Authors: Francine Hornberger
ISBN-13: 9780806526614, ISBN-10: 0806526610
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Date Published: April 2005
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Here you will see Lionel the Lion-Faced Man, Otis the Frog Boy, Jeanie the Half-Girl, the Human Torso, the "What Is It?" and more than fifty other legendary sideshow acts. From P. T. Barnum's American Museum in New York City-where he show-cased bearded ladies, "Siamese" twins, "wild men," giants, and dwarves-to the traveling oddity museums linked to circuses and carnivals, to a whole new generation of "carny kids," the public has always been fascinated with the strange, fantastic, and misunderstood world of the sideshow attraction. This captivating anthology pulls back the curtain on scores of the most famous sideshow celebrities of all time, revealing the astounding, the curious, and the very, very unusual.
Acknowledgments | xi | |
Introduction | xiii | |
Chapter 1 | Petite Performers and Tall Orders | 1 |
Che Mah | 1 | |
The Schneider Family | 4 | |
George Washington Morrison Nutt | 7 | |
Legendary Impresario: Phineas Taylor Barnum | 8 | |
Charles Sherwood Stratton | 13 | |
Lavinia Warren | 19 | |
Jack Earle | 26 | |
Johann Petursson | 29 | |
Robert Wadlow | 33 | |
Chang Woo Gow | 38 | |
Chapter 2 | Bound for Stardom | 42 |
Rosa and Josepha Blazek | 42 | |
Chang and Eng Bunker | 46 | |
Margaret and Mary Gibb | 53 | |
Daisy and Violet Hilton | 56 | |
Legendary Impresario: Bobby Reynolds | 62 | |
Millie-Christine McKoy | 64 | |
Ritta-Christina Parodi | 69 | |
Giovanni and Giacomo Tocci | 71 | |
Chapter 3 | Armless and Legless Wonders | 75 |
Eli Bowen and Charles Tripp | 75 | |
Johnny Eck | 78 | |
Otis Jordan | 83 | |
Prince Randian | 87 | |
Legendary Impresario: Samuel Gumpertz | 88 | |
Ann E. Leak Thompson | 90 | |
Chapter 4 | More to Love | 94 |
Myrtle Corbin | 94 | |
Laloo and Piramal Sami | 97 | |
Frank Lentini | 100 | |
Legendary Impresario: Robert LeRoy Ripley | 105 | |
Bettie Lou Williams | 106 | |
Chapter 5 | Eerie and ... Exotic? | 108 |
Willie Muse and George Muse | 108 | |
Hiram Davis and Barney Davis | 111 | |
Krao Farini | 115 | |
Legendary Impresario: Guillermo Antonio Farini | 118 | |
William Henry Johnson | 120 | |
Maximo and Bartola | 124 | |
Simon Metz | 127 | |
Jennie Lee and Elvira Snow | 131 | |
Chapter 6 | Human or Animal? | 134 |
Stanley Berent | 134 | |
Stephan Bibrowski | 138 | |
The Feejee Mermaid | 140 | |
Fedor Jeftichew | 144 | |
Grace McDaniels | 146 | |
Joseph Carey Merrick | 148 | |
Legendary Impresario: Tom Norman | 155 | |
Julia Pastrana | 156 | |
Grady Stiles Jr. | 160 | |
Chapter 7 | Nature or Nurture? | 166 |
Melvin Burkhart | 166 | |
Legendary Impresario: Ward Hall | 171 | |
Celesta Geyer | 172 | |
Jennifer Miller | 175 | |
Ruth Smith Pontico | 178 | |
Todd Robbins | 181 | |
Tattooed Talents | 185 | |
Chapter 8 | Memorable Match-Ups | 189 |
Anna Swan and Martin van Buren Bates | 189 | |
Percilla and Emmitt Bejano | 196 | |
The Enigma and Katzen | 200 | |
Legendary Impresario: Jim Rose | 204 | |
Jeanie and Al Tomaini | 205 | |
Afterword | 211 | |
Bibliography | 213 |