractive woman. Her beauty and generosity drew many male suitors and, at the age of twenty-three, she became engaged to one of her admirers. However the husband-to-be was little more than a heartbreaking thief. He left Betty Lou taking a great deal of money with him and, distraught over the breakup, Betty suffered a severe asthma attack at her home in
Betty Lou suffocated to death at the age of twenty-three.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Monday, May 29, 2006
Frances O'Connor - The Living Venus De Milo
The promise of suggestive sexual content lured many warm blooded men to curiosity displays, carnivals, and sideshows. The Cooche Shows (exotic or burlesque shows) presented by carnivals in the first half of the 20th century proved incredibly successful. But the shy or modest man would often opt to take in the sideshow, where skin was often available for viewing in a more discreet situation. The idea of a seeing a tattooed woman in a revealing bathing suit, in an era when bathing suits looked more like dressing gowns, drew many men into the tents of the sideshow – sometimes even accompanied by their wives or sweethearts.Frances O'Connor benefited from the innocent sexual undertones in her act. She was able to show a great deal of leg, more than was really appropriate in her prudish era, and she was never reprimanded for her actions. Frances showed her bare legs a lot – for they functioned as her arms.
Frances was born on September 8, 1914 in Renville County, Minnesota. Born without arms, she learned to use her feet in incredibly dexterous ways. Despite her physical condition, or perhaps because of it, Frances possessed a very outgoing personality. That combined with a natural beauty and the the sheer spectacle her legs created as they competed otherwise mundane daily chores, made her a natural for the sideshow.
Her sideshow career began in Wyoming with the Al G. Barnes Circus – her mother serving as her manager - and eventually she worked with Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey for over 20 years, until the mid 1940's. She was given the moniker of 'The Living Venus De Milo' and, while not the first sideshow worker given this name, she was perhaps the best suited. By all accounts she was a very beautiful woman who attracted droves of men and eligible suitors to her shows. Not only was she beautiful, but her sweet disposition made many men swoon and it has been said that she turned down hundreds of marriage proposals during her career.
Frances and her incredibly dexterous legs and feet were featured in the 1932 film Freaks. In the film, she does such things as smoke a cigarette, drink from a cup, cut her food with a fork and knife and use a napkin to dab the corners of her mouth – all performed with a ballerina-like grace. Francis was so capable with her feet that she was able to sew and knit as a hobby.
Eventually, as she aged, Francis lost interest in traveling and the crowds lost interest in her. Shortly after her managing mother passed away she decided to completely retire from show business. Francis disappeared almost completely into obscurity overnight and, despite having many suitors in her prime, she never married or bore any children. She lived out the remained of her life alone in California before passing away in 1982 at the age of sixty-seven.
Excerpts of the above taken from the book Very Special People as well as We Who Are Not As Others.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Friday, May 26, 2006
Fanny Mills – The Ohio Bigfoot Lady
Fanny was born in England in 1860 and immigrated to to Sandusky, Ohio shortly after her birth. From an early age, Fanny began to show signs of Milroy's Disease. Milroy's is essentially a Lymphedema - a gross swelling, fluid building and discoloring of the soft tissue – localized only to the lower extremities. It is most common in women, with seventy to eighty percent of all those afflicted being female, and the severity of the inherited condition varies.Although Fanny was a tiny woman, weighing in at a lithe 115 pounds, her feet expanded to require a size 30 shoe.
Fanny's feet were said to have measured more that nineteen inches long and seven inches across. Her shoes – rumored to be made from the skins of three goats – were slipped on over pillowcase socks. She was unable to walk without assistance and, when she began exhibiting herself at Dime Museums in 1885, she brought along her friend Mary Brown to serve as a nurse and attend to her special needs.
It did not take very long for promoters to label fanny the 'Ohio Bigfoot Lady' and litter the areas surrounding the dime museums and the carnivals Fanny attended with posters and pamphlets. Promoters also began to issue a strange promotional challenge. A reward of five thousand dollars was put up to any man willing to marry the Ohio Bigfoot Lady.
The challenge was successful as droves of bachelors came out to the show to take a look at Fanny – all paying an admission fee to see her. Many of these men were hoping to marry Fanny. However Fanny was already married to a man named William Brown – a man who happened to be the brother of her friend and nurse, Mary Brown. Furthermore, he married her free of charge.
At her peak she was earning more than $150 a week – a small fortune at the time. However after giving birth to a stillborn child in 1887, Fanny's health began to fail. Her health eventually forced her to retire in 1892.
Fanny returned home to Ohio with her husband William. She died that same year.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS