Nellie Bellmore Female Trapeze Artist 1895 Circus Cabinet Card Pair by Frank Wendt

Nellie Bellmore Female Trapeze Artist 1895 Circus Cabinet Card Pair by Frank Wendt.  Wendt was understudy to famed "circus freak" photographer Charles Eisenmann.  He took over the studio when Eisenmann moved on.

Two Nellie Bellmore Frank Wendt Cabinet Cards Collection Jim Linderman

Blackface Theater. Young Women and Children of Vaudeville photographs by Frank Wendt

There are numerous studies and photographs of blackface in the American theater, but it is a bit less common to see women…and I guess even more unusual to see young women and children.  A series of cabinet card photographs circa 1910 of young vaudeville performers in burnt cork.  These were essentially among the first "publicity photographs" and sold at the stage door following performances.
 
Original cabinet card photographs by Frank Wendt circa 1910  (Wendt was the understudy of Chas Eisenmann, famed circus freak photographer.)
 
Collection Jim Linderman

Canadian Boys in Dresses

Will Forsyth's twin sons Arther and Earle.  Photo by J. H. Blome from Ashcroft, British Columbia circa 1900. According to the site HERE Blome "... operated as a photographer in Ashcroft in the 1895-1896 period and appeared in Kamloops for a short time beginning in November 1898. He also worked in Clinton and traveled throughout the Okanagan and Nicola valleys. Dempsey shows a Blome working as an itinerant in Canmore in September 1896. Blome's obituary called him " an artist of more than average ability."
Collection Jim Linderman

Oddities Antiques and the Curiosities Business Not Dead Yet Reality Shows of Pickers Spur Interest in Antiques

 

To be honest, I am not sure if "OUF" is a name or a group of initials, but unfortunately she has passed away.  Memorial cards are among them most common cabinet card photographs, but this one has the distinction of delicate hand-tinting and the curious tribute to OUF apparently hand-stamped over her flowers.

Netflix is streaming the complete two seasons of Oddities, the Discovery series on curious and creepy antique dealers Mike Zone, Evan Michelson and Ryan Matthew,  master bone articulator.  The three ghouls are the Pawn Stars of the Dead and American Pickers of the Body Farm.  Twenty episodes in a row, a binge viewing totally unlike me, has left my mind with an odd and curious feeling of morbidity and mortality.  So the funeral card here is shared.

Hopefully, the popularity of Oddities will help the antiques business.  Everyone needs a hobby after all, and in these digital days a few actual physical objects on the shelves would be nice.

Cabinet Card circa 1900?  Reed Studio MA.  Collection Jim Linderman 

BOOKS AND AFFORDABLE EBOOKS BY JIM LINDERMAN ARE HERE

Incongruous Group of Boxers and Banjo Cabinet Card Photograph collection Jim Linderman

Original Cabinet Card Photograph Circa 1880 Collection Jim Linderman

"Show Business" by Frank Wendt circa 1890 collection Jim Linderman

The old Razzle Dazzle  

Cabinet Card Photograph by Frank Wendt circa 1890 Collection Jim Linderman

Books and ebooks by Jim Linderman are available HERE

Champion Sword Swallower of the World Collection Jim Linderman Cabinet Card

Melle Clifford Champion Sword Swallower of the World Cabinet Card by Frank Wendt Circa 1900 Collection Jim Linderman

DULL TOOL DIM BULB BOOKS AND EBOOKS ORDERING HERE

Untitled (Longest Hair) Cabinet Card c. 1890 Collection Jim Linderman

Anonymous cabinet card photograph, circa 1890 collection Jim Linderman

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Pair of ORIGINAL 19th Century Painted Photographer Studio Backdrops (For Sale)

I put together a book on Painted Backdrops and their use in the transitional period from painting to photography last year, it is a modest attempt at describing the relationship between the two art forms at the turn of the century. Having collected examples of tintype photographs with unusual backdrops (and photos of studios with them on display or being painted) I know how scarce original 19th century studio backdrops are.

A gentleman with two extraordinary ORIGINAL examples contacted me last week and asked if I was interested in obtaining these two remarkable survivors. I have moved on to other projects after finishing The Painted Backdrop...and since I have not the room to display these quite striking historical pieces, asked the owner if I could share them here (with his contact information for a purchaser.) I am very grateful, and hope this post helps these find a good home! ANY museum of photography or a serious collector knows how scarce these are.

Condition looks remarkable, and the owner even has an example of a photo taken here to show you one of the drapes "in use." If you are interested in purchasing or asking questions about these early photographic backdrops, contact the owner at email nypopa@aol.com or I would be happy to forward your request for information to the owner.

I can tell you the price is QUITE modest, and these really should be in an institution or a very serious collection. Thanks to the current owner for sharing, and to any photography collector who wants a wonderful addition to their collection, these are quite nice.

I hope they find a good home.

(For those of you interested in my book The Painted Backdrop: Behind the Sitter in American Tintype Photography 1860-1920 see it HERE)

The World's Most Wonderful Horses Frank Wendt and The Wondrous World of Wendt Carnival, Show and Sideshow Horse Photograph Cabinet Cards

These pictures were taken during the the agrarian United States on the cusp of Industrial Society. The horse played a role in both, and it is no wonder it also played a role in the traveling circus.


Horses with long tales can swat flies easier, but the mane seems purely decorative. Depending on genetics, many horses can grow spectacular heads of hair, but normal wear, tear and snags usually keeps the mane at a manageable length. Show horses are often allowed to grow it longer. They will even have it braided and let loose before the show in an attempt to create perfect waves, but even their splendid "dos" pale compared to a wild horse, of which I recently heard there was some 30,000 roaming in the states today. A number increasing through abandonment...it is expensive to maintain a horse, often costing far more than the horse is worth.


Horse were also taught tricks. Fake tricks, but then all tricks are fake. When you see an educated horse clomping off a count, or solving complex mathematical problems, it is usually because the trainer has tipped Trigger off. It is a fairly easy trick to teach your horse to go get their food bucket. Even a dog can do it without training. Teaching your horse to shake his head yes or no is easy as well, and we're not even into Mr. Ed territory here yet. But for the math genius horse who knocks off numbers like an accountant? Usually he has been taught to respond to cues from the boss, not to operate a calculator in his head.


First up is Mascot the Talking Horse. Looks like Mascot could shake hands and push a lever in addition to talking. What? You don't hear anything? Neither do I. Mascot was active in Connecticut, and the Syracuse University also holds one of these cards in their collection. Note the photo of the Professor making out with Mascot...the backdrop depicts hoards of painted customers watching in awe.


Next is Chief. The reverse of his card can tell you all you wish to know about the Shetland with the tail of steel. At right is Edward Daley, Chief's chief groomer. If you wish to avoid reading the small print, Chief travels first class in his own little baggage car.


The next horse has no name indicated, but someone has taken the time to point out his particulars. Eighteen feel and nine inches of tail!


Elsie Sutliff is the trainer, not the horse. The Syracuse University Library holds another Wendt image of Elsie, and in their copy a large dog is standing on the back of the horse, so Elsie must have trained several animals. (A "Dog and Pony" show.)


Happy Jack was "The original and world famous Lone Pacer" according to the barely visable text embedded in the image. Also shown is trainer Frank Schneider and Charles Fose the owner. A Lone Pacer is an archaic term for a lead horse which sets the pace, I believe...at any rate, the time shown (2:03) is for a mile. Happy Jack is also reported to have run the mile at 2:13 in Louisville, Kentucky in 1897.


There were several horses named Linus, and in fact one reason was so the folks in one part of the country would think they were seeing THE Linus, when the real Linus was appearing somewhere else! Suffice to say, "carny" folk aren't usually thought of as being the most honest cards in the deck. At least the two Linus horses follow here and both are the real deal. The website "Messy Beast" has the whole story, and numerous examples, including several photos of these same horses. A whole herd named Linus!


Linus and Linus II were both Long Haired Oregon horses. Through genetics and a little hocus-pocus, it seems the Linus long hair was a trait passed down among generations of Linus breeders.


Most of the horses shown here have extensive notes, personal history and such either printed or noted on the reverse.

All Photographs Frank Wendt circa 1890-1910


All Original Photographs from the Jim Linderman Collection.

Excerpt above by Jim Linderman from the forthcoming book
"The Wondrous World of Wendt" and copyrighted!
Not to reproduced without writing.

See ALL the Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books CATALOG HERE

See also The Wondrous World of Wendt (In Progress) HERE

Sideshow Herpetology From the Past (Antique Dames with Snakes) Summer "Retread Reread"

Howdy, I'm still taking a short break to "work" on other projects, so this post slithers back from the past. Browse OTHER things a while, or read any of the books linked at right!

This post from my Wondrous World of Wendt Blog.

Snake Women! Frank Wendt, Photographer of the Sideshow 1890 As you can see, women with snakes were not entirely uncommon around 1890, but then if the circus came to your town once year, they must have been quite noteworthy. All these cabinet card photographs were taken by one man and each became a pitch card for the performer to sell to admirers or anyone with a dime to spare. Frank Wendt has always been unfairly placed in the shadow of Sideshow Freak photographer Charles Eisenmann, his mentor. Wendt took over the Eisenmann studio on the Bowery in 1893 and ran it for five years before moving it to New Jersey. He continued making pictures there for a number of years, some quite extraordinary. In 1979, just as interest in collecting circus freak photos was rising (in part as interest in Diane Arbus was rising as well) a book on Eisenmann was published which dismissed Wendt's work as "perfunctory" and that the production of those years has all but been "obliterated." Au contraire!

As we are just learning, MANY exceptional images remain. The photos here are certainly not obliterated, though he did have a somewhat poorly realized sense of contrast at times. Wendt specialized in the unusual, but he shot all manner of performers, not just the strange. In fact, some of his most beautiful work is normal looking actors and child performers, who would use his cabinet card photographs as trade cards, mementos and such. Often the performers autographed the cards on the reverse, personalizing them to fans and the freaked. In the case of the carnival performers, vital statistics were often provided though frequently exaggerated. In fact, Wendt would take his pictures to emphasize the particular trait or deformity being marketed. As traveling shows passed through New York and New Jersey, they would stop to replenish their stock. Sometimes Wendt would republish Eisenmann's work on his own cards, but frequently a new photo was taken, and the same performers often appear in later pictures, with different imprints or logos on the cards.


Group of Frank Wendt Photographs circa 1890 Collection Jim Linderman

A Giant Man with a Sad (dog) Tail

"Pet refuses to leave Master's bier; derrick Needed to Lower Coffin" 1922

Captain George Auger Cabinet Card by Frank Wendt, circa 1890 and attached newspaper clip, Collection Jim Linderman (To be posted on the circus sideshow photographer site Wondrous World of Frank Wendt as well)

Wendts upon Wendts! Composite Cabinet Card of a Tiny Contortionist

Frank Wendt, who I have devoted an entire site to HERE composed this cabinet card photograph made up of eight earlier photos he took of the same wiggly boy, Albert Powell Jr. A contortionist quality photo! And just when I thought I had collected them all, I now have 8 more to look for.


Albert Powell Jr. Cabinet Card by Frank Wendt, c. 1890 Collection Jim Linderman

Frank Wendt Ida Iva and Eva the Hanna Triplets

The beautiful Ida, Iva and Eva Hanna were in the business from age 10 months old. As Iva explained in 1967 from her retirement town of St. Augustine, Florida, there weren't too many triplets in those days who survived...so I guess you could call them freaks who weren't freaks. Their father had them each wear different color ribbons in their hair so he could tell them apart. They worked for Ringling brothers and the A.B. Marcus Musical Comedy group after they learned how to dance. They stopped performing at age 20 when they started getting married. Iva married a stagehand, Eva married Blumpsie, A.K.A Blumpsy the clown. I'm not sure who Ida married, but she did...and all three were happy and kicking their heels up some 60 years after these photos were taken. They regrouped briefly in 1956 to perform and celebrate their 50th birthday. These photos are also posted on WONDROUS WORLD OF FRANK WENDT my tribute and biography of the photographer.

Group of Frank Wendt Cabinet Card Photos of the Hanna Triplets, c. 1910. Collection Jim Linderman

Not all Sideshow Freaks were Human Frank Wendt

Linus II had a 10 foot double mane and a 16 foot tail. He was owned by W. A. Rutherford of Marion, Oregon, and presumably won many ribbons at the local state fair, not to mention attracting many nickels and dimes from sideshow attendees in the 1880's. Circus sideshow performers with unusual attributes were far from common, but even fewer had four legs.

Original Cabinet Card Photograph c. 1880 by Wendt Collection Jim Linderman