Sideshow
|
|
| This article is in need of attention. |
| Please improve (https://academickids.com:443/encyclopedia/index.php?title=Sideshow&action=edit) this article. |
- For the informal automotive skills event, see sydeshow.
A sideshow is an extra secondary production associated with a circus. Its proper name is a "Ten in One", referring to the practice of having a revolving show of ten acts under a single tent.
Sideshows had a hierarchy of performers in terms of prestige, with "Born Freaks", people with congenital physical peculiarities, at the top, followed by "Made Freaks" such as tattooed men and women, and "Working Acts" such as sword swallowers and fire eaters. Contrary to contemporary perceptions, which holds the term freak show to be pejorative, many of the "Born Freaks" were not looked down upon by their fellow performers, and many were in fact the owners and operators of the shows.
Today only one "Ten in One" remains active in the world, The Sideshow by the Seashore sponsored by Coney Island USA in Brooklyn, NY.
The anthropologist Jim Rose runs a modern sideshow called Jim Rose Circus.Template:Theat-stub