Christine Blackburn is not only the guest for this episode, but also the gracious host as we recorded at her kitchen table in Los Feliz, California. Christine is the host of the long-running and much-loved podcast, Story Worthy - and it's live show counterpart, Story Smash.
00:01:53 - Thanks for being here. We’ve shared a joint… you’re holding a cat. No two women have been more prepared. Dawn introduces Christine. Her podcast, Story Worthy has had over 725 episodes, running 12 years.
00:04:04 - Dawn and Christine commence fucking the history of FREAKS! Dawn asks Christine why the subject interests her and she said that it is the combination from the performers themselves of joy and laughter (sometimes) along with their deformities and apparent suffering.
00:06:04 - Dawn presents her primary source of information regarding Joseph Merrick and much of the Freak Show culture in Europe in the 1880's. The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howells and Peter Ford
00:06:43 - We take a moment to discuss the word, “Freak”. It's modern usage appears to arise in 1847 in reference to a ‘freak of nature’ a malformed member of a species. Annie Jones - an early and famous 'bearded lady' - did take vocal objection to the word but seems to be an outlier.
00:08:32 - Dawn commences The Story of The Elephant man, Joseph Merrick. How he came to meet Dr. Treeves and how he became more than just a 'freak' but a cultural icon featured in theater, film, and music over many decades.
00:13:57 - Dawn asks Christine: Do you think Freak Shows are good or bad? Dawn compares it as 'a living' to sex work and child labor (in so far as we discuss it today with minor athletes and artists). We can't really evaluate how 'good or bad' it is until we know how emancipated the individual who is doing it is. Are they empowered or exploited? Are they making this choice freely and being compensated fairly? ...then we may not need to worry how 'happy' they are with their work any more than we do with anyone else.
00:19:13 - There were several so-called 'freaks' who made good as freak show performers over the years leading up to Joseph Merrick, and he would have been aware that displaying himself was a fair alternative to poverty.
For example:
- 00:19:40 - Lazarus and Joannes Baptista Colloredo: Conjoined twins from 17th Century Europe.
- 00:21:21 - Matthew Buckinger. No hands, no feet - he’s known for his micograhy. 4 marriages, 14 children (at least) by 8 different women... probably because he was an excellent listener.
00:22:48 - They come back to Joseph Merrick. Not only his life up to meeting Dr. Treeves (spoiler alert, there is an honest-to-goodness wicked step mother) but up to his death. A beautiful death, if ever such a thing were possible.
00:34:49 - Having heard his story, Christine has some questions: Did they ever pitch him as psychic? No, Dawn says, what was amazing about him was his normalcy. The dichotomy of his look to his being. Tom Norman sold him as amazing to look at, and more amazing because he's just like us.
BREAK
00:39:53 - Dawn thanks Christine for sharing her dope and providing the 'OPP' that was so celebrated at the top of the show. She also introduces our modern-day freaks like some of the cast of American Horror Story - season 4.
00:42:38 - Christine shares a story from her time at a ski resort in Colorado "back in the day." The premise is that wealth is great... but sometimes you get a perfect day for free.
00:43:14 - Dawn begins her list of FILF’S - Freaks I’d Like to Fuck (with consent, of course). The first - a featured performer from the classic 1932 film FEAKS: Schlitzie Surtese. The Pinhead.
00:46:00 - The 'Siamese' Twins. Chang and Eng Bunker.
00:48:16 - Frank Lentini, the 3-legged man. He has 3 fully-functioning legs. Full set of fully-functioning genitals. “Very well-liked. Dawn and Christine discuss how that act would go. Christine is against it, Dawn thinks it could have its advantages.
00:49:51 - Ella Harper, The Camel Girl. The first Merch Success Story.
00:52:37 - Prince Randian - The Living Torso. No arms, no legs - he could roll a cigarette, could play virtually every instrument, spoke 5 languages, had 5 kids and was brought to the circus by PT Barnum, and made a fortune. Died a very old, wealthy man.
Christine and Dawn discuss a variety of tangents before signing off, including what our particular act would be in our own sideshow...
THANK YOU - listener - for tuning in and reading this far. We appreciate you and thank you and can't wait to see you next time. When we do it will be for COLONIAL COCKTAILS with RASHID GREEN one of the hosts of THE BARLESS TENDER.
In the meantime...