"'Pansy' the Roller-Skating Cow, featuring Rose, Betty, and Harry Rapp (A Rapp & Rapp Production)."

Pansy the Roller-Skating Cow performed for fairs, carnivals, and circuses throughout the United States during the 1940s and 1950s. Other than some newspaper ads and brief mentions in Billboard magazine that turned up in Google searches, I haven't been able to locate any information regarding Pansy or the Rapps.

Originally posted on Ipernity: Pansy the Roller-Skating Cow.

Tags:   ephemera postcards advertising postcards pitch cards cards portraits advertising advertisements ads Pansy Roller-Skating Cow cows udders tails men performers Rapp Rose Rapp Betty Rapp Harry Rapp Rapp & Rapp Production Rapp & Rapp Rapp and Rapp roller skating skating roller skates skates circuses carnivals fairs humor humorous funny strange silly antique old vintage typefaces type typography fonts

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Although I have not been able to uncover any information regarding an "Ellen Probst," this postcard may have been used as a pitch card for a child performer in a sideshow or similar attraction. If so, the girl seems disconcertingly young to be working as a snake handler or charmer.

Tags:   ephemera postcards pitch cards Probst Ellen Probst children girls snakes snake handlers snake charmers sideshows performers patriotic flags stars stripes backdrops antique old vintage strange bizarre

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Ouch! Anyone ever hear of Knoto?

Tags:   ephemera photographs photos found photos pitch cards cards portraits Knoto men contortionists contortion performers circuses sideshows knots legs arms bodies heads disembodied disembodied heads humor humorous funny strange grotesque antique old vintage awkward

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"To Alan, Best wishes, Lorett."

When I visited the sideshow at the York Fair in York, Pa., in the mid-1980s, I purchased this card from a tattooed woman, "Lorett," who also autographed it for me. Years later, I was able to identify her as Lorett Fulkerson, and I discovered how lucky I was to meet her.

As Amelia Klem Osterud explains in her book, The Tattooed Lady: A History (Speck Press, 2009), p. 2, "Tattooed ladies graced sideshow and carnival stages until 1995, when the last performing tattooed lady, Lorett Fulkerson, retired from the carnival circuit at age eighty."

Lorett Fulkerson was at least seventy years old when I met her at the York Fair. Sadly, she died in 2007 at the age of ninety-two.

Tags:   ephemera pitch cards cards Fulkerson Lorett Fulkerson tattooed ladies tattooed tattoos ladies women sideshows performers tents ropes stakes 1980s old vintage fairs

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"Greetings from the Biggest Couple with the Greatest Show on Earth. Fischer. A-132. Campbell's Photo Art, Dayton. Ohio."

Mr. and Mrs. Fischer were billed as the "world's tallest married couple" when they appeared with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus ("The Greatest Show on Earth"). Head over to The Tallest Man Web site to see postcards and other memorabilia on separate pages for Gottlieb Fischer and Elfriede Fischer.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the topic of bring on the clowns or any other circus performer.

Tags:   ephemera postcards real photo postcards rppc photos photographs found photos pitch cards cards portraits Fischer Gottlieb Fischer Elfriede Fischer biggest couple tallest couple tallest married couple couples tallest biggest men women performers cowboys cowgirls Western wear clothes clothing hats boots vests Greatest Show on Earth Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus circuses antique old vintage Campbell's Photo Art Dayton OH Ohio photographers kitsch kitsch people

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