Evening star., 1939-05-17
BY ALFRED TOOMBS.


facsimile, has been restored in the
sideshow at the Ringing Brothers
Barnum & Bailey Circus this season.
The feud between the Bearded
Lady and the Fire Eater has been
discontinued. So have the Bearded
Lady and the Fire Eater. This
vendetta had made Clyde Engles
longtime manager of the show, as
miserable as sword swallower with
laryngitis.
The pair of freaks occupied the
same platform in other years. They
fell to quarreling and the Bearded
Lady complained that the Fire Eater
was always blowing his breath in
her face, singeing off all the whisk-
ers she had managed to grow over
night. Mr.. Engles didn't bring them
this year
There is little pickering between
some of the midgets and Popeye the
Sailor Man. But otherwise, the side
show folks are going along together
like Siamese twins.
DOuIluS.
The Fat Lady got married three
weeks ago to one of the shows ticket
takers. The Snake Charmer is hap
PLY saving up for a new python
The sword sWallower has gotten rid
of her hay fever. And none of the
midgets has shown any sign of grow
ing-a fear that haunts every con-
scientious midget.
The shows snake charmer is
Senorita Josephine. beauteous
Mexican. The senorita buys her
snakes by the foot-they cost from
IS to $40 a foot-and cares for them
herself.
She loves them dearly and often
takes them to her hotel room with
her, although she does not register
them. She uses four snakes in her
simple little act. She feeds them
personally, bathes them almost every
day and brushes their teeth. They
love to be bathed, the senorita says.
They have bitten her twice in the
last two years. but she still loves
them. She likes rock pythons best
and is about to make the down
payment on new one The senorita
used to work in the big top as a
ballet girl but gave it up. Too dan
gerous, she says.
595 Pounds of Bride.
Dot Carlson, the fat lady, weighs
595 pounds. Her new husband
weighs about $50 pounds. She is
very happy and sits up on the plat
form scanning the audience for
people who are worse off than she is.
Il see lots of people l feel sorry
for she says.
The audience, incidentally, occa-
sionally yields sideshow material.
Mr.. Engles keeps his eye on the
gapers for this reason. Koo Koo, the
bird lady, came out of the audience
one day about 10 years ago. She
came to see the show, but when Mr..
Engles saw her he put her to work.
Jack Earle, the Texas giant, is one
of the most popular of the sideshow
folk. He is an accomplished artist
aid sculptor and last year staged a
one-man show in a New York GAL
lery
Mr.. Earle's love of the show Is al
most fierce. When he joined up a
few years ago, doctors told him that
death was likely to be a non paying
visitor at any one of his perform
ances. But his health came back
to him and he credits the show with
saving his life.
The 7-foot-7-inch giant sleeps in
a pullman berth IL feet long. He
doesn't eat much-nor does the Fat
Lady-and at lunch yesterday the
midgets put down more food than
he.
Good Midgets Rare.
The midgets, incidentally, are at
high premiums this year. There
are only seven working in the
sideshow now because good midg-
cts are hard to find. Often midgets
take a sudden notion to grow and
sprout 3 or inches. They aren't
good for the show business any
more then, and have to get jobs
finding chewing gum stuck under
theater seats.
So most midgets worry about
this. They have nothing, however,
to worry about compared to the
Gibbs sisters. Mary and Margaret.
Fhey are Siamese twins, 26 years
old, and one can live no longer
than the other.
Take it easy on the potato
salad" Mary told her sister at
lunch yesterday. TT kept us awake
all night last time you ate it,
The twins have never married
and have never, they say, been in
love, singly nor collectively. Some
day. they hope, the right Siamese
men will come along.
Miss Patsy, the sword swallower,
has completely recovered from a
recent inadvertency. She hic-
coughed one day while nibbling on
a cavalry saber and cut herself
pretty seriously. The dust in the
arena aggravated her hay fever
until recently and she was never
sure, when fgulping down the cut
lery, whether she was going to
sneeZe.
Joe Allen, "Twisto, the Contor-
zionist" and Forest Lewis, who is
Popeye, are bosom buddies in the
show. Popeye has all his teeth
out and it makes him very angry
to have people ask If he had them
pulled just to do this act. He
didn't.
Freaks Pictured as Happy.
Mr.. Engle says his freaks are very
happy people.
They travel around a lot and
meet a lot of people. They are well
fed and we'll paid"
Salaries in the sideshow are sec
rets that are guarded closer than
the Fort Knox gold. The freaks
are highly jealous of each other.
They are also very thrifty people,
because they know that they may
be out of jobs any time-and can't