The Victorian
Sideshow
There are 2
Types of
sideshows
Single-O
*Single performer or object
Ten-In-OnE
*Ten acts for the price of one
P.T Barnum
When his American Museum was destroyed
by fire for a second time in the late 1860s,
Barnum decided to take his show on the road.
He went on tour with his circus. The problem
was that the circus at this time was considered
a low form of entertainment...In order to distance
himself from being associated with all this,
Barnum featured not only a circus, but also
large tents that housed many other kinds of
"enlightening" entertainment. These included
a menagerie, a hall of freaks and even a
collection of ancient statues! As time went
on, the concept was streamlined down to just
the freak show and menagerie touring with
the circus. Barnum's show set a high water
mark that other showmen worked to emulate.
--Todd Browning,
historian and sideshow performer
Jugglers
And
Fire-eaters
*Feats of dexterity, and in the
sideshow world, danger
*Often done outside the venue,
to attract attention
*Robert Powell, one of the most famous
fire eaters of all time, not only swallowed
fire but also red-hot coals, melted
sealing wax and brimstone
Little People
*Dwarf performers were a
common sideshow element
*Charles Sherwood Stratton, known
as General Tom Thumb was
P.T. Barunum’s star performer
*One of the smallest was Jeffrey Hudson, ‘Lord
Minimus’ at 18 inches tall
ESCAPE Artists
And Magicians
*Slight of hand tricks and escape
art was usually positioned
between more extreme
sideshow attractions
*Harry Houdini (pictured left) became
the most renowned escape artist
in the world, but started his career
doing card tricks in sideshows
*The Davenport Brothers used their
escapology skill to convince their
audiences they had magical abilities
Human Oddities
*People with birth defects,
or disfigured by disease
*The most famous of these performers
was Joseph Carey Merrick,
the Elephant Man
*Often, these performers would
take on other talents, such as
juggling, dancing, or singing
Contortion
And Acrobatics
*Athletic performers who pushed their
bodies to extremes
*In the 1800s, male contortionists
were the most common
*Contortion was often performed by
Indians, in addition to fakir stunts
STRONG MEN
And Women
*Performers would show off their physique, lift
impressive barbells
* Eugen Sandow (pictured left) is known
as the father of modern bodybuilding
and could break a chain locked
around his chest
*Josephine Blatt, who performed under
the name “Minerva” lifted 3,564 lbs in a
hip-and-harness lift in 1895 and was
named the strongest woman in the world
Hairy Men
And Women
*Men and women who had a large
quantity of hair, from dog-faced boys
to bearded ladies to women who
merely possessed incredibly long locks
* Fedor Jeftichew, also known as Jojo,
the dogfaced boy (pictured left),
suffered from Hypertrichosis, as
did his father
*Annie Jones (also pictured left) acted
as a spokesperson for PT Barnum's
"Freaks", and tried to abolish the
word from the business
Tattooed Devils
*Men and women with extensive
body art and peircings
*Captain Constentenus (pictured left)
was the most heavily
tattooed man of the 1800’s
*Performers of this type were wildly popular.
Captain Constentenus commanded a
$1000 weekly salary.
Strange Beasts
*Unusual animals, usually
taxidermied hoaxes
*P.T. Barnum’s first hoax was the
Fiji Mermaid (pictured left)
*Shetland ponies were often shown
as “the world’s smallest horse,” and
the beaver-like nutria as
“the world’s largest rat”
FAKIRs
*Fakir stunts involved overcoming
immense pain, such as the human
pincushion, or the bed of nails.
*Traditionally, a fakir is a Sufi, and the
stunts are part of their religious practice.
Most performers of the era were not
actual Sufis.
*Dutch Fakir Mirin Dajo (pictured left)
allowed an assistant to plunge a fencing
foil right through his body. The foil
appeared to have pierced several
vital organs and yet, the fakir
remained relatively unharmed.
Pickled Punks
*Human fetuses and other oddites,
sealed in formaldehyde jars
*Often, the specimens in the jars were
faked using wax or rubber
*This was a “blowoff” act, presented
at the end of the 10-in-1 to get
extra money out of the audience.
BUT THAt’s
Not All!
Jared Axelrod has been a student of
circus culture and perform of sideshow stunts since he founded
the Industrial Strength Freakshow in 2001. He has performed
with the Lulu Tech Circus, The Zoo Crew Freak Show and his
solo shows "Follow The Destructions" and "Bloody Sunset." He
has willingly stapled paper to his forehead, been tied to and
escaped from a variety of furniture, stabbed needles into his arms
and face, eaten a mouthful of live crickets, juggled a bizarre
array of objects, and been shocked by a two-foot bolt of
lightning. He swears he will never swallow live crickets again,
though.
J.R. Blackwell has been a circus
performer since 2001 under the stage name "the Plastic Elastic
Kitty", where she was a founding member of the Industrial
Strength Freak Show. She specializes in contortion, bed of nails
and fire-eating. She has performed with The Zoo Crew Freak
Show and her solo show "Freak Show" was featured in the
Philadelphia Fringe Festival. She is currently performing with
the Hellcat Girls Burlesque.
