Lizzie Reid: Matron in Miniature
This image from the Meserve-Kinhard collection depicts Lizzie Reid (sometimes rendered as Reed), one of P.T. Barnum’s performing little people, circa 1865. Her maiden name is given as Ames, although I haven’t been able to learn anything about her husband. I find accounts of her performing as late as 1897.
To find out more about the variety arts past and present, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold. And don’t miss Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, to be released by Bear Manor Media in 2013.
