Bearded ladies have a long history as sideshow attractions. But what happens when one shaves her whiskers and then wants to get back in the game? In 1920, Jennie Ferris decided to have herself tossed in jail for nearly a year—just enough time to be ready for the stage once again.
Jennie met her husband, Edward Ferris, at the circus and two fell in love. After they got hitched and settled into married life, the bearded lady decided to shave. The happy couple had a child, and with Jennie’s sideshow savings, she could afford to focus on her family. As a glassblower, Edward could take over as the breadwinner. Life was good, until one day when Jennie woke up and found that Edward had run off and taken her $7,000 nest egg (about $91,000 today).
With no money and a child to raise, there was only one thing to do. Get back to work. So she hatched a plan: steal a horse, get sentenced to prison, and grow the beard back.
Why go to prison to grow a beard instead of simply not shaving in the comfort of her own home? According to one newspaper, “she could not remain at her home or at any place where she might become the butt of jibes and ridicule while her beard was growing.”
Jennie’s plan wasn’t as easy as it sounded though. Only after hiring a horse and carriage, stealing it, and selling it three times was she finally arrested.
“What I did was for the sake of my four-year-old child,” she explained to reporters, “to permit me to prepare myself so I can support her properly and take care of myself for the rest of my life.”
While her whiskers sprouted in jail, her child was placed under the care of an institution.
According to some reports, Jennie was Jane Barnell, aka Lady Olga, the well-known bearded lady of the early twentieth century who starred in Tod Browning’s 1932 classic, Freaks. Barnell was known to have married four times and had two children.
