Painting on sideshow truck, firebreather, Florida, 1966
Elly del Sarto, a sideshow performer, in c. 1910
There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions:
The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten sequential acts under one tent for a single admission price. The ten-in-one might be partly a freak show exhibiting "human oddities" (including "born freaks" such as midgets, giants or persons with other deformities, or "made freaks" like tattooed people, fat people or "human skeletons"- extremely thin men often "married" to the fat lady, like Isaac W. Sprague). However, for variety's sake, the acts in a ten-in-one would also include "working acts" who would perform magic tricks or daredevil stunts. In addition, the freak show performers might also perform acts or stunts, and would often sell souvenirs like "giant's rings" or "pitch cards" with their photos and life stories. The ten-in-one would often end in a "blowoff" or "ding," an extra act not advertised on the outside, which could be viewed for an additional fee. The blowoff act would be described provocatively, often as something deemed too strong for women and children, such as pickled punks.
The Single-O is a single attraction, for example a single curiosity like the "Bonnie and Clyde Death Car" or Hitler's staff car,[1][2] a "Giant Rat" (actually usually a nutria) or other unusual animal, a "What Is It?" (often a convincing but artificial monstrosity like the Fiji Mermaid) or a geek show often billed as "See the Victim of Drug Abuse."
A Museum Show which might be deceptively billed as "World's Greatest Freaks Past and Present," is a sideshow in which the exhibits are usually not alive. It might include tanks of piranhas or cages with unusual animals, stuffed freak animals or other exotic items like the weapons or cars allegedly used by famous murderers. Some of the exhibits might even be dummies or photographs of the billed attractions. It could still be truthfully billed with the claim "$1,000 reward if not absolutely real — please do not touch or feed the animals on exhibit". The Single-O and the Museum Show are usually operated as "grind shows," meaning that patrons may enter at any time, viewing the various exhibits at their leisure.
A Girl Show was sometimes offered in which women were the primary attraction. These could range from the revue (such as a "Broadway Revue") with fully clothed performers to the racier "kootch" or "hootchie-kootchie" show (a strip show) which might play either partly clothed or "strong" (nude).[3]
By the 1830s, "outside shows" began to be established alongside travelling circuses.[4]: 9 Initially, the circuses distanced themselves from the sideshows, but in 1850, a relationship was established between them.[4]: 9
"Working acts" often exhibited a number of stunts that could be counted on to draw crowds. These stunts used little-known methods and offered the elements of danger and excitement. Such acts included fire eating, sword swallowing, knife throwing, body piercing, lying on a bed of nails, walking up a ladder of sharp swords, and more. The renewed attention to these feats has prompted a new round of oversimplified or inaccurate explanations, leading some inexperienced people to attempt them without adequate training often resulting in injury and sometimes even death.[citation needed]
Interest in sideshows declined as television made it easy (and free) to see the world's most exotic attractions. Moreover, viewing "human oddities" became distasteful as the public conscience changed, and many localities passed laws forbidding the exhibition of freaks.[5] The performers often protested (to no avail) that they had no objection to the sideshow, especially since it provided not only a good income for them, but in many cases it provided their only possible job.[citation needed] The sideshow seemed destined for oblivion, until only a few exemplars of the ten-in-one remained. In modern times, sideshow performers are often individual professionals or groups. A greater number of "Single O" attractions still tour carnivals.
In the 1940s, Ward Hall began the World of Wonders Amazement Show, which is still running today. It is the oldest carnival sideshow organization in America and is currently owned and ran by Thomas Breen.[6] In 1970, John Strong, Jr (son of John Strong of The John Strong 3 Ring Tented Circus)[7] began a 47 year continuous run of traveling sideshow, The Strong Sideshow. Several acts and artifacts toured over the years such as the 5-legged dog, Chupacabra, a 2-headed cow, and a mummy. John Jr. performed all the live acts himself for several years including sword swallowing, fire eating, bed of nails blade box and electric chair.[8] After living the lifestyle for a lifetime, The Strong Sideshow is now in residency at "The Sideshow Museum", in Uranus, Missouri.
In the early 1990s, Jim Rose developed a modern sideshow called "the Jim Rose Circus", reinventing the sideshow with two types of acts that would attract modern audiences and stay within legal bounds. The show featured acts reviving traditional sideshow stunts and carrying some of them to extremes, and "fringe" artists (often exhibiting extreme body modification) performing bizarre or masochistic acts like eating insects, lifting weights by means of hooks inserted in their body piercings, or stapling currency to their forehead. The show drew audiences at venues unknown to old-time sideshows, like rock clubs and the 1992 Lollapalooza festival. The Jim Rose Circus held its last known performance in 2013 at The London Burlesque Festival. The impact of the Jim Rose Circus on pop culture inspired a new wave of performers. There are now more sideshow performers than at any other time in the genre's history. At the same time in Canada, Scott McClelland, grandson of itinerant showman N.P. Lewchuk, formed Carnival Diablo, a show that performs frequently to this day. The success of these shows sparked a growing number of performers to revive the traditional sideshow arts, taught by sideshow veterans, and many now perform in spot engagements from rock clubs and comedy clubs to corporate events.
"Sideshows by the Seashore", sponsored by Coney Island USA in Brooklyn, NY has performed since 1983, and tours under the name "Coney Island Circus Sideshow". Circus historian and collector Ken Harck ran the Brothers Grim Sideshow, which toured with the OzzFest music festival in the summer of 2006 and 2007. Sideshow celebrity and multiple world record breaker Chayne Hultgren 'The Space Cowboy' owns Australia's largest traveling oddity museum 'The Mutant Barnyard' and along with his partner Zoe Ellis 'AKA: Zoe L'amore' they run 'Sideshow Wonderland', one of the world's most successful sideshows described as a modern high energy human oddity exhibit or freakshow cabaret.
The Robin Marks Foundation[9] is a nonprofit organization to elevate the image of sideshow, offer job opportunities for professionals, and continued education as well as to aid in educating the public about what it is to be part of the sideshow. The Southern Sideshow Hootenanny is another nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and fostering growth within the sideshow industry.[10] Both have come about because of a revival in the art form and offer several benefits for members and patrons.
^Fordham, Brigham (2007). "Dangerous Bodies: Freak Shows, Expression, and Exploitation". UCLA Entertainment Law Review. 14 (2). doi:10.5070/LR8142027098. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
^"Ward Hall King of The Sideshow and his World of Wonders". Carnival History| Old Circus Photos| Sideshow History| Showmen's Museum.
^"Sideshow World, Sideshow Photos, Sideshow History, Memories and Stories about Jeanie Tomaini and Al Tomaini at Sideshow World". www.sideshowworld.com.
^Hall, B. (February 2013). "Forty-Three years of continuous performances". Carnival Magazine. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
^. Archived from the original on 2019-10-09. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
"A Pictorial History of the American Carnival," by Joe McKennon (Popular Press, Bowling Green, Ohio. Copyright 1972 by Joe McKennon.)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sideshow.
americancarny.com American Carny: True Tales from the Circus Sideshow
Showhistory.com: History of the Sideshow
Sideshow World Preserving the Past....Promoting the Future of Sideshow
Dictionary of Carnival and Sideshow Slang
House of Deception bibliography of sideshow history
May 11, 2023
sideshow, other, uses, disambiguation, confused, with, slideshow, north, america, sideshow, extra, secondary, production, associated, with, circus, carnival, fair, other, such, attraction, sideshow, erie, county, fair, hamburg, york, contents, types, early, hi. For other uses see Sideshow disambiguation Not to be confused with Slideshow In North America a sideshow is an extra secondary production associated with a circus carnival fair or other such attraction A sideshow at the Erie County Fair Hamburg New York Contents 1 Types 2 Early history and acts 3 Decline and revival 4 See also 5 References 5 1 Sources 6 External linksTypes EditSee also List of circus skills Sideshow attractions Painting on sideshow truck firebreather Florida 1966 Elly del Sarto a sideshow performer in c 1910 There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions The Ten in One offers a program of ten sequential acts under one tent for a single admission price The ten in one might be partly a freak show exhibiting human oddities including born freaks such as midgets giants or persons with other deformities or made freaks like tattooed people fat people or human skeletons extremely thin men often married to the fat lady like Isaac W Sprague However for variety s sake the acts in a ten in one would also include working acts who would perform magic tricks or daredevil stunts In addition the freak show performers might also perform acts or stunts and would often sell souvenirs like giant s rings or pitch cards with their photos and life stories The ten in one would often end in a blowoff or ding an extra act not advertised on the outside which could be viewed for an additional fee The blowoff act would be described provocatively often as something deemed too strong for women and children such as pickled punks The Single O is a single attraction for example a single curiosity like the Bonnie and Clyde Death Car or Hitler s staff car 1 2 a Giant Rat actually usually a nutria or other unusual animal a What Is It often a convincing but artificial monstrosity like the Fiji Mermaid or a geek show often billed as See the Victim of Drug Abuse A Museum Show which might be deceptively billed as World s Greatest Freaks Past and Present is a sideshow in which the exhibits are usually not alive It might include tanks of piranhas or cages with unusual animals stuffed freak animals or other exotic items like the weapons or cars allegedly used by famous murderers Some of the exhibits might even be dummies or photographs of the billed attractions It could still be truthfully billed with the claim 1 000 reward if not absolutely real please do not touch or feed the animals on exhibit The Single O and the Museum Show are usually operated as grind shows meaning that patrons may enter at any time viewing the various exhibits at their leisure A Girl Show was sometimes offered in which women were the primary attraction These could range from the revue such as a Broadway Revue with fully clothed performers to the racier kootch or hootchie kootchie show a strip show which might play either partly clothed or strong nude 3 Early history and acts EditSee also Circus History By the 1830s outside shows began to be established alongside travelling circuses 4 9 Initially the circuses distanced themselves from the sideshows but in 1850 a relationship was established between them 4 9 Working acts often exhibited a number of stunts that could be counted on to draw crowds These stunts used little known methods and offered the elements of danger and excitement Such acts included fire eating sword swallowing knife throwing body piercing lying on a bed of nails walking up a ladder of sharp swords and more The renewed attention to these feats has prompted a new round of oversimplified or inaccurate explanations leading some inexperienced people to attempt them without adequate training often resulting in injury and sometimes even death citation needed Decline and revival Edit Decaying sideshow advertisement Florida 1966 Interest in sideshows declined as television made it easy and free to see the world s most exotic attractions Moreover viewing human oddities became distasteful as the public conscience changed and many localities passed laws forbidding the exhibition of freaks 5 The performers often protested to no avail that they had no objection to the sideshow especially since it provided not only a good income for them but in many cases it provided their only possible job citation needed The sideshow seemed destined for oblivion until only a few exemplars of the ten in one remained In modern times sideshow performers are often individual professionals or groups A greater number of Single O attractions still tour carnivals In the 1940s Ward Hall began the World of Wonders Amazement Show which is still running today It is the oldest carnival sideshow organization in America and is currently owned and ran by Thomas Breen 6 In 1970 John Strong Jr son of John Strong of The John Strong 3 Ring Tented Circus 7 began a 47 year continuous run of traveling sideshow The Strong Sideshow Several acts and artifacts toured over the years such as the 5 legged dog Chupacabra a 2 headed cow and a mummy John Jr performed all the live acts himself for several years including sword swallowing fire eating bed of nails blade box and electric chair 8 After living the lifestyle for a lifetime The Strong Sideshow is now in residency at The Sideshow Museum in Uranus Missouri In the early 1990s Jim Rose developed a modern sideshow called the Jim Rose Circus reinventing the sideshow with two types of acts that would attract modern audiences and stay within legal bounds The show featured acts reviving traditional sideshow stunts and carrying some of them to extremes and fringe artists often exhibiting extreme body modification performing bizarre or masochistic acts like eating insects lifting weights by means of hooks inserted in their body piercings or stapling currency to their forehead The show drew audiences at venues unknown to old time sideshows like rock clubs and the 1992 Lollapalooza festival The Jim Rose Circus held its last known performance in 2013 at The London Burlesque Festival The impact of the Jim Rose Circus on pop culture inspired a new wave of performers There are now more sideshow performers than at any other time in the genre s history At the same time in Canada Scott McClelland grandson of itinerant showman N P Lewchuk formed Carnival Diablo a show that performs frequently to this day The success of these shows sparked a growing number of performers to revive the traditional sideshow arts taught by sideshow veterans and many now perform in spot engagements from rock clubs and comedy clubs to corporate events Sideshows by the Seashore sponsored by Coney Island USA in Brooklyn NY has performed since 1983 and tours under the name Coney Island Circus Sideshow Circus historian and collector Ken Harck ran the Brothers Grim Sideshow which toured with the OzzFest music festival in the summer of 2006 and 2007 Sideshow celebrity and multiple world record breaker Chayne Hultgren The Space Cowboy owns Australia s largest traveling oddity museum The Mutant Barnyard and along with his partner Zoe Ellis AKA Zoe L amore they run Sideshow Wonderland one of the world s most successful sideshows described as a modern high energy human oddity exhibit or freakshow cabaret The Robin Marks Foundation 9 is a nonprofit organization to elevate the image of sideshow offer job opportunities for professionals and continued education as well as to aid in educating the public about what it is to be part of the sideshow The Southern Sideshow Hootenanny is another nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and fostering growth within the sideshow industry 10 Both have come about because of a revival in the art form and offer several benefits for members and patrons See also EditThe Circus of HorrorsReferences Edit The Warren Car aka The Bonnie and Clyde Death Car Texas Hide Out tripod com Retrieved 2008 07 27 Robinson John Hitler s Car or should I say the real Hitler s Car please stand up Sideshow World com Archived from the original on 2008 12 01 Retrieved 2008 07 27 History Page year 1948 Strates Shows com Archived from the original on 2007 09 27 Retrieved 2008 07 27 a b Nickell Joe 2005 Secrets of the sideshows Lexington Ky University Press of Kentucky ISBN 0 8131 7179 2 OCLC 65377460 Fordham Brigham 2007 Dangerous Bodies Freak Shows Expression and Exploitation UCLA Entertainment Law Review 14 2 doi 10 5070 LR8142027098 Retrieved 23 February 2019 Ward Hall King of The Sideshow and his World of Wonders Carnival History Old Circus Photos Sideshow History Showmen s Museum Sideshow World Sideshow Photos Sideshow History Memories and Stories about Jeanie Tomaini and Al Tomaini at Sideshow World www sideshowworld com Hall B February 2013 Forty Three years of continuous performances Carnival Magazine Retrieved 15 March 2018 Robin Marks Foundation What we do Archived from the original on 2019 10 09 Retrieved 2019 10 09 About The Southern Sideshow Hootenanny Sources Edit A Pictorial History of the American Carnival by Joe McKennon Popular Press Bowling Green Ohio Copyright 1972 by Joe McKennon External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sideshow americancarny com American Carny True Tales from the Circus Sideshow Showhistory com History of the Sideshow Sideshow World Preserving the Past Promoting the Future of Sideshow Dictionary of Carnival and Sideshow Slang House of Deception bibliography of sideshow history Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sideshow amp oldid 1142240548, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
