IN the mid-19th century, PHINEAS TAYLOR BARNUM and JAMES ANTHONY BAILEY kept the people of America thrilled and amazed with their world-famous travelling shows. The whole population would turn out when the Barnum and Bailey circus hit town, and jaws would hit the floor when they saw such wondrous sites as the tiny General Tom Thumb, Édouard Beaupré the Willow Bunch Giant, and the fascinating and mysterious Mermaid of Fiji. But the showmen knew that these curious beings could only surprise and thrill an audience once, and they were constantly on the lookout for exciting figures and strange people to exhibit at their “nickel apiece” freak shows. So Roll up! Roll up! as we take a look at some of the strangest exhibits, acts and curiosities to have featured on the bill of…
handbills given to American townsfolk In November 1912 promised “A real, living, breathing Queen, the only Crowned Head of England in America.” And those going along and paying 25 cents would not be disappointed, because Mary of Teck,. Of course, it was just a trick using a blunt knife to puncture a bag of blue dye concealed in her palm. Finally, Queen Mary would perform a ‘walkabout’ through the assembled crowd, holding an upturned crown into which people would toss loose change. Queen Mary returned to the UK in 1914 on the instructions of Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, who deemed it “ill-befitting of Her Majesty to associate with such hustlers, mountebanks and snake oil salesmen, and it reflects poorly upon the magnificent institute of the Monarchy.”
