Seeing Is Believing: America's Side Shows

by A.W. Stencell

Seeing Is Believing is a history of midway attractions and the showmen who have presented them on American midways from the 1870s to World War II.

Find out who manufactured the Polly-Moo-Zuke, the Two-Headed Giant, and the Devil Fish. Hear showmen’s stories of hoochie coochie dancing bears, monkeys racing miniature racecars, and the strange people who made a living eating snakes. See war criminals, wax outlaws, and papier mâché torture victims. Learn about illusion on the midway and how "free" Iron Lung and Wildlife shows were anything but; who suspected you had to pay to leave?

Hear the barker say: Come in! Trained fleas, people exhibited in ice, and girls that change into gorillas are all inside! Under canvas, the hottest black nightclub acts perform for you in black revue shows. Many attractions are alive. Hundreds more are dead, stuffed, or mummified.

Never has so much been on show for so little a price! Attractions you may never see again … Take a twisted journey with the last of America’s real showmen, from an age when performers earned every nickel of your 25 cents.

Genres: Nonfiction

300 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Carissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been the most informative and entertaining of books about the sideshow that I have read. The other books I mostly skimmed for information, this one I read front to back. The photographs were also interesting. I would have enjoyed a chapter on the art of the sideshow banners, but information but interspersed throughout the book. The tie for the most disturbing chapter was either the pickled punks or the geeks. I think the geeks takes it because they're killing live things. The punks are already deceased or (the majority) are fake. I don't think it is a loss that wildlife is not involved in the sideshow. It seems like it was up to individual keeper on how well they were housed, fed and generally treated. Part of the attraction of the sideshow was the exotic in a time period before there was the Discovery channel. Some aspects of it still survive today, it has just evolved to cater to society as it is today.

[Rick West · Rating 4 out of 5]

What ever happened to the sideshows?

An interesting look at the sideshows that once populated the
midways of American. The sideshow brought the strange,
exotic and the unusual to your town. Carnivals today consist of
rides and food. Where are the shows? I miss the free show in
front of the freak show where the golden tongued orator (the talker)
tried to entice the you (the tip) to buy a ticket to see something you
have never seen before. “You have to see it to believe it!”

The photographs alone are enough reason to give this book a
look see.

“For the next three minutes and three minutes only, everyone
goes on the price of a child’s ticket. Get you tickets and go
now!"

"It’s showtime!”

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating look into the world of side show, circus and carnival life. I found it interesting that English shows and Vaudeville had an influence (makes sense) on the theatrical aspects. Historical photographs are also included throughout the book, which provide further perspective.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

The picture on the front was not even featured inside. A little misleading.

Good story and good pictures that transport you back in time. No Barnum and Bailey, so it's a little--ok, very--incomplete. Not an encyclopedia, for sure. Picture of Bonnie & Clyde's bullet-ridden car .. .