Jolly Ollie of the 101 Circus At the Circus in Black and White #30

Jolly Ollie 538 Pounds Real Photo Postcard Collection Jim Linderman

AT THE CIRCUS in BLACK and WHITE is a continuing series on Dull Tool Dim Bulb This is Entry number 30.

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
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Frank Wendt Serpent Queens Snake Women Sideshow Carnival Freak Photographs Frank Wendt

Harlot Herpetologists of the Victorian era. I can not explain the popularity of snake women other than a mixture of revulsion tinged with eroticism. It started with Eve, I suppose, but carnival performers in the earliest days were nearly always male, a fake snake charmer "from the East" who would perform with a basket, a cobra and a flute. When promoters learned it would be easier to squeeze coins out of the local townsfolk if a dame was involved...presto, the Serpent Queen! Snakes were easy to transport, a small box did it, and there was certainly no shortage of mice for food. Any female member of the crew could put on a wig and lure rubes into the tent where a usually harmless snake would curl seductively around the performer's waist. Always popular, I am sure there are still plenty of strippers out there working with a snake. (Text overlay to prevent folks from swiping the images and selling them on Ebay, a more up-to-date and just as effective technique of separating coins from rubes)

See THE WONDROUS WORLD OF FRANK WENDT for more Photographs by this artist.

Original Cabinet Card Photographs, circa 1880-1900 Collection Jim Linderman