Dagobert Roehmann, better known as The Great Waldo, had the remarkable talent of being able to regurgitate anything he chose to swallow. Dapperly dressed, the always distinguished-looking mid-twentieth century entertainer stood before curious circus crowds and swallowed white rats, offered a smile, and then effortlessly brought them back up from the depths of his stomach, alive and well.
Left: The Great Waldo swallows a mouse. Center: Smoking a cigarette with the mouse
in his belly. Right: Waldo brings the mouse back up for air.
As his show went on, Waldo continued to shock onlookers as he gulped down rings, watches, lemons, goldfish, coins, frogs, and anything else the audience offered him. When swallowing frogs, he would first drink water so the frog would have a pool to swim in. After swallowing a watch, Waldo would invite an audience member up on stage to listen the ticking through his stomach. Perhaps even more amazing was his ability to swallow different colored balls and then bring up whatever color was called for.
The Great Waldo’s inspiration to develop such unusual skills began at an early age, after frequent trips to carnivals. Waldo loved the music, the costumes, and the freaks. He respected the human oddities for profiting off their differences. But it was the performers who swallowed and regurgitated objects that especially captivated Waldo. He soon learned their secret and developed his own stomach muscles to perform similar feats—with the white rat becoming his trademark. “One morning I simply thought, ‘I want to swallow a live rat.’ So I did,” he once explained. “Then it became a hobby with me. Other people go in for golf or bridge. I swallow rats.”
Having this complete muscle control was not only handy for showtime, but for preventing indigestion by expelling whatever wasn’t agreeing with the stomach. Bellyaches would never again be a problem.
Today, the act lives on in other performers, most notably Scottish performer, Stevie Starr. Known as “The Professional Regurgitator,” he swallows and returns everything from live goldfish and women’s rings to billiard balls and Rubik’s cubes. In 2015, Starr reached the final round of America’s Got Talent.
More recently, David Blaine learned the art and swallowed live frogs on his ABC TV special, David Blaine: Beyond Magic. He claimed to be inspired by another early 20th century performer, Mac Norton, who performed as The Human Aquarium.
Read more about The Great Waldo in American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History’s Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers (Tarcher/Penguin).
