Volume 1

James Taylor’s Shocked and Amazed! On & Off the Midway, Vol.

July, 1995 (Out of Print)

Lady Sandra Reed, Albino Sword-Swallower

  • In Volume One you’ll meet Ward Hall, media proclaimed “King of Sideshows,” in an exclusive interview. You’ll hear Hall’s tales of his fight to keep his freak baby show and his legal battle to rid the law hooks of a ban on freak shows, a legal battle he took all the way to the Supreme Court.
  • In “Nightmare Alley”, you’ll see Hall and his World of Wonders show covered at New York’s Meadowlands Fair.
  • You’ll meet “Lady Sandra” Reed in the second exclusive interview and hear how the albino sword swallower, made famous by photographer Diane Arbus, held the world’s record for the number of swords swallowed by a woman.
  • There’s a special photo gallery of freaks and oddities from Bernard Kobel, supplier to the sideshows.
  • You’ll meet the bearded lady half-and-half who delivers a young boy from innocence in prize-winning author James Taylor’s “The Passing of Philomena Marker”.
  • You’ll watch the not-so-innocent rubes get the better of themselves in classic hootchie kootchie show fashion in Jim Tully’s “Without What?” from his legendary “Circus Parade.”
  • And special to every volume of SHOCKED & AMAZED is an extensive, illustrated dictionary of Carny Lingo, your verbal guidebook for all the terms of the business.
  • All this under the front cover banner painted especially for Volume One by banner artist, showman, and road-side museum owner Mark Frierson, whose work graced the front of Coney Island’s Sideshow by the Seashore.
  • And to top it all, this and every succeeding volume will feature up-to-the-minute information on access to sideshow collectibles and resource materials!