House of Deception - Sideshow Performers

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	Sideshow Performers, Limb Anomalies

Ann Eliza Leak (Thompson).jpg	Ann Eliza Leak (Thompson) 1839-.jpg
Armless Artist (Charles Felu, 1830-1900).jpg	Armless Wonder (Charles Tripp 1855-1939).jpg
Armless Wonder (Professor John T. Owens 1865-1918).jpg	Eddie Kissell (1890-1909).jpg
Freddie the Armless Wonder (Frank Esele, 1888-).jpg	Johnny (Jack) Eck (1911-1995) with brother Robert .jpg
Lobster Boy (Fred Wilson 1866-).jpg	Lobster Boy (Fred Wilson 1866-) 2.jpg
Mignon, The Penguin Girl (Ruth Berry 1910-).jpg	Sealo Woman .jpg
Stump-Armed Child (Barney Nelson, 1878-).jpg	The Bear Cub & The Mama Bear (Alice Bounder with mother).jpg
The Bear Woman (Alice Bounder).jpg	The Camel Girl (Ella Harper, c.1878-).jpg
The Camel Girl (Lucy Elvira Jones 1881-).jpg

Sideshow Performers, Limb Anomalies


	Circus & Sideshow Giants

Giant 1.jpg	Giant 2.jpg	Giant 3.jpg	Giant Abomah.jpg	Giant Al & Jeannie Tomaini 1.jpg
Giant Al & Jeannie Tomaini 2.jpg	Giant Antonin.jpg	Giant Armand Bronner.jpg	Giant Capt. C.H. Ureck.jpg	Giant Capt. C.H. Ureck & Lulu.jpg
Giant Delores Pullard.jpg	Giant Delores Pullard 2.jpg	Giant Felipe Manzo Reyes.jpg	Giant Felipe Manzo Reyes 2.jpg	Giant Ferdinand Contat.jpg
Giant Ferdinand Contat 2.jpg	Giant Harry Hite.jpg	Giant Jack Earle.jpg	Giant Jack Earle & Mighty Mite.jpg	Giant Johaan Aassen.jpg
Giant Johann Petursson.jpg	Giant Johann Petursson, The Viking Giant.jpg	Giant Machnow 1.jpg	Giant Machnow London Hippodrome.jpg	Giant Oswald Balling.jpg
Giant Robert Wadlow.jpg	Giants Capt. & Mrs. M.V. Bates.jpg	Giants Mr. & Mrs. Fischer.jpg	Giants Shields Bros. Texas.jpg	Giants Van Droyson Sisters.jpg

Circus & Sideshow Giants

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Below are photos of Golden Age sideshow performers, displayed by categories:

Dwarfs & Giants

Arms, Legs & Limbs Anomalies

Very Fat & Very Thin

Click here to see Sideshow Performers Page II
for the following categories:

Siamese (& other) Twins

Hair, Skin, & Face Anomalies

Miscellaneous Performers

Golden Age Sideshow Performers:
Giants

Admiral Dot
(1864-1918)

Gen. Willis Carver

Lynn White

Princess Tiny

Tom Thumb (1838-1883)
Livinia Warren (1841-1919)

Tom Thumb & Livinia Warren

Comte & Contessa Maggri

Nellie Keeler
1875-1903

Madame Stella, Miss Corabella, Prince Mignon

Carrie Akers
c.1860-

Mr. & Mrs. Clever

Princess Sonja

unidentified

Count Primo Magri (1849-1920)
aka Count Rosebud
Countess Magri (Lavinia Warren)
Baron Ernesto Magri (1850-)
aka Baron Littlefinger

Count, Countess, & Baron Maggri

Charles Tripp & Eli Bowen

Eli Bowen
"The Legless Acrobat"
1844-1924

Eugene Berry
1872-

Fannie Mills
"Biggest Feet on Earth"
"The Ohio Big Foot Girl"
1859-1899

Rose Foster
"Miss Rosina"

Charles Tripp
"Armless Wonder"
1855-1939

Roy Bard
"Ossified Roy"

Jonathan Richardson Bass
"Ossified Man"
1830-1892

Roy (John) Shouse
"Ossified Roy"
"The Petrified Man"

Mignon (Mickey Mignon)
"The Penquin Girl"
1910-

Otis Jordan
"Frog Boy"
1926-1990

Seala
1919-

Katie (Kitty) Smith
"Armless Wonder"
1882-

John Dougs
1869-

Professor John T. Owens
"Armless Wonder" 1865-1918

Frances O'Connor
"The Living Venus Di Milo"
1914-1982

Stanley Berent
"Sealo"
1903-1980

Definition of "Sideshow"

In America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair or other such attraction. Its proper name is a "Ten in One", referring to the practice of having a revolving show of ten acts under a single tent. When a single person or object is featured, it is known as a single-o.

Sideshows of old had a hierarchy of performers in terms of prestige, with "Born Freaks", people with congenital physical peculiarities, at the top, followed by "Made Freaks" such as tattooed men and women, and "Working Acts" such as sword swallowers and fire eaters. Contrary to contemporary perceptions, which holds the term freak show to be pejorative, many of the "Born Freaks" were not looked down upon by their fellow performers, and many were in fact the owners and operators of the shows.

The above article is adapted and edited by the House of Deception from Wikipedia Encyclopedia and may be read in its original, uncredited form at Wikipedia.org.

Juan & Martina de la Cruz

The Doll Family

du Royaune de Lilliput, Paris

The Lilliputians

Kliko, Antonia, Tiny & Harry Doll

du Royaune de Lilliput, Paris

Wizard of Oz Cast Members

Golden Age Sideshow Performers:
Arms, Legs & Limbs Anomalies

George Williams 1859-
"Turtle Boy"

Hugh Baily
"Pretzel Man"
"Spider Boy"
Crawfish Boy"
1935-

Lloyd Skelton
"Crab Boy"
1923-1995

Pete Moore
"World's Smallest Dad"
1932-1984

Alzoria Lewis
Alzora Green
"Alzoria the Turtle Girl"
1912-

Johanna Dickens "The Bear Girl"
Alzoria Lewis (aka Green)
"The Turtle Girl"
1912-

Alzora Green (Alzoria Lewis)
1912-

Bob Huddleston
"The Pony Boy"

"The Armless Fiddler"
Carl Unthan
1848-1928

Charles Tripp
"Armless Wonder"
1855-1939

Serpentina
"Half-Serpent, Half-Woman"
"Sea-Tiny the Mermaid"
1908-

Ella Harper
"The Camel Girl"
1873-

Count Ivan D. Orloff
"Human Window Pane"
"Transparent Man"
1864-1904

Golden Age Sideshow Performers:
Very Fat & Very Thin

Claude Ambroise Seurat
London, 1825
"World's Skinniest Man"
"Le Anatomie Vivant"
1797-

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Col. Martin P. Avery (J.D. Avery)
-1882

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Issac Sprague
1841-1887

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Eugene Ferralto (Charles Perry)
pictured with wife
-1907

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Emma Shiller
1868-1890

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Dominique Castagna
"The Mummy Man"
France, 1869-1905

Sideshow Living Skeleton
George Prise

Sideshow Living Skeleton
George Martin & sister

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Artie Atherton (Moll)
-1920
Dreamland Circus Sideshow, Coney Island, NY

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Artie Atherton (Moll)
-1920
Barnum & Bailey Circus

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Shadow Rogers
Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, 1938

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Walter Cole

Sideshow Living Skeleton
Peter Robinson in Freaks
1879-

Click here to see Sideshow Performers Page II
for the following categories:

Siamese (& other) Twins

Hair, Skin, & Face Anomalies

Miscellaneous Performers

Golden Age Sideshow Performers:
Dwarfs

Alma Bataillard "The Giantess"
-1893

Anna Swan
Anna Haining Swan (Bates)
1846-1888

Rosa Wedsted
(Margarete Wedstedt)
"The Northern Beauty"
1881-1903

Choung Chi Lang
Wife with Three Inch Feet
US Tour 1882
G.B. Bunnell's Museum Broadway & 9th St N.Y

unidentified

Giant
Circus Krone
Germany

Landon Middlecoff
"The Kentucky Giant Boy"
1862-1885

Capt. Martin Van Buren Bates
"The Kentucky Giant"
1837-1919
pictured with wife
Anna Haining Swan

Capt. Martin Van Buren Bates
"The Kentucky Giant"
1837-1919
pictured with wife
Anna Haining Swan
& friend Lei McFarland

unidentified

Giant Erwin Johnson
Gunnar Erwin Johnson Barda[l] "Hi" Johnson

Johann Kristinn Petursson (Pettersson, Petersson)
aka:
"Johann Svarfdaelingur" "Nordischer Riese Olaf"
"The Icelandic Giant "
"The Viking Giant"
"Jói Risi"
1913-1984

Giant Ludwig Schulten
Dreamland, 1921

Choung Chi Lang
Wife with Three Inch Feet
US Tour 1882
G.B. Bunnell's Museum Broadway & 9th St N.Y

Giant Machnow
(Fédor Alexiovitch Machnov)
1878-1912

Gottlieb J. "Fred" Fischer
1907-1988
Alfreda Fischer
-1984
"Mr. and Mrs. Long"
"The World’s Only Married Giant Couple"

Ted Evans
(Ernest Edward Evans)
"The Tallest Man Alive"
1952 Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey
1924-1958

Johann Kristinn Petursson (Pettersson, Petersson)
aka:
"Johann Svarfdaelingur" "Nordischer Riese Olaf"
"The Icelandic Giant "
"The Viking Giant"
"Jói Risi"
1913-1984

P. T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth
and
Great London Circus
Chang Tu Sing
"The Chinese Goliath"
aka:
Chang the Chinese Giant
Chang Woo Gow
Chang Yu Sing
184?-1893

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Sedelmeyer's Midgets

Strassburger's Midgets

Johann Petursson
The Viking Giant
The Icelandic Giant
1913-1984

Jack Earle
(Jacob Rheuben Ehrlich)
Sideshow Giant and Silent Film Actor
1906-1952

Giant Jack Earle
Souvenir Ring

Giant Johann Petursson
1913-1984
Souvenir Ring

Giant J. G. (Jim) Tarver
James Grover Tarver
1885-1958
Souvenir Ring