Turn of the Century Show Business Portly Gents Vaudevillians RPPC

A portly pair of buffoons battle bellies in Chicago at the stage door, circa 1900.  Play unknown.  Yiddish theater?  

Real Photo Postcard, Azo Back Circa 1900 Collection Jim Linderman

Paul Dutch, Chairologist Stunts a Matter of Balance

Paul Dutch, A matter of balance.  Hy Green as Broadway Danny Rose.

Real Photo Postcard collection Jim Linderman

BOOKS AND EBOOKS ($5.99) BY JIM LINDERMAN HERE

The Eldoras Delicate Act of Balance A Different Novelty colllection Jim Linderman

It is a delicate "balance" of art, skill and athleticism as one of the Eldoras avoids looking up the skirt of the other Eldora.

The Eldora's (sic) A Different Novelty Real Photo Post Card Undated (circa 1940?) Collection Jim Linderman

Ebooks ($5.99 Each) available HERE from Blurb.com

Six Hoops at once! Arthur Ward and his assistant Florence Dane. Fifty Years of Juggling

 

Francisco Alvarez in his book Juggling: It's History and the Greatest Performers mentions Arthur Ward practicing the same 6 hoop trick for hours at Bothner's  Gymnasium on 42nd Street. Whether Florence Dane (below) practiced with him is unknown.  In fact Florence is unknown, period.  But Arthur?  check him out…the "dash of humor" is his facial hair.

They say all press is good press, but not the one below, which I cribbed from the Miami News in 1951, in which Florence is not only referred to only as "a shapely lass clad in black" sucks because Arthur dropped his hoops!  He shoulda practiced a bit longer.

Jeez, cut him some slack.  Arthur is reported doing the same act FIFTY YEARS EARLIER IN 1915, unless there was more than one Arthur Ward, the Hoop Juggler.  Can you imagine being on the vaudeville trail fifty years?  I wonder how many shapely lasses he went through!    He got good, as for quite a while he was the ONLY six hoop performer and held the record.  At that time, his assistant  was referred to as an "eccentric dancer" which makes me think I would have enjoyed the act, then taking place in Canada.  What exactly is an eccentric dancer?  Elaine at the Christmas party on Seinfeld?   

I do see he redeemed himself with a good review in 1935.  Persistence.  In 1950, the LA Times calls him "toothy" but I can't tell if they mention his traveling partner than, as the paper requires a "Pay per View" just like Arthur and Florence.  He WAS clearly using Florence two years later though…in Spokane.  At the time he was traveling with a bill which included "Brats, unicycle and trampoline…monkeys…and sway pole."

Miami showbiz scribe Herb Rau reviews his act briefly that year, but he is far more impressed with a bird which whistles tunes. 

IN 1959 Arthur was still a juggler, comedy dancer and 72 years old according to the American Guild of Variety Artists.  But that's about it I guess, and sadly even his record has been broken.  Some other juggler has mastered SEVEN hoops, I am afraid.

What about Florence Dane?  Well, she's mentioned appearing with Arthur at intermission of the First Annual K.C.  Aviation Ball in 1953…just before the article mentions the door prizes will be an electric toaster and a set of steak knives.  Good gig!

Super sexologist Gloria Brame, who I have been fortunate enough to cyber-acquaint myself with, ran this very picture of Florence, but I think she cribbed it before I bought it on ebay.  Alas, I fear Florence will always be playing second fiddle with the hoops.

Ebooks ($5.99 each) and books by Jim Linderman are HERE

Original Photograph of Florence Dane with press clippings collection Jim Linderman
Photo of Arthur Ward from ebay.

Announcing HOOFERS AND SWEETHEARTS : THE LITTLE WOMEN OF FRANK WENDT

Announcing Hoofers and Sweethearts : The Little Women of Frank Wendt.  The newest photography book by Jim Linderman from Dull Tool Dim Bulb Books.

Sideshow and circus freak photographer Frank Wendt had another line of work.  He made hundreds of cabinet card photographs of early vaudeville child actresses to be sold by the performers as souvenirs.  Collected for the first time, these turn-of-the-century photographs have never been shown together and come from the collection of Jim Linderman.  Young women "earners" from the tawdry and tainted early days of American show business when child labor laws did not apply.

Available in paperback OR as an Ebook download for only $5.99.  Preview and Purchase HERE

(COMPLETE LIST OF DULL TOOL DIM BULB BOOKS AND EBOOKS HERE)

Under Canvas and Coming The Lewis Stock Company

I don't know if the lovely ladies posing here are part of the Lewis Stock company, but they are coming to town.

Original Snapshot, circa 1920? Collection Jim Linderman

Jim Linderman Books and Ebook Downloads are HERE

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

Order Dull Tool Dim Bulb / Vintage Sleaze / Jim Linderman Books and Tablet downloads for iPad HERE

Dr. Goss's Cornstock Band Handmade Folk Art Instruments RPPC

I am afraid I found nothing on Dr. Goss or his Cornstock Band, but if  you enlarge this to see the handmade musical instruments, let your eyes drive over to the gunboats the woman on the right has on her feet!  

Dr. Goss's Cornstock Band Real Photo Postcard No Date 1900?  Collection Jim Linderman

BROWSE AND ORDER DULL TOOL DIM BULB BOOKS AND EBOOKS HERE Tweet

Ladies and Gentlemen The New Book I'm With Dummy Vent Figures and Blockheads

I'm With Dummy Vent Figures and Blockheads Vintage Photographs from the Jim Linderman Collection is the newest book from Dull Tool Dim Bulb.

Real Photo Postcards, Snapshots, Polaroids and more!  Amateurs and professionals, anonymous and not, the story here is the figure.  Vents!

78 pages and available as a paperback ($21.95) or Ebook for ipad ($5.99) only from Blurb.com.

FREE PREVIEW and ORDERING IS HERE!

Baldy Wetzel and the World's Longest Honky Tonk collection Jim Linderman

Baldy Wetzel, or Charles "Baldy" Wetzel played in speakeasies, tent shows, and for phony doctors selling snake oil. What he also did is shown here...setting the record for the longest continuous piano performance. 48 and 1/2 hours. That is one considerable piece of honky-tonk, but Baldy played for well over 50 years, so what's a few days?

As you can see, Baldy was hurting when the photo was taken. Not only do his friends place a wet compress against his neck, one helper massages his foot sore from damping the foot peddle.

Baldy started out in Pennsylvania and was playing 42nd street in the 1930s. Soon he added musical director for Ziefield Follies and George White's Scandals. Baldy was Paul Shaffer before there was a Paul Shaffer. He was proud to claim to have led the first dance band to feature a vocalist. He passed away in Toledo at the age of 79 in 1970.

Original Photograph circa 1930 (Inscribed to Fritz Savers from "Baldy" Wetzel) collection Jim Linderman
SEE JIM LINDERMAN EBOOKS AND BOOKS HERE

Little Hoofers by Frank Wendt Cabinet Cards Collection Jim Linderman

Photographer Frank Wendt is best known for his sideshow photographs, but he took more than his share of little women.

Cabinet Card Photographs by Frank Wendt, circa 1890 collection Jim Linderman

E-BOOK DOWNLOADS AND BOOKS FROM DULL TOOL DIM BULB HERE

Tweet

Contortionist Helen Paguin of Canada RPPC Jim Linderman Collection

A perfect "V" and an incredible set of real photo postcards of young Helen Paguin of Western Canada, Vaudevillian and child performer. This girl could literally compose words with her body. I have no other information on Helen Paguin or the rest of her extraordinary family, who would have been active 1910-1930 in Canada and likely across the border. Helen Paguin Child Performer

Collection of 5 real photo postcards collection Jim Linderman
Tweet

Canadian Vaudeville Performer with Snake and Monkey RPPC 1939 Paguin Pequin Paguin Canada Moose Jaw Saskatchewan

A member of the Paguin vaudeville family active in the Saskatchewan Province of Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. I purchased a photo archive of the group and am seeking information. The multi-talented group (musicians, contortionists and more) performed on the prairie circuit of Canada. If you have information, please write me at j.winkel4@gmail.com. If you know family members, please forward? Thanks!


Edward Paguin(?) 1939 Real Photo Postcard Paramount Film Service Collection Jim Linderman

UPDATE! Brian Busby, friend, writer and manager of the beautiful site The Dusty Bookcase was kind enough to get me started with the note below. I will do a proper thank you post one day, but for now please note Brian's latest book A Gentleman of Pleasure: One Life of John Glassco, Poet, Translator, Memoirist and Pornographer was just published by McGill Queens University Press and looks fantastic. You MUST see this link. THANKS BRIAN!



"Though not a betting man, I'd be willing to wager a few dollars on Paquin over Paguin. The former is a fairly common French Canadian surname. The 1911 Canadian census (the most recent open and available online), doesn't list more than a few dozen Paquins on the Prairies... and none are named Edward. In fact, the only Edward Paquin I could find was then a 32 year-old plumber living in Quebec. My thought - and here I won't place a wager - is that the Paquins likely came from Quebec, moving west to the new provinces. Edward might actually be one of several young Edouard Paquins listed in the census."

Primrose Semon and Burlesque Dust Phantom Performers of the Past and what they Leave Behind A Cyclonic Sensation Lost

Primrose Semon, Cyclonic Sensation and Burlesque Dust This is by far the most detailed entry on one Primrose Semon you will find on the web. Primrose Semon was apparently a fast woman, excuse me, a fast soubrette, who performed as both a man and a woman. She had flaming red hair, and may have been "one of the seven wonders of the world" then, but she's dust now. A shame...she must have been something.

As late as 1950, Primrose was still hoofing it enough to get a mention in Billboard Magazine, performing as a comedienne for a two week engagement in Toronto. Quite a feat, 50 years earlier she was performing as Edna in Uncle Tom's Cabin. One site claims she sounded like Martha Raye but I won't hold that against her.

On January 4, 1943 Primrose escaped injury when the auto she was using to get from one gig to another crashed into the side of a bridge. No injuries. Songs she performed (and for which sheet music exists...most of them piled up in the corners of antique shops) include "Everybody's Doin' It Now" "Forgive Me" "I've Got the Finest Man" (which begins "Happy, happy, happy little bird I am")

That's all I've found and she is gone...but henceforth, when one searches her name, this will pop up, and maybe one day a curious relative will happen upon it and say hello. It has happened many times before. I have heard from a dozen relatives and such since I started digging up forgotten folks like Primrose. I have heard from the offspring of singers, artists, cartoonists, strippers and more. The relatives of criminals don't write in for some reason. On occasion, some will ask me not to print their name, others encourage it. Some have offered to share more pictures and such...others are just glad to see someone took the time to appreciate their great-grandfather or long lost Aunt. Since there is no money in blogging, it is these little personal contacts I enjoy most.

If you know anything about Primrose Semon, say hello! I'll print your note.

The Burlesque Wonder Show Flyer (featuring Primrose Semon) 1918 Collection Jim Linderman

DULL TOOL DIM BULB BOOKS CATALOG