Step right up: See the freak show before it's too late
YORK, Pa. (AP) -- The consummate showman, Ward Hall stands behind a podium, speaking endlessly about the world's tallest woman, the world's fattest man, the world's ugliest face and drawing a crowd outside the entrance to the World of Wonders tent at the York Fair.
"You only need two things to do this trick," Hall explains while, at his side, Poobah the 73-year-old midget takes in another mouthful of fire. "First, you need a midget who's willing to let you take his head off."
At that point, the second thing becomes a moot point -- the crowd is hooked.
Hall and his partner, Chris Christ, take turns calling to passers-by, drawing their attention to the most bizarre attraction at the fair. You wouldn't think it would take so much work. After all, how many other attractions have bold, hand-painted panels boasting: "Laloo: the Strangest Man in Pakistan," "Schlitzie: A head the size of a grapefruit," and "Betty Lou Williams: Considered the Greatest Human Oddity Ever Born."
Dying breed
Those who paid admission didn't get to see Betty Lou, Laloo or Schlitzie -- at least not the real ones. Inside the tent was a museum of side show history and a stage in what is thought to be the nation's last traveling side show.
After October, or perhaps November, the last freak show will fold its tent for good.
Ward Hall has been in the side show business since 1946, moving to side shows when he determined he wouldn't make it in the circus. By 1948 he was managing his first show; two years later, he was an owner.
Thirty-nine years ago, he brought aboard a 16-year-old from Buffalo named Chris Christ, and they've worked together on the Gibsonton, Fla.-based show ever since.
"They're the last of the side show operators, through attrition mostly," said Al Stencell of Toronto, a circus owner for 20 years and author of "Seeing Is Believing: America's Side Shows." "Pretty well all the old-timers died off in the '70s, but Ward was a little bit behind that generation and he kept going."
In that time, they've worked with a "human turtle" and a "penguin boy," an "alligator-skinned man" and a "monkey," each suffering from a rare genetic disorder, each of whom joined the show of their own free will.
Ready to move on
But after so many decades in the business, both men are ready to call it quits. Hall already has semiretired, only traveling at the tail end of this year's tour.
"I'm 55 years old, and I've been doing this since I was a teenager," Christ said. "I'm ready to do something different."
And show business has changed since Hall and Christ joined the show.
"This business used to be an entertainment business," Christ said. "Now, we're in the amusement business."
"Up until the early '60s, a fair like this would have maybe 25 rides, a big all-girl revue, orchestras, an all-black revue. And there would be a side show, sometimes more than one," Hall said, interrupting -- as usual -- and completing Christ's thought. "People came to see the shows. Today, the carnival business has turned into the ride business."
What's more, society's understanding of genetic conditions has evolved. Emmett Bejano, the "alligator-skinned man," suffered from icthyosis, a family of genetic skin diseases that make the skin appear hard and scaly. Percilla Lauther, the "monkey girl," had a condition that caused her to grow hair all over her body.
They met in the side shows, traveled together and eventually married. Today, they probably would receive medical treatment; they'd probably never meet.
This isn't the first time that Hall and Christ have said they planned to retire, but Stencell says he believes them this time, mostly because Hall has spent so much time away from the show.
Still some around
Still, Stencell said, the side show tradition will continue. Fixed side shows still operate on Coney Island and other carnival sites, and side shows on stage are gaining popularity -- perhaps even enough to persuade some future operator to go on the road.
"I somehow think there's going to be other people out there -- there's a guy out there with a freak animal show doing very well because there hasn't been one around in a long time," Stencell said. "Ward told me some of the places they've played that were fresh, they've done very well. There's still an interest out there."