FREAKS--photos of the freaks!

[typhooforme]

My cousin Sara (vpdogjoe) and I have spent the past year collecting real photos, vintage photos, of some of the famous "very special people", and it's a treat to have found a few of the folks who were in Tod Browning's FREAKS.  Here are four favorites we've acquired--
Daisy and Violet Hilton


Frances O'Connor (Frances autographed this--by foot--on the reverse!)



Prince Randion (and wife)


Elizabeth Green aka KooKoo the Bird Girl or Stork Girl

[vpdogjoe]

I thought Daisy and Violet were so beautiful in the movie Freaks. 

[Toy Ranch]

Those are really cool you guys, what an interesting collecting objective...  I've always liked the photo cards and pictures sold by sideshow performers, and have owned a few, but never any of the performers who were in Freaks.  I do have a small collection of giant rings.

[typhooforme]

Thanks, Bobby!  Our "prodigies"/"wonders of nature"/"lusus naturae"  (as Barnum and others variously  termed them, although "freaks" was the term most folks used) are mainly 19th century/very early 20th century ones--like Chang-Eng/Waino and Plutano, Eli Bowen the Legless Man, etc--but we get a great kick out of these movie-shown ones.  We have yet to get a really good photo of Harry and Daisy Earles (Hans & Frieda in FREAKS), and Johnny Eck remains elusive.  Strange that these very publicly active ones are so scarce!

[Toy Ranch]

Well, collecting ephemera from sideshows has grown into a very popular area, and the performers who were in Freaks are among the most popular subjects.  Unlike our Frankenstein and Dracula items, there are not many vintage collectibles available, and those that are have great demand.  It is likely the demand, rather than the supply, that causes the scarcity.

[Monster Bob]

e have yet to get a really good photo of Harry and Daisy Earles (Hans & Frieda in FREAKS)

I have been into vintage sideshow for a looooong time, especially olde time freaks and gaffs. The reason you haven't been able to find a photo of Harry and Daisy Earles is because they didn't perform under that name. Their real name was Schnieder and along with a couple of midget sisters, were brought to the USA from Germany by a guy named Earles. They performed under the last name of Doll, and traveled as The Doll Family (Harry Doll, etc.).

They are a very well known, legendary family of performing midgets amongst the sideshow community and its collectors.

Here is a "Doll Family" photo they sold...





They eventually ended up with Ringling Bros- Barnum and Bailey Circus.




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[typhooforme]

Bob, you and I could talk 19th/20th century collectibles (freaks, geeks, and antiques) for hours, I have a feeling!  I've been reading about "freaks" for decades, but only just began collecting this past year.  Yep, Doll is the name under which I know Harry and Daisy best--but Earle, if I'm remembering right, is the name used in the FREAKS cast list--  I think Harry and Daisy were originally Kurt and Hilde (back when, as you point out, when they were Schneider), just to expand the aka's.  Harry and Daisy (and kin) followed the long line of 19th century "little people" in using various diminutives as surnames.  Charles Stratton was "Tom Thumb", Leopold Kahn was "Admiral Dot" and Samuel Kahn was "Major Atom", Fleming Ackerman (a 4e relative maybe?) was "Col. Speck", and so on.  My favorite "real name" is Clarence Chesterfield Howerton who exhibited as Major Mite (one of several other Major Mites)!  In our searches, cousin Sara and I generally use a wide net for "sideshow" or specific photographers' names (Eisenmann, Wendt), but we'll follow your lead here and search out Doll Family, etc. and see what we turn up.  Thanks!

[fmofmpls]

Great freaky thread guys. Elder Robert, I'm assuming you went gaga over Terry Beatty's freak sculptures? I'm reminded of his sculptures upon reading this thread.

BTW, I can handle freaks ... it's the pickled punks where I draw the line.

[typhooforme]

I'm not interested in pickled punks, either (well, historically, i guess, but not in owning!).  Cuz Sara and I have discussed the lives of the "Very Special People" many times, and we agree that there is much to be seen in the lives of many of them that is downright inspirational.  Triumph of mind over body, making a living in spite of physical limitations, putting more stock in inner beauty rather than the outer skin, etc.  Certainly there were tragic cases--the Hilton Sisters were treated almost like slaves in their youth, the Elephant Man was treated worse than that--but many of the "prodigies" lived fairly normal lives and had spouses, children, friends, and lived comfortably.  It was a case of kismet that I was paired with Terry Beatty for the Christmas grab-bag--YES!  I was more than delighted to get Angelo Rossitto and Johnny Eck, masterfully sculpted and cast in resin, from the hand of that fine artist! 

[Monster Bob]

The reason I got into freakshows and the like was, back in the early 70s I was at the Great Balmoral Fair, a huge fair in the midwest (which is now much smaller). At that time, they actually had five or six working freak shows that appeared at the fair. I was lucky enough to get called on stage by the main show's "talker", and got to 'perform' with some now legendary sideshow folks/freaks.

It turns out that the talker that called me up was none other than the now legendary Ward Hall! 


http://www.showhistory.com/ward_hall.html

BTW, I can handle freaks ... it's the pickled punks where I draw the line.

Which reminds me of another show I saw about this time, a "HORRORS OF DRUGS" traveling 'trailer show', which went from town to town housed in a semi-truck trailer. They showed the various types of drugs, mounted museum style, and then pickled babies- human and animals- to discourage the curious public from drug abuse. SEE what will happen?!  They also pumped the smell of burning marijuana- I guess so parents would know it when they smelled it??

I also saw 'giant rat' and freak animal-type shows, and 'fat person' trailer shows, all of which were still running gig to gig in the 70s.

Those were great years and were fun shows to see, which alas have all but dried up due to political correctness. As far as I know, Ward Hall still tours, or did in recent years.



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[typhooforme]

Omigosh, the GREAT Ward Hall!  My envy of your childhood "co-starring" with Hall knows no bounds!  That photo is tremendous, Bob.  I remember the last of the sideshows, too, but never encountered the drug warning shows.  Amazing stuff.  And thanks again for the suggestion I look for the Doll Family--I did, and I found a couple, and am bidding on one right now!  UMA friends are the best!

[Toy Ranch]

My mother told me about seeing Chang and Eng as a child, but refused to let us go to the sideshows as children.  Every year there were several set up at the State Fair of Texas, from small shows to big ones with several acts.  She did let us see a "woman turns into a Gorilla" show, which was a mirror effect...  but the actual freaks were off limits.  When I was old enough to have some time on my own, that was the first thing I did....  there were not as many by that time, but there was a big show with multiple performers...  a tattoo lady, fat lady, pinhead (guy who shoved nails up his nose and pierced himself with hooks and needles), an electical act, snake boy, and others.  Most of them were quite old and had probably been in that show for a long time.  There was a "wild man" who was a dwarf with long hair and giant misshapen feet, and there was a "LSD Casualty", who was just a fat guy who sat there watching TV and drinking beer, lol!

[typhooforme]

I saw an "Abominable Snowman" (a sad looking guy with misshapen feet--maybe it was Bobby's "wild man"!) and the usual fat lady, tatto'd lady...  A gal I worked with years ago told me she saw Daisy and Violet Hilton make a personal appearance at a drive-in movie (!)--which we figured must have been showing their movie CHAINED FOR LIFE (1951). 

Not sure about your mom's Chang-Eng, Bobby, as the original Chang-Eng died in the 19th century--but considering how names were used and re-used, there could well have been a modern pair who borrowed the name. 

[The Phantom Creep]

This is a subject I've been very interested in for a long time as well.

Great photo and experience Bob!! Wow.

I own a handful of sideshow / freak items but I don't really actively pursue it due to the prices. I will pick up the occasional item though. I own a feejee mermaid created by the great Juan Cabana which is on display in our living room and some smaller items such as a Giants Ring souvenir of Johann Petursson. The pride of my collection though has to be 4 original freak show banners, 3 of which were painted by the legendary Snap Wyatt. These things are huge and I really don't see myself ever living anywhere where I'll have the room to display them unfortunately. The subjects are a 3 legged football player, the Moon Boy (which is a guy with branch like growths coming out of his hands and feet), I forget the third one and the best of all is a really long one advertising the entire lineup of freaks.

We're pretty lucky down here in the south as every year during fair season there are still a decent number of freak exhibits at the fairs allthough they are dwindling. I've seen snake girls, giant rats, smallest horses, chupacabra, live heads with no bodies and even got to see a great woman turns into a gorilla routine once where she then ran out into the audience and cleared out that tent real quick!

Sadly I never got to go visit Gibsonton (or Gibtown), Florida. I tried many times but just never made it.

Last year I went to a music festival in North Carolina and found out that Chang and Eng were buried about a half hour away. I was riding with other people so I didn't get to go but this year I'm planning on going back and I'm going to try to go this time.

[poseablemonster]

This stuff has always been fascinating to me, ever since I was a kid.  I think I had a book about "Different People", and Ripley's Believe It Or Not" was my favorite!  I had a lot of those little comics.  Sadly, I was never able to see a real freakshow.  My family didn't go to things like carnivals, and we never went on any vacations.  So, in the early 90's I was determined to go to a Ripley's Museum. 
My girlfriend (now wife) and I drove to Gatllinburg, TN for a nice vacation.  My real motive was to get to the Ripley's Museum, though.  It was so great; shrunken heads, all sorts of cool stuff.  When we got to the second floor, an employee told us there was a small fire next door and for precaution we should go ahead and evacuate the building at our convenience.  So, we hung around for a few more minutes, finally the last two people to exit.  When we walked out, we looked up to discover the third floor up was a raging inferno!  Within minutes, the entire building was gone and most of the entire block within hours.  I just stood there and felt hollow as I watched it burn down.