Before movies could blab out , there were dateless opportunity for those who had talent to make a keep performing in front of live audience . Singers , terpsichorean , doer , and comedians were the backbone of the travel show . There were also side show exhibits with human oddities and specialty acts such as the carnival , the wild west show , and the practice of medicine show . But in those Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , just like today , audiences wanted something newfangled and different . And there were many who stepped onto the microscope stage to put up something unlike .
1. Painless Parker
Edgar Parker opened his dental practice in 1892 and found business was not that great . So he convey his exercise on the road and becamePainless Parker , “ the P.T. Barnum of dentistry . ” If the thought of dental medicine as amusement sounds peculiar , commend that folks were eager for odd entertainnment . With the help of a cocaine solvent he called " hydrocaine " , Parker pulled tooth after tooth in Ithiel Town after townfor only 50 cents each . " Painless Parker ’s Dental Circus " built his business to the full point that when he died in 1952 , he owned 30 dental clinics and employed 75 dental practitioner . When Parker , who de jure changed his name to Painless , performed his public extraction , he break a necklace made of dentition he had pull . He finally collected a big bucket of human teeth , whichis on displayat Temple University ’s dental museum .
2. The Boxing Gordon Sisters
One gimmick for drawing in audiences was to put females in a purpose usually reserved for military man . The Gordon Sisterstraveled the east glide in a boxing expo show begin in the late nineties . Bessie Gordon , who was sometimes billed as Belle , gave a punch traveling bag demonstration and then package one of her sister Minnie , Alice , or Freda ( who could have been only two or even one woman ) . The sisters did not come up across as specially gifted attack aircraft , rather the novelty was that women fought at all -and it did n’t offend that they wear upon brusk skirts in the ring . They also woreboxing gloves , while real ( male person ) fighters at the time did not .
3. Lillian La France
behave in 1894,Lillian LaFranceembraced the exemption and thrills of motorcycle culture and made it into her professing . She began force back on the Motordrome circuit in 1924 . LaFrance perform stunts include a number atthe Wall of Deathwhich beatify audience across the body politic in the 1920s and ' 30s .
4. Ethel Purtle
How do you top a womanhood doing death - refuse stunts on a bike ? Take that deed and put a furious creature in it!Ethel Purtleperformed on the Wall of Death with a sidecar containing her lion named King . There wereseveral actsthat combine social lion tamers and stunt rider on the Motordrome lap .
5. Gus Visser
There ’s not a lot of biographical selective information aboutGus Visseroutside of the fact that he was born in 1894 and performed a music hall number in which he sang with a duck’s egg . The duck had a limited part , but the gimmick was enough to build an act around . Gus achieved immortality when he was recorded in a 1925 experimental sound film singing " Ma , He ’s Making Eyes At Me " , which became possibly the world ’s first medicine video . One has to wonder if Visser had any inkling that this experiment on film would finally lead tothe descent of vaudevilleand the death of one - illusion novelty acts such as his .
6. Cannonball Richards
Frank " Cannonball " Richardsseemingly ramp up his act around self - penalisation . strongman were a staple of the traveling circus , but Richards combined his strength with the thrill of risking trauma as he stood still and wasshot in the stomach with a round shot . He strike his unco potent stomach as a young man and invited his friends to perforate him in the gut . Richards rifle on to give up people to jump on his stomach to show its strength . He even took a punch from Jack Dempsey ! His cannon ball procedure was limited to two performances a day because , despite his showmanship , the stunt was afflictive .
7. Le Petomane
Joseph Pujolmade a keep by farting , or rather , by drawing in and expelling air from his anus . He first shared his endowment while serve in the French army and begin performing professionally in 1887 . Pujol , who last by the name Le Petomane on stagecoach , performed amply clothed for most consultation and drew gasps and laughter from the gang with the sounds he made , from impressions to melodies , including tricks like blowing out candles . He headline at the Moulin Rouge in Paris for two years , then go throughout Europe . Pujolretired during World War Iand regress to his former career as a baker in Marseilles . The only availablefilm of his performanceis , sadly , mum .
8. Helen Keller
You know the floor of how Helen Keller was both unsighted and indifferent and see to commune with her teacher , Anne Sullivan Macy . You might not hump about their career asvaudeville performers . Keller was offered a place on stage as a teen , but reverse down the chance . By 1920 , she and Macy were in pauperism of money , and toured the US and Canada on the Orpheum racing circuit for four years . Keller was already a celebrity as an author and reader , but the phase routine was remindful of a freak show , as Keller march her finger spelling and speaking voice . She was urged to keep her political views off the stage for fear of alienating the audience .
See also : Coney Island Freaks of Yesterday and TodayandStars of the Wild West Show .
