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Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women
A cult classic and a work of remarkable scholarship, this title is an investigation into the inspired world of side shows, circuses, and singularly talented performers. Jay's unparalleled collection of books, posters, photographs, programs, broadsides, and data about unjustifiably forgotten entertainers all over the world made this unique book possible.
343 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
20 people are currently reading
1264 people want to read
About the author
Ricky Jay
30 books51 followersRicky Jay (born Richard Jay Potash in 1946) was an American stage magician, actor, and writer.
Born to a Jewish-American family, Jay is considered one of the most knowledgeable and skilled sleight-of-hand experts in the United States. He is notable for his signature card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter. At least two of his shows, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem, were directed by David Mamet, who has also cast Jay in a number of his films. Jay has appeared in productions by other directors, notably Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and Magnolia, as well as The Prestige and season one of HBO's Deadwood as card sharp Eddie Sawyer.
Until recently, Ricky Jay was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing a playing card 190 ft at 90 miles per hour (the current record is 216 ft, by Rick Smith, Jr.). Ricky Jay can throw a playing card into a watermelon rind (which he refers to as the "thick, pachydermatous outer melon layer" of "the most prodigious of household fruits") from ten paces.
Born to a Jewish-American family, Jay is considered one of the most knowledgeable and skilled sleight-of-hand experts in the United States. He is notable for his signature card tricks, card throwing, memory feats, and stage patter. At least two of his shows, Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem, were directed by David Mamet, who has also cast Jay in a number of his films. Jay has appeared in productions by other directors, notably Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and Magnolia, as well as The Prestige and season one of HBO's Deadwood as card sharp Eddie Sawyer.
Until recently, Ricky Jay was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for throwing a playing card 190 ft at 90 miles per hour (the current record is 216 ft, by Rick Smith, Jr.). Ricky Jay can throw a playing card into a watermelon rind (which he refers to as the "thick, pachydermatous outer melon layer" of "the most prodigious of household fruits") from ten paces.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
October 31, 2020
Ricky Jay is a pretty amazing man. He is known as perhaps the country's greatest sleight-of-hand artist and even wrote a book about how to turn ordinary playing cards into weapons. He has appeared in small roles in numerous movies, most notably as a card sharp in David Mamet's HOUSE OF CARDS and in two Paul Thomas Anderson movies, BOOGIE NIGHTS and MAGNOLIA. For this book, he dons an academic's hat and gives a learned yet thoroughly entertaining account of some of the acts that enlived big tops and side shows and traveling shows between the mid-Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries. In addition to the title oddities, Jay discusses, among other strange acts, men who hold amazing stores of data between their ears, "pig faced" women (usually billed as Irish or German for the British market), people who eat stones and snakes and crawl into tiny spaces, and my favorite, a Pétomane (for lack of a better term, a "Fart-iste"), who was famous all over his native France and beyond.
Jay's 1986 book is no longer in print, but I wish it were. Both paperback and hardcover versions are available used.
Image: Joseph Pujol, Le Pétomane, ca. 1890:
Jay's 1986 book is no longer in print, but I wish it were. Both paperback and hardcover versions are available used.
Image: Joseph Pujol, Le Pétomane, ca. 1890:
ADDENDUM: Sadly, Ricky Jay left this earth on November 24, 2018.
November 19, 2009
A well-written book on a fascinating subject. While it's not Ricky Jay's fault that the sources on stories included herein are scarce and untrustworthy, it does make for a frustrating read. The catalog nature of the book means there's little depth, and often a dry breadth to the list of individuals, acts, and events presented.
February 2, 2008
Ricky Jay is one of the world's most accomplished showmen, a world-renowned magician and sleight-of-hand artist, particularly famed for his card-throwing stunts. (He is the author of Cards as Weapons.) In this affectionate and entertaining book, Jay presents a mind-boggling array of oddball performers, everything from calculating horses to armless artists. Jay's style has a trace of the academic to it, but he wears his mantle of scholarship in a rakish manner. One can imagine a twinkle in Jay's eye as he writes of these "pioneers or refiners of peculiar performance," particularly in the chapter devoted to the 19th century Parisian performer, "Le Pétoman," who gave musical performances by, well, farting. Ah, to hear "Au clair de la lune" thus rendered!
I couldn't help but think, as I was reading Jay's droll description of Le Pétoman's performances and the enthusiastic reception he received that, really, present-day moralists who "humph!" over the degradation of society and such things as "South Park" or pro wrestling need to take a chill pill.
And, yeah, my mom was right - each one of us does have a special talent, just waiting to be discovered.
I couldn't help but think, as I was reading Jay's droll description of Le Pétoman's performances and the enthusiastic reception he received that, really, present-day moralists who "humph!" over the degradation of society and such things as "South Park" or pro wrestling need to take a chill pill.
And, yeah, my mom was right - each one of us does have a special talent, just waiting to be discovered.
April 14, 2022
An incredible illustrated historical account of circus's and sideshows from history with stunning, disturbing, haunting, peculiar and weird imagery from programs and posters that were used to advertise these shows. It's a fantastic book that I re-read regularly and truly mark as one of the best of its kind, even this many years since its release.
January 16, 2019
This is probably one of my favorite books of all time. Filled with amazing historical accounts of marvelous people. Do yourself a favor, and devour this book
December 13, 2018
A history of weird "entertainments," mostly in Europe and America. I guess it could be seen as a compendium of how sharkers and con men, quacks and mountebanks found a living bamboozling audiences – despite the efforts of sane skeptics to unmask their deceptions. The tricks behind horses that can count and pigs that can read minds, behind people who claim to be able to drink boiling oil and corrosive chemicals without injury, have been known for a long time, but new generations keep wanting to be fooled. There are some who came to bizarre performances out of necessity – those born without arms, who had to learn to use their feet to write, draw, and shoot bows and arrows. But most are fast-buck artists, who find all kinds of ways to avoid confronting skeptics who try to debunk the hucksters.
A disappointing read, written very mundanely, organized poorly, with bad reproductions of old photographs and theater handbills. Not much to read, really; a skim, with stops here and there to pursue things that look interesting (but turn out not to be all that so).
I will remember the jerks who claim to be able to eat all kinds of indigestible stuff: live animals, parts of machinery, thistles and nails and.... enough.
A disappointing read, written very mundanely, organized poorly, with bad reproductions of old photographs and theater handbills. Not much to read, really; a skim, with stops here and there to pursue things that look interesting (but turn out not to be all that so).
I will remember the jerks who claim to be able to eat all kinds of indigestible stuff: live animals, parts of machinery, thistles and nails and.... enough.
February 6, 2023
Ricky Jay writes a book to celebrate the odder acts of the stage. Sapient swine, eaters of all things, and fantastic flatulists abound. The book swerves through acts both big and small. The kinds of things you'd see at your county fair on up to sell out performances for the crowned heads of the world. Ricky Jay introduces a troupe of characters whose talents are diverse and their lives fascinating.
But first I must mention Jay's unforgivable sin: in describing the life of renowned farter Joseph Pujol (better known by his stage monicker, Lepetomane) he notes that character one Mayor Lepetomane played by Harvey Korman in Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles is named for this performer. Point of order, Lepetomane is a *governor* not a *mayor*, Harvey Korman's character is Hedley Lamarr, and Governor Lepetomane is, in fact, played by Mel Brooks himself. It's the sort of error an editor should probably have caught. It's a minor detail and the kernel at the center I totally believe. Mel Brooks s an entertainer's entertainer and I would not doubt he knew of Lepetomane's talent.
The book is exhaustively researched and Jay even recounts his trips to gain access to rare books in doing so. He does this in the Lepetomane chapter and explains that the librarians began to judge his taste. Of course, asking for 100 year old tomes on famous farters is a pretty eccentric thing to do. Given Jay's identity, and reality, of being a connoisseur of rare books, I imagine he was quite giddy to read first printings of such material.
The book is bursting with illustrations. News articles are presented and there is a section of full color plates of posters and other work (some of which produced by some of the incredible artists detailed in this book). Unfortunately, the printing quality kind of sucks. I don't know if it was a limitation of the time in which it was published or the degradation of the originals being reproduced, but the book is kind of an art book itself and could use a new edition in which the quality of illustrations is vastly improved. Given Jay's passing some years ago, however, this seems unlikely.
It's a fun look at entertainers who ruled the world in their heydey. From pigs capable of doing arithmetic up to the madman Max Malini. All of the stories are compelling and Jay told them well.
But first I must mention Jay's unforgivable sin: in describing the life of renowned farter Joseph Pujol (better known by his stage monicker, Lepetomane) he notes that character one Mayor Lepetomane played by Harvey Korman in Mel Brooks's Blazing Saddles is named for this performer. Point of order, Lepetomane is a *governor* not a *mayor*, Harvey Korman's character is Hedley Lamarr, and Governor Lepetomane is, in fact, played by Mel Brooks himself. It's the sort of error an editor should probably have caught. It's a minor detail and the kernel at the center I totally believe. Mel Brooks s an entertainer's entertainer and I would not doubt he knew of Lepetomane's talent.
The book is exhaustively researched and Jay even recounts his trips to gain access to rare books in doing so. He does this in the Lepetomane chapter and explains that the librarians began to judge his taste. Of course, asking for 100 year old tomes on famous farters is a pretty eccentric thing to do. Given Jay's identity, and reality, of being a connoisseur of rare books, I imagine he was quite giddy to read first printings of such material.
The book is bursting with illustrations. News articles are presented and there is a section of full color plates of posters and other work (some of which produced by some of the incredible artists detailed in this book). Unfortunately, the printing quality kind of sucks. I don't know if it was a limitation of the time in which it was published or the degradation of the originals being reproduced, but the book is kind of an art book itself and could use a new edition in which the quality of illustrations is vastly improved. Given Jay's passing some years ago, however, this seems unlikely.
It's a fun look at entertainers who ruled the world in their heydey. From pigs capable of doing arithmetic up to the madman Max Malini. All of the stories are compelling and Jay told them well.
August 16, 2024
This book was clearly a labor of love from the magician-author. Not only did he personally collect many of the sources, artwork and documents that went into making the book, but he was able to find and interview many people who saw some of the turn of the 20th century acts. As he sadly notes in his acknowledgements, 7 or 8 people he interviewed died while he was writing the book, including Orson Welles.
Since this book was written long before the Internet, or even digital card catalogues, finding all of the books and periodoicals alone was incredibly impressive to me. That alone gives the book five stars.
But Jay has a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek voice as a writer. He chose only the best stories to focus on (although it was sad to see Lady Wonder reduced to a one paragraph mention) so the text keeps moving. Don't be put off by the book's length. It's heavily illustrated. Most are black and white illustrations, but there are some full-color Circus posters and advertisements.
There are a lot of absolutely mind-boggling acts described. Some sound a bit too fantastic to be real, especially those described as happening in the 1700s. Jay does note at times it can be hard to determine what was fact and what was fiction or hyperbole.
Some acts were just gross. Animals were sometimes killed in these acts by absolute bastards, such as The Human Aquarium, who swallowed live frogs and goldfish. Some people vomited up stuff. Some guys ate rocks, silverware, and other "kids don't do this at home" objects. One idiot savant at the piano had no bladder control onstage. Cats and dogs are killed for entertainment.
Other takeaways from this book:
* People will do anything to make a buck.
* If you're going to dive off a bridge, tower, or other high spot, don't do so with a rope around your neck.
* Farting can be a legitimate art form.
* Lon Chaney was arguably the greatest actor who ever lived. At first, I though it was Sir Laurence Olivier, but Chaney learned how to eat and wash with his feet in order to play an armless guy. Your Honor, I rest my case.
If you want to read this now, it's currently up on The Open Library.
Since this book was written long before the Internet, or even digital card catalogues, finding all of the books and periodoicals alone was incredibly impressive to me. That alone gives the book five stars.
But Jay has a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek voice as a writer. He chose only the best stories to focus on (although it was sad to see Lady Wonder reduced to a one paragraph mention) so the text keeps moving. Don't be put off by the book's length. It's heavily illustrated. Most are black and white illustrations, but there are some full-color Circus posters and advertisements.
There are a lot of absolutely mind-boggling acts described. Some sound a bit too fantastic to be real, especially those described as happening in the 1700s. Jay does note at times it can be hard to determine what was fact and what was fiction or hyperbole.
Some acts were just gross. Animals were sometimes killed in these acts by absolute bastards, such as The Human Aquarium, who swallowed live frogs and goldfish. Some people vomited up stuff. Some guys ate rocks, silverware, and other "kids don't do this at home" objects. One idiot savant at the piano had no bladder control onstage. Cats and dogs are killed for entertainment.
Other takeaways from this book:
* People will do anything to make a buck.
* If you're going to dive off a bridge, tower, or other high spot, don't do so with a rope around your neck.
* Farting can be a legitimate art form.
* Lon Chaney was arguably the greatest actor who ever lived. At first, I though it was Sir Laurence Olivier, but Chaney learned how to eat and wash with his feet in order to play an armless guy. Your Honor, I rest my case.
If you want to read this now, it's currently up on The Open Library.
February 14, 2021
This is a useful, easy to read book full of information you'd be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. I learned about performances I never would've heard of otherwise: a human card library, the eating and regurgitation of animals, a man who stood on a running horse with bees covering his face that responded to his commands. The subject matter is inherently entertaining and provides fodder for contemplation of subjects such as what counts for entertainment through the ages, how it compares to entertainment now, and the commercialization of disabled/differently-abled people (whether by the disabled person or by unscrupulous actors) -- whether or not the author wrote in these threads intentionally.
The book loses a star for two reasons:
Ricky Jay is fond of painfully outdated ableist language, such as using the wrong word to refer to a little person, comparing a mentally disabled person to an animal, stuff like that. I understand quoting texts with this language -- that's a necessary evil of this historical analysis. However, the author didn't have to fall into it himself, and it's disappointing when the punchlines of otherwise witty writing punch down.
The other thing is the size of the book, which I found inconvenient as someone with chronic pain. It's so damn big that I mostly could only read it at a table, because it hurts too much to hold up. The margins are over an inch wide, though I guess it's all for the sake of the glossy color prints in the middle -- which, admittedly, are pretty cool. But then can't you make the margins smaller so the book has less pages. Whatever.
The book loses a star for two reasons:
Ricky Jay is fond of painfully outdated ableist language, such as using the wrong word to refer to a little person, comparing a mentally disabled person to an animal, stuff like that. I understand quoting texts with this language -- that's a necessary evil of this historical analysis. However, the author didn't have to fall into it himself, and it's disappointing when the punchlines of otherwise witty writing punch down.
The other thing is the size of the book, which I found inconvenient as someone with chronic pain. It's so damn big that I mostly could only read it at a table, because it hurts too much to hold up. The margins are over an inch wide, though I guess it's all for the sake of the glossy color prints in the middle -- which, admittedly, are pretty cool. But then can't you make the margins smaller so the book has less pages. Whatever.
August 10, 2025
The December 1977 issue of Playboy Magazine, of which my dad had a copy, featured a humorous pictorial of Ricky Jay and his completely nude partner demonstrating self-defense with playing cards. Needless to say, my pubescent interest was piqued. Over the coming years and decades, Ricky Jay kept reappearing: on a Keith Henning television special, on other variety shows, in books on magic, and eventually on YouTube videos. Ricky Jay is one of those guys I wish I had met, even knowing of his prickly reputation and obvious intolerance for fools, which is probably how he would have judged me.
Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women is a real treat. I’d been hearing about the book for years, but none of the libraries around me had a copy. No one I knew had a copy. I finally found one at the museum where I recently started working, because that museum also houses an extensive collection of Harry Houdini memorabilia. Well researched and filled with humor, it was worth the wait. If you have any interest in show business but haven’t read it yet, it will be worth your search. I must quote an excerpt, one of the funniest passages I’ve read in a very long while:
Ladies and gentlemen, Ricky Jay!
Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women is a real treat. I’d been hearing about the book for years, but none of the libraries around me had a copy. No one I knew had a copy. I finally found one at the museum where I recently started working, because that museum also houses an extensive collection of Harry Houdini memorabilia. Well researched and filled with humor, it was worth the wait. If you have any interest in show business but haven’t read it yet, it will be worth your search. I must quote an excerpt, one of the funniest passages I’ve read in a very long while:
Houdini states that [entertainer] Mlle. Clifford was born in England in 1884 and began swallowing swords at the age of fifteen. He did not, nor will I, question her motivation.
Ladies and gentlemen, Ricky Jay!
October 30, 2021
I really wanted to love this book. The late Ricky Jay was not only a terrific magician and entertainer, but also one of the world's most renowned historical experts on these types of odd performers. (His astounding collection of books and ephemera was recently auctioned at Sotheby's)
But... The devil is in the details, and I found too much of it too dry, especially given the material. Even trying to "hear it" in Jays distinctive voice and cadence didn't work for me.
Terrifically researched of course, and I easily accept that may be in a small minority who thought a book about quirky and entertaining performers would be more... quirky and entertaining.
But... The devil is in the details, and I found too much of it too dry, especially given the material. Even trying to "hear it" in Jays distinctive voice and cadence didn't work for me.
Terrifically researched of course, and I easily accept that may be in a small minority who thought a book about quirky and entertaining performers would be more... quirky and entertaining.
January 10, 2019
This book must have taken a huge amount of research, especially in the pre-internet days. There are a few personal anecdotes from the author as well, and lots of reproduced old handbills/ads/posters. Very interesting and almost unbelievable feats from lots of these performers, thoroughly documented for the most part.
September 30, 2017
Just as good as I expected. A true classic of the genre, an incredible collection of amazing stories of people who lived in the twilight zone. Not for everyone but if you like magic and sideshows, you'll like this one. In fact, I may just re-read it right away.
January 31, 2020
A fun book about unique theater perforners
May 6, 2023
Sobering to realize you have the same sense of humor as 17th century French peasantry
December 20, 2023
Though an incredibly fun and informative read, it's rather dryly written and a shade overlong. Still a great book for a collection though!
April 26, 2025
A wonderful study of the unique entertainers a cavalcade of characters. Easy to read but extremely well researched and referenced.
March 11, 2020
Moderately entertaining. An aspect of America's past that you won't learn about in history books.
May 8, 2015
If there were any doubt that I am my father's son, the progressive ossification of my OCD tendencies with each passing year would definitively remove it. I've been on something of a Ricky Jay jag since viewing
Deceptive Practice
on American Masters a couple of weeks ago. In this instance, at least, my compulsive interest is satisfyingly fitting. Master conjuror and rare books maven Ricky Jay is an obsessive's obsessive.* I find his astonishing erudition in historical arcana from the less reputable avenues of show business, in combination with his glib carny's prolixity, irresistible.
Which is why I was a little disappointed in Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women. Jay has a distinctive voice and an undeniably impressive fund of knowledge about an inherently interesting subject, so I didn't expect to find this book as periodically dry as I did. As another Goodreads reviewer pointed out, the occasional catalogue-y quality can probably be ascribed to the leanness of some of the source material. I think if Jay had been a little less inclusive - a little less indulgent of his collector's vanity - it might have improved the parts of the book that sagged.
Definitely glad to have read it, though, and I'm sure I'll be back to the well.
*I once read a profile of the magician Teller in The New Yorker wherein his partner Penn Jillette declared something along the lines of, "You show me someone who can do card tricks and I'll show you someone who didn't have a date in high school."
Which is why I was a little disappointed in Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women. Jay has a distinctive voice and an undeniably impressive fund of knowledge about an inherently interesting subject, so I didn't expect to find this book as periodically dry as I did. As another Goodreads reviewer pointed out, the occasional catalogue-y quality can probably be ascribed to the leanness of some of the source material. I think if Jay had been a little less inclusive - a little less indulgent of his collector's vanity - it might have improved the parts of the book that sagged.
Definitely glad to have read it, though, and I'm sure I'll be back to the well.
*I once read a profile of the magician Teller in The New Yorker wherein his partner Penn Jillette declared something along the lines of, "You show me someone who can do card tricks and I'll show you someone who didn't have a date in high school."
July 5, 2023
Ricky Jay has such an established reputation as a smooth customer quick with the tossed off patter and legendary prestidigitation, that you feel like you are enjoying his book more than you are. It's a nice trick. There is value to this compendium of historical entertainment oddities. Otherwise lost to the footlight footnotes, Ricky Jay affectionately brings to renewed life those who entertained and fascinated the world mostly prior to 1900 by being mind readers, fireproof, brilliant pigs, flying horses, escape artists, enterartists, all knowing and able swallow stones or acids or swords. They were headliners in their heyday but were they around today given modern tastes they would likely be relegated to the sideshow. Much of this book feels like a trip to the side show. Marvelous as many of these stories are, there just isn't enough known about most of these folks to bring them to life for more than mere moments. They flicker briefly then burn out which also happens to the reader if you read too much at one sitting. The book itself became a sideshow to whatever else I was reading. I enjoyed it a chapter ir two at a time and that's how I'd suggest reading it. There are many things here that I will not forget but just like the dead magician who's skull collapsed when the mortician tried to comb his hair...the book is a little thin on top and on the inside too.
November 13, 2012
I REALLY like this book but it wasn't amazingl I wish there were a 4 1/2 rating. Ricky Jay, apparently a well-known magician has written a book on the extremely interesting offbeat "stars" of the past vaudeville-type entertainment. His style is extremely good and very easy to read and he includes some great humor. This book was one of the bases for the book Pyg which I reviewed elsewhere. But it also deals with several armless and/or legless wonders who could paint (the armless woman, Miss Biffin who was actually commissioned by several of Britain's royalty), a mind reader who probably was actually killed because he was a catalyptic and after one performance he had a fit, a man who used to jump off high places with a noose around his neck (which was actually rubber inside so that when he hit the end, he bounced back up enough to take the noose off (however, he met HIS end when the trick didn't work once....). Anyway, the stories are fascinating and the book is a quick read (mainly because the stories are so good). Read it and be amazed.
October 18, 2012
Contents:
Introduction
1. Harry Kahne: The Multiple Mental Marvel
2. Procine Prophets and Pig-Faced Ladies
3. Attenuation as Art: Willard, The Man Who Grows
4. More Than the Sum of Their Parts: Matthew Buchinger, Sarah Biffin, and Other Anomalies of Nature...
5. Blind Tom
6. Max Malini: The Last of the Mountebanks
7. Datas: The Man Who Knew Too Much
8. Equine Amusements
9. Genius or Charlatan? Walford Bodie, M.D.
10. Born to a Drier Death Than Diving: Samuel Gilbert Scott and Other Daredevils
11. A Few Words About Death and Show Biz: Washington Irving Bishop, J. Randall Brown, and the Origins of Modern Mind Reading
12. Laroche: The Sisyphus of the Circus World
13. Arthur Lloyd: The Humorous Card Index
14. Enterology: Getting into Boxes, Bottles, and Trouble with Seamus Burke and Others
15. Incombustible Men and Fireproof Women
16. Stones, Swords, Snakes, and Other Entrees
17. Le Petomane: The End
For the Curious
Acknowledgments
Index
Introduction
1. Harry Kahne: The Multiple Mental Marvel
2. Procine Prophets and Pig-Faced Ladies
3. Attenuation as Art: Willard, The Man Who Grows
4. More Than the Sum of Their Parts: Matthew Buchinger, Sarah Biffin, and Other Anomalies of Nature...
5. Blind Tom
6. Max Malini: The Last of the Mountebanks
7. Datas: The Man Who Knew Too Much
8. Equine Amusements
9. Genius or Charlatan? Walford Bodie, M.D.
10. Born to a Drier Death Than Diving: Samuel Gilbert Scott and Other Daredevils
11. A Few Words About Death and Show Biz: Washington Irving Bishop, J. Randall Brown, and the Origins of Modern Mind Reading
12. Laroche: The Sisyphus of the Circus World
13. Arthur Lloyd: The Humorous Card Index
14. Enterology: Getting into Boxes, Bottles, and Trouble with Seamus Burke and Others
15. Incombustible Men and Fireproof Women
16. Stones, Swords, Snakes, and Other Entrees
17. Le Petomane: The End
For the Curious
Acknowledgments
Index
March 20, 2010
The best story in this great, invaluable collection of magic, carnival and curiosity stories is the one about Johnny Eck, a man with just a torso for a body who was featured in Tod Browning's cult movie Freaks. Eck's identical twin brother was recruited by a magician to be the chosen member of the audience to undergo the classic sawed-in-half-in-a-box trick. Unbeknownst to the audience, the twin was substituted onstage with a "man" comprise of Eck and a dwarf who wore a pair of pants from head to toe. Pretending to be the twin, Eck and the dwarf departed the stage appearing as a whole person, but in the process of returning to the proper seat separated and ran around the room like a chicken with its head cut off. Shouts, fainting, and rushes toward the exit ensued en masse. The prank was so shocking it was never performed again.
March 16, 2012
A look at some of the freaks, wonders, curiosities and con men of the past. From mentalists like Harry Kahne to limbless marvels like Matthew Buchinger and Sarah Biffin, from water spouters to growers, from learned animals of all types to Max Petomane the farting impressionist, there’s quite a lot to wonder at.
Some of the acts get only the briefest of mentions, which left me a bit dissatisfied, more questions arising than facts presented. When Jay deigns to write a lengthier investigation, complete with a little information as to how a trick is done (for example, Laroche, who went up a spiral ramp inside a large sphere), it’s a much more enjoyable book. The illustrations, mostly old photos and playbills, are extremely illuminating.
Some of the acts get only the briefest of mentions, which left me a bit dissatisfied, more questions arising than facts presented. When Jay deigns to write a lengthier investigation, complete with a little information as to how a trick is done (for example, Laroche, who went up a spiral ramp inside a large sphere), it’s a much more enjoyable book. The illustrations, mostly old photos and playbills, are extremely illuminating.
August 27, 2016
I’m sorry, maybe I’m missing something here, but this book is not nearly as marvelous as everyone claims. The entertainers profiled are not nearly as odd as claimed. The guy who could produce any scrap of paper named by the audience? The guy who could maneuver a ball up a ramp while curled within? The man who stretches his body a few inches? They sound interesting, but there’s not much more to the book than is evident in the sentences you just read.
Jay seems to have done his research through advertising and printed materials, rather than first-person sources, and this means his stories rely on conjecture where there should be depth and soul.
Jay seems to have done his research through advertising and printed materials, rather than first-person sources, and this means his stories rely on conjecture where there should be depth and soul.
September 13, 2007
A crazy anthology of weirdo stuff, collected by my current hero Ricky Jay, magic and oddity historian extraordinare.
My favorite chapters concern the Learned Pig who wowed Boston in the early 1700s with his whizbang intellect and titillating autobiography and the story of Mathew Buchinger, the armless, legless calligrapher, magician, trick bowler, mind reader and lover who became known as "THE GREATEST GERMAN LIVING" during his lifetime.
My favorite chapters concern the Learned Pig who wowed Boston in the early 1700s with his whizbang intellect and titillating autobiography and the story of Mathew Buchinger, the armless, legless calligrapher, magician, trick bowler, mind reader and lover who became known as "THE GREATEST GERMAN LIVING" during his lifetime.
January 5, 2016
Actor and performer Ricky Jay brings a dry wit and passionate scholarship to this overview of historical exhibition freaks, oddball performers, and unusual talents. Jay focuses on the chief talents, originators, and masters of the obscure, amazing, and even disturbing. Card-picking quadrupeds, fire eaters, memory masters, trick divers, and more populate this singular work of history which led to a TV special.
November 17, 2011
A fun read and glimpse into another time... The one drawback is brief discussion about animal cruelty in some of the acts. I'm glad the book is factual but it made me really dislike a few of the performers. Re: animal rights, amazing audiences of another time would accept this behavior as "entertainment".
March 9, 2013
This book was recommended to me by Goodreads, because I liked a book on Houdini and other illusionists. I must admit I liked the other book better then this one. It's a great catalogue of eccentric entertainers, but it's a bit dry. The flyers, pictures and other original pieces about the history of entertainment are quite interesting,
November 27, 2007
haven't read it yet but I love Ricky's work and he is a very nice man, very intelligent and very enthusiastic about his work. I am sure I will love this book whenever I am able to pick it up somewhere.
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