WORKING ACTS

In a sideshow, there is a hierarchy with the highest-paid performers being the natural-born freaks. Working Acts– like sword swallowers, fire-eaters, snake handlers, magicians (especially)– were considered interchangeable. Every season the show needed a sword swallower, a fire eater, a snake handler and snakes, and a magician. The word would go out and often on the smaller shows the performer willing to work the cheapest (and willing to work sober enough not to vomit on the marks) got the job. The genre of Working Acts also produced some very unusual performers whose eccentric skills could hardly be displayed anywhere other than the sideshow.

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Osca “The Snake Fiend”

Added Jan 15 2023

Hilda Miller, Snake Charmer

Added Jan 15 2023

May, The Snake Lady

Added Jan 15 2023

Snake Handler Inside Sideshow

Added Jan 15 2023

Giovanni Succi in his Booth At A German Exhibition

Added Nov 12 2022

Ricardo Sacco “The World’s Fasting Champion”

Added Nov 12 2022

Giuseppe Sacco-Homann

Added Nov 12 2022

G. Sacco “The Famous Fasting Man”

Added Nov 12 2022

Guiseppe Sacco-Homan

Added Nov 12 2022

Marie DeVere “Sword Swallower”

Added Sep 5 2022

George Stall “Wildman”

Added Sep 1 2022

Unidentified Young Tattooed Man

Added Aug 28 2022

Captain Harry Decoursey, Tattooed Man

Added Aug 28 2022

Rose “That Strange Creature”

Added Aug 14 2022

Unidentified Woman Climbing Sword Ladder

Added Aug 14 2022

Unidentified Sword Ladder with Circus Wagon

Added Aug 14 2022

Black-Face Midget Wildman

Added Aug 13 2022

Juan De La Cruz and Patagonian Indians

Added Jun 30 2022

Amy Arlington “And Her Den Of Snakes”

Added Jun 26 2022

Bannerline featuring Lady Little “Tiny Tots of Screen Land”

Added Jun 13 2022

Bannerline with Royal Hawaiians

Added Jun 13 2022

Cole Brothers Annex

Added Jun 13 2022

Cole Brothers Sideshow With Hawaiian Band

Added Jun 12 2022

Doll Family on Platform with The Great Waldo Banner

Added Jun 12 2022

Rolling Thunder “The Mysterious Wonder”

Added Apr 17 2022

Odditorium New Zealand with Willie Camper & Mexican Rose

Added Apr 3 2022

Sword-Swallower Alex Linton on Australian Bally Stage.

Added Apr 3 2022

Ticket Seller For Ubangi The Tiny Tree Woman

Added Apr 3 2022

Norah O. More “Fasting Lady” Storefront

Added Jan 16 2022

Nora O. More “Irish Fasting Lady”

Added Jan 16 2022

Irene Clifford “The English Fasting Lady”

Added Dec 5 2021

Rattlesnake Pete

Added Nov 7 2021

Rattlesnake Pete And His Parade Float

Added Nov 7 2021

Rattlesnake Pete And “The Largest Horse On Earth”

Added Nov 7 2021

Rattlesnake Pete And His Dogs

Added Nov 7 2021

Rattlesnake Pete’s Restaurant and Museum

Added Nov 7 2021

European Circus Sideshow with Anna-John Budd, Randion, Schlitzie, etc.

Added Oct 24 2021

Chevalier Cliquot and Wife

Added Oct 24 2021

Sandra and Doris Reed by Diane Arbus

Added Oct 24 2021

La Zoma “Human Snake From Madrid”

Added Oct 24 2021

Lives of Armond Carloman “The Piebald Youth” and Fortune Clofulia “The Gorilla Boy” (16-Pages)

Added Oct 16 2021

Willie Kelton Limbless Wildman

Added Oct 10 2021

Unidentified African-American Wildman by Eisenmann

Added Oct 9 2021

Pierre Deunsch (Max Rinaldini) “Sword Swallower”

Added Oct 9 2021

Bob Everhart “Sincerely” (Popeye)

Added Jun 6 2021

Bob “Popeye” Everhart Signed Photo

Added Jun 6 2021

Betty Broadbent “America’s Premier Tattooed Lady” Pitchbook (4 Pages)

Added Jun 6 2021

Skeets Hubbard Tows A Wagon With His Eyelids

Added May 23 2021

Fifi “Sheep Headed Beauty” Pitchbook (4 pages)

Added May 23 2021

Streets of Cairo At The Alaska-Yukon Exposition, 1909

Added May 17 2021

Lupo Macio “Tattooed Woman”

Added May 16 2021

Joseph Grendol & Robert Everhart with Ripley’s Odditorium

Added May 3 2021

J.M. Taber “Popeye”

Added May 2 2021

J.M. Taber “Popeye”

Added May 2 2021

Mike Butch “Thank You, Pop-Eye”

Added May 2 2021

Edith Clifford Sheet Music for “The Eagle And The Girl”

Added Feb 27 2021

Poobah Serves Himself Some Cake at Sandy Reed’s Party

Added Nov 16 2020

Sandy & Doreen Reed Inside Their Trailer

Added Nov 15 2020

Sandy Reed In Her Travel Trailer

Added Nov 15 2020

Freda Pushnik Sideshow Banner and Talker

Added Oct 4 2020

M. Ruth Sylvia “Tattooed Woman”

Added Oct 4 2020

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), 1928

Added Oct 4 2020

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), ca. 1936

Added Oct 4 2020

Koo Koo “The Bird Girl”

Added Oct 4 2020

Koo Koo “The Bird Girl”

Added Oct 4 2020

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), ca. 1936

Added Oct 4 2020

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), 1928

Added Oct 4 2020

Signed on the back "Betty, Koo Koo The Bird Girl"

Elizabeth Green, “The Stork Woman” (or Koo Koo), 1936

Added Oct 4 2020

Myrna “The Snake Charmer” on an Ice Cream Lid

Added Oct 3 2020

Solly, The Sword-Swallower On An Ice Cream Lid

Added Oct 3 2020

Kombouai “Ubangi” Woman

Added Oct 3 2020

Vaudeville & Circus Goods Company (18 Pages)

Added Oct 3 2020

Educated Chimps & Rattlesnake Fiend Sideshow

Added Oct 3 2020

Nabor Felix “Lightning Sculptor”

Added Sep 27 2020

Mee Ling “The Exotic China Doll” Girl Show

Added Sep 27 2020

Snake King Letterhead & Letter

Added Jul 26 2020

Electorium “The 8th Great Wonder of The World”

Added Jul 25 2020

Sword-Swallower Chevalier Cliquot (In Stockholm)

Added Jul 22 2020

Robert Ripley With Topless “Ubangi Savage”

Added May 10 2020

Chatham Square Museum Facade, ca. 1888

Added Mar 15 2020

Clyde Beatty Circus Sideshow, 1950

Added May 30 2019

Unidentified Performer On Stage Inside The Sideshow Tent

Added May 27 2019

Voo-Doo, The Staring Snake Mystic

Added May 5 2019

Alex Linton, Sword-Swallower

Added Mar 13 2019

Miss Patricia “Sensational Sword Swallower”

Added Mar 12 2019

Bed of Spikes or Nails Composite Photo

Added Mar 12 2019

Billy Wells “Iron Skull Man”

Added Mar 12 2019

Ringling Brothers Barnum Bailey 1950 Sideshow Cast At Madison Square Garden

Added Mar 9 2019

Graham “The Canadian Fasting Champion”

Added Mar 3 2019

Beauté “The Famous Fasting Man”

Added Mar 3 2019

Laughing or Fun Factory With Laloo, Hornmann, Mummy, Barooty, etc.

Added Oct 31 2018

Alex Linton Swallows Four 27-Inch Blades

Added Aug 15 2018

Sandra Reed & Harold “Big Jim” In Gibsonton

Added Aug 14 2018

Mike Butch “Popeye” Impersonator (and Gurner)

Added Aug 14 2018

Mlle. Clifford, Sword Swallower, Wrapped in An American Flag

Added May 21 2018

John G. Ball “22-Inch Sword”

Added May 21 2018

Habu “The Man With The Iron Tongue” As Cartooned by Robert Ripley

Added May 20 2018

Habu “The Man With The Iron Tongue”

Added May 19 2018

Habu “The Man With The Iron Tongue”

Added May 19 2018

Habu “The Man With The Iron Tongue” In Dreamland

Added May 19 2018

Habu, The Man With The Iron Tongue, In Dreamland

Added May 19 2018

Abdullah, Persian Dervish, Lifting A Box With His Eyelids

Added May 15 2018

Abdullah, Persian Dervish, Walking On Glass

Added May 15 2018

Leo Kongee “Human Blockhead”

Added Apr 8 2018

A Night At Coney Island “Congress of Living Freaks” Stage Show

Added Jul 30 2017

G.B. Bunnell’s Brooklyn Museum

Added Jul 17 2017

Roving Frank’s Band of English Romany Gypsies Tradecard

Added Feb 7 2017

Unidentified Snake Enchantress with her decorated SNAKES Box

Added Feb 5 2017

Bayrooty Troupe

Added Nov 22 2016

Singer’s Congress of Human Freaks Letterhead

Added Nov 6 2016

Paula, The Mexican Rattlesnake Queen

Added Nov 5 2016

“Best Wishes, Lorett [Fulkerson], 1981”, Tattooed Woman

Added Nov 5 2016

Wesley Upperman “Half-Boy” Bannerline on Biller Brothers Circus Sideshow

Added Nov 5 2016

Electricia “The Girl Who Tames Electricity”

Added Jul 10 2016

Tomaso “Human Pincushion”

Added Jul 10 2016

Prohibition Turns Saloon “Globe Cafe” Into A Dime Museum

Added Jul 10 2016

Zip & Ashbury Benjamin

Added Jul 9 2016

Zip & Ashbury Benjamin

Added Jul 8 2016

Edith Clifford “How To Become A Sword Swallower”

Added Jul 7 2016

The Great Omi and Prof. George Burchett

Added Jul 4 2016

Tanit-Ikao and One of Her Deadly Snakes

Added Apr 18 2016

Great Durbar of India In The Streets of Delhi, Luna Park, Coney Island

Added Apr 18 2016

Miss Gloria Watt “Electric Phenomenon”

Added Apr 17 2016

Brown Brothers Big Society Circus

Added Apr 17 2016

Clico “The Dancing Bushman” with Minstrel Band on Bally Platform

Added Apr 17 2016

Clico “The Dancing Bushman” with Minstrel Band on Bally Platform

Added Apr 17 2016

Haji-Ali “Persian Wonderful Working Most Mysterious Man In the World.”

Added Apr 16 2016

Houdini’s Inspiration– H.C. Maxey “Needle Eater”

Added Apr 16 2016

F.W. Glasier Photo of Ringling Brothers[?] Sideshow

Added Apr 13 2016

Sally and Sandy “The Tattooed Couple”

Added Apr 13 2016

Charlie Wagner Tattooing A Professional Tattooed Lady

Added Apr 12 2016

Bertie, Tattooed By Red Gibbons

Added Apr 11 2016

Artoria, Tattooed by Chas. W. Gibson [sic]

Added Apr 11 2016

Jack Dracula “The World’s Greatest Tattooed Man”

Added Apr 11 2016

Marie Buschart, “Hunger Artist”

Added Apr 11 2016

World of Wonders Wildman

Added Apr 11 2016

Mlle. Clifford, Sword Swallower, Glamour Portrait

Added Apr 11 2016

Tattooed Man Jack Dracula Wire Service Photo, 1965

Added Mar 21 2016

Unidentified Sword Swallower On Stage

Added Mar 20 2016

George Stall “George Mex” Wildman Mugging

Added Mar 19 2016

A Circassian Woman Reading A Love Letter

Added Mar 19 2016

Zoma The Wonder Bannerline On Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West

Added Mar 19 2016

Charles W. Wolf, Indian Chief Sunny Sky & Smoking Dog

Added Mar 19 2016

Estelline Pike Sterilizing Her Sword

Added Mar 19 2016

J & G Hagenbeck’s Sword Swallowers & Jugglers

Added Jan 4 2016

Sells-Floto Sideshow with Bayrooty

Added Oct 23 2015

Sells-Floto Buffalo Bill Circus Bannerline & Ticketbox with Bayrooty Troupe

Added Oct 23 2015

Chet Cain

Added Oct 18 2015

C.H. “Chet” Cain Business Card

Added Oct 18 2015

Jacob’s Royal Museum & Unique Novelty Co.

Added Oct 17 2015

Chatham Museum Handbill

Added Oct 17 2015

Crounse United Shows Bannerline

Added Sep 28 2015

World’s Fair Museum Sideshow

Added Sep 12 2015

Johnny Nugent

Added Sep 12 2015

Unknown Female Sword-Swallower

Added Sep 6 2015

Dolly Dutton’s Sheet Music

Added May 31, 2025

Wonderland Circus Sideshow, Coney Island

Added December 31, 2024

1893 Newspaper Advertisement For The Tocci Brothers and Chevalier Cliquot

Added March 30, 2024

1893 Newspaper Advertisement For The Tocci Brothers and Chevalier Cliquot

Added March 30, 2024

HORROR STORIES Pulp Cover Two-Headed Girl (December 1940)

Added January 28, 2024

Baby Irene “Fat Lady” Cashes In On Laughs (1950)

Added December 26, 2023

1937 Philadelphia Store Show Facade

Added July 22, 2023

Mr. & Mrs. Chauncy Morlan at Huber’s 14th Street Museum

Added July 21, 2023

Hulett Pest Control Spokesmen, Dwarfs John and Greg Rice

Added January 31, 2023

Foy Large & Frank Morgner

Added October 24, 2021