James was the Outside Talker for the sideshow. We became pen pals. Here I share with you some of the letters he has sent me through the years.

I retyped the letters to share with you, but left intact all the grammatical errors so as to let the flavor of his letters come through.

Dear Mr. White:

I am please to be able to write again.

I hope all is well with you and your family. As promised, here are my recollections of the freaks, which ultimately became my friends. Even though many of them still around and working on the sideshow, I speak of them in the past tense, as I am retelling of them as of the last time I worked with them.

The Freakshow was in a "10 in 1" style in a circus setting. It played small towns, but people came from far away to see the Freakshow.
 

Lon - The Circus Owner and Leader of the Freaks

Lon was known as just man among the freaks and other workers. He did treat his people well and paid on time, most of the time. If money were short he would talk to us directly to let us know he could not meet the payroll. He would ask us to wait until he was able to pay. We often did wait for our pay; we knew he would pay us in time. (Rumors had it that Lon and Sherri were rich.)

We also knew not to cheat or cross a man like Lon. He was not a forgiving man once you got on his bad side.

He was also a family man. He loved his daughter Kimmie. He took good care of Sherri, Kimmie's mom, and others whom he view as his family, namely, the freaks.

Lon suffered from an illness now known as neurofibromatosis, which gave him those horrible boils - looking knots and lumps all over his back and face.

His face was a bit scary, hard, lots of scars, wrinkles and boils with a protruding front tooth, yet, in his own way, he was a gentle man.

Lon was the inside talker on the Freakshow.
 

Sherri - Kimmie's Mom

Sherri was quiet, unassuming, and stay to herself when she was not caring for Kimmie and Mongoloid girl. Her best friend was Margaret, the Cannibal Girl.

Many people believed that Sherri was cunning, and actually called the shots from behind the scenes. Rumors ran around saying that Sherri was in fact Lon's sister.

Sometimes she was known as the Seal Girl due to a deformed hand that resembled a flipper.
 

Curtis - The Dwarf

Curtis was the eyes and ears of the Freakshow. He always knew what was going on the circus grounds. He also had a nasty attitude, was at odds with Lon for one reason or another. He knew how to push Lon's buttons. Yet, he was loyal to Lon. For his size he had a tremendous ego, and a hallow leg. He could drink with the best of them.

Curtis was very talented, He could eat fire, juggle, and ride a unicycle, and a comedy routine for Ladies and Kids, while the gentlemen were watching Cannibal Girl. At times Curtis was the inside talker.
 

The Strong Man

The Strong Man was Lon's right hand man. He was extremely loyal to Lon, and did all his dirty work. He was the punisher and disciplinary on the circus ground. However, among the freaks, and in front of an audience, he was a gentle giant of good humor and on the show his strength was incredible.
 

The Wolf Man

The Wolf Man was act all on his own. Born with hypertrichosis, he was impressive in appearance. Dark, thick hair covered his face and upper body. Wolf Man was the heart of the Freakshow, always looking after the weaker ?family? members such as Little Kimmie, Mongoloid Girl, and Elephant Man.

He viewed Lon as a father figure and was protective of him. Wolf Man would never talk back to Lon, as if he had a fear of him. Actually, only once did I see Wolf Man disagreed or talked back to Lon. That was the day that Wolf Boy came into the scene. I'll tell you more about that later. Wolf Man saw Little Kimmie as his little sister. And took care of her as such. He was very gentle with children and was known to hide his face if he saw fear in child's face, but also he growled and howled like a werewolf to the horror of others. The irony was that he hated to hear people yell and scream.

Elephant Man was Wolf Man's best friend. They always watch out for each other. Wolf Man loved to laugh and found various situations funny. He also had a taste for fine wine, and was a good dresser. I for my part enjoyed talking to him.
 

The Wolf Boy

One day Lon return from a long trip and with him was Wolf Boy. He told us that he adapted Wolf Boy from a family that was hiding him in a basement. He was able to convince his parents that Wolf Boy would have a better future in the circus.

Wolf Man was furious; he believed that Lon was going to replace him with Wolf Boy. This was the first time I ever seen Wolf Man stand up to Lon.

Lon was able to convince Wolf Man that he would continue to be the main bill, "the star" of the show, and that Wolf Boy was to be introduce as Wolf Man's son. Somehow Wolf Man, finally, decided to go along with it.

Wolf Man and Wolf Boy kept their distance from each other but were gracious to one another in public. Wolf Man had good reasons to be worried. Wolf Boy juggled, did the single trapeze. Wolf Boy was young and handsome.
 

Little Kimmie

Little Kimmie was Lon and Sherri's daughter. But in truth she was everyone's daughter.

Every member of the freaks and crew looked after her. Everyone knew how na'e, and child like she was, easily getting into trouble. Kimmie had the mind of a very young child, looked to be about ten years old, but as long as I have known her, she always look that young.

Kimmie had a limited vocabulary of a few words. It seemed to consist of her name and

"Okay."  She loved to dance. On the show she would do a silly dance with Mongoloid Girl. Children enjoyed watching her dance and laugh.

Whenever Kimmie heard music she wanted to dance. Whoever was neared her; she would take them by the hand and make them dance. It was pathetic and funny to see Little Kimmie try to make Elephant Man dance with her. He did his best, but was limited on how much he could move. So Kimmie would become frustrated with him. Even then, she would make it into a game. To Little Kimmie, everything was a game.
 

Cannibal Girl

On the bally, my favorite person to have was Margaret the Cannibal Girl. When she was on the bally I did such a grind, playing off her, that I could turn the whole tip.

Once the man were inside the show, sometimes with their family, the inside talker, Lon, would announce that there would be, for an extra fee, a special show (The blow off) for "discreet gentlemen," featuring "The Cannibal Girl."

Men would knock each other out to get a ticket for the show. Cannibal Girl did Hoochy Koochy show; I leave it to your imagination. It was worth the price of admission!

Margaret was beautiful, angelic, and innocent looking. But looks were deceiving. Margaret could hold her own, and when angry could pack a mean wallop. She could scratch and bite like a wild animal. It was said that she was a man-eater, you missed with her, and she'll eat you alive.
 

The Great Riwami and Chef

The Great Riwami had no arms; Chef was a half man, he had no legs. They were quite a pair.

Riwami and Chef were best of friends. Always hanging around together, well, actually, Chef hanging from the Great Riwami's shoulders was a common site. They were the clowns of the family, always playing practical jokes on others.

The Great Riwami could use his feet as well as anyone could use hands. On the show he threw knives with his feet. Chef was a crack with the whip, and was an acrobat. He was also the cook, thus the moniker of "Chef."

 

The Bearded lady

Was a contortionist and acrobat. People came to see a bearded lady, but soon were amazed by her flexibility, grace, and beauty. She had a soft voice, and was a good friend of Curtis.
 

Mongoloid Girl

Mongoloid girl was mentally retarded, however, she did not suffer from mongolism. She had a misshapen forehead, and bizared eyes that give her an evil appearance, yet she was gentle and friendly. Mongoloid Girl and Little Kimmie were always playing together, they were like sisters, even though I never knew if they were in fact sisters.

Mongoloid Girls was like the "pin head" and clown of our show. She danced and sang as part of her act. She enjoyed the attention of the audience, even though she was mocked and laughed at.
 

Elephant Man

Grotesque is a good word to describe Elephant Man. His face, head and left arm were severely deformed. He had difficult talking, and made a strange creepy sound when he laughed.

When he was eating or drinking, I had to turn away. At the same time, I felt sorry for this unfortunate gymp. He had his own "blow off" where people with strong constitution could pay an extra fee to see" the ugliest man in the world." Women had been known to faint as they got a sight of him.

Out of the show he was a nice person. When Wolf Man was not around he stayed mostly to himself.

Well. There you have. I hope this will help in your research.

On my next letter I'll write on how I became the outside talker for the Freakshow.

Sincerely,

James