WEBVTT - Selects: How Freak Shows Worked 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.480 M Hey everybody, it's Josh and for this week's select, 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:07.600 I'd chosen our March two thousand sixteen episode How Freak 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:10.400 Shows Worked. It's one of those episodes that turns out 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:13.320 to be more complicated and complex than you might expect. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.840 And as an aside, a pre aside, I guess I'd 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:19.720 like to say rest in peace to Ronnie and Donnie Galleon, 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:24.160 who we lost in and who come up in this episode. Okay, 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.240 sit back, release your expectations, and enjoy this classic app 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.000 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of I 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:45.720 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:50.760 this shot Chuck, Bryan, Jerry, and this is stuff you 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.840 should have. You introde as if you were asleep and 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.080 I just walked by and poked you with a bold cue. 0:00:57.640 --> 0:00:59.160 And that's your first thing you do, is you wake 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:04.160 up and just go, hey, welcome to the podcast. How 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:09.840 are you, sir man. I'm healing fine. Yeah, good, healing fine. 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:14.360 That's a Simpsons reference from what the Shining one? Oh yeah, 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:21.160 the shipping Classic. It's a good one. Um So, a 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.720 couple of quick matters of business, A little c o 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:28.640 A at the beginning, we're talking about freak shows, and 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:32.679 we will be saying freaks and things like that. That 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.680 is obviously an antiquated term. Yes, Um, but a lot 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:38.440 of there are a lot of quotes in here and 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:42.600 a lot of references to uh, freaks and midgets and 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.720 pin heads and all these awful terms that they used 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:48.680 to call these people that had, you know, physical deformities 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:53.320 and maladies. Um, so it's not us speaking. This is 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:58.120 a historic in historical context. Yeah, Like we get the insensitivity. Yeah, 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.480 we're not us. We're not We're not being insensitive. Here's 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:03.880 uh and we want to shout out if you We 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.440 used a couple of house Stoff how stuff it Works, 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.919 How Stuff Works articles as well as one from History 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:15.040 Magazine by Laura Grande Priceonomics. Zachary Crockett wrote one, and 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:16.760 who I have to say, I'm a fan of that 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.360 dude's work. Yeah, it was a good articles Priceonomics. He's 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:23.600 written some really interesting articles, agreed. And then one from 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:26.240 human Marvels dot com, which is just a good website 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:35.120 by j tithonus pit now and then pronounced right p 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:39.040 E D in a U D. Yeah that's a tough one, now, Yeah, 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.079 I assume that d is silent or maybe not, maybe 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:50.040 it's ped now pay nodee huh freaky and a couple 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.960 of other places we visited, so and everyone kind of 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.680 says the same thing. But it's a nice, well rounded thing. 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.360 I think. Yeah, well they I mean, we're talking about 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:00.600 the history of freak shows and there's only you know, 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:05.120 one history. Certain things happen, and we found we found 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:09.720 very quickly that like you can't extract um freak shows 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.400 from P. T. Barnum or vice versa. Like they they 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:17.480 they are inextricably bound. But freak shows UM, you know, 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.680 Barnum was working in the nineteenth century. But the concept 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:25.080 of freak shows, which um is basically someone who is 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:28.760 a human curiosity and that could be someone who was 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:33.440 born with a genetic deformity, of physical deformity UM, some 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:39.720 sort of mental incapacity UM, or some people have turned 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.960 themselves into human curiosity stay through the wonder of tattooing 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.800 or um learning to swallow swords or something like. Yeah, 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:52.600 we're like these days body modification like the gym Rose Show, 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.160 or there's one in Coney Island still that does a 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.200 like a traditional show. Yeah, side show by the seashore. 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.360 All So a great song by Luna, one of my 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:07.360 favorite bands. Um So, the the whole concept of this, 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:12.480 of having a human curiosity and um basically charging gawkers 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.760 to look at it, it dates back quite a way. 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.240 Um well, actually not that far. The sixteenth century. That's 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.680 pretty far. Yeah, I guess so. But you would think like, well, 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:25.080 the Greeks or the Romans did this, but apparently no, 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.320 everybody was fairly Um from what I understand, everybody just 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:34.440 kind of steered clear of human curiosities to that point. Yeah, 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:37.080 I think people feared them, right. They were locked away 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.240 mainly because they thought it was some evil curse or 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:43.000 punishment from God, and this wasn't someone you wanted to 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.200 consort with. Else you might bring back, bring down the 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.360 wrath of God upon yourself. That's right. But like you said, 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.520 in the late fifteen, hundreds of people started to say, 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:55.560 you know what I'm curious about, um, someone with hair 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:58.000 growing all over their face. I'm curious about the human 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:01.240 curiosity exactly. And I know, I don't Chuck, I want 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:03.600 to say, I don't think it's coincidence that about this 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:08.400 time science was starting to spread throughout Europe. So the 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.560 idea that um, this was God's breath was was taking 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.719 a bit of a backseat to uh, this is a 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:18.560 human condition of some sort, Yes, but not so far 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.039 down the road of science to where there was this 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.080 intermediate period where they were got Dad, And as we'll 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.159 find out later, science would eventually take part in ending 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.480 the side shows. But it created them and it ended them. Yeah, 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:32.240 it's kind of neat, good way to look at it. 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.160 Uh So one of the first UM viewings are one 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:39.159 of the first people put on display, and you know 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.560 this is also going to be well, we'll get into 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:44.880 it later, but the morality of this is very up 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:49.280 and down with exploiting people and these people that would 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:53.440 normally be locked away actually having super lucrative careers long 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.599 lasting made them rich. Also, UM, I think one of 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.760 the authors, I think it was Crockett points out that UM, 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.880 there early on, if you were in a freak show, 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:07.680 there was a good chance that um, you had been 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:10.679 abandoned by your parents, became a ward of the state 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:15.080 and adopted by somebody who just ruthlessly exploited you and 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.719 maybe barely took care of you. But one thing you 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.240 can definitely say to his credit as Barnum came into 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:25.520 it and basically normalized or created an industry out of 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:29.800 freak shows or four freak shows. Um, conditions definitely changed 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:33.920 and the exploitation seems to have less in some way. Yeah. 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.960 I thinking that with the big names like Norman and Barnum, 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:41.240 I think there were all manner of minor side shows 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:44.400 that probably didn't treat them as well. Uh, And usually 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:49.080 Barnum and Norman bought their curiosities from those minor side 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.760 shows lesser showman exactly. So we're talking about Tom Norman 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.400 out of England. Yeah, they were basically counterparts. Yeah, and 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:58.760 what we'll get into them. But back to one of 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:02.560 the earliest um quote unquote freaks was a man named 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:08.480 Lazarus Colorado not Colorado, who was a conjoined twin. He 0:07:08.520 --> 0:07:11.760 had a brother, Johannas, who was upside down on his 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:17.080 chest and technically it was a parasitic twin to Lazarus, Oh, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:22.400 not conjoined twins. They were conjoined. But Johannes like didn't eat, okay, 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:26.120 he um, he could, he didn't speak, he never opened 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:28.080 his eyes, and apparently the only way you could get 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.120 a physical reaction out of him was if you rubbed 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.560 his chest that would make him squirm like Quaid and 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:36.640 total recall very much got you. So. Uh. He went 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.840 on tour performed before King Charles the First in the 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:44.559 early sixteen forties. But it was not a big deal. 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.960 It wasn't a super lucrative side shows weren't really a 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:51.040 thing at that point. But this guy was saying, Uh, 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.239 you guys are gonna ostracize me. Well, I'm gonna charge 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.280 you to look at me then, and I'm going to 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.960 support myself and my brother doing this. He did at himself. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.160 If it's not clear whether he worked with a manager 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.960 or not or a promoter, but he definitely um made 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.720 his own choice to go do this, yes, exactly, and 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:12.360 he was apparently an otherwise handsome man. That's how everyone 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:16.560 described him, which I think probably for the Court Um 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.640 or Europe who who came and looked at him, uh, 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.360 probably just made it even more mind boggling, you know. 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.760 But he's a good guy, right right, you know? Uh. 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:27.560 P T. Barnum and I think we should do in 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.200 a whole podcast on P. T. Barnum at some point 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:32.800 to really close out the circus suite. Well, then we 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:38.439 shouldn't mention him again in the show No Barnum as 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.920 as a teenager. Uh, he always had a pinchant for 0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:44.240 making money. He was one of those magnets sort of 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.160 weird ways. Uh. He ran his own lottery as a teenager, 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:51.200 UM in Connecticut, and he said, here's what I'll do. 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:56.440 I can just sell these tickets. I'll give out prizes 0:08:56.480 --> 0:09:03.240 in varying levels from is on down to cents and 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:07.079 uh yeah and um. But it was a very well 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:08.960 thought out for a teenager. He wasn't just like just 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.080 one prize. He'd spread it out so he would entice 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:15.040 people to play more. Uh. And he actually made a 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.760 lot of money from it until they outlawed the lottery. 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.960 He's making like eleven grand in today's dollars a week 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:25.360 as a teenager. Yeah, nineteen not bad. But then Connecticut 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.240 and the rest of the country said no more lotteries 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.360 for now. Um. We'll bring that back up later though, 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:35.080 don't you worry. T B C And Um. He had 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.120 to find other ways to make work, moved to New 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:42.160 York City and in eighteen thirty five, Um he had 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:43.839 You know, England is where a lot of this started. 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.160 We'll talk about Norman in a second, but he got 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:48.079 his queue from England, said here's what I'm gonna do. 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:51.160 I'm gonna buy a person, gonna buy my first freak 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.000 uh this blind paralyzed slave woman and this is a 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.080 hallmark of freak shows. As I'm gonna make up a 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.680 story about her that's since a l and crazy like 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:03.839 a Ripley's believe it or not kind of thing, right 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.480 and and Barnum in particular was well known for just 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.440 taking these things to the nth degree, like, sure, no 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.560 one's gonna buy that, but he could sell it in 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.640 such a way that people believed it because they were 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:21.959 exponentially dumber back then. Uh. He The story for her 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:23.960 was that she was a hundred and sixty years old, 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.840 was George Washington's nurse. Uh and you can pay to 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.559 see her, when in fact she was only eighty years old. 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:35.120 She was half that age. Yeah, and her name was 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.040 Joyce Heath, and she was just an old lady, right, Yeah, 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:39.920 she was an old slave woman who was paralyzed and 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.400 blind and was being exploited by P. T. Barnum in 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:47.200 the year before her death. So she dies um, but 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:51.440 before then, like as he's touting her as this hundred 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:55.400 and six year old former nurse made to George Washington Um. 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:58.000 That gets an initial reaction, and then ticket sales drop. 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:01.920 And then PiZZ Barnum did something quite smart. He wrote 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:06.559 an anonymous letter to a Boston newspaper and accused himself 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.960 of being a fraud and saying that the the hundred 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.319 and sixty year old woman was a fake, that she 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:18.120 was actually a machine, a robot made of whale skin 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:23.200 and would and ticket sales went right through the roof. Again. Man, 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.640 what a guy. There should be a good movie about him. 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.160 I can't believe there's not, like a modern one. I'm 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:32.600 sure there is, you know, surely, like the What's the one? 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:34.760 The Greatest Show on Earth was a movie? Right, and 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:37.520 that like a Griffith movie or something, That's what I mean. 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.880 But like Tom Cruise should play him, yeah, and should 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.640 be directed by Michael Bay Russell Crow should No, not 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:49.960 Russell Crowe. Well, how about who could play p T. Barnum? 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.240 You know who who? He would be good at it, 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:56.160 but would just be so him? Sam Rockwell, oh totally, 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.400 he could play anything. So I'd rather see somebody even 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:05.680 broader playing him. Yeah, I heard research, go ahead, Gina, 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:12.800 who would end up playing him is freaking Hugh Jackman. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.680 because he can do cartwheels. Yeah, what were you going 0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.200 to say? Somebody? It might have been during the Bill 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.679 Gates interview or something yesterday that somebody said that, No, 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:26.320 it's unseen it. Tom Hanks is the most trusted person 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:30.040 in America. Like for some Pole found that, Like, the 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.680 most trusted person in America is Tom Hanks. Were we 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:36.520 on the list? I don't think so. Sure, you gotta 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:40.680 trust on We're not even Also rans were never rans? Alright, 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:45.800 So he purchased that woman what was her name, Joyce 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.600 heth j O I c E H T H for 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:53.880 a thousand dollars and he made about that every week. Um, 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.000 from exploiting her. I imagined that she got very little 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.079 of that. Yeah, although you can't necessarily say that I 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:04.880 didn't see what she was paid, she was very likely paid, 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:10.320 and she was probably fairly well taken care of, especially 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:14.480 considering um that she probably just and this is based 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.440 on how Barnum treated other people later in a documented manner. 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:23.160 But um, he I don't want to say he rescued 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.120 her from slavery because she went from being a slave 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:30.200 to being owned by somebody who exhibited her. Um, but 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.640 it's not a guarantee or a given that her situation 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:39.760 got worse after she she was purchased by Barnum. Right, 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:43.040 does that make sense? Man? That felt like a minefield 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.240 I was walking through talking about slavery, human exploitation, a 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:51.360 blind woman who was also paralyzed. Good, good luck, sir 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.120 Um his first big hoax after that? Or uh? Well, 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:56.880 actually I guess it wasn't a hoax aside from the 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.320 made up story. But um, he had a real hope. 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.880 It was a hope. Well I hope, sure, um, but 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.040 this was a hoax in two because it was nothing 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.920 about it was real. He was promoting something called the 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:13.760 Fiji Mermaid, which was basically rogue taxidermy as all it was. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.480 That's exactly what it was. It was a creature with 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:17.800 a head of a monkey and the tail of a 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.520 fish that he bought from Japanese sailors. Well he didn't. 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:23.680 He got it from a sailor who bought it from 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.800 jail right, and actually it was Japanese fisherman. Yeah, and 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.280 he well what's the difference. Well, they're like traditional they 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:33.040 didn't necessarily go to see they were like islanders and 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.280 this is like traditional art for them, folk art. Okay, 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.800 so not a sailor but fisherman, right, that's ped entry 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:45.280 one oh one. Sorry man, uh gets so fixated on things. 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:50.000 Yeah uh. And he leased it um for twelve fifty 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:54.160 a week twelve dollars and fifty cents um from from 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.480 the owners have said rogue taxidermy. And he tried he 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.480 print up pamphlets and tried to convince everyone it was 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.920 some real thing. So he he actually had a um 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:08.760 a partner named Levi what was Levi's name? He's definitely 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:13.360 an overlooked guy, Levi Lyman. Can you imagine like being P. T. 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.880 Barnum's partner, Like you'd never be in the spotlight, right, 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:21.000 So Levi Lyman posed as a English doctor, a scientist 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:26.440 who was in possession of this mermaid, and UM P. T. 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.320 Barnum very publicly was trying to get his hands on 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.800 the mermaid, and this guy was very publicly resisting him 0:15:31.840 --> 0:15:33.480 because it was a man of science and this was 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:36.880 the real deal. And it helps just convince everybody, including 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.640 the newspapers, that like this is the genuine article and 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:44.360 just rubes nation a world of rubes. It seems like 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.760 he ended up opening up a museum on Broadway in 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:51.440 New York City in the forties, you know, sort of 0:15:51.480 --> 0:15:53.120 you know, like a Ripley's Believe it or not kind 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:56.400 of thing, curiosities and weird things. Yeah, that's that was 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.560 his stock in trade. Uh. And then we should talk 0:15:59.560 --> 0:16:04.840 about his counterpart in England, Um, Tom Norman. Yeah, Tommy Norman, 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.360 Tommy Norman. Uh. He was named the Silver King and 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.840 Barnum actually gave him that name apparently after meeting him, 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.080 and he said, boy, what a huge silver showy silver 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:18.880 watch you have there. You're the Silver King. He goes, 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:20.880 I am the Silver King. I've been waiting my whole 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.640 life for somebody to notice exactly. So he was doing 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.680 the same thing in England. Uh. And he he actually, um, 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:32.880 he toured with Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. Yeah, and 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.040 he got um castigated by a lot of people saying, 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.640 you're exploiting this guy John Merrick. And is it John 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.440 or Joseph? What I say, John? Yeah? And it's like 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:45.560 an ongoing thing. Oh is it? Yeah? I can't remember 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.600 if it's well, let's find out. No, it's Joseph for sure. 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:52.200 I just misspoke. Oh sorry. Um. He was attacked in 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:57.360 specifically in a memoir by Dr Frederick Treeves uh called 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:01.400 The Elephant Man and other Reminiscences. Uh. And he shot 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.800 back and he said, you know what, I haven't mistreated Merrick, 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.520 haven't abused him. He wasn't forced to do anything. And 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:09.879 he said, in fact, the big majority of showmen are 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.199 in the habit of treating their novelties as human beings 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:14.679 and in a large number of cases as one of 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:19.200 their own, not like beasts. Right. So you know the 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:23.240 morality battle was being waged even back then. Yeah, And 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:27.280 I mean if you you think about um, this time 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:31.160 when people would go look at people who had physical 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:34.639 deformities and pay for it. Just look at him to 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.320 standing there, you think, well, the whole world was pretty 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:41.320 evil and a moral at the time. Not necessarily true. 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:44.879 There's a um a lot of people who railed against 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.960 this stuff, like Frederick Treeve's who was um. He was 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:52.240 portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, right, isn't that him? Oh? I 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:54.639 don't know, Yeah, he was in The Elephant Man, the movie. 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.480 Oh was he actually Merrick's doctor? Yes, Okay, I didn't 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:01.040 know that. Yeah, yeah, man, that movie. David Lynch, God 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:03.800 One of the best ever um And then there was 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.879 an historian who at the time, I think in like 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:10.600 the eighteen sixties he wrote his name was Henry Mayhew, 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.080 and in eighteen sixty when he was British, he wrote 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.920 that that these freak shows were nothing more than human degradation. 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:19.480 And he said something that stuck out to meet Chuck. 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.320 He said that the men who preside over these infamous 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:26.399 places know too well the failings of their audience. And 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:28.440 I think he really hit the nail on the head 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:32.280 by he wasn't accusing the showman because I think he 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:36.320 understood that most of these people were just under contract, 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:41.600 and he wasn't accusing the people, the actual human curiosities, 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:45.359 the freaks themselves. He was rightly placing the blame for 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.360 all this on the observers, the gawkers. Like if there 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:50.560 wasn't a market for it, they wouldn't be doing it. Yeah, 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.480 Like you're the one who is having the moral failing, 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.119 who's paying to go see this person who may or 0:18:56.160 --> 0:19:00.160 may not be exploited you don't know, And uh, it's 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.919 really on you audience. Yeah, it's pretty Uh it's a 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:05.680 lot of foresight for back then I thought so too. 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.160 So it's not like the point was. It's not like 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.199 everybody was just going along with this. People have had 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.680 a problem with it basically the whole time freak shows 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.280 were around, right. All right, Well, let's take a break 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.359 and we'll talk a little bit more about the evolution 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:52.280 of the side show. Right after this, we're back. I 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:58.439 brought my pencil. What's up? Seven? Right on? Man? I 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.359 didn't get that at first. You. I'm impressed that you 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:05.840 did get it. Yeah. Nice. Uh. That was from Van 0:20:05.880 --> 0:20:10.680 Halen's popular song Hot for Teacher from and we are 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:16.320 now nineteen eighties DJs. Uh. So the side shows became 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:18.679 a legitimate thing, a big way to make money. There 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.199 were different kinds. Um. There was one called a tin 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:24.120 in one show, which I believe the sides side show 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:28.120 by the Sea Shore is today. You did it through 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:30.679 my missing tooth, uh. And that is when you have 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:34.639 ten people on display on a platform at once and 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:37.159 people just walk by and look at them. It's not 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.240 like a performance. It's just there's a bearded lady, there's 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.360 the dog faced boy, there's the tattooed man, and they're 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:45.960 all of a standing there. That's a tin and one 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.440 yokel uh. They had things, and this was all to 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:54.560 to drum up more money. They would advertise something as 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:58.280 an adults only or a man only even performance, well 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:02.159 the men only performance Freak Only had a stripper you 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:06.760 know yeah. Um, or stuff that they thought that were 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:10.359 just like a woman shouldn't see or children shouldn't see. 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:11.760 I don't know if it was as much of that 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:13.640 as if it was to just trump up, like, oh 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:16.440 my god, it's so bad that a woman can't see 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:18.920 lay her eyes upon it. I see. Um. I think 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.280 it was all part of the show. Uh, that's my feeling. 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:24.560 At least. One of the things that they displayed were 0:21:24.600 --> 0:21:29.440 something called a pickled punk, which is awful. It is, 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:32.720 especially when you find out what it is. Yeah, it's 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:37.720 basically a an abnormal fetus in a formaldehyde in a jar. 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:40.800 And you could go by and look at pickled punks 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:44.280 and gaulk at them for money. It's it's awful. Yeah, 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:49.000 this is what people did, like on Saturday night in Kansas. 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:52.720 So um. The the usually this this side shows of 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:56.840 the Freak shows. At first, they were you would be 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:02.320 some enterprising entrepreneur in some small town and you would 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:07.719 notice that a little youngster had um, a third leg, okay, 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:11.040 and you your thought was, I can really make some 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:13.320 money with this kid to go to their parents. And 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:17.040 you'd say, I will give you of all of the 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:19.840 earnings of your child if you let me take him 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:21.439 on the road and he will stay in the finest 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.040 hotels and we're the best clothes and as the human 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:28.600 exactly and uh, the he will become famous in the world, 0:22:28.640 --> 0:22:31.280 will love him. Uh, just let me handle it. I'm 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:33.639 going to be as manager from now on. And the 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:36.960 parents would very frequently, especially if they were poor, would say, 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.960 that's great, do that give me some money upfront? Though, 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:43.280 by the way, yeah, especially because a lot of times 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:45.320 some of these people were a burden on their family 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:48.520 because of their health condition, so they were happy to 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:50.920 be rid of them. That's all very sad, okay. So 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:53.800 that's how That's how it definitely started out. And then 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:56.560 and it went on like that, um for a very 0:22:56.600 --> 0:22:59.119 long time as well. But once borne him and not 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:01.560 a Norman and some of the other guys, the big 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:04.680 guys came around, they would just basically keep an eye 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:06.520 out for that kind of thing, or they would be 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:10.040 approached by these guys who would essentially be middleman kind 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:13.679 of like, um, somebody who discovered a boy band selling 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:17.040 their contract to a bigger record company. But this was 0:23:17.080 --> 0:23:20.480 with human curiosity, people with the third leg or hyper 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:24.080 trichosis or what have you. UM. And then Barnum would 0:23:24.080 --> 0:23:27.639 take him and would would just take whatever exaggerated origin 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:30.000 story that they came with and just throw it out 0:23:30.200 --> 0:23:33.520 and come up with one ten times more. Uh. And 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:40.800 after his uh, George Washington's nurse made Joyce heth diede Washington, right, 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:44.960 he started looking around for his next collaborator, if you 0:23:44.960 --> 0:23:47.840 could call him that, UM. And he found out that 0:23:47.840 --> 0:23:50.840 he had a distant cousin, a fifth cousin UM named 0:23:50.920 --> 0:23:55.520 Charles Stratton, who had stopped growing when he was about 0:23:56.040 --> 0:24:00.119 two years old. Yeah. He he never completely stopped. He 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:03.080 grew very slowly. Yeah. He made it to like just 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:05.320 over three feet I think by the time of his death. Yeah. 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:07.080 He died at forty five of a stroke and he 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:12.640