Amateur Diane Arbus, the Photographic OBJECT vs the Photographic IMAGE At the circus in Black and White

As I pondered posting these vernacular photographs of a 1958 circus sideshow I found last week, I was struck by their being physical objects first, images second. I am sure the entire world has gotten over this matter long ago and my even admitting to bring it up is anachronistic. However, I own these, they occupy space in my files and as they are exposed to light and dust, fingers and moisture they will age, curl and change in aesthetic and physical ways. I am interested in the physical properties of photos, the wrinkles, the spots, the foxing, the tear. Surface is just as important to a photographic object as is the image. It might be my folk art background, where authentic age, signs of use and patina is a serious precursor to value and an indicator of authenticity...why shouldn't the camera arts be the same? Invited comments. In my world, "pristine" should apply only to the magic bullet commission exhibit 399.

4 original sideshow images, circa 1958 (cropped) Collection Jim Linderman

Trained or Chained Pair of Horse Riding Monkeys 1944 At the Circus in Black and White

Riding Monkeys Original Snapshot dated on reverse 1944 Collection Jim Linderman
I have posted some 40 images in the AT THE CIRCUS IN BLACK AND WHITE series.

Literally a Dog and Pony Show (at the Circus in Black and White #19)

Today "Dog and Pony Show" is a phrase used when tricking prospective customers with bedazzling graphics and such. It used to mean what is shown above.

Number 19 in the "At the Circus in Black and White" series.

Untitled Anonymous Snapshot, circa 1920 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.

EGYPTIA and NASCA'S BAND Show Beautiful At the Circus in Black and White #23

"At the Circus in Black and White #23 (or in this case, more of a sepia) is an old albumen of a Girl Show. Like "Mermaids" from Figi, "Aztec" Children, "Mysteries from the Orient" and "Savages" who were really from Brooklyn, Sideshow operators played on our cultural ignorance when naming their acts. Presented here, some dancing girls from Egyptia!



Original Photograph, circa 1900 Collection Jim Linderman (formerly Collection Captain L. Harvey Cann of Sarasota, Florida)

Traverse City Michigan Miniature Village! Folk Art Make-work for Unemployed Folk

I hate to even think "fall" but for many in Michigan, fall means Traverse City. More exactly, the fall foliage on the way there and back. One of the most pleasant places in the country, and at one time home of the famous miniature city!

During the depression (the great one, not the current one) the Traverse City Opera House, still standing, became home for an unusual WPA project. Traverse City mayor "Con" Foster, who was formerly a circus promoter, thought up the original project to find work for carpenters who couldn't find any building the real thing, so Roosevelt's WPA coughed up the dough! Workers were hired to create miniature models of prominent actual buildings in the city. The intricate, perfect models were then installed in Clinch Park. At one time, there were over 100 buildings.

Weather, for which Traverse City is also known, took a toll on tiny town and it was put under wraps in 1973. A local businessman eventually bought the models, and when he passed away the whole collection was willed to the Opera House, where portions of it are displayed. Hopefully, one day the entire collection will be restored and assembled again.

Amateur Snapshots of the Traverse City Miniature City 1940. (Note walkway in the shape of states, the Michigan Mitten prominent) Collection Jim Linderman

Perfect Practice At the Circus in Black and White #28 Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Untitled Photograph (Practice) Circa 1960 Collection Jim Linderman


AT THE CIRCUS in BLACK and WHITE is a continuing series on Dull Tool Dim Bulb This is Entry number 28.

Frank Wendt Sideshow Photography Master of a Neglected Nature

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.

Wendt specialized in the unusual, of course as you can see. But he had a wider clientele than Eisenmann. 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, frequently selling them to admirers for a dime each. 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.

I have posted work by Frank Wendt on this site before, they are worth looking at. As research continues, I plan to expand on the story with a book and exhibition.

Frank Wendt Five Original Cabinet Card Photographs circa 1890-1900 Collection Jim Linderman

SOON I WILL MOVE THESE TO THE WONDROUS WORLD OF FRANK WENDT
A site I am constructing.

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

The Banner Line The String Show Ten-in-One Sideshow At the Circus in Black and White

Click to Enlarge

These circus banners, when strung in a row to attract customers, were known in the trade as a Banner Line or The String Show. "Ten in One" refers to the usual number of acts. The Lincoln Brothers, who apparently had only eight acts...lasted only a few months.

For other sideshow photographs posted on Dull Tool Dim Bulb, click blue "sideshow" subject heading below.

Anonymous Photo Snapshot 1921 Collection Jim Linderman

At the Circus in Black and White #7 (or #8 or #9?) Look them up

Light posts today, it being Mad travel day, which ended for me the day I left Times Square, thank heavens. Boy, I used to hate going to Grand Central on holidays. All I need to do now is take the medicine and drive over to see the folks. No one is going to SEE this post, however, for artists, consistency is THE virtue, so here you go, my daily post.

Untitled (Three Clowns) Anonymous circus snapshot, circa 1955. Collection Jim Linderman

Fat Man Going to Work (Literally, THE Fat Man) Carnival Photograph collection Jim Linderman At the Circus in Black and White

Fat Man Going to Work  (Literally, THE Fat Man) Carnival Photograph 1958
collection Jim Linderman

Mimi Garneu Ricky Rocket and Captian Zoom Zoom the Trained Fleas of the Amazing Mimi

Are flea circus acts real?  Mimi Garneu's was.  Here Mimi makes her tiny troupe run through the act on her desk.  The world's smallest slave labor!   The film shows a competing group, but you get the idea.  I once tied a fly to a piece of thread and he few around in circles, but I felt it cruel and let him go.  Fleas, however, get no pass.  Creepy little chiggers.  At least Mimi knew how to control her infestation.  Mimi was a sword swallower too.  To see more information about the Amazing Mimi Garneau, see the book project on her HERE 

1954 "Ten in One" Circus Sideshow Banner Photographs At the Circus in Black and White (in COLOR)

I'll post the history and such later. Until then, sometimes don't you wish you were born a few years earlier than you were?

4 Original Kodakcolor Prints (w/details) Week of December 6, 1954 Collection Jim Linderman

At the Circus in Black and White #16

Untitled (Clown at Clyde Beatty Circus) Original Snapshot 1962 Collection Jim Linderman

At the Circus in Black and White

"Pop's Midget Friends" on reverse Snapshot c. 1940 Collection Jim Linderman

See Also THE WONDROUS WORLD OF FRANK WENDT

At the Circus in Black and White #13 of a Series Clowns Dull Tool Dim Bulb

Untitled "Off the Clock Clown Family" 1965 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

Sparse Circus (At the Circus in Black and White)

Click to enlarge. Hard to believe, but I THINK they've set up a ticket booth, so they're CHARGING for this ride. Snapshot, circa 1925? Likely Michigan. Collection Jim Linderman

At the Circus in Black and White #20 (In Miniature) Vernacular Photograph

Anonymous Snapshot "Bob Bernard's 1/4" Scale Al G. Barnes Circus Monkey Cage-4 Horse Hitch" typed on reverse. No Date Collection Jim Linderman