1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: The show was on ephemeralist production of I Heart three 2 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: D Audio for full exposure listen with that phones. The 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 1: Circus of today would generally be considered a lighthearted place, fun, polite, 4 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: family oriented. I've always wanted to go to the Circus, 5 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: but historically there was another aspect to this spectacle, a 6 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,480 Speaker 1: more secretive and sometimes darker story. Through the back Kurt, 7 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: past the posters, and Carnival Barker. For a few extra cents, 8 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: you could gain admittance to his space. That questioned the 9 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:45,520 Speaker 1: very nature of reality. The side Show, the side Show 10 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: as we know it as this brick and mortar golden 11 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: era of entertainment, certainly had a heyday and certainly had 12 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: a decline, but it didn't just appear in a vacuum 13 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 1: an actuality. The side Show itself is an institution that 14 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 1: goes back hundreds of years and is continuously evolving and 15 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: shape shifting. I'm Robin Minuter and I am a senior 16 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: producer over at Grim and Mild, and I'm Taylor Haggerdorn, 17 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,839 Speaker 1: and I am an associate producer at Grimm and Mild. 18 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: Robin and Taylor are the minds behind Sideshow. Season one 19 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:25,199 Speaker 1: of the podcast Grim and Mild Presents, hosted by Aaron Monkey, 20 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,920 Speaker 1: which just wrapped it's thirteen episode run. I've always thought 21 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:34,320 Speaker 1: of the side show as a foil for American anxiety, 22 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 1: this feeling of getting so close to the subversive, like 23 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,319 Speaker 1: close enough to be able to touch it, to be 24 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: titillated by it, but also to be able to walk 25 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: away at the end of the day, ricked from the 26 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: of the world. One time I get part of a 27 00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: dollar show. If you ruf the dime, this impulse to view, 28 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 1: and also if you have power to put on display 29 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: and create narratives around otherness, around curiosity, around oddity. Obviously 30 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: that precedes the sideshow. It just perfected and codified something 31 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: that we had always been interested in. While the side 32 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: show has a golden era, there are precedents throughout recorded history. 33 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: If we want to think about the history of touring acts, 34 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 1: there are certain things you can trace back to ancient Greece, 35 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: ancient Rome, the history of menagerie's collected animals for pleasure 36 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: and then for public display and profit. Also think about 37 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: folks who would be employed by medieval courts, for example, 38 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:51,200 Speaker 1: folks with Dwarfism, Siamese twins, people who would act as 39 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: an oddity for entertainment, and when you have courts who 40 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: are traveling the world and trying to secure more land 41 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:02,080 Speaker 1: and resources for their entries in their kingdoms, part of 42 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: what they are acquiring a people and things that they 43 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: deem odd This traveling otherness that we get from the 44 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: courts is a really lengthy precursor but also like a 45 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:19,040 Speaker 1: direct ancestor to the side show that we get. But 46 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: the sideshow proper truly began with a single figure, not 47 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:27,280 Speaker 1: just any service, but the most spectacular of old time. 48 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,640 Speaker 1: When we think about the inception of the American side 49 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: show in the collective American imagination, we think of P. T. Barnum, 50 00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: and this guy was a match in so many ways. 51 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: You know, is also a very complicated character that goes 52 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: without saying that they didn't wonderful affection sold it my 53 00:03:51,360 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: voice like my great souls. I have a great as 54 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:09,920 Speaker 1: I believe happy. He was born in eighteen ten in Bethel, Connecticut, 55 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: which at the time was a very agrarian community. Not 56 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,960 Speaker 1: only was he very creative, but he also used that 57 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: creative energy and became very very entrepreneurial. Like he had 58 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,279 Speaker 1: some grocers he was trying to sell himself for public office. 59 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: He was always down with the hustle. The other thing 60 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: that made him very singular was that he had this 61 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: acute savvy about human psychology. He was always one step 62 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: ahead of the desires of those around him. In that way, 63 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: that made him a very good businessman. He could serve 64 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: up what people wanted, and he was bringing them what 65 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: they wanted before they necessarily understood that's what they were 66 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: looking for. Around eighteen sixty five, in the throes of 67 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: the Civil War, the country was radically shifting. We were 68 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:04,240 Speaker 1: learning all about Darwin's origin of species. New science was 69 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: being invented and discovered. The world was expanding and really 70 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 1: strange in new ways. And P. T. Barnum bless his heart, 71 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:19,480 Speaker 1: his second grade American Museum in New York City burns down, 72 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: and in his mid to late sixties he decided to 73 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: take the different exhibits in his museum, including the human Acts, 74 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: and bring them to communities across the country. They snaked 75 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: across the continent in fifty private box cars. Four hundred 76 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 1: employees brought up the Big Top for the greatest show 77 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: on Earth. The Sides Show brought with it an atmosphere 78 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: all its own right now, let's go to the side show. 79 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: When he walked into a sideshow space, the thing you're 80 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: going to see are these huge posters six nine twelve 81 00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: ft tall, brightly colored paintings on their You might see 82 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:05,359 Speaker 1: a half man, half snake, an ape woman, the world's 83 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: tallest man, or the world's fattest lady, or the world's 84 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: shortest boy that was also the world's strongest man, the 85 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:17,719 Speaker 1: pin cushion man, the world's tallest man, and the smallest couple. 86 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:23,159 Speaker 1: And then, of course you have the barker right up, lady, 87 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,840 Speaker 1: somebody who is welcoming you into this world to suspend 88 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: your disbelief and question really what you're seeing? The sideshow 89 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: traffics in hyperbole, and this was all one big marketing engine. 90 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: Three are kicking in Mare were a man. Though every 91 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: side show was unique, they were each essentially organized in 92 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: the same way. Sideshow acts are historically categorized into three 93 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 1: different boxes. Who have the born ax, got the made ax, 94 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: got the working ax? And those categories exist historically along 95 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,160 Speaker 1: a hierarchy, with the born ax being sort of sides 96 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: your royalty, kind of at the top of the pecking order. 97 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: Tell me, have you done much circus work in your life. 98 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: I was on the stage for most of my life. 99 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 1: I was a headliner. Below that you have the made ax, 100 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: for example, tattooed ladies. You could walk in off the 101 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: street and sit for many a tattoo session and then 102 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:43,480 Speaker 1: decided to join the side show. Then you have below 103 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: that the largest contingency of acts that currently exists in 104 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: this moment, the working acts, astounding acts of body manipulation 105 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: and pain endurance. These are the people who are swallowing 106 00:07:57,120 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: sores and breathing fire and laying on beds of nails 107 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: going to any side show. These are the three that 108 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: you would expect to see in some configuration. Living as 109 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,160 Speaker 1: a traveling side show performer could have its perks. It 110 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: could also be perilous. Some folks really benefited from this 111 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: world as a result of the skin suit that they 112 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 1: were born in, Meaning if you were an affluent white person, 113 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: for example, like Lavinia Warren, even though you were living 114 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,119 Speaker 1: with dwarf is um, you could opt into this institution 115 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:36,319 Speaker 1: and know that you're probably going to do okay. On 116 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: the other hand, in the case of Sarki Bartman Julia Pastrana, 117 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:46,079 Speaker 1: these women who were both indigenous looked different than the 118 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: colonizer culture that intercepted them. Their existence in the side 119 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: show wasn't so good. In order to really get a 120 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:59,319 Speaker 1: grasp on be multifaceted institution that the Side Show was, 121 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:04,599 Speaker 1: we need to understand every person's particular experience and the 122 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: intersections of their lived experience, holding it up like a 123 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: prism and turning it from all of its sides. The 124 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 1: Sideshow Podcast goes deep into the back stories of characters 125 00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 1: whose experiences run the gamma. Take, for instance, the case 126 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 1: of Frank Lentini. Frank Lentini is born in the eighteen 127 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,839 Speaker 1: nineties in Italy and had three legs. At this time 128 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: where it's really inhospitable to be any kind of different, 129 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:37,360 Speaker 1: particularly with a very visible physical difference. He's called a 130 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:40,760 Speaker 1: monster by the person who delivered him, by his neighbors. 131 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: It was such a harsh existence early on in life, 132 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:46,160 Speaker 1: and there was really no where that he was accepted. 133 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:48,679 Speaker 1: There was no place for him to be other than 134 00:09:48,800 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 1: locked away in an institution, and he didn't want them. 135 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: Lentini the three legged wonder. And so when Frank finds 136 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: community in the Side Show, he finds I can be 137 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:05,319 Speaker 1: autonomous here. He is traveling throughout the US with his 138 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:10,000 Speaker 1: wife who's found through sideshow. He gets to have a family, 139 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,719 Speaker 1: and he gets to play sports with his friends that 140 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: he gets to have drinking buddies. And he even has 141 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: this one acquaintance who had one leg, and so when 142 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:23,559 Speaker 1: they would buy like the second pair of shoes, he 143 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: was a shoe buddy right, Like they had the same 144 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,559 Speaker 1: shoeice eyes, and so Frank was like, hey, man, I 145 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,559 Speaker 1: got these nice new sandals. Here's the left one for you. 146 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: That kind of ability to exist as yourself without having 147 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: to hide at every turn where you are dehumanized by 148 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,839 Speaker 1: medical professionals and scientists and teachers and midwives and everyone 149 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: else around you. To be in a place where you 150 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:46,679 Speaker 1: are working and you are getting paid and you are 151 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:49,959 Speaker 1: also treated as a human doesn't make the side show 152 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: a perfect but that's pretty cool stuff. Frank is just 153 00:10:53,880 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: one example of many, but not all were as autonomous 154 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,760 Speaker 1: and successful as Frank was. A to be. On the 155 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,000 Speaker 1: other side of the spectrum, you have someone like Julia Pastrana, 156 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: who was an accomplished multi lingual singer, dancer, and performer 157 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:17,319 Speaker 1: born with her statism. Julia Pastrana was Indigenous woman born 158 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: in Sinaloa, Mexico, covered with dark hair and immediately ostracized 159 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:27,439 Speaker 1: by her community. There are lots of ingrained fears about 160 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:30,719 Speaker 1: perhaps why she came to be and also what she 161 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: might become. Then essentially she was trafficked to the United 162 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:38,120 Speaker 1: States for the side show, and that is where the 163 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: sequence of managers begins and it never ends for her. 164 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:45,559 Speaker 1: The stories that we're going around promoting her were saying that, oh, 165 00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: there were these hunters who were lost, and they came 166 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:51,559 Speaker 1: across this cave, and there's this strange child coming from 167 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: parentage of a woman and a bear. The big thing 168 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:59,839 Speaker 1: at that moment, again, the emergence of Darwin's Origin of 169 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:03,760 Speaker 1: SPECIs a lot of these like high falutinate ideas about 170 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: evolution and race and hierarchy. This was Charles Darwin's idea 171 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:13,000 Speaker 1: that the living world evolved from lower forms of life. 172 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:17,079 Speaker 1: But how that manifests for lay people who aren't going 173 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:21,800 Speaker 1: to these stuffy scientific conferences debating the finer points of 174 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,079 Speaker 1: the evolutionary theory. As they're going up, you know, on 175 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: a Saturday afternoon, they're going to see the barker out 176 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: there saying, come on, come on, calm, see the missing link, 177 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:36,760 Speaker 1: promoting Julia as the missing link between our primate ancestors 178 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: and now our very evolved modern selves. It's not just saying, 179 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: come and look at this woman with a beard. They 180 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 1: sort of take the science of the time and fabricate 181 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:52,360 Speaker 1: this in between space that's enticing to people who want 182 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: to think they are further removed from primates, or further 183 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 1: removed from the people who they view as iverages. Early 184 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:05,559 Speaker 1: eighteen sixties, her manager ens up marrying her when their 185 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:09,559 Speaker 1: child is born. In the throes of childbirth, mother and 186 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:13,960 Speaker 1: child both passed and he had Julia and their baby. 187 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 1: Taxidermyte probably the longest career of any sideshow person, because 188 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,480 Speaker 1: she was only repatriated a few years ago. All the 189 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:27,520 Speaker 1: while she's still being exploited. She has toured through the 190 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,079 Speaker 1: world for over a hundred years. I think that's a 191 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: very extreme example of unique genetic characteristics destined for the sideshow. 192 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:40,120 Speaker 1: For performers like Julia Pastrana, there just appears to be 193 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 1: no choice at all. One episode of Grim and Mild 194 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:49,480 Speaker 1: Presents typifies this gulf between experiences by looking at three 195 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 1: different sets of conjoined twins changing named Bunker were brought 196 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: over from Siam now known as Thailand, again as an 197 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: oddity to tour across the America, but they eventually were 198 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:07,400 Speaker 1: able to more or less enter into high society. They 199 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 1: both got married, they had something like nineteen children between 200 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: the two of them. They ended up getting separate houses 201 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: right next door to each other, so they could like 202 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,120 Speaker 1: split time between the two families. They lived in North 203 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: Carolina and by all accounts, became members of the Southern aristocracy, 204 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: so they were able to subvert this idea that they 205 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:31,760 Speaker 1: were forever going to be an oddity. In the case 206 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: of Millie Christine, she was born into slavery and was 207 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: sold when she was eleven months old. That was when 208 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 1: her side show career began. She was kidnapped, kidnapped a 209 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:47,840 Speaker 1: second time. She came home to North Carolina, where it 210 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,880 Speaker 1: is debated whether she was kept in servitude or if 211 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: she chose to stay there. Millie Christine did indeed write 212 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: her own biography that was sold at her show. But 213 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:06,920 Speaker 1: when your manager is also maybe your captor, the story 214 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 1: is told very differently. But Millie Christine eventually gets her 215 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,640 Speaker 1: freedom and buys land and brings her mother and father 216 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: and siblings home. We then have Daisy and Violet Hilton, 217 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: who appeared in the movie Freaks. Well Well, Well come 218 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: a big night. Yes, the sister is getting married, and 219 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: I'm real too dead anything. In the nineteen fifties sixties, 220 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 1: the side show had so fallen out of favor. Their 221 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:39,160 Speaker 1: act was no longer learning any money, and their manager 222 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: abandoned them without a job, without a way out, and 223 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 1: without any dollar bills. And they ended up getting a 224 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: job at a grocery store, and they worked there for 225 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: a number of years. But when they stopped showing up 226 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 1: to work, it took a few days to figure out 227 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:55,000 Speaker 1: what had happened and where they had gone, and come 228 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 1: to find out they had passed away together but alone. 229 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: That's to say, just because your body in this world 230 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 1: may have looked similar to other folks or other acts, 231 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:13,200 Speaker 1: does not mean that anyone's experience was going to be 232 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: at all similar to somebody else's. It had so much 233 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 1: to do with race and with class, with circumstance. One 234 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:26,360 Speaker 1: unique artifact that remains from this side show era is 235 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: the ninety two film Freaks, which features a litany of 236 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: real life side show performers. The better you will seat 237 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: him on the inside, maybe reading mons property and was 238 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: the passion project of director Todd Browning, most famous for 239 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: his ninety one version of Dracula. Aren't you Drinking? I 240 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: Never drink? Why? When he was sixteen he had literally 241 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,040 Speaker 1: run away to join the circus, and so I think 242 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:00,920 Speaker 1: he had a deep affection and deep affinity for the 243 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 1: people that he met there. This seemed like great father 244 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:08,399 Speaker 1: for a film to be made. It was, from what 245 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: I understand, the first time that these characters who had 246 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:17,120 Speaker 1: long toured in the sideshow really jumped mediums and went 247 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:20,639 Speaker 1: from the stage to the silver screen, sort of end 248 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:30,600 Speaker 1: mass Oh, I'm so I am as I am in 249 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:39,160 Speaker 1: my sil Oh what an amazing setting. And of course 250 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 1: then he mixed in the element of love and murder 251 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:43,760 Speaker 1: and intrigue. You can't get away with it, I'll tell 252 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:50,119 Speaker 1: the copper. Sounds like a blockbuster to me, but freaks. 253 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: When it was made, it was a total flop. People 254 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: hated it. At first. I could not believe my own 255 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:05,159 Speaker 1: lives a lot of horrible twists, thinking what were you 256 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,680 Speaker 1: drinking that? Right? The reaction was so strong for the 257 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,600 Speaker 1: horrors that he dared to put on screen that they 258 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: had to recut it, and so in that recutting, not 259 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: only do we lose his vision, we also lose a 260 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:28,520 Speaker 1: lot of the autonomy of the actors and their characters 261 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:32,359 Speaker 1: that they brought to life in the film. Try doing anything, 262 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,440 Speaker 1: don't want to bust. You're right, she don't know what, 263 00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:40,760 Speaker 1: but she'll find out where in the first cut they 264 00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:43,719 Speaker 1: might have come across as just a person who happens 265 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:50,199 Speaker 1: to been born with dwarf is um, you're only something. 266 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: They still exist as characters with their own agency, and 267 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: it's part of the setting them left. Yes, wine, don't 268 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:03,879 Speaker 1: help me. But in the recutting, they just become archetypes. 269 00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 1: Oh let's see what pretty dread? Oh how beautiful you look? 270 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:12,160 Speaker 1: To nine like? Show me Freaks as I want them 271 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:16,440 Speaker 1: to remain. Come on, come on, the bigger ladies, babies. 272 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,760 Speaker 1: The original cut of Freaks no longer exist, but there 273 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:26,360 Speaker 1: was a resurgence in the nineties and enough change within 274 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:30,159 Speaker 1: those intervening years that when people found it again, they 275 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:34,720 Speaker 1: realized that this was a really iconic piece of cinema history. 276 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:42,119 Speaker 1: Has founding Living month property a time, and in it 277 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: was selected by the National Film Registry as one of 278 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: the most influential films of all time. He got that 279 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:53,080 Speaker 1: way will never be known. So even before Dracula made 280 00:19:53,119 --> 00:20:00,959 Speaker 1: that registry, this movie did yes freak. In the mid 281 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:04,120 Speaker 1: twentieth century, the side show as we knew it suffered 282 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: a decline. The side show does not exist like it 283 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,640 Speaker 1: once did, and there are a few reasons that it declined. 284 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 1: One was entertainment innovation. First we had radios and then 285 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:19,639 Speaker 1: we had television, and this all was happening while the 286 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: Golden Age of Hollywood was taking off. From what I understand, 287 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,119 Speaker 1: the film industry was one of the only industries that 288 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,359 Speaker 1: wasn't greatly impacted by the Great Depression, so folks were 289 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:30,919 Speaker 1: able to still go into be entertained if they had 290 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:36,080 Speaker 1: a few extra sents on them. Post War era, the 291 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:39,800 Speaker 1: American highway system totally blew up. More and more people 292 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:43,040 Speaker 1: got their own automobiles, and so people were going further 293 00:20:43,119 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 1: afield than they ever had been before. A covered wagon 294 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,880 Speaker 1: on a modern boulevard is out of place old fashioned 295 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:53,040 Speaker 1: transportation on a modern highway. They had some more leisure 296 00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,640 Speaker 1: time and they were able to go into seek out 297 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: other kinds of entertainment. And then around the second wave 298 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,880 Speaker 1: of adminism, there was more and more conversation around bodies 299 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,040 Speaker 1: and other own bodies and disabilities, and for the first 300 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: time ever, with the passing of the a d A 301 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,359 Speaker 1: folks of disabilities, for the first time, we're guaranteed work. 302 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: The sideshow have for a long time been one of 303 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,440 Speaker 1: the only options, and now there were more options for 304 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,280 Speaker 1: people to choose from. And so as we went along 305 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 1: in the years, the sideshow just became less relevant. With 306 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,720 Speaker 1: the changing geography, you also have changing social mores, and 307 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,840 Speaker 1: audiences are kind of becoming a little self aware and 308 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: self conscious about the entertainment that they're ingesting. I think 309 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:42,480 Speaker 1: it does become harder for audiences to justify being entertained 310 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:45,920 Speaker 1: in these ways, or at least being publicly witnessed to 311 00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,960 Speaker 1: be entertained by things presented in the side show. And 312 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,520 Speaker 1: maybe we still indulge in it and hold onto some 313 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: of those biases pretty strongly, but we can more do 314 00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: it in the safety of our home and we're not 315 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: going out with the entire town. Everybody and their brother 316 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 1: doesn't know what we're watching on TV or on our phones. 317 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 1: We can't maybe be judged for that. But there is 318 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: a descendant of the sideshow extant today. The sideshow is 319 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: still here, but it looks a little bit different than 320 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,200 Speaker 1: it once did. I guess it didn't realize. The sideshows 321 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,120 Speaker 1: are still weary assistance. They're about two or three strong. 322 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 1: There is a sideshow still at Coney Islands Island, the 323 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: world's greatest fun probing its long, all peppered with people, 324 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 1: the place where merriment is king, and everybody in this 325 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,760 Speaker 1: room has the ability to sign up and to go 326 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:41,680 Speaker 1: to sideshow school to become sideshow performers. Today, for the 327 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: most part, it is a collection of made acts or 328 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:50,680 Speaker 1: working acts, fire eaters and sword swallowers and nail bed 329 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:55,160 Speaker 1: liars doing some pretty spooky and maybe death defying things. 330 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: And as it fades, there is still linger nostalgia for 331 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: that brick and mortar experience. Nothing that we watch on 332 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 1: our phones or computers is going to replicate sitting in 333 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:10,879 Speaker 1: the audience, that smell of gas and fire and as 334 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,400 Speaker 1: someone's walking over glass, seeing the sweat beat on their forehead. 335 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 1: Nothing will take that away. But I think our curiosity 336 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:24,040 Speaker 1: and our voyeurism we're carrying forward, whether it's a smattering 337 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: of things now, I don't think we've left that behind. 338 00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 1: Even if these traveling institutions no longer hit the rails anymore, 339 00:23:37,119 --> 00:24:09,399 Speaker 1: Everything by the Super m This episode of Ephemeral was 340 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: written assembled by Alex Williams, with producers Max Williams and 341 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 1: Trevor Young and additional editing from Jesse Funk. Here more 342 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: from Robin Miniter, Taylor Haggard Dorn and the rest of 343 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: the team over at Grimm and Mild dot com, and 344 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: you can find Grim and Mild Presents, Side Show and 345 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: more podcasts from i Heeart Radio on the i Heart 346 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,880 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to your favorite shows.