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George Lippert: Two Hearts, Three Legs, But Only 14 Toes
George Lippert (1842-1906) was born in Bavaria, Germany with two functioning hearts and three functioning legs (sort of). His right leg split off into two, one of which was normal-sized, club-footed,...
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Waldo the Human Ostrich
Dagobert Roehmann (sometimes given as Dagmar Rothman, 1920-1952) was one of the sideshow world’s most legendary geeks and regurgitators. Billed as Waldo the Great or “the Human Ostrich”, his act...
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Stars of Slapstick #94: Henry “Pathe” Lehrman
Today (according to historian Brent Walker) is the birthday of silent movie comedy actor and director Henry “Pathe” Lehrman (1884-1946). Some other sources give March 30. I really don’t care. And...
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Gottlieb and Elfriede Fischer
This pair of German giants met whilst performing in a London revue. He was actually from Austria and had been billed as Prince Yose; she was from Bernstadt, Germany. They got married in 1933 and...
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Martin Laurello: The Guy Who Could Turn His Head Around Backwards
Martin Laurello (born Martin Emmerling in Nuremberg Germany in May 1886) was born with the unique gift of being able to turn his head around 180 degrees backwards. The above photo may look like it was...
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Violetta, the Armless and Legless Venus
In 1929, the French surrealist journal Variétés published photos of Violetta as though she were a living, breathing work of surrealistic art — which, if you think about it, she was. Born Aloisia...
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On Good Dr. Mesmer
Today is the birthday of Franz Mesmer (1734-1815). He’s someone I’ve been planning to write a play about for over a decade. One of the great charlatans of all time (the best kind, the kind that...
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Stars of Slapstick #106: Sam Bernard
Born on this day in 1863, Sam Bernard is cut of the same cloth as his friends Weber & Fields. He hailed from the same Lower East Side neighborhood, debuted the same year (1876, at the notorious...
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Anita Berber
Today is the birthday of Anita Berber (1899-1928), the epitome of decadent Berlin cabaret during the Weimar years. Berger began dancing in cabarets in 1916, and appearing in films two years later. She...
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Siegfried and Roy
Today is the birthday of Siegfried Fischbacher (b. 1939). Together with his partner Roy Horn (b. 1944) he was half of the prototypical large scale Las Vegas stage act Siegfried and Roy starting in the...
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“Professor” Wiljalba Frikell
Today is the birthday of Wiljalba Frikell (Friedrich Wilhelm Frickell, 1817-1903). The German magician began performing professionally at age 16. By the early 1840s he was travelling with an elaborate...
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Stars of Vaudeville #742: Madame Olympia DesVall
Born in Germany in 1876, Olympia DesVall was an equestrienne who performed not only with horses but also a troupe of trained dogs, and later birds. In written accounts, the animals were said to...
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Stars of Vaudeville #748: Pallenberg’s Bears
Originally from Germany, Pallenberg’s Wonder Bears started off as an act that presented a wide variety of trained, exotic creatures, eventually settling on “bears only” for reasons of expense. After...
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Celesta Geyer, a.k.a. Dolly Dimples: “The World’s Most Beautiful Fat Lady”
Today is the birthday of Dolly Dimples (b. Celesta Herrmann, 1901-1982), one of the most famous of all sideshow Fat Ladies. Originally from Cincinnati, Dolly weighed 150 lbs in the sixth grade; 300...
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Dr. Johann Nepomuk Hofzinser
Today is the birthday of Johaann Nepomuk Hofzinser (1806-1875), famous as a close-magic sleight of hand man, and inventor of many lasting illusions. A minor functionary in the Austrian-Hungarian...
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Stars of Vaudeville #762: Lila Lee
Today is the birthday of Lila Lee (Augusta Wilhelmena Fredericka Appel, 1901-1973). Billed as “Cutie Cuddles”, she got her start performing in Gus Edwards’ kiddie act in vaudeville with Eddie Cantor,...
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The Man Who Built the Orpheum Circuit
Originally posted in 2010 Once upon a time, a young Czech performer named Martin Beck had been touring the Americas with a German singing and juggling troupe. Stranded by his company in Chicago, he...
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Stars of Vaudeville #45: Van and Schenck
Originally posted in 2009 Today is the birthday of Gus Van. Van and Schenck were BIG, man — they were right on top in the nineteen teens and twenties (their best pal was Eddie Cantor). Schenck died...
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Stars of Vaudeville #50: Mae West
Originally posted in 2009. “To most people I am offstage what I am on, a deep-dyed hussy without a moral in the world…As a matter of fact I live quite a decent, quiet, moral life. I am a a showman and...
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Stars of Vaudeville #51: Gus Edwards
Originally posted in 2009 Not a vaudeville star himself per se, German-born Gus Edwards was more the father of a hundred stars. He was vaudeville’s premier producer of kiddie acts. Having started out...
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