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Stars and curiosities

	Phineas Taylor Barnum, American showman Mary Evans Picture Library

By Victorian times, the freak show encompassed a display of talent, a kind of proof that, whatever their appearance, these people were able. Drawn by the illustrious billings that the showmen gave their artistes, crowds loved to be amazed at their accomplishment in the face of adversity and several characters became famous across Britain.

Legless Jack, an amputee who performed gymnastics, enjoyed a long and successful career and lamented the end of the freak show era in an 1897 interview.

The Fat Boy of Peckham, an obese child who eventually weighed over 40 stone, joined a freak show when his mother could no longer afford to feed him. At the Nottingham Goose Fair he met and married Leonie the Lion-faced Lady. They had several children who inherited neither of their parents' unusual characteristics.

Madame Rosina, who had no arms but used to crochet with her feet and paint quality works of art with her mouth. She exhibited internationally and met royalty from all over Europe.

At the same time in America, Phineas T Barnum brought the freak show to prominence through his American Museum in New York, elevating it to an art form. Although not always the genuine article (his Wild Man of Borneo was a bewigged black slave) it became the city's premier attraction.

Later on, Samuel Gumpertz's side shows on Coney Island became world famous – and he did insist on the genuine article. Gumpertz travelled the world in search of human curiosities, and imported nearly 4,000 unusual people into the States during his career. His most famous creation was Lilliputia, a community of over

300 midgets invited from all over America to reside in the specially designed Dreamland Park. With their own parliament and fire brigade, the midgets entertained visitors during the day but resumed a normal life in the evenings. Gumpertz also leased human curiosities from around the world. The shows were so profitable that he paid the French government of Equatorial Africa $3,000 per week to exhibit the Urangi River tribeswomen, who stretched their lips over 10-inch wooden plates.

For the most part, though, the arrangement benefited both the showman, who made money, and the artiste who had well-paid work, a place in a community and, occasionally, celebrity.

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