Truevine

by Beth Macy

  Beauty marks of Ubangis: Lindfors, Early African Entertainments Abroad: From the Hottentot Venus to Africa’s First Olympians (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2014), 159–160.

  Dubbed the freak czar: “Samuel Gumpertz, Showman, 84, Dies,” New York Times, June 23, 1952.

  Cook’s skillful dealings with immigration authorities: Fred Bradna, The Big Top: My Forty Years with the Greatest Show on Earth (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952), 244.

  Ubangis’ homesickness: Fellows and Freeman, This Way to the Big Show, 295.

  Ubangis’ hygiene: Bradna, Big Top, 243–247.

  tried to wash his face in the toilet bowl: Foster, Pink Coat, 109.

  Feud with French manager: Bergonier stole their salary, allowing them to keep only the proceeds from their postcard sales: Davis, Circus Age, 135.

  Railroad’s influence on standardization of time: “In the days before battery-powered watches and telephones, Old Gabriel was Roanoke’s Big Ben. A reminder of the stability—and authority—of the railroad, it gave order to a town known for its whorehouses, saloons, and the pigs rooting in its streets,” from Beth Macy, “The Blast of the Past,” Roanoke Times, Feb. 25, 1996.

  the chaos of local times: “On Time,” National Museum of American History, http://americanhistory.si.edu/ontime/synchronizing/zones.html.

  Ubangis celebrate Bergonier’s death: “Famed French Explorer Dies Here,” Sarasota (FL) Herald, Oct. 13, 1930.

  Second round of Ubangis fit in better than first: Neil Parsons, Clicko: The Wild Dancing Bushman (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 148.

  Allegation that Muse brothers were “severely handicapped mentally”: Letter from Mills to Lindfors, Aug. 1, 1984.

  Backstage behavior of Zip: Davis, Circus Age, 182–183, citing Tiny Kline, “Showground-Bound,” unpublished memoir, on file at Circus World Museum, Baraboo, WI.

  New York Post joke interview: “Ambassadors From Mars Give Mr. Gann a Status,” New York Evening Post, April 13, 1929.

  “they needed supervision”: Author interview, Al Stencell, Nov. 14, 2014.

  Review of Jack Earle’s artwork: “Talented Giant,” New York Times, May 10, 1936.

  Andy Erlich felt conflicted about his uncle’s story: Author interview, Andrew Erlich, March 14, 2015.

  “She better pick her ass up!”: Author interview, Erika Turner, May 17, 2015.

  Earle’s giant ring: A. W. Stencell, Circus and Carnival Ballyhoo: Sideshow Freaks, Jabbers and Blade Box Queens (Toronto: ECW Press, 2010), 151.

  Earle as successful businessman: Author interview, Ward Hall, Sept. 5, 2014.

  Earle-inspired Tom Waits song, “Get Behind the Mule”: Some of the lyrics: “Big Jack Earle was eight foot one / And he stood in the road and he cried / He couldn’t make her love him, couldn’t make her stay / But tell the good Lord that he tried.”

  New York gallery showing of Earle’s work: Andrew Erlich, The Long Shadows: The Story of Jake Erlich (Scottsdale, AZ: Multicultural Publications, 2012).

  Morgan’s hunting habits and friendships with royalty: “J. P. Morgan Dies, Victim of Stroke at Florida Resort,” United Press International, March 13, 1943.

  one of the country’s first media circuses: Michael Corkery, “A Midget, Banker Hearings and Populism Circa 1933,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 12, 2010.

  Media stunt with Graf and Morgan: Morgan appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Banking and Currency hearings, formed to inform “constructive legislation” that might get America’s economy back on its feet. The investigation led to a major overhaul of the financial regulatory system, which brought about the Glass-Steagall Act and the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission. “The Man Who Will Question Morgan,” New York Times, May 21, 1933.

  Graf retreated to Germany: Sherwin D. Smith, “A Midget Sat on J. P. Morgan’s Lap and Showed the Great Banker Was Only Human,” Thirty Years Ago, New York Times, May 26, 1963.

  Tom Muse’s legal troubles: Commonwealth of Virginia v. Thomas Muse, indictment for malicious assault with intent to maim, disfigure, disable, and kill, filed Dec. 1, 1930, Hustings Court, City of Roanoke, VA, and “Bryan Gets Life in Penitentiary,” Roanoke Times, Dec. 11, 1930.

  “a rough man, very rowdy”: Author interview, Mary “Sug” Davis, Nov. 11, 2014.

  Graf’s death: John Brooks, Once in Golconda: A True Drama of Wall Street 1920–1938 (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1999).

  triply cursed: Clark Hoyt, “Consistent, Sensitive and Weird,” New York Times, April 18, 2009.

  Chapter Thirteen. Practically Imbeciles

  Interviews: Warren Raymond, Bob Blackmar, Ward Hall, Tom Word, Paul Lombardo, Robert M. Brown, Dan Webb, Sarah Showalter

  make whiskey, steal, or starve: Thomas S. Word Jr., “The Whiskey Business (A Book Review),” Virginia Bar Association News Journal, Summer 2009.

  Illegal whiskey sold in Roanoke region: Raymond Barnes, A History of the City of Roanoke (Radford, VA: Commonwealth Press, 1968), 753, and “The History and Culture of Untaxed Liquor in the Mountains of Virginia,” Blue Ridge Institute, http://www.blueridgeinstitute.org/moonshine/the_franklin_county_conspiracy.html.

  Ringling’s 1935 return to Roanoke: Barnes, History of the City of Roanoke, 760.

  Contract details for brothers’ work with Pete Kortes: Hustings Court, Chancery Order Books No. 28–31, orders delivered by Judge J. Lindsay Almond from the period 1936 to 1939.

  Description of Beckmann and Gerety Shows: Details from letter from Fred Beckmann to a potential client in Rockford, IL, June 23, 1932, on file at Circus World Museum, Baraboo, WI.

  Scrip issued by Beckmann and Gerety: Author interview, Warren Raymond, Feb. 26, 2015.

  Kortes’s version of World’s Fair: “Carnival Will Open Six-Day Stand Monday,” Register Republic (Rockford, IL), July 7, 1934.

  Microcephalics dressed as women: Harry Lewiston, Freak Show Man: The Autobiography of Harry Lewiston as Told to Jerry Holtman (Los Angeles: Holloway House, 1968), 1–15, and author interview, Bob Blackmar, Feb. 16, 2015.

  Schlitzie’s “rangy” behavior: Author interview, Ward Hall, Sept. 5, 2014.

  Honolulu stint: Photograph from collection of Bob Blackmar, noted as “Pete Kortes’ Circus Sideshow—Honolulu T.H. 1950.”

  Daily-living details with Kortes show: William Lindsey Gresham, Monster Midway: An Uninhibited Look at the Glittering World of the Carny (New York: Rinehart, 1948), 101.

  Brothers’ movement back to Ringling via Shelton, without pay: “Willie and George Muse have been in the possession of the Beckman & Gerety Shows and Pete Kortez [sic] for from three to five years; and the said parties have paid practically nothing for the services of Willie and George Muse,” Hustings Court, Chancery Order Book No. 29, Jan. 29, 1937.

  Leitzel’s death: Dean Jensen, Queen of the Air: A True Story of Love and Tragedy at the Circus (New York: Crown, 2013), 244–248.

  Leitzel’s closeness to John Ringling: Fred Bradna, The Big Top: My Forty Years with the Greatest Show on Earth (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1952), 194.

  Codona and murder-suicide: Jensen, Queen of the Air, 285.

  John Ringling’s purchase of ACC: The ACC was composed of five smaller circuses: Sells-Floto, Hagenbeck-Wallace, Al G. Barnes, Sparks, and John Robinson.

  John Ringling’s rage: Henry Ringling North and Alden Hatch, The Circus Kings: Our Ringling Family Story (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960), 219.

  Lawsuits against John Ringling: David C. Weeks, Ringling: The Florida Years, 1911–1936 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1993), 224.

  at least one hundred lawsuits: North and Hatch, Circus Kings, 249.

  Depression-era party behavior among Sarasota’s rich: Weeks, Ringling, 229.

  North fills in as uncle’s handyman: Ibid., 250, and North and Hatch, Circus Kings, 230.

  Henry and John Ringling North’s takeover: North and Hatch, Circus Kings, 257–259.

  Gargantua’s backstory: “67 Baggage Stock Men Walk Out After
Supt. Asks to Be Paid Off,” Billboard, June 25, 1938.

  broke picket lines with elephants: “Circus Men Strike, But Show Goes On,” New York Times, April 13, 1938.

  Clyde Ingalls and Jack Earle pitch in as rousties: Bradna, Big Top, 143–144.

  Brouhaha in Scranton: North and Hatch, Circus Kings, 283.

  Movement to Barnes-Sells Floto Combined Shows: Ibid., 283–285.

  Aerialist not as polished as Leitzel: Account from Independent (MT), July 2, 1938.

  Gorilla’s backstory exaggerated: “Enlarged Circus Brings Gargantua,” Kerrville (TX) Daily Times, Oct. 6, 1938.

  North nephews pay off union leader: Ibid.

  Circus closure blamed on New Deal: Boyd Sinclair, “The Theater-Goer,” Daily Texan, Oct. 2, 1938.

  “The kids of today”: Janet M. Davis, The Circus Age: Culture and Society Under the American Big Top (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 229, quoting nonagenarian circus trouper W. E. “Doc” Van Alstine from 1938.

  Messick not available for Harriett’s hire: Author interview, Tom Word, April 1, 2015, and T. Keister Greer, The Great Moonshine Conspiracy Trial of 1935 (Lawrenceville, VA: Brunswick, 2002). Greer’s book was also a primary source for the 2012 movie Lawless.

  Depression-era costumes: “State Fair Freaks and Frolics,” Lincoln (NE) Evening Journal, Sept. 11, 1936.

  “Compared to Squeak, Mr. Austin was deadly dull”: Author interview, Harvey Lutins, Aug. 14, 2014.

  Austin’s lineage: Documented in S. E. Grose, Botetourt County, Virginia, Heritage Book 1770–2000 (Summersville, WV: Walsworth, 2000), p. 74; Carter O. Lowance was the brother-in-law, as outlined in Harry Hone, Community Leaders of Virginia 1976–1977 (Williamsburg, VA: American Biographical Center, 1977); author interviews with family members.

  “practically imbeciles”: The legal terms used today would be “person with intellectual disabilities” or “person with special needs.”

  Brothers’ alleged mental disabilities: Petition for guardianship: Harriett Muse v. George and Willie Muse, filed Oct. 26, 1936, Hustings Court.

  Social Security payments: The Social Security Act was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. Taxes began being collected for it in 1937, and regular ongoing benefits began in January 1940, according to the official Social Security website, http://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html.

  Future managers had to be court-approved: Hustings Court, Chancery Order Book No. 30, p. 339. Ordered by Judge J. Lindsay Almond, Nov. 10, 1938.

  “It allows the person to have control of them physically”: Author interview, Paul Lombardo, Aug. 17, 2015.

  Harriett “penniless”: Letter from Wilbur Austin Jr. to John Ringling North, Nov. 22, 1938, Circus World Museum.

  Rich in Roanoke doing OK during Depression: Barnes, History of the City of Roanoke, 773.

  “You smelled the creosote”: Author interview, Dan Webb, Aug. 13, 2015.

  Austin seemed to earn every penny: He earned more for the occasional filings and errands he made on the brother’s behalf. Looking over the settlement of accounts filed with the court, attorney Edenfield commented on a 1954 two-day trip to locate the brothers, for which he charged $250. “It looks like small potatoes now, but actually for the time, it was a lot of money,” worth $2,171 today.

  Family’s negative views of Austin: Author interview, Robert M. Brown, April 8, 2015.

  Virginia in vanguard of eugenics movement: Douglas A. Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (New York: Anchor, 2008), 240.

  Eugenics research: Though the Eugenics Record Office was closed in 1939, today the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory maintains full historical records and artifacts for historical, teaching, and research purposes: http://archives.cshl.edu/R/GDJ9IJNMX99HH5I8ITX3KQVHIHLLCPCKBS3XB5999YJM8UHHL8-00603?&pds_handle=GUEST.

  Albinism as genetic flaw: Amram Scheinfeld, You and Heredity (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1939), 147.

  “By sterilization and birth control”: Ibid., 404.

  Virginia sterilized more people: Author interview, Paul Lombardo, Aug. 17, 2015.

  Survivors’ payouts: Gary Robertson, “Virginia Lawmakers OK Payout to Forced Sterilization Survivors,” Reuters, Feb. 26, 2015.

  State definition of imbecility: “Mental Defectives in Virginia: A Special Report of the State Board of Charities and Corrections to the General Assembly of 1916, on Weak Mindedness in the State of Virginia,” 1915, http://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/buckvbell/2.

  Temporary restraining order against Shelton: Letter from Austin to North, Nov. 22, 1938.

  Almond’s defense of “massive resistance”: Though the state ended massive resistance under Almond’s governorship, his initial response to the Supreme Court’s ruling of massive resistance as unconstitutional was sheer defiance. The speech in its entirety was recorded by WRVA Radio, Jan. 20, 1959, and digitized by Library of Virginia: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/exhibits/brown/resistance.htm.

  “It’s like pouring gas in an open wound”: Author interview and follow-up e-mail with Brenda Hamilton, April 13–14, 2015. The book I gave her was an advance copy of Kristen Green, Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County: A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle (New York: Harper, 2015).

  In a September 1938 letter: Letter from J. F. Wadsworth, Ringling auditor, to Mr. F. C. De Wolfe, assistant treasurer of the Al G. Barnes Circus: Sept. 30, 1938, on file with “RBBB Papers,” Box 36, Circus World Museum.

  Orson Welles’s broadcast: “Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact,” New York Times, Oct. 31, 1938.

  A Syracuse reporter: “Radio Editor Duped,” Variety, Nov. 9, 1938.

  Calls from more than 350 readers: “Roanokers Become Alarmed Over Radio Dramatization,” Roanoke Times, Oct. 31, 1938.

  Austin’s nervous tics: Author interview, Sarah Showalter, April 29, 2015.

  Almond’s order that all brothers’ movements must be court-sanctioned: Hustings Court, Chancery Order Book, p. 330, issued Nov. 10, 1938.

  Harriett would now receive monthly updates: Contract with Pete and Marie Kortes, filed Feb. 20, 1939, in Hustings Court, found in misfiled file in records annex by clerk Brenda Hamilton.

  “exclusive custody and control”: Hustings Court, Chancery Order Book No. 30, p. 482.

  Chapter Fourteen. Very Good Old Colored Woman

  Interviews: Betsy Biesenbach, Veron Holland, Richard L. Chubb, Antoinette Harrell, Dave Price, Myrtle Phanelson, Judy Rock Tomaini, Ward Hall, Melvin Burkhart, Sarah Showalter, Cutie Muse, Bruce Snowdon, Mozell Witcher, Bob Blackmar, J. Harry Woody

  Ballyhack’s name: Deedie Dent Kagey, When Past Is Prologue: A History of Roanoke County (Roanoke, VA: Roanoke County Sesquicentennial Committee, 1988), 317–318. The name is supposedly a perversion of “Battly-whack” or “Battle-hack.”

  Exclusive golf course: Golf magazine ranked Ballyhack number three on its 2009 list of new private courses. The club facility, which measures 11,400 square feet, is an ultra-private facility that will accommodate “only 60 local and 240 national members” and require membership deposits from $40,000 to $130,000, “depending on a member’s location and status,” according to Randy King, “Finishing Touch,” Roanoke Times, July 8, 2011.

  General Grant Maxey’s property: 1880 census records. In contrast to Grant Maxey’s unusual name, the Muse name was already common in Ballyhack. In 1860, a white settler named Thomas R. Muse owned ten slaves in Ballyhack, and his descendants inherited land just across the Roanoke River from Harriett’s—“probably not a coincidence,” Betsy said, especially given the land’s relative proximity to Franklin County, where Muse is a common name.

  Percentage of black homesteaders in Roanoke County: Workers of the Writers’ Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Virginia, Roanoke: Story of County and City (Roanoke, VA: Federal Works Agency, 1942), 164. There were 1,531 farms in Roanoke County in 1939; average size was 62.6 acres.


  Ardelia Jones, Ballyhack storekeeper: Author interview, Veron Holland, April 23, 2015.

  Blacks attending college out of state during Jim Crow: Author interview, Richard L. Chubb, Oct. 16, 2014.

  A. Byron Smith: Mary C. Bishop, “He Has Overcome,” Roanoke Times, May 6, 2001: A man wrote to the newspaper saying Smith was too strident for Roanoke and ought to leave. A black City Hall janitor reluctantly quit buying from Smith’s oil business because his white supervisor told him that Smith had a “big mouth.” The janitor feared he would lose his job if he didn’t.

  “request adequate roads”: Belinda Harris, Looking Back column (1937), reprinted Oct. 8, 2012, Roanoke Times.

  “Mama never did like to go out there”: Author interview, Nancy Saunders, June 2, 2014.

  Dot’s teenaged beauty: Author interview, Sarah Showalter, April 28, 2015.

  Details of Harriett’s daily life: Culled from bills noted in “Second Settlement of Accounts,” April 1938 to December 1949, Hustings Court, City of Roanoke, VA, Chancery Order Book No. 49, pp. 4–8.

  Harriett’s household: 1940 U.S. Census, Big Lick Township, Roanoke County. Richard Muse, eighteen, is also listed as a son of Harriett’s living in the home (but he was actually a grandson).

  Circus adjustments during World War II: Chang Reynolds, “Clyde Beatty in Person: Season of 1944,” Bandwagon (May/June 1969), 10–19.

  Complaint mailed to FBI on brothers’ behalf: Letter from Harry E. Friend of Friend’s Grocery, Walnut Grove, IL, to FBI Chicago office, July 25, 1946.

  thanks to a peonage researcher who found the letter: Antoinette Harrell self-published Department of Justice: Slavery, Involuntary Servitude and Peonage in 2014.

  FBI rules it will not investigate Friend’s letter: Letter from Caudle to Hoover is dated August 28, 1946, on file at National Archives; letter scans courtesy of Antoinette Harrell, Peonage Research.

  only the most egregious peonage cases were investigated: Douglas A. Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (New York: Doubleday, 2008), 376–377.