Let ’s start our list of famous sideshow entertainer by addressing spoken communication . " Freak " has long been a tricky word to use when distinguish folks in thesideshowcommunity . It ’s no secret that it has been used as a jeering , sickening condition in the past tense , and it still can be a terribly deleterious word . Some in the performing community have embraced the term and rebranded it as empowering . We ’re not going to expend the term to key sideshow act , although it should be interpret that some performers are comfortable using it .
Now that ’s out of the mode , let ’s have a little merriment with the famed entertainer who made sideshows wildly democratic in the 19th and 20th centuries . From uncommon aesculapian conditions to a brave stuntwoman , let ’s dive into the account of some performers who captured the public ’s attention and still have a shoes in the cultural soul .
5: Schlitzie Surtees
Schlitzie ( sometimes credited as Schlitze ) Surtees is best known as one of the actors in the 1932 Tod Browning moving-picture show " Freaks . " He play one of the " dope " characters — a term we would not use in modern argot . Schlitzie was born withmicrocephalus , a condition that causes an unusually small chief circumference [ reference : Minnesota Dept . of Health ] . performing artist with the condition were often billed ( inaccurately , of course of action ) as the last of the Aztec or Mayan races or even as members of a airstream apart from man .
Schlitzie execute as a woman : Since developmental disabilities made him incontinent , a dress testify gentle for diapering . Schlitzie performed with load of circuses and even look in a picture show by Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi . He was take on by a chimp flight simulator in the ' 30 , but the flight simulator ’s daughter by and by put Schlitzie to a genial hospital .
But the story does n’t end badly . Schlitzie was eventually plant by a fellow circus performing artist , and he happily performed and live on his own until his last at long time 71 in Los Angeles [ source : Pednaud ] .
4: Chang and Eng
Even those barely familiar with sideshow acts have likely heard of the famous " Siamese Twins , " Chang and Eng . While " conjoined twins " is the preferred terminology these days , Chang and Eng insert the condition to popular civilization . Born in Siam ( present - day Thailand ) in 1811 , the men were joined at the dresser . They eventually traveled to America and Europe where they performed in numerous sideshows and traveling troupe [ rootage : Nickell ] .
By 1838 the twins had retired and become good entrenched in their American lives , so much so that they purchased a Southern plantation and owned 33 slaves [ author : Nickell ] . They conjoin sister and supposedly had a strict agenda since their wives lived in separate houses on opposite close of the grove : They spend three day at a time in each menage . Between the two of them , 22 children were born . Ever the opportunist , P.T. Barnum enticed them out of retreat in 1850 so they could pay for college tutorship . They took another tour of Europe together , but in 1874 Chang died in his sleep . Although the twins did n’t share any organs , Eng died a few hours after [ seed : Pednaud ] .
3: Annie Jones
A list of illustrious sideshow performing artist would n’t be complete without a whiskery lady . While there are several that agree the bill , Annie Jones nabs a spot plainly for the longevity of her career . Jones was barely 1 year one-time whenP.T. Barnum — who never met an untypical human he did n’t want to exhibit — convince Jones ' parents to allow her be part of his museum show . Jones became the " Infant Esau , " a reference to the Old Testament ’s famously hairy Esau .
Annie arrive a handsome sum for her show with Barnum , but she was kidnap by a craniologist who want to make money off exhibit her . She was presently discover , however , and spend 36 years play Barnum ’s show and other venue . She performed as the Infant Esau , then the Esau Child and at long last graduated to the Esau Lady [ source : Pednaud ] . She grew farseeing hair to match her beard and also became an accomplished musician .
2: Zazel
While ahuman cannonballwasn’t exactly considered a " freak " back in the day , it does n’t seem right to make a list of notable sideshow performers without including one . And hey , if we ’re using " junky " kindly — meaning something that is atypical — it ’s not so crazy to call Zazel ( aka Rosie Richter ) , the first human cannonball , a little freakish . Most of us , after all , do n’t find ourselves ache to be shoot out of a cannon on any given day .
Not Zazel . A British aerialist , Zazel was the first someone to be used as ammo in an act . She was only 16 in 1877 when the first shot took place in the Royal London Aquarium , and she flew 70 groundwork ( 21 meters ) in the air on the very first go [ source : Pednaud ] . The Great Farini , a well - know tightrope Zimmer frame who made his elbow room across Niagara Falls in 1860 , invented the " cannon " that picture man into the air [ beginning : Niagara Falls Info ] . The cannon exploded only to capture the attending of the interview — it in reality relied on springs to throw Zazel across the ring [ source : Pednaud ] . While nets were used , Zazel finally miss a landing place and ended up retiring with a broken back .
1: Ella Harper
Some of the sideshow performers we ’ve listed were born withconditionsthat many of us are intimate with , like conjoined Gemini . But some performers have condition that are quite uncommon and might still inspire oddment today . Ella Harper , the " Camel Girl , " had congenital genu recurvatum , a stipulation that caused her knee to deflect backward . Because of the unusual social organisation of her anatomy , walking on all - IV prove more well-situated for Ella Harper .
Hence the " Camel Girl " nickname , since her knees and walking post purportedly made her resemble the ungulate with dead set ramification . In fact , Harper often come along with a camel in her act to present a side - by - side comparison . The reality , of course , is that she was a even juvenile girl who , by the geezerhood of 16 , appeared to have resign the public of sideshow work to go to shoal [ source : Pednaud ] .
Lots More Information
There ’s no uncertainty that some performing artist were not as up to of make their own career decisions as others . Schlitzie , for instance , had several developmental disability and Joseph Merrick , also known as theElephant Man , was try out urgently to make end adjoin outside a London Workhouse . But other famous player merrily take their life in entertainment , and seemed to have a flack move and performing .
