On the sawdust trail...

By Kathleen Crawford
Shocked & Amazed Online Editor

March 1997

Final Curtain

Dan Mannix, author of Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others and Step Right Up! (recently released as Memoirs of a Swordswallower), died in January. Widely regarded as one of the finest writers on the sideshow business, he introduced rubes to the world of the carny. The reprinting of his Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others in 1990 introduced a generation too young to have seen freaks on the midway to the likes of the Only Living Half Girl Jeanie Tomaini and Percilla the Monkey Girl. He was an outstanding writer whose contribution to sideshow literature can never be overestimated.

Giddy in Gibtown

Every year in February, the SHOCKED AND AMAZED!mobile points south to attend the annual International Independent Showmen’s Association Trade Show and Extravaganza and this year was no exception.

The annual trade fair in Gibsonton, Florida, is what carny is all about. Here you get to meet and greet some of the luminaries in the outdoor amusement biz. Route planning, wheeling and dealing, it’s all happening at the Extravaganza. It also serves as a very convenient excuse for the staff of SHOCKED AND AMAZED! to catch up with some of our favorite pals from the sawdust trail.

This year, the Extravaganza coincided with the premiere of the documentary "SIDESHOW" on The Learning Channel. Word around the lot was that it was a roaring success and was widely acclaimed as being one of the first shows in long time to give the shows a fair break! Celebs of the documentary including Jeanie "The Only Living Half Girl" Tomaini, Percilla "The Monkey Girl" Bejano and even our own James Taylor, were overrun with fans and well-wishers upon their postshow arrival to the Extravaganza. (A little bird with connections to the director of the documentary, has mentioned this was one of the top-rated shows The Learning Channel has ever aired!)

No whirlwind trip through Showtown, USA is complete without visiting some of the best and the brightest the business of weirdness as entertainment has to offer.

First stop—not technically Gibsonton, but the spirit of the shows is far-reaching—was with Ward Alexander at his new compound near Gainesville. Completely isolated from prying eyes, this place has it all, including zoning for exotic animals, armadillos galore, and the cremated remains of a showman on the premises. (Psst, Troma Films: You need to see this place. Have I scouted the next perfect remote location for you! We’re talking big, old, creepy, trees dripping with Spanish moss. Contact us for more information)

Next stop: Showtown, USA proper. Here we were greeted with our own keys to paradise (known by the locals as Hog Heaven) at Giant’s Trailer Camp by The Only Living Half-Girl Jeanie Tomaini and her lovely daughter Judy Rock. Always a delight, we were particularly glad to see our favorite covergirl this year. Apparently Jeanie has internalized this "young inside" attitude a little too much and recently had to have her appendix removed!

After this we went to visit the always amazing, extremely talented, wildly amusing Johnny Meah and his equally wonderful wife Joan. Johnny was able to display just a small fraction of his prodigious talents on The Learning Channel documentary. In addition to footage of Johnny painting a show front, he was showcased as a talker, sword swallower, and fortune teller regarding the future of the business. You would have to travel far and wide to find a showman as accomplished and polished as Johnny Meah.

Later in the week, a visit was paid to cover model Melvin "The Human Blockhead" Burkhart. The recent birthday boy (he just turned 90 years young) regaled us with stories, talked about some of the lesser-known aspects of the business and taught us a few magic tricks. Melvin is—as the front cover of volume 3 professes—a true marvel!

The Florida State Fair—which always runs in conjunction with the Extravaganza—has finally lifted its ban on backend shows. Unfortunately they gave them, as one pithy showman put it, "A spot Ray Charles picked out." The S&A troops were scouring the fair grounds for the show and finally found them between the two horse barns, behind the water slide, as far away from the front door as possible and still be able to call it the FLORIDA state fair. Long-time friends and showmen extraordinaire Ward Hall and Chris Christ were in attendance and rumor has it big plans are in store for next season. Watch this spot for details in the spring.

Also in attendance were Lee and Becky Kolozy’s Giant rat and snake and the Spidora show owned by Bill and Bev Cadeaux. Attendees of last year’s Lollapalooza may remember the Kolozsy’s giant rat show from there. There was a collection of Tom Beimborn’s really big and really little animals all over the midway always drawing a crowd of onlookers. Particularly impressive was the number and quantity of the free shows at the fair. For fast-paced fun and excitement, alligator wrasslin’ just can’t be beat and the boys with Kachunga put on a real thriller of a show. Also at the fair were trained dogs and dancing bears. They must make the animals smarter down in Florida.

Sadly the trip drew to a close too early, as it always does, and we had to head the S&Amobile back home to corporate headquarters. But there were strange things afoot back home as well . . .

Simulating a sex act on stage
without a PERMIT?

Those masters of mayhem, the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, have hit the road again and are leaving a trail of depravity behind them. After an arrest in Lubbock, Texas for—I am not making this up—"simulating a sex act on stage without a permit." WHAT KIND OF CITY HAS PERMITS FOR THAT? Jim, a female sumo wrestler, the Armenian Rubber Man, and the Amazing Mr. Lifto spent the night in the hooskow. Not one to be phased by the petty laws of small minded folk, Jim has confidently announced he will not be returning to that less than welcoming burg to stand trail.

Jim Rose in Baltimore

Mexican Transvestite Wrestling! Mr. Lifto with more hardware than a Home Depot! Female sumo wrestlers! Detonations! Chain Saws! More daring than ever, this show is not to be missed! Reformulated for maximum sensory overload, this is a nonstop rollercoaster ride through a lunatic asylum. There are not enough explosive adjectives to convey the energy and excitement of this show. Everything that has made the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow repulsive, thrilling, and exotic in the past has been amplified. See this show! See this show! See this show!

Devil Man Debut in "Weekly World News"

Rumor has it that Artist-in-Residence Mark Frierson’s creation affectionately known as Devil Man--careful readers of volume 2 are familiar with our cadaverous friend—is about to make his journalistic debut in the pages of the educational journal "The Weekly World News". Watch this space for details as they happen.

A Special Offer to All Who Travel
the Sawdust Trail

With the publicity machine running at full steam, it is sometimes hard for even the dedicated folks at James Taylor’s SHOCKED AND AMAZED! On & Off the Midway to keep track of our mountains of mentions in the mass media. Here is where we turn to you, gentle reader, to help. We need any mentions of James Taylor’s SHOCKED AND AMAZED! to be sent to the corporate offices for inclusion in our vast archives. All who help in this search will receive not only our undying appreciation and respect but a FABULOUS FREE GIFT. Please send all items to: SHOCKED AND AMAZED!, P.O. Box 22262, Baltimore, MD 21203, Attn: Archivist.

Watch this Space for Details

The industrious folks at SHOCKED AND AMAZED! are putting the finishing touches on Volume 4 of James Taylor’s SHOCKED AND AMAZED! On & Off the Midway. It’s guaranteed to contain more backend bafflement than ever before. Resplendent with raucous interviews and racy remembrances the long tradition of titillating page turners continues! For a super-secret behind the scenes look at what is included in volume 4—make sure to visit the Sawdust trail again in April.