THANK~YOU FOR YR SITE... MY FAV. MOVIE IZ "FREAKS" AND NOW MY FAV. SITE IZ "MISSIONCREEP"

LOVE YOU, MR.MUNDIE

88M.C.O.88 & JACK - Sunday, 28 December 2003 at 15:40:18 (EST)

I checked out the Sideshow Ephemera section and really liked it, especially the Dolletta page. How you came to know her living descendant I'll never figure out but what a difference it is to talk to a living relative!

I figure there's a wealth of information on other oddities out there in the hands of living descendants - the Frank Lentini family and Prince Randion family come to mind. There are a lot of Randions living in Paterson and other cities in New Jersey still, for example.

And I believe it was only in the last year that a descendant of Chang and Eng put up a website in honor his famous ancestors.

Regards,
Tom

Tom Hernandez USA - Wednesday, 10 December 2003 at 13:44:34 (PST)

One is Todd [Robbins]'s show, where he has a dwarf, "Little Jimmy".

The other is Kevin James, currently producing "7 Magicians" at the Sahara in Las Vegas. He also has a dwarf working for him. AND Kevin found a half-man named (I think) Curtis, and is doing an up-to-date version of the Johnny Eck act. If you haven't seen Kevin work, you should. He's a superb performer and thinker.
Harley

Harley Newman - Tuesday, 9 December 2003 at 07:04:54 (EST)


JM: Thanks for the information, Harley.

There seems to be a resurgence of dwarfs in popular entertainment these days, of which I suppose Verne Troyer has been the most visible. Good for them. The public's craving for little people is cyclical, I suppose.

I haven't seen Kevin James perform, so I'll have to check that out (although I'm unlikely to get to Vegas to see his act in person any time soon). The Eck-nouveau routine sounds intriguing.

Please continue to put new works on your beautiful website. It is one of the best on the net.

Cordially,

Angelique Cain Galskis USA - Thursday, 4 December 2003 at 19:08:39 (EST)

I am a distant cousin of one of Barnum's Midgets. His real name was " Major Robinson ". You can see him on this web page. I have been trying to track him down using the internet, and the best website out there containing this type of information on Barnum's Midgets is your very well put together work. But unfortunately, I was unable to locate him on your page, unless he was at that time using an alias.

From the information on his web page, can you help direct me to some sort of additional records concerning Major Robinson?

The photo of him is the best I have, but you are welcome to add it with the information shown, to your pages, if you are interested.

I did find that in 1869 Thumb and his wife embarked on yet another world tour, this one encompassing Australia and Japan, among other nations and lasting for another three years - as the General Tom Thumb Company under the management of Bleeker.

Major Robinson was said to have died in the "EAST". Is there away to find more information on the General Tom Thumb Company overseas?

Kind regards.

William McCarver - Sunday, 23 November 2003 at 15:45:57 (EST)


JM: Thanks for the kind words, William. I'm glad if you found my site useful and/or interesting.

Sadly, I was unable to locate any mention of Major Robinson in my library. It is possible that he was performing for Barnum under another name, as Barnum exhibited many little people over the years. If Robinson was traveling with the Thumb entourage, there certainly should be some mention of him, but I haven't found it yet. I was unable to get a sense of a likeness from the photo on your site, so I can't say whether I have seen another photo of Robinson or not.

I would suggest that you attempt to contact the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport CT as they may have something in their archives to give you a lead (they have a large number of Tom Thumb items on display, including one of his carriages). Another source would be the Circus World Museum in Baraboo WI. In the meantime, I will post your query to one of the sideshow forums to which I belong. Maybe one of the members will be able to provide a lead.

I have seen a carte de visite of Lucia in which she appears with another slightly larger dwarf who is alleged to be her sister. Whether this was actually her sister or just a promotion gimick I cannot say with any certainty. She may have traveled with family members, in which case they would have been the ones to whisk away her body after death. Without family, I image it would have been extremely likely that her corpse would have continued to serve as a sideshow attraction, or at least have made it's way into the collection of some medical museum, as was the case with bird-headed dwarf Ms. Crachami, "The Sicilian Fairy" (who was actually Irish, but Sicily seemed more exotic, I suppose). Whether Lucia was buried in the States or Mexico I cannot say.

As regards her act, she was often referred to as "the living puppet" or the "the living doll". In fact, due to her uncanny size, most people assumed she was a doll until she began to move and speak. There must have been quite a commotion when that happened! Reportedly, Lucia did a brief song and dance routine atop a table. She was said to have a very high but melodious singing voice.

Manuel Diaz was born with hypertrichosis.

In 1980 he began to travel with Circus Beckman.
In 1984 he introduced his grandnephews, Danny and Larry, to Circo Kampas. Manuel performed with various circuses and with Sterling & Reid Brothers Circus in 1999. That same year, Manuel was invited to visit Ringling's Kalideoscape, where he was treated like royalty.
In 2000 Manuel, along with his granddaughters, and Diego (The Wild Boy) appeared in several talk shows, including The Sally Jesse Raphael Show, Ripley's Prime-time, and The Joy Browne Show.

This year he was about to return to the United States to travel with a sideshow. He was very excited about coming back to the U.S., this time with his wife and grandson, who also has hypertrichosis, and looks like a miniature Manuel.

Manuel is survived by his wife, ten children, several grandchildren including Ana and Belem, and his nephew Chuy, niece Lili, and grandnephews Danny & Larry.

Veekay,The Wolf People USA - Sunday, 9 November 2003 at 17:07:36 (PST)


JM: Veekay, please accept my condolences. With Manuel's passing we have truly lost a great performer. My thoughts are with you and your family.

Ahoy,
Jim


I received your reply ... thank you so much. In the picture Blue Moon her tattoo is of cats on a fence looking at a moon which you can't see in the picture. It's tinted slightly blue, hence the name of the picture :) But yeah, more about your site, the information and pictures of all the sideshow stuff is so great, it is suprizingly hard to find good photographs and such of that stuff. Right now I am just surrounding myself in that type of atmosphere to write a little short on a sideshow. I don't know if I'll make it right away, but I think it's pretty damn interesting and more films need to be made about that odd little period where sideshows were so popular...

Robyn Swashbuckler Duncan BC, Canada - Saturday, 8 November 2003 at 18:08:52 (EST)

If you would like more information, I would be happy to assist.

Sincerely,
Dolletta

Dolletta Larie Adams Blalock - Thursday, 6 November 2003 at 21:13:37 (PST)


JM: Hello, Dolletta.

I'm afraid I don't presently know much more about your great grandmother, other than what I have posted. I haven't gone to great lengths to find out information about her, but there sadly seems to be a scant amount of information readily available about Dolletta and her career. Most sources I have seen mention her advertised status as "World's Smallest Mother", but I haven't seen much else about her (where she was from, to whom she was married [Boykin?], how long she worked in the sideshows, which shows, when she was born, or when she died, etc.).

If you can help fill in some of the blanks, I'd be most appreciative as I would love to 'flesh out' my brief Dolletta biography a bit more. Likewise, If you'd like to explore a bit more about her sideshow career, I can direct you to some knowledgeable folks who might be able to provide more information - or I can posit questions to them on your behalf.

Which of Dolletta's children was your grandparent?

all the best,
mat x

PS I still hope to do my play "sealboy:freak" with Bindlestiffs in NYC - hopefully April next year, but its not definate by any means.

Mat Fraser UK - Wednesday, 5 November 2003 at 20:12:52 (GMT)

I have created a 300dpi file of a section of my The Two-Headed Mexican (Pasqual Pinon) here so you can get a sense of the stippling and crosshatching I use to build up the textures of the drawing.


Thank you for the reply and attachment. Now I see the how you draw it. I don't know if you know, but in graphical art one can do such an image in an intaglio technique called hardground etching on copper plate, by repeated etching of gradual scratching into [the] "ground" and/or by repeated etching of completely scratched etching that is gradually [and] partially covered with resist (again wax or shellac). You probably know US artists more, but where I came from (former Czechoslovakia), lived an artist named Albin Brunovsky who made such graphical prints. In some ways you'll get more control and in some ways less and even bigger detail.

I have no idea if this is of interest, but couldn't resist.

Vladimir Rosenfeld - Monday, 3 November 2003 at 16:55:09 (EST)


JM: Yes, I am familiar with the technique because I am also a printmaker (woodcut, etching and mezzotint). In fact, I first wanted to execute this series as etchings, but I did not have access to a print shop at the time.

At some point in the near future I will return to some of these compositions to present them as limited-edition etchings, available as single prints or in boxed portfolios.

Thanks for your interest.

1. The posting of yours that I was looking at had to do with sideshows becoming too dark. You said something really interesting about uniformity destroying the artform. Do you feel that performers are cheapening the old-thrill of the sideshow by making their performances more kid-friendly?

2. I was wondering what your opinion was about the sideshow's and "freaks" sudden popularity in the media - for example, Carnivale on HBO and the new Farrelly brother's movie about Siamese twins (out in December). Is this attention bad? Good? Both?

3. Do you feel that there is a quality to the sideshow that shouldn't appeal to the masses? You had said in your post that you're kind of happy that (most) Thomas Kincaid fans wouldn't love your show? Do you feel there is a certain separation between the mainstream and the sideshow - and should there be?

I hope you don't mind answering these questions for me. I really appreciate your time.

Thanks again.

Elaine Cedrone New York NY, USA - Sunday, 19 October 2003 at 02:48:48 (EDT)br>

JM: 1. I think part of this discussion must be tempered by the knowledge that many of the people out there doing sideshow-type stuff now are practically making it up as they go along. I don't mean that they're starting over from scratch, but that most of them aren't old enough to have actually experienced a typical sideshow performance in its heyday (myself included), so everyone has to try to reinvent what they think a sideshow circa 1870 or 1920 was like, or try to 'amp it up' a bit by taking it in a new direction - hence all the acts out there now that owe more to the S&M club culture. Consequently, the 'modern sideshow' becomes a splendid fiction - but that too is part of the grand tradition of sideshow and adds another chapter to its history.

My understanding is that in the days when a sideshow traveled with every circus or appeared on every carnival midway, there were often a variety of entertainment options available - some more kid friendly than others. Often times at big carnivals there would be more than one sideshow on the midway competing with each other, so their very livelihoods depended on doing whatever it took to attract a crowd. The first shows of the day, when kids were around with their families, might be a bit more tame, focusing on magicians and a couple of interesting but noncontroversial acts. Some in the trade referred to these performances as "Sunday School". But as the night wore on, and mom had taken the kids home, showmen would pull out the stops and introduce the more disturbing and/or erotic acts to compete for the money of the remaining crowd. Generally, for the last show on a carnival lot anything went, and carnies were looking to bring in the crowds with the promise of dirty jokes, dangerous feats and a lot of T&A. It was a bit like a Vegas floor show - the 'family-fun spectacular' at 8, and 'twenty-one and over' at 11.

There is, of course, room for both styles of entertainment. The fellow I was responding to in that forum post was trying to assert than the only kind of sideshow should be the squeaky clean kind, which I think is ridiculous.

2. Seems to be a case of what-comes-around-goes-around. Not only is traditional sideshow having a resurgence, but so is its cousin burlesque. The interest in "freaks" has always been there, but the recent popular media depictions may reflect a general nostalgia and reaction against political correctness. I think the mainstream is just catching up to what's been up until now running beneath the current.

The presentation of human oddities is always emotionally charged because it touches not only on ideas of disability, but also on the primal fear of 'the other'. The enlightened and civilized part of us realizes the freakshow performer (speaking especially of 'born freaks', not 'made freaks' like tattooed sword swallowers) is just another human being, but deep down inside their physical abnormalities terrify us viscerally, and it's difficult to overcome that. And should we? There is something within us that demands to be terrified and challenged, which is why people like ghost stories, horror movies, and freakshows.

The physically abnormal people who chose to work in sideshows understood they were different and found a way to capitalize on it. Understanding that people were going to stare at them anyway, they decided to make the rubes pay for the privilege, got up there on the platform in a costume, and came up with some outrageous story, persona, or interesting trick. While some think of this as exploitation of the disabled, it seems to me 'the exploited' were fully active participants in a joke the political crusaders didn't or refused to understand. Sort of a triumph of the underdog, really.

It's a rich topic to explore, so I'm not surprised that HBO is tapping into it just as I have been myself with my "Prodigies" series.

3. Here's the irony: sideshow was always directed to the masses. This is a theatrical entertainment with origins thousands of years old. It was designed to be a sort of weird and taboo experience to appeal to the common man. In effect, sideshow as an entertainment form is much more democratic than other performing arts. What we think of today as 'popular entertainment' are those things that have substantial commercial backing - television, movies, pop music, etc. - and which are widely distributed. A sideshow performance requires you to be right there in the tent for the full effect.

Sideshow performances have entertained a heck of a lot of people over the years, but because the admission price was so small, and the content was considered so unsavory, it never got the big commercial backing or sponsorship of large corporations and consequently dwindled away because most large corporations require the things they back to be safe and inoffensive. Sure, sideshow lived on in some fashion in B-movies and lowbrow television, but if we extend the metaphor further one might think of 'mainstream' as a Merchant-Ivory film, and 'sideshow' as a Russ Meyers flick. Each one is going to find an audience, but while the former will be advertised in every magazine and probably get nominated for an Academy Award, the latter is going to appeal to a much more subversive and select 'underground' crowd. Never the twain shall meet.

I say let Jane Austen be Jane Austen, and let Anne Rice be Anne Rice. Why 'disneyfy' all the fun out of everything?

I enjoyed your suggested reading list. Where's Geek Love by Katherine Dunn? I suspect you have read it, but it wasn't on your list... perhaps you only listed nonfiction? It's one of my favorite books and if you hadn't already, I thought that you'd enjoy it.
All the Best!

Sarah Coyne USA - Thursday, 25 September 2003 at 23:20:42 (EDT)


JM: Hello, Sarah.
Thanks for the kind words. I plan to update the site every couple of months with new items (including new books), so please do check back. New drawings are in the works, too.

I have read Geek Love, but it's been a long time, and I no longer have my copy. I let somebody borrow it several years ago and haven't seen it since. I did enjoy the book, but as you mentioned I've been trying to limit the reading list to non-fiction at the moment - though I suppose I could have a "fiction section", too. Anything else in that genre you'd recommend?

I've got to convince the wife & kids to make a pilgrimage to the Mütter some day... soon.

James Sheely Columbus OH, USA - Monday, 22 September 2003 at 07:45:22 (EDT)


JM: Thanks, Jim. The eight-foot colon alone is fun for the whole family!

When using multiple lenses, the sitter is captured from a slightly different angle in each of the shots. I suppose if one were to place the photographs from the two most extreme opposite lenses together, they would when viewed together mimic a three-dimensional effect - just as was later exploited in stereoscopes (and Viewmaster reels). In any event, your photo may have been taken at the same sitting as mine, but perhaps yours is the view captured from a different angle by one of the camera's other lenses. Or, it could have come from a completely different exposure taken at another time. Without seeing them side-by-side it is difficult to determine. Is there a photographer's mark on the back of your photo?


James,
Unfortunately the photo appears to have been pasted and later peeled away from something, the only thing on the back is torn green paper. It really is in fairly poor condition, which, considering I purchased it for 99 cents on eBay, is to be expected.

Thank you very much for the information. As a hobby photographer I find its history exceptionally interesting. I would know nothing about it if not for a friend who recognized it as Tom Thumb, and your website. By the way, after finding the picture on your site, I managed to peruse around the rest of the site for a while. I found it very impressive.

Lars Waldner USA - Saturday, 20 September 2003 at 08:39:25 (PDT)


JM: Yes, it's hard to complain when you got it for less than a buck. At least you know that the photo was loved enough to make this far. Of the many thousand of these mementos that were printed during Tom Thumb's lifetime, a relative few have survived the years. So you really are holding a nifty piece of performing and photographic history in your hands.

Glad to have been of service, and thanks for the kind words of appreciation.

In any case, the third book is the story of a man who was kidnapped by a carnival performer from his small town home in Ontario as a young boy, and raised among circus performers and freaks. He later goes on to break away from this to work as an actor in repertory (this takes place during the early years of the 20th century) and finally to become a world-famous conjurer. It is in this capacity that he tells his life story to a group of listeners consisting of the director, producer, cameraman, and two old friends, during the filming of a life of Robert-Houdin, the French conjurer, in which he is starring. Robertson Davies was a devotee and a scholar of the theatre and of theatre history, and knew a prodigious amount about the odd byways of magic, carnivals and circuses, and the old touring rep companies. He is also an immensely readable author.

Just thought I'd pass it on. Stumping for Canadian literature, you know!

Thanks again for your work, which I think is very fine indeed.

Crispin Elsted, The Barbarian Press Mission BC, Canada - Saturday, 2 August 2003 at 08:22:47 (PDT)


JM: Thank you for directing me to the Barbarian Press website, where I have just spent a happy half hour or so looking through your press's recent projects - exciting stuff, and beautifully crafted.

Yes, I am quite familiar with the works of the late Mr. Davies, whom I count among my favorite authors. It has been several years since I first read the Deptford Trilogy, but I always find myself drawn back to his works. I most recently read his The Cunning Man, so maybe it's time to read World of Wonders again. Of all Davies's works, I think that book seemed to conjure the most vivid mental images for me, with the talk of automaton devices and legerdemain. Thanks for reminding me.

Your kind and thoughtful comments about my work are much appreciated.