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Coney Island Sideshow

Look twice at the photo with this entry. That's not a thin guy. That's Jennifer Miller-Zenobia, the fast-talking, straight jacket-escaping bearded lady from the Coney Island Sideshow. She's real and the beard is real. How do I know? I once had the honor of coming on stage and chaining her up as part of her escape act.

Bearded ladies, sideshows and freak shows are as rare as black pearls and becoming rarer everyday. Beauty is in and human anomalies are not only not celebrated, they're shunned. But why shouldn't tattooed freaks, bearded ladies, snake charmers and entertaining grifters be role models, too? Priests, captains of industry, the clergy and artists are our official role models, but they're as lousy with convicted felons as any crack house in the south Bronx.

Loving our freaks and our carnies is loving yourself. Who do you think settled the US? Freaks. Lunatics so annoying, even the Dutch wanted them to get the hell out of Europe. We're not the Beautiful People. We're a country of hustlers, tall tale spinners and card sharks. In the best of all possible worlds, sideshows would be our White House. The Capitol dome would be a big tent full of sword swallowers and pickpockets, bearded ladies and surly lobster men.

You don't have to be a genetic anomaly to join the freak parade. Not only does the Coney Island Sideshow site offer an online museum and links to Coney Island entertainment, history and sideshow info, but you can also sign up for classes. Learn to paint sideshow banners or join the show itself by learning its essential arts, such as sword swallowing, broken glass walking, lying on a bed of nails, surviving an electric chair and carnival barking.

http://www.coneyislandusa.com/sideshow.shtml

Posted by Kadrey at November 13, 2002 03:44 PM

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