WEBVTT - Sideshow

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<v Speaker 1>The show was on ephemeralist production of I Heart three

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<v Speaker 1>D Audio for full exposure listen with that phones. The

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<v Speaker 1>Circus of today would generally be considered a lighthearted place, fun, polite,

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<v Speaker 1>family oriented. I've always wanted to go to the Circus,

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<v Speaker 1>but historically there was another aspect to this spectacle, a

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<v Speaker 1>more secretive and sometimes darker story. Through the back Kurt,

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<v Speaker 1>past the posters, and Carnival Barker. For a few extra cents,

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<v Speaker 1>you could gain admittance to his space. That questioned the

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<v Speaker 1>very nature of reality. The side Show, the side Show

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<v Speaker 1>as we know it as this brick and mortar golden

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<v Speaker 1>era of entertainment, certainly had a heyday and certainly had

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<v Speaker 1>a decline, but it didn't just appear in a vacuum

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<v Speaker 1>an actuality. The side Show itself is an institution that

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<v Speaker 1>goes back hundreds of years and is continuously evolving and

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<v Speaker 1>shape shifting. I'm Robin Minuter and I am a senior

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<v Speaker 1>producer over at Grim and Mild, and I'm Taylor Haggerdorn,

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<v Speaker 1>and I am an associate producer at Grimm and Mild.

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<v Speaker 1>Robin and Taylor are the minds behind Sideshow. Season one

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<v Speaker 1>of the podcast Grim and Mild Presents, hosted by Aaron Monkey,

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<v Speaker 1>which just wrapped it's thirteen episode run. I've always thought

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<v Speaker 1>of the side show as a foil for American anxiety,

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<v Speaker 1>this feeling of getting so close to the subversive, like

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<v Speaker 1>close enough to be able to touch it, to be

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<v Speaker 1>titillated by it, but also to be able to walk

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<v Speaker 1>away at the end of the day, ricked from the

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<v Speaker 1>of the world. One time I get part of a

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<v Speaker 1>dollar show. If you ruf the dime, this impulse to view,

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<v Speaker 1>and also if you have power to put on display

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<v Speaker 1>and create narratives around otherness, around curiosity, around oddity. Obviously

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<v Speaker 1>that precedes the sideshow. It just perfected and codified something

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<v Speaker 1>that we had always been interested in. While the side

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<v Speaker 1>show has a golden era, there are precedents throughout recorded history.

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<v Speaker 1>If we want to think about the history of touring acts,

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<v Speaker 1>there are certain things you can trace back to ancient Greece,

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<v Speaker 1>ancient Rome, the history of menagerie's collected animals for pleasure

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<v Speaker 1>and then for public display and profit. Also think about

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<v Speaker 1>folks who would be employed by medieval courts, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>folks with Dwarfism, Siamese twins, people who would act as

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<v Speaker 1>an oddity for entertainment, and when you have courts who

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<v Speaker 1>are traveling the world and trying to secure more land

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<v Speaker 1>and resources for their entries in their kingdoms, part of

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<v Speaker 1>what they are acquiring a people and things that they

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<v Speaker 1>deem odd This traveling otherness that we get from the

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<v Speaker 1>courts is a really lengthy precursor but also like a

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<v Speaker 1>direct ancestor to the side show that we get. But

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<v Speaker 1>the sideshow proper truly began with a single figure, not

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<v Speaker 1>just any service, but the most spectacular of old time.

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<v Speaker 1>When we think about the inception of the American side

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<v Speaker 1>show in the collective American imagination, we think of P. T. Barnum,

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<v Speaker 1>and this guy was a match in so many ways.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, is also a very complicated character that goes

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<v Speaker 1>without saying that they didn't wonderful affection sold it my

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<v Speaker 1>voice like my great souls. I have a great as

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<v Speaker 1>I believe happy. He was born in eighteen ten in Bethel, Connecticut,

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<v Speaker 1>which at the time was a very agrarian community. Not

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<v Speaker 1>only was he very creative, but he also used that

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<v Speaker 1>creative energy and became very very entrepreneurial. Like he had

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<v Speaker 1>some grocers he was trying to sell himself for public office.

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<v Speaker 1>He was always down with the hustle. The other thing

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<v Speaker 1>that made him very singular was that he had this

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<v Speaker 1>acute savvy about human psychology. He was always one step

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<v Speaker 1>ahead of the desires of those around him. In that way,

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<v Speaker 1>that made him a very good businessman. He could serve

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<v Speaker 1>up what people wanted, and he was bringing them what

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<v Speaker 1>they wanted before they necessarily understood that's what they were

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<v Speaker 1>looking for. Around eighteen sixty five, in the throes of

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<v Speaker 1>the Civil War, the country was radically shifting. We were

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<v Speaker 1>learning all about Darwin's origin of species. New science was

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<v Speaker 1>being invented and discovered. The world was expanding and really

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<v Speaker 1>strange in new ways. And P. T. Barnum bless his heart,

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<v Speaker 1>his second grade American Museum in New York City burns down,

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<v Speaker 1>and in his mid to late sixties he decided to

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<v Speaker 1>take the different exhibits in his museum, including the human Acts,

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<v Speaker 1>and bring them to communities across the country. They snaked

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<v Speaker 1>across the continent in fifty private box cars. Four hundred

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<v Speaker 1>employees brought up the Big Top for the greatest show

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<v Speaker 1>on Earth. The Sides Show brought with it an atmosphere

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<v Speaker 1>all its own right now, let's go to the side show.

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<v Speaker 1>When he walked into a sideshow space, the thing you're

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<v Speaker 1>going to see are these huge posters six nine twelve

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<v Speaker 1>ft tall, brightly colored paintings on their You might see

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<v Speaker 1>a half man, half snake, an ape woman, the world's

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<v Speaker 1>tallest man, or the world's fattest lady, or the world's

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<v Speaker 1>shortest boy that was also the world's strongest man, the

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<v Speaker 1>pin cushion man, the world's tallest man, and the smallest couple.

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<v Speaker 1>And then, of course you have the barker right up, lady,

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<v Speaker 1>somebody who is welcoming you into this world to suspend

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<v Speaker 1>your disbelief and question really what you're seeing? The sideshow

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<v Speaker 1>traffics in hyperbole, and this was all one big marketing engine.

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<v Speaker 1>Three are kicking in Mare were a man. Though every

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<v Speaker 1>side show was unique, they were each essentially organized in

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<v Speaker 1>the same way. Sideshow acts are historically categorized into three

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<v Speaker 1>different boxes. Who have the born ax, got the made ax,

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<v Speaker 1>got the working ax? And those categories exist historically along

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<v Speaker 1>a hierarchy, with the born ax being sort of sides

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<v Speaker 1>your royalty, kind of at the top of the pecking order.

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<v Speaker 1>Tell me, have you done much circus work in your life.

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<v Speaker 1>I was on the stage for most of my life.

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<v Speaker 1>I was a headliner. Below that you have the made ax,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, tattooed ladies. You could walk in off the

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<v Speaker 1>street and sit for many a tattoo session and then

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<v Speaker 1>decided to join the side show. Then you have below

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<v Speaker 1>that the largest contingency of acts that currently exists in

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<v Speaker 1>this moment, the working acts, astounding acts of body manipulation

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<v Speaker 1>and pain endurance. These are the people who are swallowing

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<v Speaker 1>sores and breathing fire and laying on beds of nails

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<v Speaker 1>going to any side show. These are the three that

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<v Speaker 1>you would expect to see in some configuration. Living as

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<v Speaker 1>a traveling side show performer could have its perks. It

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<v Speaker 1>could also be perilous. Some folks really benefited from this

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<v Speaker 1>world as a result of the skin suit that they

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<v Speaker 1>were born in, Meaning if you were an affluent white person,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, like Lavinia Warren, even though you were living

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<v Speaker 1>with dwarf is um, you could opt into this institution

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<v Speaker 1>and know that you're probably going to do okay. On

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<v Speaker 1>the other hand, in the case of Sarki Bartman Julia Pastrana,

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<v Speaker 1>these women who were both indigenous looked different than the

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<v Speaker 1>colonizer culture that intercepted them. Their existence in the side

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<v Speaker 1>show wasn't so good. In order to really get a

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<v Speaker 1>grasp on be multifaceted institution that the Side Show was,

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<v Speaker 1>we need to understand every person's particular experience and the

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<v Speaker 1>intersections of their lived experience, holding it up like a

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<v Speaker 1>prism and turning it from all of its sides. The

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<v Speaker 1>Sideshow Podcast goes deep into the back stories of characters

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<v Speaker 1>whose experiences run the gamma. Take, for instance, the case

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<v Speaker 1>of Frank Lentini. Frank Lentini is born in the eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>nineties in Italy and had three legs. At this time

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<v Speaker 1>where it's really inhospitable to be any kind of different,

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<v Speaker 1>particularly with a very visible physical difference. He's called a

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<v Speaker 1>monster by the person who delivered him, by his neighbors.

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<v Speaker 1>It was such a harsh existence early on in life,

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<v Speaker 1>and there was really no where that he was accepted.

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<v Speaker 1>There was no place for him to be other than

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<v Speaker 1>locked away in an institution, and he didn't want them.

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<v Speaker 1>Lentini the three legged wonder. And so when Frank finds

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<v Speaker 1>community in the Side Show, he finds I can be

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<v Speaker 1>autonomous here. He is traveling throughout the US with his

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<v Speaker 1>wife who's found through sideshow. He gets to have a family,

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<v Speaker 1>and he gets to play sports with his friends that

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<v Speaker 1>he gets to have drinking buddies. And he even has

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<v Speaker 1>this one acquaintance who had one leg, and so when

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<v Speaker 1>they would buy like the second pair of shoes, he

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<v Speaker 1>was a shoe buddy right, Like they had the same

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<v Speaker 1>shoeice eyes, and so Frank was like, hey, man, I

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<v Speaker 1>got these nice new sandals. Here's the left one for you.

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<v Speaker 1>That kind of ability to exist as yourself without having

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<v Speaker 1>to hide at every turn where you are dehumanized by

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<v Speaker 1>medical professionals and scientists and teachers and midwives and everyone

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<v Speaker 1>else around you. To be in a place where you

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<v Speaker 1>are working and you are getting paid and you are

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<v Speaker 1>also treated as a human doesn't make the side show

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<v Speaker 1>a perfect but that's pretty cool stuff. Frank is just

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<v Speaker 1>one example of many, but not all were as autonomous

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<v Speaker 1>and successful as Frank was. A to be. On the

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<v Speaker 1>other side of the spectrum, you have someone like Julia Pastrana,

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<v Speaker 1>who was an accomplished multi lingual singer, dancer, and performer

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<v Speaker 1>born with her statism. Julia Pastrana was Indigenous woman born

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<v Speaker 1>in Sinaloa, Mexico, covered with dark hair and immediately ostracized

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<v Speaker 1>by her community. There are lots of ingrained fears about

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps why she came to be and also what she

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<v Speaker 1>might become. Then essentially she was trafficked to the United

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<v Speaker 1>States for the side show, and that is where the

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<v Speaker 1>sequence of managers begins and it never ends for her.

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<v Speaker 1>The stories that we're going around promoting her were saying that, oh,

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<v Speaker 1>there were these hunters who were lost, and they came

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<v Speaker 1>across this cave, and there's this strange child coming from

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<v Speaker 1>parentage of a woman and a bear. The big thing

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<v Speaker 1>at that moment, again, the emergence of Darwin's Origin of

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<v Speaker 1>SPECIs a lot of these like high falutinate ideas about

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<v Speaker 1>evolution and race and hierarchy. This was Charles Darwin's idea

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<v Speaker 1>that the living world evolved from lower forms of life.

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<v Speaker 1>But how that manifests for lay people who aren't going

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<v Speaker 1>to these stuffy scientific conferences debating the finer points of

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<v Speaker 1>the evolutionary theory. As they're going up, you know, on

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<v Speaker 1>a Saturday afternoon, they're going to see the barker out

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<v Speaker 1>there saying, come on, come on, calm, see the missing link,

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<v Speaker 1>promoting Julia as the missing link between our primate ancestors

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<v Speaker 1>and now our very evolved modern selves. It's not just saying,

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<v Speaker 1>come and look at this woman with a beard. They

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<v Speaker 1>sort of take the science of the time and fabricate

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<v Speaker 1>this in between space that's enticing to people who want

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<v Speaker 1>to think they are further removed from primates, or further

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<v Speaker 1>removed from the people who they view as iverages. Early

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen sixties, her manager ens up marrying her when their

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<v Speaker 1>child is born. In the throes of childbirth, mother and

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<v Speaker 1>child both passed and he had Julia and their baby.

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<v Speaker 1>Taxidermyte probably the longest career of any sideshow person, because

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<v Speaker 1>she was only repatriated a few years ago. All the

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<v Speaker 1>while she's still being exploited. She has toured through the

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<v Speaker 1>world for over a hundred years. I think that's a

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<v Speaker 1>very extreme example of unique genetic characteristics destined for the sideshow.

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<v Speaker 1>For performers like Julia Pastrana, there just appears to be

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<v Speaker 1>no choice at all. One episode of Grim and Mild

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<v Speaker 1>Presents typifies this gulf between experiences by looking at three

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<v Speaker 1>different sets of conjoined twins changing named Bunker were brought

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<v Speaker 1>over from Siam now known as Thailand, again as an

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<v Speaker 1>oddity to tour across the America, but they eventually were

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<v Speaker 1>able to more or less enter into high society. They

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<v Speaker 1>both got married, they had something like nineteen children between

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<v Speaker 1>the two of them. They ended up getting separate houses

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<v Speaker 1>right next door to each other, so they could like

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<v Speaker 1>split time between the two families. They lived in North

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<v Speaker 1>Carolina and by all accounts, became members of the Southern aristocracy,

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<v Speaker 1>so they were able to subvert this idea that they

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<v Speaker 1>were forever going to be an oddity. In the case

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<v Speaker 1>of Millie Christine, she was born into slavery and was

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<v Speaker 1>sold when she was eleven months old. That was when

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<v Speaker 1>her side show career began. She was kidnapped, kidnapped a

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<v Speaker 1>second time. She came home to North Carolina, where it

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<v Speaker 1>is debated whether she was kept in servitude or if

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<v Speaker 1>she chose to stay there. Millie Christine did indeed write

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<v Speaker 1>her own biography that was sold at her show. But

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<v Speaker 1>when your manager is also maybe your captor, the story

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<v Speaker 1>is told very differently. But Millie Christine eventually gets her

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<v Speaker 1>freedom and buys land and brings her mother and father

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<v Speaker 1>and siblings home. We then have Daisy and Violet Hilton,

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<v Speaker 1>who appeared in the movie Freaks. Well Well, Well come

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<v Speaker 1>a big night. Yes, the sister is getting married, and

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<v Speaker 1>I'm real too dead anything. In the nineteen fifties sixties,

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<v Speaker 1>the side show had so fallen out of favor. Their

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<v Speaker 1>act was no longer learning any money, and their manager

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<v Speaker 1>abandoned them without a job, without a way out, and

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<v Speaker 1>without any dollar bills. And they ended up getting a

0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:46.920
<v Speaker 1>job at a grocery store, and they worked there for

0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.160
<v Speaker 1>a number of years. But when they stopped showing up

0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.200
<v Speaker 1>to work, it took a few days to figure out

0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:55.000
<v Speaker 1>what had happened and where they had gone, and come

0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:58.360
<v Speaker 1>to find out they had passed away together but alone.

0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:04.920
<v Speaker 1>That's to say, just because your body in this world

0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.680
<v Speaker 1>may have looked similar to other folks or other acts,

0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:13.200
<v Speaker 1>does not mean that anyone's experience was going to be

0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.240
<v Speaker 1>at all similar to somebody else's. It had so much

0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:22.880
<v Speaker 1>to do with race and with class, with circumstance. One

0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.360
<v Speaker 1>unique artifact that remains from this side show era is

0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:32.280
<v Speaker 1>the ninety two film Freaks, which features a litany of

0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:36.640
<v Speaker 1>real life side show performers. The better you will seat

0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.760
<v Speaker 1>him on the inside, maybe reading mons property and was

0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:44.560
<v Speaker 1>the passion project of director Todd Browning, most famous for

0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:49.360
<v Speaker 1>his ninety one version of Dracula. Aren't you Drinking? I

0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:55.640
<v Speaker 1>Never drink? Why? When he was sixteen he had literally

0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.040
<v Speaker 1>run away to join the circus, and so I think

0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:00.920
<v Speaker 1>he had a deep affection and deep affinity for the

0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.320
<v Speaker 1>people that he met there. This seemed like great father

0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.399
<v Speaker 1>for a film to be made. It was, from what

0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:13.040
<v Speaker 1>I understand, the first time that these characters who had

0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:17.120
<v Speaker 1>long toured in the sideshow really jumped mediums and went

0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:20.639
<v Speaker 1>from the stage to the silver screen, sort of end

0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:30.600
<v Speaker 1>mass Oh, I'm so I am as I am in

0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:39.160
<v Speaker 1>my sil Oh what an amazing setting. And of course

0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.200
<v Speaker 1>then he mixed in the element of love and murder

0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.760
<v Speaker 1>and intrigue. You can't get away with it, I'll tell

0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:50.119
<v Speaker 1>the copper. Sounds like a blockbuster to me, but freaks.

0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.560
<v Speaker 1>When it was made, it was a total flop. People

0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.600
<v Speaker 1>hated it. At first. I could not believe my own

0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:05.159
<v Speaker 1>lives a lot of horrible twists, thinking what were you

0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.680
<v Speaker 1>drinking that? Right? The reaction was so strong for the

0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:11.600
<v Speaker 1>horrors that he dared to put on screen that they

0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:21.840
<v Speaker 1>had to recut it, and so in that recutting, not

0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.040
<v Speaker 1>only do we lose his vision, we also lose a

0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.520
<v Speaker 1>lot of the autonomy of the actors and their characters

0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:32.359
<v Speaker 1>that they brought to life in the film. Try doing anything,

0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:36.440
<v Speaker 1>don't want to bust. You're right, she don't know what,

0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.760
<v Speaker 1>but she'll find out where in the first cut they

0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.719
<v Speaker 1>might have come across as just a person who happens

0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:50.199
<v Speaker 1>to been born with dwarf is um, you're only something.

0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.280
<v Speaker 1>They still exist as characters with their own agency, and

0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:59.080
<v Speaker 1>it's part of the setting them left. Yes, wine, don't

0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:03.879
<v Speaker 1>help me. But in the recutting, they just become archetypes.

0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:09.040
<v Speaker 1>Oh let's see what pretty dread? Oh how beautiful you look?

0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:12.160
<v Speaker 1>To nine like? Show me Freaks as I want them

0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:16.440
<v Speaker 1>to remain. Come on, come on, the bigger ladies, babies.

0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:20.760
<v Speaker 1>The original cut of Freaks no longer exist, but there

0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:26.360
<v Speaker 1>was a resurgence in the nineties and enough change within

0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:30.159
<v Speaker 1>those intervening years that when people found it again, they

0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:34.720
<v Speaker 1>realized that this was a really iconic piece of cinema history.

0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:42.119
<v Speaker 1>Has founding Living month property a time, and in it

0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.040
<v Speaker 1>was selected by the National Film Registry as one of

0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.760
<v Speaker 1>the most influential films of all time. He got that

0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:53.080
<v Speaker 1>way will never be known. So even before Dracula made

0:19:53.119 --> 0:20:00.959
<v Speaker 1>that registry, this movie did yes freak. In the mid

0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.120
<v Speaker 1>twentieth century, the side show as we knew it suffered

0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.840
<v Speaker 1>a decline. The side show does not exist like it

0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.640
<v Speaker 1>once did, and there are a few reasons that it declined.

0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:16.040
<v Speaker 1>One was entertainment innovation. First we had radios and then

0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.639
<v Speaker 1>we had television, and this all was happening while the

0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.040
<v Speaker 1>Golden Age of Hollywood was taking off. From what I understand,

0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.119
<v Speaker 1>the film industry was one of the only industries that

0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.359
<v Speaker 1>wasn't greatly impacted by the Great Depression, so folks were

0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:30.919
<v Speaker 1>able to still go into be entertained if they had

0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:36.080
<v Speaker 1>a few extra sents on them. Post War era, the

0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:39.800
<v Speaker 1>American highway system totally blew up. More and more people

0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:43.040
<v Speaker 1>got their own automobiles, and so people were going further

0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:45.840
<v Speaker 1>afield than they ever had been before. A covered wagon

0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:48.880
<v Speaker 1>on a modern boulevard is out of place old fashioned

0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:53.040
<v Speaker 1>transportation on a modern highway. They had some more leisure

0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:55.640
<v Speaker 1>time and they were able to go into seek out

0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:59.560
<v Speaker 1>other kinds of entertainment. And then around the second wave

0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.880
<v Speaker 1>of adminism, there was more and more conversation around bodies

0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:07.040
<v Speaker 1>and other own bodies and disabilities, and for the first

0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:08.840
<v Speaker 1>time ever, with the passing of the a d A

0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:12.359
<v Speaker 1>folks of disabilities, for the first time, we're guaranteed work.

0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:15.320
<v Speaker 1>The sideshow have for a long time been one of

0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.440
<v Speaker 1>the only options, and now there were more options for

0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:21.280
<v Speaker 1>people to choose from. And so as we went along

0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:26.800
<v Speaker 1>in the years, the sideshow just became less relevant. With

0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:30.720
<v Speaker 1>the changing geography, you also have changing social mores, and

0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:33.840
<v Speaker 1>audiences are kind of becoming a little self aware and

0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:38.200
<v Speaker 1>self conscious about the entertainment that they're ingesting. I think

0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:42.480
<v Speaker 1>it does become harder for audiences to justify being entertained

0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.920
<v Speaker 1>in these ways, or at least being publicly witnessed to

0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:48.960
<v Speaker 1>be entertained by things presented in the side show. And

0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:51.520
<v Speaker 1>maybe we still indulge in it and hold onto some

0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:54.840
<v Speaker 1>of those biases pretty strongly, but we can more do

0:21:54.960 --> 0:21:56.560
<v Speaker 1>it in the safety of our home and we're not

0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:59.720
<v Speaker 1>going out with the entire town. Everybody and their brother

0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.320
<v Speaker 1>doesn't know what we're watching on TV or on our phones.

0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:06.520
<v Speaker 1>We can't maybe be judged for that. But there is

0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:12.560
<v Speaker 1>a descendant of the sideshow extant today. The sideshow is

0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.000
<v Speaker 1>still here, but it looks a little bit different than

0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:17.200
<v Speaker 1>it once did. I guess it didn't realize. The sideshows

0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:20.120
<v Speaker 1>are still weary assistance. They're about two or three strong.

0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:24.119
<v Speaker 1>There is a sideshow still at Coney Islands Island, the

0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:29.080
<v Speaker 1>world's greatest fun probing its long, all peppered with people,

0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:33.560
<v Speaker 1>the place where merriment is king, and everybody in this

0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:36.760
<v Speaker 1>room has the ability to sign up and to go

0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:41.680
<v Speaker 1>to sideshow school to become sideshow performers. Today, for the

0:22:41.760 --> 0:22:46.240
<v Speaker 1>most part, it is a collection of made acts or

0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:50.680
<v Speaker 1>working acts, fire eaters and sword swallowers and nail bed

0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:55.160
<v Speaker 1>liars doing some pretty spooky and maybe death defying things.

0:22:57.640 --> 0:23:00.840
<v Speaker 1>And as it fades, there is still linger nostalgia for

0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:03.800
<v Speaker 1>that brick and mortar experience. Nothing that we watch on

0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.480
<v Speaker 1>our phones or computers is going to replicate sitting in

0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:10.879
<v Speaker 1>the audience, that smell of gas and fire and as

0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:15.400
<v Speaker 1>someone's walking over glass, seeing the sweat beat on their forehead.

0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:19.960
<v Speaker 1>Nothing will take that away. But I think our curiosity

0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:24.040
<v Speaker 1>and our voyeurism we're carrying forward, whether it's a smattering

0:23:24.080 --> 0:23:26.240
<v Speaker 1>of things now, I don't think we've left that behind.

0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:30.639
<v Speaker 1>Even if these traveling institutions no longer hit the rails anymore,

0:23:37.119 --> 0:24:09.399
<v Speaker 1>Everything by the Super m This episode of Ephemeral was

0:24:09.440 --> 0:24:13.480
<v Speaker 1>written assembled by Alex Williams, with producers Max Williams and

0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:17.760
<v Speaker 1>Trevor Young and additional editing from Jesse Funk. Here more

0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:21.080
<v Speaker 1>from Robin Miniter, Taylor Haggard Dorn and the rest of

0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:24.840
<v Speaker 1>the team over at Grimm and Mild dot com, and

0:24:25.000 --> 0:24:27.600
<v Speaker 1>you can find Grim and Mild Presents, Side Show and

0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:30.320
<v Speaker 1>more podcasts from i Heeart Radio on the i Heart

0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:34.880
<v Speaker 1>Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to your favorite shows.