George Williams, alias “Turtle Boy”

Usually, the zoological nickname of a sideshow anomaly bears some relation to the performers’ physical appearance. The Alligator Girl has scales; the Leopard Woman has spots; the Penguin Boy has stunted legs and waddles. George Williams (1859-?) was billed in sideshows as the “Turtle Boy”, but the reasoning for the nickname is elusive. Certainly he had no shell on his back. He couldn’t retract his head into his neck. Perhaps he moved slowly? At any rate, the man was 18 inches tall, with curved, malformed legs and arms. If that says “Turtle” to you, well, okay.

He was a staple of Huber’s 14th Street Museum in New York, although he worked at other dime museums and side shows over the years. He enhanced his act with musicianship, playing both the harmonica and the flute. His act was very popular, yet he was underpaid, probably due to the fact that he was an African American. He first appears in the historical record in the 1880s and steps off around 1920, when he sued the city for an injury he sustained while spilling out of his wheelchair due to a fault in the sidewalk.

To find out about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

For more on silent and slapstick comedy please check out my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc

Henrik Brustad, the Norwegian Giant

Today is the birthday of Henri Brustad (1844-1899). Born on the Island of Ytteroy, Norway, he was to grow to a height of seven and a half feet tall and travel with shows in his homeland before coming to the U.S. and touring with Barnum and Bailey. A later Norwegian giant, Johan Assen later claimed Brustad for his grandfather but it turns out to have been bunkum. Brustad died at age 45, presumably as a result of his acromegaly.

To find out about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

For more on silent and slapstick comedy please check out my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc

Isaac W. Sprague, The Original Living Skeleton

Today is the birthday of the original “human skeleton”, Isaac W. Sprague (1841-1887). His weight loss began at age twelve, although he wasn’t to join a sideshow until age 24 in 1865. P.T. Barnum hired him the following year for his American Museum and the traveling show he mounted when the former institution burned down. At the time of his death while performing at a Boston museum at age 46 he weighed only 43 pounds. The cause of his muscular atrophy was never identified.

To find out about  the history of show business, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

For more on silent and slapstick comedy please check out my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc

Mary and Margaret Gibb, America’s Siamese Twins

Today is the birthday of Mary and Margaret Gibb (1912-1967). Born in Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts, they generated publicity from the time they were born, having been one of the first pairs of twins to be delivered without caesarian section. The pair left home to go into vaudeville at age 14, presenting an act in which they sang, danced and played the piano. Billed as “America’s Siamese Twins” they also toured the U.S. and Europe with Ringling Bros, Barnum and Bailey, and Cole Bros. Circuses. They remained in show business until they were 30, then opened in a store in their hometown, where they sold their own handmade craft items. By 1949 they had retired completely.

To find out about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

For more on silent and slapstick comedy please check out my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc

Frank Lentini, The Man With Three Legs

Today is the birthday of Franceso Lentini (1881-1966). He was born in Rosolini, Sicily, and technically he had MORE than three legs — his total inventory was three legs, PLUS a fourth foot growing out of one of those legs PLUS two sets of genitals. In actuality the extra parts weren’t really “his”; he had an incomplete conjoined twin growing out of him.

When he was eight he moved to the U.S. to perform with Ringling Brothers, and he would later work for Barnum & Bailey (then a separate organization) and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West over the course of his 40+ year career. His compeers in the sideshow called him “The King.”

He was known for his wit. When someone would ask about the difficulty in buying shoes, he would say he bought two pairs and gave the spare shoe to his one-legged friend. Unusually, the third leg was fully operational; Lentini would entertain crowds by kicking a ball with it, or sitting on it like a stool.

To find out about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

For more on silent and slapstick comedy please check out my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc

The Coney Island Strongman Spectacular This Sunday!

Jennie Quigley

Jennie Quigley (1851-1936) was billed as ‘The Scottish Queen” by her boss P.T. Barnum when she began working for him at age 13. Standing less than two feet tall at the beginning of her career, by the time she retired in 1917 she was up to 41 inches. In between, she had toured the world. Often, she performed alongside other little people such as Commodore Foote and the Fairy Queen, and she appeared in Jack the Giant Killer in with Commodore Nutt and Colonel Goshen in the 1870s. Interestingly, the photo above was taken by another little person, Colonel Speck, about whom you will be hearing much more in July on this very blog.

To find out about  the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever nutty books are sold.

For more on silent and slapstick comedy please check out my new book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc

NYC Tattoo Convention Starts Tomorrow

Yvonne and Yvette McArther

 

Today is the birthday of Yvonne and Yvette McCarther (1949-1992). Born joined at the top of the head, it was predicted that they would be unable to walk and that they would both be mentally challenged. Neither would prove to be the case (in fact, it was determined that they had above average intelligence, which leads me to wonder if Kurt Vonnegut had gotten inspiration from them for his novel Slapstick of Another Kind). Only the first six months of their lives were spent in a sideshow; they toured with the Royal American Circus to help pay off their medical bills. Later, however, they did travel around the country and tour as gospel singers. In 1987 they began living on their own, in their own apartment. They passed away on December 15, 1992, and were discovered two weeks later.

 

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 my new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc

Piramel Sami, Doubled Bodied Hindu Enigma

Born in India in 1888, Piramel Sami possessed a parasitic twin brother growing out of his chest. For the sake of showmanship, the poor half-creature was represented as Piramel’s sister and dressed in the clothes of a small girl, and the “two” of them were called Piramel AND Sami. I imagine he got very tired of correcting people. He initially toured with a cousin of his, a dwarf named Soopromanien Munsamy, and a pair of pinheads named Gondia and Apexia. From ca. 1900-1915 he toured with the Ringling Bros sideshow. He reportedly hated life in the U.S. and turned to India as soon as was practicable.

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 my new book Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, just released by Bear Manor Media, also available from amazon.com etc etc etc