Dull Tool Dim Bulb: Circus

Showing posts with label Circus. Show all posts

At the Circus. Vintage photographs of Circus Performers and Trainers from the Jim Linderman Collection

Most of these antique circus photographs have appeared on the Dull Tool Dim Bulb blog before, each with a story and some documentation. This post is just to look. Various 19th and 20th century circus photographs Collection Jim Linderman

Big Head from Clyde Beatty Circus 1962 original snapshot

Big Head from Clyde Beatty Circus 1962 original snapshot dated on reverse. Collection Jim Linderman.

A Genuine Dog and Pony show

Genuine Dog and Pony show! On reverse: Willie J. Bernard, Manager. Bernard's Freak Animal Fair Canaan, NH. No date, circa 1930? Collection Jim Linderman

Gay Aquatic Review and Mike Duffy Miniature Sideshow Carnival At the Circus in Black and White

I've done thirty or more "at the circus in black and white" posts here over the years, but this one is most curious. The snapshot appears to show a MINIATURE circus. Small period signs announce the performers. A tiny "Cotton Club" stage and show. The snapshot reverse reads "Mike Duffy and nephew on horse. Carnival Midway front and background". No date, but 1930 to 1950 I presume. I have no idea what the "Gay Aquatic Revue" is.

Original snapshot photograph of miniature Duffy Circus Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Mysterious and Thrilling Atomic Energy Circus with Dancing Static Girl

Well, it's not really Atomic Energy which makes the little guys twirl, it's static. Still, static seems to be a powerful force! It's ripped the panties right from the paper-thin dancing woman! Thrilling! "Mysterious" Sorta like Fukishima!
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Fat Man Walking (Literally, THE Fat Man Walking) Circus Snapshot

Fat Man Walking (Literally, THE Fat Man Walking) Circus Snapshot 1958
Collection Jim Linderman

Sideshow Banners Vintage Photographs of a Ten-in-One

A "Ten in One" is a sideshow with ten different shows. This one had a dozen.
Sideshow Banners Vintage Photographs of a Ten-in-One Anonymous, no date.
Collection Jim Linderman

The BIG HEADS of HARRINGAY Satan on Tandem and Cannibal Kings

Here comes the scary part, kids. SATAN ON TANDEMS! Well, the UK had been through one tough war and the kids needed some lively entertainment. The big heads of Harringay! T. Arnold Harringay Circus performed at the Royal Albert Hall in 1952. Look at the line up...Big heads abound!

Original T. Arnold Harringay Circus Program circa 1952 Collection Dull Tool Dim Bulb.

Shot from a Cannon F. O. Gregg Daredevil, Stuntman, Astronaut and Fearless photo collection Jim Linderman

Shot from a Cannon. Fearless F. O. Gregg went on to daredevil fame with automobiles, but It would be hard to beat his "shot out of a cannon" stunt. He poses like an Olympian while flying...and this pose had to come while in transit.

Original 8 x 10 photograph circa 1930 Van Fossen Photo Chicago, IL and Beckers, Davenport IA, and Real Photo Azo Postcard circa same. Collection Jim Linderman
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Circus Acrobat Nellie Bellmore in Frank Wendt Cabinet Card Photographs 1895

A pair of Frank Wendt Cabinet Card photographs circa 1895 depicting a lovely young acrobat named Nellie Bellmore or Nelli Regina. One would likely be a stage name (?) but which? I frequently hear from relatives on this and the other sites, so I always try to include names. If anyone has information on the performer, please write in.

Frank Wendt was a sideshow and circus freak photographer from the Bowery and later Boonton, New Jersey.

Walter Main Circus Photograph in 1922 Collection Jim Linderman

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Original Photograph 8 x 11 1922 by Andrew Downes "Walter L. Main 1922" on reverse collection Jim Linderman

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One Trick Pony Snapshot Photograph

A one trick pony. Original anonymous snapshot circa 1935 Collection Jim Linderman

Fat Man Tintype Circus Sideshow or Just a Large Man? Collection Jim Linderman

Certainly the largest man I've ever seen fit onto a tintype. Sideshow performer or just portly?

Tintype circa 1870 collection Jim Linderman

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Baby Betty on Highway 61

Baby Betty RPCC Collection Jim Linderman

In a convoluted story which reads like a mid-1960s Bob Dylan song off Highway 61, Fat lady Baby Betty sued sword swallower Patricia Smith for $3000 after being hit on the head with a soda bottle. See the original story reported HERE by the AP, or use your imagination.

There was little midgets
and a long-haired gal
Great Shackles Charles
at the nasty trial

Dainty Dotty turned
to show some leg
her stockings fell
the judge turned red

Them Hula dancers
witnessed the row
Just keep quiet honey
and you'll get yours

Baby Betty Real Photo Postcard circa 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

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Giant Man on Stilts Boy with Hoop Photograph Collection Jim Linderman

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Urchins crowd around the Man on Stilts in this lovely early photograph. Circa 1900 - 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

Three Nights Only One Big Show! At the Circus in Black and White series #33

ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN

Frederico Fellini meets Tod Browning in this crazy period photograph of a wandering troupe. Since Blockhead and friend take up two seats on the truck, they get the middle of the picture. A trick-shooter, a cootch girl, a band (of sorts) and you've got four shows a day. They were there a while, electric lights line the tent. One of a hundred such touring shows during the 1930s and I wish I could identify the players. I see ten good stories here, and one more on the dummy.

AT THE CIRCUS IN BLACK AND WHITE is a occasional feature on Dull Tool Dim Bulb. This is number 33 in the series.

Original 8 x 10 photograph, circa 1930 Collection Jim Linderman

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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

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Some of the Free Acts at the Iowa Fairs 1925 At the Circus in Black and White series #32

At the Circus entry number 32 is "Some of the Free Acts Season 1925 Iowa Fairs. A snapshot and a beauty.

Collection Jim Linderman

AT THE CIRCUS IN BLACK AND WHITE is a occasional feature on Dull Tool Dim Bulb. This is number 32 in the series.

Original Snapshot 192 Collection Jim Linderman

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Baby Adelina Cabinet Card by Frank Wendt Collection Jim Linderman

Baby Adelina Cabinet Card Photograph Collection Jim Linderman

Frank Wendt Carnival / Circus / Sideshow photograph of Baby Adelina, circa 1890 Cabinet Card Collection Jim Linderman

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Strong Man or Fat Man Circus Carnival Sideshow Freak of Sorts Frank Wendt

I Know it's been a long winter, but a few pushups might feel Good.

Circus Carnival Sideshow Freak cabinet Card circa 1880 by Frank Wendt Collection Jim Linderman

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jim Linderman

"...Linderman is widely regarded as one of the foremost figures in a field of vernacular art collectors working beyond the margins of most institutional axioms and impulses, in what is essentially it's own self-taught art form."
Ursula Magazine Hauser & Wirth 2019

"Linderman produces the most sublime books on dreamy, arcane subjects, sexy stuff, too, all with rare one-of-a-kind images." Craig Yoe 2017

"...disclosing an underground history of American popular culture one oddball tale at a time"
John Strausbaugh in The New York Times

"...one of the blog writers to watch for"
ARTSlant

"...wonderful, extraordinary, fascinating, remarkable and profound" Fans in a Flashbulb International Center of Photography Museum 2016

"Brilliantly Astute, Acerbic and Aesthetic Jim Linderman"
The Museum of Everything 2014

"Dull Tool Dim Bulb is always worth a visit" THINGS Magazine 2016

"...grumpy..." The Austin Chronicle 2014

"Perpetually ahead of the collecting curve...a one man Taschen. An authentically curious individual...diligently archiving the forgotten curiosities of American History"

Emma Higgins in Art Hack May 2012

"Jim Linderman likes Art, Antiques and Photography and his collection of Vernacular Photography, Folk Art, Ephemera and Curiosities is a wonderful place..."
LifeElsewhere with Norman B. 2014

"...collected over the years by Jim Linderman, a character who seems the perfect subject for a Harvey Pekar comic. Linderman treats collecting like a calling, and his finds have a resulting air of authority, stunning in their capture of bygone picturesque moments."
Derek Taylor Dusted

"The pictures, discarded artifacts of ecstatic Americana, come from the stash of Jim Linderman, who in his introduction recalls advice he’s plainly taken to heart: “Collect the heck” out of whatever you find interesting."
Drew Jubera Paste Magazine

"His interest in art is rivaled only by his interest in music, and one expression informs the other. He pursues objects with thoroughness and an innate sense of curiosity..."
Tanya Heinrich Folk Art Magazine

"Linderman acknowledges the obscure at the same time that he elevates it.... His collections tell vast stories in sotto voce, allowing curios and objects shadowed by mainstream culture and ideology to converse and be heard. What we hear is an enormous American sub-culture speaking in forbidden, marginalized languages: stuff discovered boxed in the attic out of embarrassment or zealotry, smutty ash trays crowing next to religious pamphlets, each claiming a part of the complex, sometimes contradictory, always conflicted American imagination, a chaos of memories that will one day vanish."
Joe Bonomo Author of Conversations With Greil Marcus, Jerry Lewis Lost and Found and No Such Thing As Was

"...he's one of the world's greatest pickers."
Brian Wallis in The New York Times

"Documenting--one clipping at a time--the scrapbook of a leg and garter aficionado that was dumpster-dived in Virginia in the 60s" "...an outstanding image-archaeologist who has compiled a shelf-ful of worthy and unique photographic histories."
William Smith Hang Fire Books

"Linderman has a knack for discovering untold stories and introducing them to a wider audience"
Joey Lin Anonymous Works

"Jim Linderman...makes us all look a little puny"
Could it be Madness-this?

"...insatiable collector of ephemera and ringleader behind an incredible circus of blogs — including the treasure trove dull tool dim bulb"
The Cynephile

"Yo no sé ustedes pero creo que es uno de los mejores sitios que he visitado en mucho tiemp"
Color Me in Blog

"...there's something beyond the endless photos and postcards and weird propaganda from another time that he lovingly documents - I think it's the collection as a whole, the portrait of a person fascinated with culture and communication. I have met people like this before, and in reading Dull Tool Dim Bulb I feel I have been lucky enough to meet one more. This site is a goldmine in terms of links..."
The Hyggelic Life October 2009

"Linderman is always on the lookout for the new and exciting"
Chuck and Jan Rosenak Contemporary American Folk Art

"...an amazing collection..."
Revel in New York October 2009

"Jim Linderman has a nice little colllection of interesting books and blogs...But every so often he just loses it."
American Digest March 2010

"FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, COLLECTOR JIM LINDERMAN has searched high and low for authentic things--unique and special objects that define the artistic culture of the American experience. From folk art to popular culture, from pulp fiction to Delta Blues-- Jim is a walking authority on so many things American they are too numerous to mention. One thing is certain-- his collecting interests are for things that have fallen through the cracks, those things lost and forgotten--the box of material under the table at the flea market booth. If it wasn't for dedicated collectors like Jim Linderman-- so many important objects about our culture would have surely been lost to time and indifference."

"Jim Linderman maintains a most interesting blog about the most amazing things from his collection—a site he calls “Dull Tool Dim Bulb,” the only curse words his father ever uttered. I love it, and read it everyday."
"...an excellent writer and I devour your blog daily. I am impressed at your deep knowledge of things within your niche..."
John Foster Accidental Mysteries

"I am grateful to Jim Linderman for first alerting me to the existence of the 1930s Spiritualist hymn "Jesus is My Air-o-plane."
William Fagaly New Orleans Museum of Art, Author Tools of her Ministry: The art of Sister Gertrude Morgan

"Linderman describes a long gone world...(he) claims not to be a writer but he is most certainly an excellent researcher..."
BOOKSTEVE

"Jim Linderman, King of the Internet Ephemeral Arts"
Spaniel Rage

"Jim is a fantastic historian...show him some love"
Astrid Daley Fringe Pop / Sin-A-Rama

"Almost an experimental narrative"
Idiopath

"He came to us with hundreds of jaw-dropping baptism photos that he'd been collecting for 25 years," Ledbetter explains. "By the time he found us, he'd already done half a lifetime's works, and he trusted us to handle it properly." Lance Ledbetter in Creative Loafing 10/13/11

Fair Use

Though the images, which I have myself largely scanned from my personal collection of photographs and ephemera, some are subject to © by the artist, syndicate that distributed them or otherwise the individual artists. The use here is regardless covered by the U.S. fair use laws because:
1. The image illustrates an educational article; its inclusion in the article adds significantly to understanding the text because it is a historical sample of the art covered in the critical commentary, and shows use of an innovative style. Therefore the image substantially improves the educational value of the article.
2. The image is used as the primary means of visual identification of the article topic, which directly concerns a visual artist, and is indicative of the style for which hethe artists are renowned.
3. Images are of lower resolution than the original. The image is not used here for profit.

4. It is not in any way replaceable with an uncopyrighted or freely copyrighted image pertinent to the work referenced in the article

The copyright for some images are most likely owned by either the publisher, the writer(s) and/or artist(s) which produced them originally.

Any other uses of this image may be copyright infringement.

Although most of the images here are original photography and objects owned by the author and in the author's personal collection, we cannot absolutely guarantee the exact copyright status of the items or offer written assurance that every or any aspect of this work is completely cleared for all usages. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Any Trademarks used in this item listing are used for strictly descriptive purposes only. No association or endorsement is implied or inferred. No character or trademark ownership is given or implied.

If you are the owner of any aspect of an item which you believe to be copyrighted, please contact us immediately at j.winkel4@gmail.com

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