Francesco Lentini was born in 1889 with a third leg, a fourth foot, sixteen toes, and two penises. Known as the Three-Legged Wonder, he performed in sideshows for decades during the first half of the twentieth century and amazed crowds with his unique anomalies and stories. On Friday, April 1, he posthumously returned to the Coney Island stage as an inductee into the Sideshow Hall of Fame.
Voters chose Lentini over a distinguished group of nominees in the Born Different category: The world’s oldest conjoined twins ever, Ronnie and Donnie Gaylon; The Man with Two Noses and Three Eyes, William Durks; The Legless Acrobat, Eli Bowen; and The Armless Wonder, Charles Tripp.
The evening began with performances from Coney Island’s artistic director, Adam Rinn, and Purveyor of Amazement, Todd Robbins. Following a keynote speech from yours truly, American Sideshow author Marc Hartzman, the 16th Annual Sideshow Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony began.
The esteemed panel of presenters included a medical doctor, an anthropologist, a prop builder, and a sideshow performer and historian. Each introduced a different inductee, offering beautiful and wondrous tributes to their unique careers.
Joining Lentini in the Class of 2022 are:
Self Inflicted: Fakir Musafar, the father of the Modern Primitives movement. As Fakir.org states, the shaman, artist, master piercer, and body modifier “played a significant part in the revival of body piercing, body sculpting, branding and other body-related practices for personal expression, spiritual exploration, rites-of-passage, healing and reclaiming.”
Working Act: Capt. Don Leslie. After learning to swallow a sword at age 18 in the 1950s, Leslie went on to add an entire show’s worth of acts to his repertoire, including Fire Eater, Human Pin Cushion, Human Blockhead, Escape Artist, Tattooed Man, Electric Chair, Bed of Machetes, Bed of Glass, and Bed of Nails. Throughout the decades he performed with Ringling Bros., Cristiani Bros. Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. and other shows.
Attraction: Spidora. The illusion featuring the head of a beautiful woman with the body of a giant grotesque spider was originally designed in the late 1800s by Henry Roltair. It became a popular attraction at sideshows, including at Coney Island in the late 1930s, Spidora also appeared in Tod Browning’s 1927 film The Show as “Arachnida—the Human-Spider,” played by Edna Tichenor.
Show Folk: John Bradshaw. The famed showman revived the sideshow at Coney Island with his Ten-in-One show called Bradshaw’s Circus of World Curiosities from 1986-1991. He was an outside talker as well as a performer, and inspired many of those carrying on the sideshow culture today, including his induction presenter, Adam Rinn, who visited his show frequently as a teenager.
Living Legend: C.M. Christ. Chris Christ becomes the first-ever Living Legend inductee. It’s a well-deserved honor for the showman who first joined Ward Hall’s sideshow in 1966 and never turned back. As stated on coneyisland.com: “The two shared a love of entertainment and stage performance, as well as the amusement business in which they would both eventually become legends. Following the sudden death of Hall’s first business partner, Christ turned over his life savings to join forces with Hall in creating the World of Wonders Show. Together, the two worked with a common purpose of creating memories and excitement for families and event patrons as they toured the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Additionally, they shared a passion for training and developing the hundreds of aspiring performers who traveled with the show over several decades.”
“It was a thrill to induct these show folk…and the Spidora illusion to our Sideshow Hall of Fame!” Rinn told Weird Historian.
Congratulations, and Gooble Gobble to all the inductees.
