Freak of the Week #8 - Lionel the Lion-Faced Man

Stephan Bribowski, better known as Lionel the Lion-Faced Man, sure wasn't cowardly about plying his fur trade to audiences around the world!


























Born 1891 in Warsaw, Poland, Lionel was covered in a one-inch layer of hair from moment one! According to Circus myth, Lionel's mother had seen his father shred to bits by lions while pregnant, and the trauma so affected her that it deformed her child!






















Of course, the real reason was much simpler. Stephan/Lionel was born with Hypertrichosis. According to the lore, however, Lionel's Mom considered him an abomination, and gave him up to a German exhibitor named "Meyer" when he was only four years old. "Meyer" gave Stephan the name Lionel, and began exhibiting him around Europe.


























By that time, Lionel's facial hair had grown to eight inches long (not even the least bit of skin was visible), and four inches long everywhere else on his body. The only places not covered with hair were the palms of his hands, and the soles of his feet. He also only had two natural teeth, another birth oddity.

Lionel came to America in 1901 and began appearing with the Barnum & Bailey Circus.



















Lionel performed leaping and bounding gymnastics in his stage performances, and spoke to the audience in a cultured manner to display a gentler side. Regarded as a perfect gentleman, and well-dressed, Lionel was very educated, and spoke five different languages.

In 1920 Lionel emigrated to the US, and became a very popular stateside attraction, appearing at Coney Island for a spell.

During his career Lionel earned upwards of $500 a week for his shows, a hefty sum for the time.





























In the late 1920s, Lionel gave up the bright lights and glamour of showbiz and moved back to Germany. In 1932 he passed from a heart attack while staying in Berlin, just missing the rise of a political group which almost surely would have had him euthanized. Lionel was never married.

It's unknown whether Lionel ever associated with any Tin Woodsmen, Scarecrows, or lost little girls.

Freak of the Week #7 - Chang and Eng

But do you recall...the most famous conjoined twins of all?

Oh, what a storied life these symbiotic siblings led!

























Chang and Eng Bunker, born May 11 1811 near Bangkok in mystical Siam, were bound together by a thick, fibrous band connecting them at their stomachs. Doctors suggested they be separated, but their parents chose to keep them entwined, and taught them how to work together. Exercising every day to stretch the fleshy tube, the brothers eventually stretched it to three inches in length, learning to stand side-by-side, dress, walk and run, and even SWIM!

















Their father passed in 1819, leaving the two eight-year-olds to fend for themselves. They made and sold coconut oil, sold duck eggs to ships in the harbor, rowing to each ship in their synchronous way. As they grew older their fame spread throughout Siam and they were known as "The Chinese Twins," visited by Siam's King (and his !700! wives), until in 1829 they were "discovered" by captain Robert Hunter and displayed on a worldwide tour. After their contract was up they embarked on the oddities business under their own counsel.

























By 1838 the men were exhausted form touring, and decided to retire with their accumulated wealth. They adopted American citizenship and took the surname Bunker, after a friend from Boston. Chang and Eng purchased a plantation in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, including slaves (33 of them), and settled down. They were engaged to Adelaide and Sarah Ann (or Sally) Yates, and were scheduled to marry the girls, but the local yokels disapproved of the engagement and even threatened the brothers. Fearful of double homicide, the brothers arranged for a separation surgery, even if it meant it might kill them both - but Adelaide and Sally stepped in before the operation and married the twins in a quick double-wedding ceremony. One couple bought a farm next to the brothers' plantation and the brothers built separate houses and raised tobacco. They spent alternating nights with their wives in their own houses - together fathering 22 children (10 were Chang's, 12 were Eng's). Several of the children died in infancy or early childhood.





















In 1860 the brothers decided to come out of retirement to raise money for the college tuition of their swelling clan. In October of that year, they began a six-week show at P.T. Barnum's American Museum.

Barnum didn't care much for the twins. Unlike his friendly relationships with other oddities, Barnum had no personal control over the brothers or their families.

"The truth is," Barnum wrote in a private note, "the wives of the twins (who are sisters) fight like cats and dogs and want their husband separated."

And Chang was drinking heavily, coming to dislike the straight-edged Eng. From a newspaper account at the time, the twins were found fighting in their sleeping room at the museum, Chang choking Eng.

After the tour was over, the brothers returned home just in time for the Civil War. Chang's son Christopher and Eng's son Stephen both fought for the Confederacy, which brought considerable derision from the North in the years after the war was over. In 1865, broke from the war, the brothers came out retirement once more to tour the lucrative Northern circuits.

In 1868 the paired with Barnum one last time, reportedly sent on a tour of Britain to find a surgeon who might finally separate them. That never happened.

In 1870 Chang suffered a stroke, and for the next four years had to be carried by his brother Eng.

On January 17, 1874, Chang died in his sleep. Eng awakened to find his brother dead, and called for the wives to help him. They sent for a surgeon to try and perform an emergency separation, but Eng died four hours later, before the doctor arrived.

















Their fused liver is on display in the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it is exhibited alongside a plaster death-cast of the twins.





























I wonder - if one of the twins went to Hell, and the other went to Heaven, how exactly are they scheduling that in the afterlife?

Freak of the Week #6 - Maurice Tillet, "The French Angel!"

With a face which would stop Billy Goats from crossing bridges, but a gentle heart, Maurice Tillet overcame crippling physical obstacles and grappled with fate to become a star on the wrestling circuit!

























original freakStomp illustration by RelleR; click to enlarge


Born in France circa 1910, Maurice was an extremely intelligent young man, speaking 14 different languages! And, wouldn't ya know it - he was also a poet, as well as an aspiring actor!

But, in his twenties, Maurice developed acromegaly, a rare disease that causes human bones to grow and distort into abnormal proportions (a contemporary wrestler with this disease went by the name of Andre The Giant).

Much pain and suffering came along for the ride, and his appearance led to ridicule, causing him to flee his native home.

Smart Maurice made the leap to America, where he turned his affliction into cash by becoming a wrestler, where he was given the description "The Freak Ogre of the Ring!"






























His "heel" persona of The French Angel was an immediate hit for wrestling marks, and on August 1, 1944 Maurice had a career pinnacle with his defeat of Steve "Crusher" Casey for the American Wrestling Association World championship!

The French Angel lived a solitary life afterwards, although he did befriend a few people, including businessman Patrick Kelly, whom he would visit in Braintree, Massachusetts and play chess together.






















Maurice passed at age 51 in 1955 from heart disease. He was asked on his death bed by fellow wrestler Bobby Managoff if a life mask could be made of his unusual visage. A plaster form was made, and three masks were made from the mold. One was given to Milo Steinborn, while the other two two ended up with Tillet's good friend Patrick Kelly. Steinborn donated his mask to the York Barbell Museum (USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame in York, Pennsylvania, on display in the strongman/wrestling section). One of the other two masks sat on Kelly's office desks for years, while the final mask was donated to the International Wrestling Museum in Iowa.






















A life-sized bust of The French Angel Maurice Tillet (made in 1950 by Louis Linck) resides at the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago, Illinois.

Now, there's a persistent rumor that Maurice Tillet was the inspiration for the character model of the CGI animated Shrek, but your Barker has not been able to find information which would either confirm or deny this rumor. I'll leave you with a photo comparison, and let you decide for yourself for whom the bell trolls!

Freak of the Week #5 - Eko and Iko, The Men From Mars!

Willie and George Muse led the kind of life they make movies about, shady ladies and gentle gigolos - well, the kind of life they make slam-bang sideshow attractions out of, anyhow!

click picture to enlarge (original freakStomp illustration by RelleR)

These African-American albino twin brothers were born in the 1890s, and were kidnapped as children by bounty hunters contracting out to a sideshow promoter! Told their mother was dead, the two were resigned to a lifelong fate as carnival attractions!

As they toured, their promoter made them grow their hair out into natty dreadlocks to accentuate their already odd appearance, and in 1922 Al G. Barnes presented them in his circus as "White Ecuadorian Cannibals" under the stage names Eko and Iko.

This act failed (if there's one thing the sideshow has enough of, it's Ecuadorian Cannibals), and they were relabeled "Sheep-Headed Men" - then, after that inevitable failure (sheep-headed men...yeesh), freshly dressed in dapper tuxedos, George and Willie were re-branded the "Ambassadors From Mars" in 1923!

click to enlarge

The brothers traveled with the Barnes Circus and learned to play the mandolin, but evidently they didn't learn how to play "We're In The Money" on it, because the shyster Barnes never paid them!

They toured with Ringling Bros. in the mid-1920s, and their Mother (who'd been alive all this time) finally tracked them down as they passed through their hometown in 1927. She fought and threatened to sue the circus, and the Muse brothers were at long-last free!

They filed a lawsuit in an attempt to recoup back wages, but weren't successful in their attempt to reap the 100,000 dollars they felt they were owed. Instead, they found themselves missing the carnival life (it is addictive, my boils and goils, like chocolate-flavored Crystal Meth), so their personal ambulance chaser got them a small lump-sum payment and a fat contract with a hefty monthly wage!

They made their triumphant return to the freakshow in 1928. During their Madison Square Garden appearances, crowds of 10,000 gawkers watched their act! Their contract allowed them to market and sell their own merchandise, and they became wealthy sheep-headed men from the profits! In the 30s they toured Europe, performing for dignitaries - even the Queen of England!

In 1937 they returned to Ringling, and finally wound down their long careers with the Clyde Beatty Circus in 1961.

Returning home, they settled in a house they'd built for their mother - never marrying, although entertaining many a curious dame.

George Muse passed in 1971. His brother Willie filtered into the ether in 2001, at an incredible 108 years of age!

They're probably together on the Red Planet right now, decked out in spit-and-polish tuxes, playing a tune on the mandolin for their Martian leaders...

Freak of the Week #4 - Krao, the Missing Link!

Whoah, the girl I love, she got long black wavy hair...

Welcome one and all to the fourth installment of freakStomp Novelties Freak of the Week featurette here at The Barker's Blog! Today's tantalizing tease was known on the ciruit as Krao, Darwin's Missing Link!

click to enlarge (original freakStomp illustration by RelleR)

Lady Krao was born in mysterious Siam the year of 1876, and from the moment of her emergence into this world she was completely covered in hair, with the finishing touch being a long downy mane down her back starting between her shoulder blades! A promoter with the modest name of The Great Farini discovered her at age six, and took young Krao on a tour of Europe. From there she ended up in a dime oddities museum in Philadelphia, where she was discovered again by a scout for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and signed as a feature attraction!

She was primarily billed as an "Ape Woman" for her luxuriant coat and for her vaguely simian features, but was also billed as "Darwin's Missing Link" to capitalize on a popular debate of the time. In the late 1800s Darwinism was a hot-button issue amongst the populace, and adorable Krao was presented as "Exhibit A" in the case for evolution! It was even claimed that Krao belonged to a race of apish half-humans living in trees, and this claim was bought into by several prominent naturalists and scientists (they don't teach you how to stop being a gullible stooge in university, kids).

Many papers and theses were composed about Krao and her existence as Darwinian evidence, including the 1896 book Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine. Much attention was paid to Krao's "prehensile feet," presented as proof of the evolutionary bridge between human beings and...creatures who can grab things with their toes, I suppose.

Sadly, the reality is never quite as romantic as the myth, and Krao was simply a vivacious young woman with an advanced form of hypertrichosis (excessive body hair). She was of above average intelligence, and spoke several languages.

Unlike other human oddities and living attractions, Krao was never exploited by her promoters - she performed and displayed herself according to her own rules and terms, and lived an independent life outside the sideshow. She spent her last 20 years on Earth living in a private apartment, entertaining guests with her sparkling personality and cooking for them! You might say she had complete freakdom! Well, if you wanted to make an awful pun you might say that, but you know me, I would never make such an awful pun.

She never married, although she had many suitors. Oh, how we danced, Krao and I, under the bright circle of the moon, her back mane a perfect handle for those long, slow dips...

What's that? How old is your Barker? Well, age is relative here at Thimbleton's Circus and Oddities, ladies and gents, but The Barker will always be as old as you need him to be...as old as you need him to be.

Krao passed away from influenza on April 16th, 1926.

Here's a bill for a lecture given on Krao in 1887:

click to enlarge

And here's a picture of Krao as a child, where you can see her "prehensile feet" for yourself:

click to enlarge

Adorable, wasn't she? Well, your Barker always thought so, anyway...

Freak of the Week #3 - Pickled Punks!

Gruesome, ain't it?























click to enlarge

Throughout the long and sordid history of carnival or circus sideshows, one constant attraction has...survived. The Pickled Punk! These preserved portraits of putrescence earned their name because they were often displayed sealed in large pickle jars filled with formaldehyde or other preservatives. Malformed infants, cyclopean animals, two-headed snakes, and other indescribably wretched medical waste, their afflictions broadcast for all eternity on dusty tables and racks in tent corners.

Most of the more heinous displays of nature's brutal sense of humor were saved for the end of nickel-and-dime low-budget sideshows, for what's known as the "Blow-off." The Blow-off is a hidden attraction, one teased throughout the show, covered with a curtain or drape or folding wall. You pay extra valuable dollars to view the blow-off, which would invariably be a disappointing jar of jellied flesh scooped out of a hospital dumpster. Sadly, as there are ever-dwindling numbers of true human oddities and specially gifted individuals in these days of perfection, pickled punks make up the majority of most sideshow attractions.

And 99.9% of the time, they're fake. The molded rubber birth defects, suspended in a brine which obscures molding marks and other amateurish fakery, are called "bouncers."

But you'll never be disappointed or sad at Thimbleton's Circus and Oddities...we live by the old rules here...real living, breathing meat, twisted daily for your amazement...

Freak of the Week #2 - Three Ball Charlie

Say there, buckeroos, how many balls can you fit in your mouth?


Getcher mind outta the gutter, kid! Your ever-humble Barker is only talking about Billiard Balls!


This fellow with a set of snappers suited for elastic mastication was known in the sideshow world as THREE BALL CHARLIE.

(click pic to enlarge)


Charlie hailed from Humbolt, Nebraska, and worked carnival sideshows in the 1930s. Charlie could stuff a Golf Ball, a Tennis Ball, and a Billiard Ball into his cavernous maw, then whistle a tune for you as he balanced on top of several balls while juggling even more balls at the same time!


Charlie must've had a lotta balls to perform an act like that! I'm sure he was mentally stable, but his jawbone was sure unhinged!

Freak of the Week #1 - Pasqual Pinon

Welcome to freakStomp's Freak of the Week, a weekly feature celebrating the unusual human conditions which, through nature's whim or sheer fabrication, amused, mystified, and startled audiences throughout the ages!

As we draw the curtains back for this first oddity, I must remind you that no flash photography is allowed! Autographed photos of our attractions can be arranged through seance at the end of the tour...

Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present for your puzzlement Mr. Pasqual Pinon, the Two-Headed Mexican:





















(click the pic to enlarge)


Listen closely as we weave the convoluted and melancholy tale of our doubly strange friend..

While no exact date can be verified, Pasqual Pinon is said to have been birthed in the year 1862. As told on stage while his parasitic twin stared motionless at the astounded audience, Pinon lost the family ranch to legendary bandito revolutionary Pancho Villa, and fled Mexico thereafter. The twin, which once was as spry and lively as you or I, had been frozen into place due to a stroke Pasqual suffered at the age of twenty. If you doubted the authenticity of the double header, Pasqual would lift the neck of his "brother," showing you the "neck" attached to his forehead. Paqual himself was not much of an entertainer, and would sit patiently showing his sibling from every angle while an interlocutor such as yours truly spun his biography and fielded questions from the audience. Pasqual supported his family of seven (he had twice the sex drive of normal men!) for two years, touring the country with the Sells-Floto Circus.

And living a lie...

The truth underneath the expressionless features of his second head was just as interesting (and convoluted), though, don't you worry!

A sideshow promoter discovered Pinon splitting rails in Texas back in 1917. He found Pinon's tumor to be striking in size, but needing that extra touch to...bring it to life. There are two versions of the tale which branch from here:

1. A fake face sculpted from wax was placed over the tumor's peak, hair arranged around it so that it appeared natural.



2. A metal (silver, so some versions go) plate with a nose structure and facial features was surgically implanted underneath the skin of the tumor, and makeup was applied to the resulting blank "face."
   

The biggest mistake the sideshow promoters made in this ruse was that in all cases of parasitic twins connected at the skull (craniopagus parasiticus in medical terms), the secondary head is always upside-down!

Whichever version of the fakery you choose to believe, after two years Pasqual began to deteriorate mentally (some even say the silver face plate was compressing his brain!), and the Sells-Floto manager paid to have the tumor removed. Pinon retired to a normal life, and no information exists as to what became of him. In any event, it must have been a load off his mind...