Guest Post: Louis J. Parascandola

By Louis J. Parascandola

When they think of Coney Island, the first things that come to mind for most people are the beach, boardwalk, and the rides. For me, however, the main attractions were the food, the games (particularly Skeeball), and the so-called “freaks.” Coney has had a long history of not only accepting the unconventional, but also celebrating it. So it should not be surprising that it has embraced these very special people and provided them a home.

​Even before the days of the great amusement parks began in 1897, Coney already had side show displays continuing the great tradition of P.T. Barnum’s American Museum in lower Manhattan in the 1840s and 1850s. Perhaps the most famous practitioner of the side show act at Coney was Samuel W. Gumpertz, who was hired by the Dreamland park. Perhaps his most famous attraction was Lilliputia, which included over 300 midgets who had their own community. To Gumpertz, the key to success in drawing crowds to amusement parks was novelty. He brought that in spades to Coney. He yearned for authenticity in his acts and searched around the world for his human exhibits, managing to bring almost 4,000 such people into the United States. Many of them were displayed at the Dreamland Circus Sideshow, begun in 1911 on the grounds of the park after it was destroyed in 1911.

​Another well known side show impresario was Sam Wagner, who operated the World Circus Side Show from 1922-1941. Wagner’s side show starred such attractions as Pipo and Zipo (two micro cephalic people or “pinheads”), Prince Randian, the human torso, the Gibbs Sisters (conjoined twins), Laurello (who had a revolving head), and the Spider Boy, Henry Bulson. Some of his performers were featured in Tod Browning’s classic film Freaks (1932). At their peak in the 1920s, Wagner’s shows could attract as many as 20,000 people on a single day.

​By the early 1940s, interest in human oddities had begun to wane for several reasons. New medical devices helped to prevent some of the natural born oddities. New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses passed legislation prohibiting barkers from giving their bally (spiel) that would attempt to lure customers into the shows. People also became jaded by the numerous bearded ladies, tattooed people and fat ladies. Unlike Samuel Gumpertz and Sam Wagner, some of the newer operators presented “fake freaks.” Finally, tastes had changed. Increasingly, people felt the human oddities were being victims who were being exploited rather than entertaining performers. Still, even in their reduced form, the side shows continued throughout the 1940s and ’50s.

​In 1985, however, Dick Zigun, through the organization he founded Coney Island USA, opened Sideshows by the Seashore. Zigun’s show is a “10 in 1,” presenting ten acts for the price of one ticket. Over the years, Sideshows by the Seashore has presented such performers as Donny Vomit (the human blockhead), Serpentina (snake charmer), and Heather Holliday (ire eater/sword swallower) . Sideshows by the Seashore continues to operate between April and September each year.

​A Coney Island Reader: Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion (Columbia University Press , 2015), edited by my brother John and me, contains several pieces about the sideshows at Coney Island. These include an insightful discussion of Sam Wagner’s World Circus Side Show in the essay “To Heaven by Subway” (1938), a charming excerpt from Amram Ducovny’s novel Coney (2000), and a delightful short story “Kwan’s Coney Island” (1969), written by Edward Hoagland, featuring a human pin cushion. Perhaps the most unique piece however is “Confessions of a Coney Island Sideshow Performer,” by Donald Thomas (aka Donny Vomit). Here in two sketches written specifically for this anthology, Donny recreates the spiel he would pitch outside Sideshows by the Seashore to bring in the customers, and he also relates his life as a blockhead. It is hoped that the writings in the book help to preserve the storied history of Coney, including its side shows, and to continue into the future.