r/SideshowPerformer

In the 1920s, you could visit Luna Park in Coney Island for 10 cents. But for an additional 25 cents, you could also see hundreds of premature babies being kept alive by incubators, a machine that the American medical community was slow to adopt.

The exhibition was run by a man named Martin Couney, a Polish immigrant whose own daughter had been born prematurely. Determined to help other parents in similar situations, Couney sought to popularize the machine that had helped his daughter survive. And even though he wasn't an actual medical professional, physicians from all over the country flocked to Coney Island to learn from the man known as the "Incubator Doctor."

Read the remarkable true story of Martin Couney, the sideshow savior.

Source and more here: Olive Oatman, The Mormon Girl Who Was Raised By The Mohave

The third picture shows all of the sideshow memorabilia I brought that I was able to display!

A lot of the sources I used were originally written in Portuguese, so if anything doesn’t make sense it’s just the translation being off.

I wish Maria had been able to have just as long of a life as Rosalina. I can’t imagine how heartbreaking it must have been for Rosalina to lose her sister like that.

The first picture shows Rosalina and Maria with their matching dolls before the surgery, the second picture shows Rosalina several months after the operation and after she knew about Maria’s death, and the last picture shows Rosalina later in life with her husband and grand children.

Some facts about them:

-they were born in Afonso Cláudio, Espírito Santo, Brazil.

-they had 10 siblings.

-both twins were described as being very talkative and enjoyed excitedly chattering to each other and giggling.

-their parents sought out medical treatment for the twins because Maria often became sick. It was while they were being treated that their parents and doctors began talking about separation surgery.

-it was decided that they were good candidates for separation as they didn’t share any major vital organs and were joined at their seventh ribs/chests. There was also a fear that because Maria had a weaker immune system that she would pass on a deadly virus to Rosalina should she come down with something.

-they were seven years old when they were separated.

-they were both giving matching dolls to give them comfort before and after the operation.

-their heads were shaved prior to surgery.

-their surgery was the first separation surgery to ever be performed in South America and took place on May 30th, 1900.

-it’s reported that Rosalina experienced the effects of the anesthesia faster than Maria did.

-after they awoke from the surgery it was described that they were alert and cognitively alright.

-tragically, Maria passed away a week after the surgery was complete, due to complications she experienced while recovering.

-Despite Maria’s tragic passing, the medical world still considered the twins surgery to be a success and the surgeon who conducted the operation, Dr. Chapot Prevost, became very highly regarded.

-their separation also caused a stir within the sideshow industry as a few showmen wondered if it would mean that all conjoined twins would stop working in sideshows and receive separation surgery.

-their surgery inspired several other international surgeons to be open to operating on and separating conjoined twins.

-a special religious mass was celebrated as thanks for Rosalina’s successful recovery and she was greeted with crowds of joyful people showering her with bouquets of flowers and other gifts as she walked from the hospital to the church.

-there was a period of time when Rosalina didn’t understand that Maria had passed away, thinking that she was sick and would be reunited once she was feeling better.

-Rosalina constantly talked about how much she wanted to see her sister again and would point to mirrors and exclaim she looked just like Maria and would want her sister back even more.

-Dr. Prevost, who conducted the operation adopted Rosalina soon after (and would have adopted Maria as well, had she survived) because the twins’ parents were struggling financially and it was difficult for them to care for their ten other children.

-Rosalina traveled to Paris with her adoptive parents (Dr. Prevost and his wife) two months after recovering from the operation, where she went on tour and gave talks in all sorts of venues about her life with Maria and what it was like to be connected with another person in that way.

-a considerable amount of money had been raised by the citizens of Rio de Janeiro in order to give Rosalina a good life and to help her financially.

-Rosalina was described as being full of life and eventually went back to being as talkative as she had been prior to the surgery.

-Rosalina wasn’t told of her sister’s death until after she arrived back in Brazil from her trip to France. It’s reported that she excitedly met her birth parents at the boat docks and excitedly asked where Maria was because she had gifts to give her from her travels. It was only then that she was told her sister had died.

-Rosalina became inconsolable after hearing about her sister, and later in life said that at that moment in time everyone in her life was crying for Maria.

-after processing her sister’s death, Rosalina expressed an interest in joining the local church and began going to school as well.

-Rosalina married a man named Wantuyl Henriques in 1927 and they settled down together in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

-Rosalina and her husband went on to have several children and at least eight grandchildren.

-Rosalina passed away in 1975 at the age of 82.

I hope that wherever they both are now, that they’re both reunited. I wonder if Rosalina spoke about her sister later in life, one silver lining is that she did go on to have a loving family, and hopefully they brought her peace and comfort.

I wish she had had more screentime/lines in the film, both because I thought she did a great job and because one of the larger scenes she’s in involves a conversation that’s never revisited/concluded. Either way, I’m glad starring in the film was a positive experience for her!

Frances was born with no arms and accomplished daily tasks using her feet and legs. She started her sideshow career at a young age with Sells-Floto Circus, which is written on a lot of her pictures. She is most known for her film role in Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) where she's billed as the "Armless Wonder". She found acting in the film to be a positive experience and was glad she was cast. Frances officially retired in the 1950's and moved out to Long Beach, California, where she lived for 30 years until her death. She enjoyed signing the backs of the pictures she sold and had excellent penmanship. Her hobbies included knitting and sewing.

Frances O’Connor informative write up:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SideshowPerformer/comments/1n6snl7/frances\_oconnor\_19141982\_was\_an\_american\_sideshow/

Red and maroon are such good colors that both compliment her so well! I hope there were some people who told her how great she looked, if I had met her, I’d definitely want to tell her that she was so pretty and had such a charming smile!

She looks like she was a very sweet woman, and I really hope she had at least moments of happiness in her life. Her height made her feel very self conscious and I wish she had people who supported her and boosted her confidence vs people who stopped and stared.

She did not want to be a performer, but felt it was one of the few ways for her to earn an income, it’s for this reason that I’m using the Historical Disability Awareness flair instead of the Sideshow Performer of the Day flair.

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Liuan, Anhui, China.

-her parents were both farmers.

-her family struggled financially for much of her life.

-the pituitary gland tumor is what caused her height. When she was 11 years old she was 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) tall.

-she learned to play basketball from a young age, but had to stop when she began experiencing too much pain in her joints.

-she was 6 ft 11 in (210 cm) when she was 15 years old.

-it was when she was 15 years old that she first went to see a doctor about her condition. Word about her height had spread so much throughout her town that she felt seeing a doctor would be the best course of action.

-the doctor accurately diagnosed her condition, but refused to schedule a surgery to remove the tumor because Defen and her family couldn’t afford the cost of 4,000 yuan.

-she was extremely self conscious about her height for the majority of her life, in one Chinese interview she expressed feeling sad and anxious about her height saying,

“I am very unhappy. Why am I this tall? If I were not this tall, others would not look at me like this."

-the chronic pain and extreme pressure in her joints made it very difficult for her to walk and she spent the majority of her time in her bed or in a specially chair when she was traveling.

-word about her height spread even more and she was contacted by several agencies who wanted to train her in various sports. This plan was never followed through because her height and the pressure on her joints made her too weak to do any strenuous form of exercise.

-she and her father decided that earning money in traveling carnivals and shows was one of the few ways that she could earn a dependable income.

-she began her performing career when she was 20 years old.

-she never attended school and never learned to read.

-she enjoyed knitting in her free time and said that it was her favorite hobby.

-she attracted a lot of attention whenever she left her house and expressed her dislike for it because of how invasive everyone was. She described feeling like a spectacle rather than a person.

-in 2002, she found a hospital willing to remove the tumor for free, and made a full recovery from the surgery. She hoped that the successful surgery would help her in being able to live an independent life. Upon her release from the hospital she said, “I want to recover soon and return to my home town. There is so much fun in life. I want to visit a wet market, stores and live like others." 

-her peak height was 7 ft 7 in (234.69 cm) or 7 ft 8 in (237.74 cm) tall. She was recognized as being the world’s tallest woman after Sandy Allen, who previously held the title, died in 2008.

-TLC (the American TV network) dedicated a show to Defen and her daily life in 2009.

-tragically she suffered a major fall in her home and experienced internal bleeding in her brain. After she recovered enough to see visitors, she was visited by China's tallest man, Zhang Juncai. She said that this visit cheered her up a lot.

-she passed away in her family’s home when she was 40 years old.

I really hope she had some caring friends in her life, it makes me incredibly sad that she had to deal with so many people in her daily life that treated her like a spectacle, she just wanted to be treated as a regular person. Though it does seem that she was thankfully quite a bit happier after her surgery, I hope she was able to visit the wet markets and stores that she wanted to go to!

I am however glad that she had a passion for knitting since it’s a very calming creative outlet. I hope some of her work still exists because I’d love to know what it was that she enjoyed knitting!

Picture #1 shows Grace McDaniel with her son, Elmer.

Picture #2 shows Rosa Blažek holding her son, Franz.

Picture #3 shows Mary Ann Bevan (all the way on the left) with her children.

He looks so sweet and such soulful eyes. The dichotomy of seeing these nice pictures of him and knowing what happened after his death is heartbreaking. He was so, so young when he passed away and deserved so much better.

I hope he experienced a lot of happiness and joy in his childhood and early life. He deserved to have so many friends.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Willowbunch, Saskatchewan, Canada, which was a rural area.

-he was the oldest child in his family and had 19 siblings.

-he loved horses and dreamed of becoming a cowboy when he was a young boy.

-his mother was part of the Métis community (the Métis people are specific cultural groups in Canada that trace their ancestry to First Nations communities and the first French settlers.) They are recognized as being Indigenous People of Canada.

-he started school at age 7 and was of average height.

-he was 6 feet tall (1.83 m) when he was 9 years old.

-he left school when he was 12 and measured 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) in height.

-he spoke 5 languages: French, English (though not very well), Métchif, Cree and Sioux.

-he was an excellent horseman, but had to retire this hobby when he was 17 because his height became an issue.

-when he was 17 he once performed the amazing feat of lifting an 800 pound horse.

-he worked on a ranch in his mid to late teenage years, to fulfill his dream of being a cowboy, but decided to leave the ranch after some time.

-his father worked for a horse and cattle trader, Jean-Louis Légaré, who was also Edourd’s godfather. He accompanied his father on trips to Moose Jaw, Regina, and Montana.

-he began touring in circuses and sideshows soon after he left the ranch and his feats of strength included reportedly lifting horses onto his shoulders and bending iron bars.

-he once fractured his leg after attempting to lift 900 pounds worth of weights and vowed to never lift that much again.

-he wrestled with well known French Canadian strongman, Louis Cyr, in 1901 while he was touring in Montreal, Canada. The match was very short and he unfortunately lost to his competitor.

-he was measured as being 7 ft 11 in (2.41 m) when he was 21.

-his peak height was 8 ft 3 in (2.52 m) tall.

-he needed custom made shoes. And wore a size 22.

-he signed a contract with Barnum and Bailey Circus on July 1st 1904 to appear at the St. Louis World’s fair in St. Louis, Missouri.

-he tragically passed away 2 days after he signed the contract, from tuberculosis. He was only 23 years old and was 8 feet 3 in (2.52 m) at the time of his death. It was described that he had been dealing with a severe cough that had kept him up at night but didn’t visit a hospital until he started experiencing worsening symptoms.

-the doctor tending to him said that his last words were,

“I will die, it’s so sad to die so young and so far away from my dear parents.”

-he was on tour at the time of his death, and the circus he was working for requested Beaupré’s body to be embalmed and preserved by the undertaker. After his body was preserved, the circus refused to pay, so the undertaker decided to put Beaupré’s body on display in St. Louis, Missouri. (The process of preserving and displaying someone’s body without their consent is a horrible practice and one that has happened all too often to people with disabilities and/or physical differences.)

-eventually, his body made its way to a museum in Montreal and a special exhibit was set up to accommodate his body.

-his father then heard about his son’s death and what was happening to his body and raced to reclaim his body, but was prevented from doing so because he didn’t have the funds to pay the man who had purchased his son’s body.

-authorities caught word of the exhibit and quickly shut it down.

-his body then made its way to a circus in Montreal.

-within a few years the circus went bankrupt and abandoned his body in a storage facility, where it stayed until 1907 when it was accidentally rediscovered.

-after his remains were rediscovered the, The Université de Montréal took possession of the body and further mummified it before placing it in a glass display case.

-it wasn’t until 1967 that his relatives found out what had happened to his body. The family mounted a series of efforts in the early to mid 1970s to reclaim his body and begged the university to release it to their care, but the university refused (stating they wanted to conduct further medical exams).

-his relatives kept trying and were finally successful in the efforts to reclaim his body in 1989 after bringing their story to the press.

-finally, after almost 90 years of his body being displayed, his ashes were finally brought back to Willow Bunch (his hometown) and were buried in front of the Willow Bunch Museum underneath a life sized statue of him. He was given a full scale memorial and burial.

It’s heartbreaking to read about examples of people whose bodies were preserved and exhibited after death without their consent. This is a practice that should never be happening, so the multiple examples are already several too many. It seems that there has always been a lurid fascination with disabled bodies (or bodies with physical differences) throughout recorded history, with this practice reaching a peak in the late 1800s/ early 1900s.

I’m so glad his relatives fought so hard to get his body back and were ultimately successful. He clearly had so many people who cared about him and knew his worth. I will remember him as a French Canadian cowboy who loved his family❤️‍🩹

She seems like a very sweet woman and I’m glad she found success and had a happy family life. She looks like a very proud mom in both of the pictures I was able to find of her. I was also interested in finding out about her story through a postcard (first picture) I had seen on eBay of her and her family. I’m glad I was able to track down information so that we all now know more about her life.

Some facts about her:

-she was born and raised in Southern France.

-she had 9 siblings, 2 of which were also born with dwarfism.

-she spoke French and English.

-she met her husband, Leon Wyatt, in Deland Florida, where they both would purchase a permanent home to live in during the circus/sideshow off season.

-her son, Andre, was born in 1931 and her daughter, Rose Marie, was born in 1933.

-she gave birth via cesarean section for both of her pregnancies, as giving birth without a cesarean section procedure is oftentimes very dangerous for a mother with dwarfism.

-she, her husband, and her newly born son made headlines news because of the fact that Marguerite had a form of dwarfism and because she and her son were both healthy.

-her husband acted as her manager, and the two of them traveled extensively with the Johnny J Jones traveling show.

-one of her brothers also worked in sideshows under the stage name Prince St. Denis, and she had a sister who lived in Los Angeles, California.

-her acts typically included bringing her children on stage to compare their heights to hers, as well as giving lectures about her life.

-she made mention that although her husband seemed to be the intimidating one who kept the family in line, it was really her who managed the family and kept everyone in line.

-she was very happy and proud to be a mother and expressed this sentiment in a couple of interviews.

-in an interview she once said, jokingly, “As you can see, I fell short of my parents expectations, but I content myself by really looking up to my husband.”

-her height was reported as being between 38 inches and 42 inches in height depending on the source.

-its somewhat hard to place Marguerite in newspapers because her name is spelled differently in all sorts of documents. Her name has been written as Margurite, Marguerite, Margaret, and Margarette.

-after working as her manager, her husband became a partner in a beer company.

-by 1950, she and her husband had both retired and were living with their children in Florida.

-her daughter, Rose Marie, got married in 1950.

-I haven’t been able to track down when she passed away.

-her son, Andre, went on to serve in the US Air Force during the Korean War, and later received his credentials as an educator and taught at several public schools in Florida.

-I was able to find Andre’s obituary as he passed away in 2024, and Marguerite is even listed as Princess Margarite in that record.

I hope she had a long and happy life, and if I can find out any more information about when she passed away etc, I will update this write up! I’m glad that she had a strong bond with her family and seems to have been a good role model.

I wanted to choose more respectful pictures of him to feature first, there is such a warm and friendly feeling I get while looking at the first too, (I’m not saying this as a way to ignore the horrific events that happened to him, but instead to present him as a person) to me, he looks like he’d make a great friend. I hope I’m explaining myself well enough. The last picture shows him at the Bronx Zoo as part of the exhibit, and that mirth that was in his face before is completely gone.

He went through so much in life and deserved so much better. I want this write up to be a respectful tribute to him, he comes across as having been a really sweet person and it hurts my heart that the majority of society didn’t want to see that part of him, they just wanted to see the ”savage”.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in the Kasaï region, in the Congo Free State.

-he was a part of the Mtubi community.

-he was married with two children.

-his community was viciously attacked by the military put in place by King Leopold II to oppress and control indigenous communities, using them as slave labor to harvest the rubber that the Congo was known for. Belgian had colonized and had control over much of the Congo when Ota Benga was alive. The Force Publique, as the military was called, was involved in several atrocities and attacks in the Congo Free State.

-tragically, Ota’s wife and children were all killed during the attack. He only survived because he had been out on a hunting expedition at the time.

-soon after this tragedy, he was captured and enslaved by another indigenous group, the Bashilele.

-he was purchased by an American businessman/explorer, Samuel Phillips Verner, who had been sent by the organizers of the St. Louis World’s Fair to collect a group of African pygmies as part of a human zoo exhibit. Ota was one of the people chosen. Verner later took credit for freeing Ota from enslavement. Interestingly, it does appear that Verner genuinely did want what was best for Ota and was horrified upon learning of Ota’s mistreatment at the different exhibits he had been placed in (After Ota’s death, Verner continued to make an effort to support his legacy. He condemned the Natural History Museum in New York for labeling Ota’s life mask as “pygmy” instead of crediting him by name.)

-he, along with others who had been purchased for the human zoo exhibit, were brought to St. Louis in late 1904.

-the exhibit that he was a part of became a huge hit at the Fair, and Ota was described as being one of the most popular people in the exhibit.

-his peak height was 4 feet 11 inches.

-he was described as having an amiable personality.

-he was promoted as being a cannibal to explain why his teeth had been filed into points, in reality this was done when he was young as part of a cultural tradition.

-he and the group he was living with at the Fair were expected to adhere to the crowd’s expectation that they were “savages”.

-the Apaché leader, Geronimo, who was at the fair as part of a prisoner of war exhibit, came to greatly respect Ota and gifted him some arrowheads.

-he was brought back to the Congo in mid 1905, where he married a woman from the Batwa tribe. Sadly, his second wife also passed away, she was bitten by a snake and died soon after.

-he ended up going back to the United States after the death of his second wife and arranged to work at the Museum of Natural History as part of an exhibit. He earned $175 per month at the museum and expressed enjoying his time there. He was given a linen suit to wear and the exhibit itself consisted of him giving short lectures about his life. He eventually grew homesick and the museum coordinators sought to find him another place to work.

-it was arranged for him to work at the Bronx Zoo in New York in 1906, initially just to help care for the animals. But as Ota continued his employment there, the zoo coordinators took notice of how much attention he was receiving and organized an exhibit about him.

-Ota was allowed to roam the grounds at the zoo but wasn’t paid for any of his time spent there.

-he became fond of an orangutan that was housed at the zoo, and the zoo officials encouraged/ pressured Ota to spend more time with the orangutan.

-over time the zoo forced him to move his essentials and his hammock into the monkey house at the zoo, where they then unveiled his exhibit to the public.

-his exhibit immediately sparked controversy and anger from the Black community, who begged with the zoo to shut the exhibit down. This controversy caused him to receive even more attention.

-he would shoot arrows (he was given a bow and arrow at the zoo) at the guests who annoyed him.

-a prominent Black preacher, James H. Gordon became extremely involved in the efforts to free Ota from the zoo.

-In late 1906, he was finally released from the exhibit and was arranged to stay in a church sponsored orphanage for people of color, run by James Gordon.

-he was relocated by Gordon to Lynchburg, Virginia in 1910 in order to escape the bad press attention he had been receiving.

-thankfully he was fully embraced and respected by the seminary community in Lynchburg, he became well known in the town but was given respect and privacy.

-to fit in with local society, Ota had his sharpened teeth capped and was given a suit that was in style at the time.

-he was given tutoring lessons in English with a local tutor named Annelie Spencer, she helped arrange for Ota to attend the local elementary school in town. She also introduced Ota to meet W.E.B Du Bois and Booker T. Washington.

-he discontinued his education when he felt that his English had improved enough to get about in life independently.

-he began working at a tobacco factory in Lynchburg, Virginia.

-he spoke to several people he was in contact with about his desire to travel back to Africa, and had been working towards purchasing a ticket.

-unfortunately, WWI broke out during this time of him planning his trip and all civilian maritime travel was prohibited.

-he became extremely depressed upon realizing that he would be unable to travel back.

-tragically, he took his own life in spring of 1916 when he was only 32 or 33. He had built a ceremonial fire, took the caps off of his teeth and shed his American style clothing, before shooting himself with a pistol.

-he was buried in an unmarked grave in Lynchburg’s Old City Cemetery.

-a historic marker was created in his honor by the town of Lynchburg in 2017.

-since his death, there have been several pieces of media that have featured his story, including several plays, films, and books. The plays include Ota Benga (1994), Ota Benga, Elegy for the Elephant (1997), Savage (2019), and A Human Being, of a Sort (2019).

-in 2020, the Bronx Zoo formally apologized for the mistreatment of Ota.

One silver lining is his overall treatment in Lynchburg and how people gave him the respect he deserved. I’m really glad there were people who cared, it made me tear up when I read that the town of Lynchburg dedicated a plaque in his honor. His treatment during his early time in the United States was so horrific and he deserved so much better. May he be at peace❤️‍🩹

Duo was a cat born with a form of cranial duplication, which gave her an extra face. Sadly, her mother rejected her at birth and was adopted by a veterinarian who knew her owner.
She was one of very few cats born with the condition that survived past infant-hood. She had some neurological differences due to her condition and needed a bit extra care than typical cats her age. She was known for being really cuddly and playful and loved all of her adopted cat brothers and sisters.

I also love that her owner edited party hats on her just like I do for my birthday posts! :)

Duo the Cat informative write up:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SideshowPerformer/s/ecsMxPniNv

Jyoti Amge is an Indian actress and media personality, recognised as the world’s shortest living woman.

Jyoti was born in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India in 1993. She began her media career in 2009 in the British medical documentary “Body Shock” in an episode titled “Two Foot Tall Teen.” Since 2011, she has been titled the world’s shortest living woman by the Guinness World Records.

She has primordial dwarfism. These are a group of conditions characterised by small stature throughout life. Jyoti specifically has achondroplasia, which is the most common form of dwarfism. Peter Dinklage is another example of a famous individual with achondroplasia. People with dwarfism use the preferred term of “little people” to describe themselves, and to be referred to by others.

Jyoti is considered smaller than the average two year old, at 2 feet (61.95cm) tall. Though, this of course does not belittle her maturity — she is just as much of an independent woman and adult as people of average height!

She is 6.2cm shorter than the person who previously held the world record for being the world’s shortest living woman — Bridgette Jordan. Neither, however, are the shortest recorded woman in history; this title belongs to Pauline Musters, from the Netherlands, who lived from 1876-1895, and measured at 24 inches (61cm).

Historical sideshow performers who were little people include Caroline Crachami — who was actually the first recognised person to be born with primordial dwarfism! Harry Earles was also a little person and played one of the Lollipop Guild Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz, amongst other roles.

Jyoti attended mainstream schooling and, other than having a smaller desk and chairs, was treated like any other child.

She has long dreamed of becoming an actress, and this dream came true in 2014, when she starred as Ma Petite in American Horror Story: Freak Show. Since then, she has had other media appearances such as having her own TLC show, World’s Smallest Woman: Meet Jyoti Amge. I find it interesting that she was in the “Freak Show” season of AHS, since sideshow performers were historically referred to with “freak” terminology! I see this as a nice way of her to reclaim the term, since she was thrilled to act!

She has met other Guinness World Records holders, such as: Chandra Bahadur (picture 2) from Nepal, who is recognised as the world’s shortest man, and Rumeysa Gelgi (picture 3) from Türkiye, recognised as the world’s tallest living woman.

She posts on YouTube, with an impressive 1.2 million subscribers and 504 millions views. Jyoti also has a staggering 2.1 million followers on Instagram. Recently, she has posted pictures of her walking the runway at a fashion show. She has long been into fashion and models beautiful dresses. Due to her stature, all of Jyoti’s clothing and jewellery are tailored specifically for her. Her YouTube content focuses on vlogging.

She always has the most joyous smile on her face and clearly makes a lot of effort to have a bright and fashionable style!

The first picture shows him in his everyday clothes and the second picture shows him in drag.

He’s so iconic and looks fabulous in the dress! It’s really unfortunate that he depended on minstrel shows to make a living, and I wish there had been a non-racist form of performing arts that he could have taken part in. It’s a difficult subject because Black actors and performers were given extremely limited options (for racist and exclusionary reasons) and anyone who wanted to break into show business often had to perform as racist caricatures of themselves in order to gain any sort of foothold in the entertainment industry in the mid to late 1800s.

Some facts about him:

-he was born in Brooklyn, New York.

-it’s reported that he was of Native American and African American descent.

-he became proficient in many of his performing skills from a young age as he felt that going into entertainment would be a good way to support himself.

-he registered for the American Civil War draft.

-he began his performance career working with a famous minstrel performer, George Christy, in 1853. Historians theorize that this was possibly a response to Charles Sherwood Stratton’s (another famous performer born with dwarfism) success as General Tom Thumb.

-minstrel shows were a popular American theatrical form rooted in extremely racist and stereotypical portrayals of the Black community. It is recognized as being the first distinctly American theatrical form.

Minstrelsy was reaching its peak of popularity when Thomas was starting his career in the 1850s. This peak popularity lasted through the 1870s and was still considered popular into the early 1900s.

-While the majority of minstrel troupes were made up of white actors performing in black face to caricaturize Black people, there were also some Black minstrel troupes.

-Thomas performed and toured with both White and Black minstrel troupes (which was extremely rare). Black minstrel actors were still expected to perform in blackface and conform to the white established stereotypes. It’s a very terrible practice and unfortunately one of the very few ways that Black actors could establish themselves in show business at the time.

-he was one of only two black minstrel performers that worked in white minstrel troupes. He was accepted into these troupes because of his dwarfism, which made him stand out amongst the other performers, and created an extra draw for audiences.

-he was extremely popular as a performer and the shows he starred in were more often than not completely sold out.

-it’s reported that he was making $200 a week in 1871.

-he was often the headlining act for the shows he performed in.

-he would occasionally discuss the discrimination, complexities, and complications of his career. He was aware of how his appearance was being used and the effect it had on the Black community.

-he once sued a Manhattan, New York restaurant for refusing to serve him because of his race.

-he was between 23 and 36 inches in height (58.42 and 91.44 cm respectively)

-his acts primarily involved him dressing and impersonating operatic prima donnas.

-he’s credited as inventing the word hunky-dory in the 1877 edition of the Dictionary of Americanisms.

-he traveled all throughout the United States before traveling abroad and going on tour in England, New Zealand, and Australia.

-he toned down the explicit minstrel aspects of his performances when he was touring in countries that were notably less racist, and instead used his height and talents as the main focus.

-Thomas was one of two Black drag performers at the time, the other performer being William Swann. Swann was known for hosting private masquerade balls that he nicknamed “drags” after an old term for masquerade balls, “Grand Rag”.

-he began performing at these masquerade balls that William Swann hosted and became a staple performer there.

-his British tour ended in 1881 and he returned to the United States to continue performing.

-he continued his performances up until three months before his death.

-he passed away in 1887 at the age of 70 from asthma. He was given a respectful funeral and is buried at Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn, New York.

I think he would have loved modern day drag performances, he also would be able to be his authentic self without any racist elements in his shows. I say the following because I think he’d agree— RIP, Thomas Dilward, you would have loved modern drag!

He had a very interesting life and is someone who deserves recognition for his contributions to the art of drag. It’s sad that something as inclusive as drag performing has historical roots in minstrelsy (which was famously exclusionary and racist), and there are a lot of complexities to be deconstructed and acknowledged. I’m glad that modern day drag performing has abandoned its racist roots and has become something so inclusive.

Celesta was a women’s health advocate, sideshow performer, beauty advisor, manicurist, singer and celebrity impersonator. She initially began her sideshow career because her husband lost his job during the Great Depression. She worked as a professional ’fat lady’ and toured around the United States for 20 years. She tragically suffered a massive heart attack in 1950, which inspired her to become passionate about exercise and starting a healthy diet. Within 18 months she had lost 400 pounds. In her later life she wrote a book about her weight loss journey and the importance of women’s health. She went on to advocate about the toxic mental and physical effects of women’s beauty standards.

Celesta Geyer informative post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SideshowPerformer/comments/1t3ohou/celesta\_herrmann\_m\_geyer19011982\_was\_a\_womens/

She’s absolutely stunning and I love her choice in fashion, she looks like she could be a movie star in the first picture!

I originally found out about her from a postcard (the second picture I used in this write up) on eBay. I thought her pose and her expression were so striking that I wanted to do more research on her.

Some facts about her:

-she was either born in Brooklyn, New York or in Ireland.

-I haven’t been able to find information about her childhood.

-she was Catholic.

-she spent several seasons working at the Coney Island Sideshow (which was very close to where she grew up)

-she was sought after romantically in 1922 by a fellow sideshow performer known only by “Transparent” William, who was extremely thin and worked as a ‘living skeleton’, apparently William had said that Lillian had the most beautiful blond hair he had ever seen. Though, she quickly rejected his advances and he left that particular sideshow.

-she traveled all across the United States with Wortham Shows.

-she was a skilled mandolin player.

-during the circus/sideshow off season she lived on 18th street in Brooklyn, New York.

-some of her coworkers included Martha Morris, (who starred in the Tod Browning film, Freaks (1932) and was born without arms.) and Francesco Lentini (who had a long career in sideshows, was known to be extremely charming, and would kick soccer balls with his extra leg. He was born with a parasitic twin that gave him an extra fully formed leg.)

-she experienced vision issues due to her albinism.

-she may have left the sideshow business after the 1928 season or she may have changed her stage name.

-I haven’t been able to find information about her later life either.

I’ll be posting another longer write up today, since Lillian’s is a rather short one. I wish I knew more about Lillian’s life, I hope she went on to have many long and happy years ahead of her.

I think it’s nice that she took up an instrument like the mandolin, it would be lovely to hear her play. I’m also glad that her musical skills added something extra to her acts so she could be known for her musicality in addition to her appearance.

The first picture shows him being locked into one of the boxes he would escape from, and the other image is a promotional sketch of him!

I think it’s cool that his physical differences aided him in his skills as a contortionist and escape artist. I’d like to know what inspired him to start a career as an escape artist in the first place, and I’m glad he found a lot of success with it.

Some facts about him:

-he was born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.

-he primarily performed in dime museums (a sort of “permanent”sideshow housed within a building.)

-he claimed to be “triple jointed” which allowed him to squeeze into and escape from almost any compartment.

-he had two parts to his acts, the first part would be a demonstration of his contortion abilities and the second part would be a demonstration of his escape artistry.

-his escape artist activities included escaping from boxes, small cabinets, drawers, and large glass bottles scaled to his size.

-he was also very skilled in escaping from handcuffs and “any kind of conceivable knot”, as was reported in a news article about him from 1893.

-he wore an acrobats costume while performing and was known for his signature handlebar mustache.

-he never revealed his birth name and his death date isn’t known.

-his peak height was 32 inches tall.

-he married his wife, Tina Goughman, on October 29th, 1892. Tina was from England and was also born with a form of dwarfism. The two of them went on to perform together for several years. He had originally met her in St. Louis, Missouri while on tour, and the two had been courting for 18 months.

-a humorous story goes along with his marriage, apparently when he was asked to provide the marriage certificate, he couldn’t find it and became stressed saying, “I had it; I got it yesterday. I paid $1.25 for it." Thankfully, his new wife had an idea of where it was and it was soon found in their hotel room placed on his performing costume.

-he was often the star attraction of the venues he worked at.

-he either retired from escape artistry in 1896 or changed his stage name, as I can’t find any further info on him after this year.

I hope he continued to have a long and happy life. I think it would have been very fun to watch his performances, and I’m glad that he was well recognized and respected for his talents.

She had a gorgeous smile and just looks so friendly! I also love her makeup and necklace she’s wearing in the first picture, she was so pretty! The second picture shows her during her later life, and the last picture shows her when she was on her book tour and stood next to older pictures of her to compare.

She seems like a very kind multi-talented woman, and I’m very glad that she survived her heart attack. It would have been really nice to talk to her about her favorite musical artists and what she enjoyed doing in her free time. I’m sure it must have been fun to watch her performances as I’d like to hear her singing and celebrity impressions!

Some facts about her:

-she was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

-her father worked as an ironworker and her mother worked as a bookkeeper.

-when she was five years old her father left the ironworks business and instead purchased and ran a saloon.

-she began accompanying her father to his saloon and performed small song and dance skits for the customers.

-sometimes she’d receive pennies from the customers and promptly spend them at the ice cream parlor next door.

-the saloon also offered a free lunch to its customers and workers in which Celesta would also partake in. The meals often consisted of traditional German dishes.

-she was of German-American descent.

-large social meals were a very important aspect of her family life, and she explained later on that these family gatherings at mealtimes were very comforting and brought her a lot of happiness.

-she developed a large appetite from a young age.

-she was very close with her family and they were always very supportive of her.

-sadly, she experienced a lot of teasing and bullying from classmates while she was in school.

-she later left high school both because of how she was being treated and because she wanted to help her family out financially.

-she began gaining quite a bit of weight during her teen years.

-by her mid to late twenties, she weighed around 400 pounds.

-she worked a variety of different jobs including time as a manicurist, a beauty advisor selling cosmetics, and a factory worker. She also went to beauty school where she earned credentials.

-her peak height was just under 5 feet tall.

-she married a man named Frank Geyer, in 1925. He had been a childhood neighbor of hers.

-she had a fondness for cooking and enjoyed treating her husband to pies and cakes she had made while he was at work.

-her husband, Frank, who worked at the Ford Motor Company lost his job during the Great Depression, and in order to support themselves financially, Celesta took it upon herself to join a traveling sideshow.

-she ended up enjoying the sense of community that sideshow work brought and continued touring for 20 years, with her husband working as her manager and road assistant.

-she was an accomplished singer and was skilled at celebrity voice impressions, both of these skills were incorporated into her performances.

-her peak weight was 555 pounds.

-she was particularly fond of pastries and baked goods.

-she and her husband purchased a permanent residence in Florida, where they ultimately decided to settle down after she retired from sideshow work.

-she earned extra income as a psychic medium during the circus/sideshow off season. She operated this practice within her home.

-most of the furniture in their house was custom built to accommodate her comfortably.

-she began experiencing several health issues in her mid forties, which made it difficult to continue traveling with different sideshows.

-she suffered a massive heart attack in 1950, but thankfully survived.

-the heart attack inspired her to become passionate about exercise and starting a healthy diet. Under a doctor’s supervision she began a diet of 800 calories per day and lost 400 pounds over an 18 month period.

-she retired from sideshow work and continued with her psychic palm reading business. During this time her husband operated a tourist attraction and art gallery at their home.

-she published an autobiography and diet plan that was released in 1968 called *Diet or Die; The Dolly Dimples Weight Reducing Plan. (*Which I find to be a very shocking title, it seems that the book itself is more encouraging and not as shocking.)

-she went on a book tour and often posed next to older pictures of her to illustrate how she looked before and after her weight loss.

-she also recognized the importance of women’s health and the detrimental mental and physical effects of beauty standards.

-she’s considered to be one of the first fitness gurus.

-she was never critical of people’s weights and used her platform to spread awareness about a healthy diet and lifestyle. It seems that the only thing shocking was the title of her book.

-she weighed 112 pounds in her later life.

-she passed away at the age of 80.

I’m glad she had such a supportive family and people who always looked out for her. It makes me sad to hear that she was bullied, but I’m glad that she went on to have a lot of happiness in her life.

Obviously there are hundreds of sideshow performers who were amazing mothers, but I wanted to keep this list short and sweet!

Picture #1 shows Gloria Hurd with her son, Anthony.

Picture #2 shows Percilla Bejano with her son, Tony. There’s a picture of her with her daughter as well but I can’t find it at the moment.

Picture #3 shows Minnie Warren. She and her baby daughter both died in childbirth, but Minnie expressed wanting to always be remembered as a mother.

Picture #4 shows Esther Blackmon and her 6 children.

Picture #5 shows Marie Sirois with her two daughters (and one of her sons in law)

Picture #6 shows Hazel Morris with her daughter, Jackie.