u/EphemeralTypewriter

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!

One of the reasons I love the topic so much is that so many performers were early disability rights advocates, activists, and feminists, and overall were so supportive of each other.

AHHHHH!! Like (most) everyone is sooo cool and I just want to share their lives with the world!!!

This is more of a side note but I’ve found that overall that sideshow performers were some of the least problematic celebrities ever! Sure, there were assholes and bad people, but the vast majority were the sweetest most genuine human beings I’ve ever learned about.

When I talk to someone who finds the topic weird, I kind of judge them for having such a shallow world view. The amount of positives that so many performers worked towards and accomplished really should be emphasized more.

I also love the topic because of how amazingly inclusive the sideshow community was. People of all cultures and backgrounds came together and formed found families full of accepting and kind hearted people.

Learning about sideshow performers and all the good they did has really influenced my worldview for the better. These are people who should be taught in schools because of how cool and influential they were to history.

Long story short, these are people who should be honored and celebrated, but are so often lost to history. My feeling is that if I don’t take it upon myself to spread the word, no one else will.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

After the release of the film, Lloyd (who was still in elementary school) was relentlessly teased and mocked by classmates for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in the film.

The media also criticized his performance, saying it was both flat and stiff, with Newsweek even publishing an article calling him “Mannequin Skywalker” and saying his acting stinks. (Picture 2)

He retired from acting when he was 12 and was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. His mental health struggles also sparked major media coverage and speculation.

There’s something especially striking about the first picture of her, the way the lace curtains frame her is very beautiful! I also like that pearl earrings and necklaces seem to have been a staple part of her outfits. I think it’s fun to see the little accessories that performers chose to wear as sort of their “brand look”.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Germany, but her exact birthplace in Germany isn’t known.

-she took the stage name “Millie Lamar” upon her introduction to working in sideshows.

-interestingly, pictures of her usually have her name captioned as “Millie Lamar”, but every newspaper article refers to her as “Millie Lammar”

-her career as a sideshow performer lasted from 1889 to 1897.

-early sideshow performers with albinism were frequently advertised with some sort of magical/mystical element. In Emma’s case she was promoted as being a mind reader and fortune teller. [There is a long and tragic history related to people born with albinism and superstitions that they possess some kind of supernatural powers (or bring good luck or bad luck). Showmen took advantage of these superstitions to further promote their performers]

-her acts typically consisted of her demonstrating her abilities to recite passages from books that were closed, immediately find objects that were hidden throughout the performing venues, and name objects that were being shown to the audience while she was blindfolded and facing away from the audience.

-she married another performer who worked as a mind reader/fortune teller named, Francis Morrissey. The two of them began traveling and performing as a pair.

-she and her husband spent multiple circuses/sideshow seasons working for Barnum and Bailey Circus. They also performed on multiple vaudeville stages.

-she and her husband were often promoted as special features of the venues they performed at. They were also known to be able to answer the most “puzzling” of questions (though these questions were never specified).

-she and her husband’s acts were very popular, especially since there appeared to be an interactive element when certain audience members were invited to think of specific objects that Emma and her husband would then guess correctly (even though these tricks were obviously rehearsed ahead of time with audience plants)

-she retired from sideshow work in the late 1890s early 1900s and appears to have settled down with her husband in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, though her husband may have continued with his performing career.

-she seems to have wanted a quieter life during her retirement and just focused on housework with no plans to find other careers.

-she was diagnosed with cancer around 1904 or early 1905 and received a surgery to try and treat it. Unfortunately, the surgery didn’t work and she passed away in October of 1905 at the age of around 42 or 43.

I always find it interesting when certain performers were well advertised through pictures but scarcely mentioned in newspapers/other forms of written media. There are a LOT of pictures of Emma scattered online, but surprisingly very few details about her life. On one hand I can understand it, because she was being promoted as Millie Lamar, and therefore showmen would not have wanted to promote Emma’s interests/talents, they wanted to promote Millie’s abilities as a mind reader.

Bill Durks was an American sideshow performer who was born with a form of frontonasal dysplasia, which caused a large cleft going down the center of his face. Sadly he was prevented from attending his local school because school officials labeled him a
"distraction", and his family didn't have the money to send him to a private school, so he remained illiterate for the first half of his life. He was offered a job at a traveling fair after originally attending as a guest. This job is what led to him becoming a performer. During his time in sideshows, he became very good friends with Melvin Burkhart (who also helped him to learn to read and write) Melvin was the one to introduce Bill to his future wife, Mildred.
Bill and Mildred fell in love and were married a little while later. He was also fond of dogs and was known for being a very thoughtful and down to earth person.

He’s standing next to his sister Elvira in both of these pictures, I’ll attach Elvira’s write up in the comments. Clayton is on the right in the first picture and on the left in the second picture.

I was so happy to find as much information as I did about Clayton. I’m a big fan of his sisters (Elvira and Jenny Lee) and the great energy they brought to the movie, Freaks (1932). And since Clayton is a part of their family too, I definitely wanted to do a write up about him.

I also think it’s so interesting that he was a big WWII buff, I’d want to know what it was he found interesting and what his thoughts were about it. I imagine he also had plenty of people in his life to talk to about it too since it was something that was actively impacting so many people’s lives.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Hartwell, Georgia. Though he and Elvira were often promoted as being from Athens, Georgia (since that was the closest city to Hartwell)

-Clayton was actually his middle name, his first name was John, but he much preferred going by Clayton.

-he had six siblings.

-his sideshow career began around 1928, when he and Elvira began appearing together at the World Circus Sideshow in Coney Island. They were both managed by their brother, Cliff Snow.

-he was brought up in a supportive family environment, and it appears that the earnings that he, Elvira, and Jenny Lee made, were used to help give them and their siblings better lives.

-he was described as being happy and healthy and enjoyed working in sideshows.

-in newspaper articles about him and Elvira they were promoted as being twins, but the pictures of them that were sold during their performances explained that they weren’t twins and had a 5 year age gap.

-he was about 4 and a half feet tall.

-microcephaly is a spectrum, with some people requiring higher support needs than others. From my research it appears that Clayton had lower support needs than his sisters.

-similar to the majority of performers who were born with microcephaly, Clayton had his head shaved so that only a tuft of hair grew from the top of his head. This was done purely to emphasize his head shape and there was no medical reason behind it.

-despite his sisters, Elvira and Jenny Lee appearing in the film Freaks (1932), Clayton was never cast in the film and may not have auditioned.

-he and Elvira appeared with World Mirth Shows during the 1940 and 1941 circus/sideshow seasons. World Mirth shows was a traveling sideshow that appeared in different carnivals.

-he was known to be very thoughtful and more on the quiet side, and when he answered questions he usually needed a little time to think.

-again, since microcephaly is a spectrum, some people are verbal and others are nonverbal. Clayton was verbal but needed a little time to formulate his thoughts (which I can totally understand, since I also need time to formulate my thoughts)

-he was super interested in learning about all of the intricacies of WWII as it was happening. He kept himself updated with current events and often asked people their thoughts on the war. He was known to talk at great length about the subject.

-he was described as being very agreeable and never got into arguments with any of his siblings.

-he and Elvira were very popular at the sideshows they worked at and made friends very easily.

-he passed away in 1957 at the age of either 50 or 51. He was given a respectful funeral and burial and is buried on his family’s cemetery plot at Liberty Hill United Methodist Church
Cemetery in Hartwell, Georgia. Interestingly, his name is misspelled as Claton on his gravestone.

I hope he had a lot of happiness in his life. I’m glad he had a caring and supportive family, who really looked out for him and his sisters, this caring family dynamic is also reflected in the nice clothes that he and his sisters wore, they were never forced to wear the “primitive” outfits that a lot of other performers with microcephaly were made to wear.

(Again, completely not affiliated, I just like sharing because there are always so many cool items sold at auction.)

I know there’s quite a few people here who are very interested in tattoo history, in which case this is a great resource! The auction includes several tattoo flash sheets and pictures of famous early tattoo artists and performers including Edith Falatovich (aka Stella) (first picture) and Betty Broadbent (third picture)

Here is the auction link!

https://www.invaluable.com/catalog/u97jm1apa8?page=1&size=48

I really love how dramatic and attention grabbing Diane Arbus’ photos always are. She wanted to capture the rawness and realness of different people’s lives and was noted for her approach of befriending the people she wanted to photograph (her photography often focused on people who were living on the “fringes” of society and who were not often considered for photography sessions)

This is a small point, but I like how Sandra and her sister’s windblown hair adds a bit of character, this isn’t a curated photo session in a studio, it shows that everyone was outdoors and the weather and environment plays a role in how the pictures turned out.

Sandra Dee Reed was a famous sideshow performer and sword swallower. Like I mentioned in the title, she and her sister were both born with albinism and initially gave lectures to the public about the condition.
Sandra took up sword swallowing after she wanted to make her shows more exciting. She was taught by famous sword swallower, Ricky Riciardi. She was awarded a Guinness World Record for her sword swallowing skills in 1977.