Wortham’s Shows Web of Tattooed Attractions
By Carmen Nyssen
During the 1910s and early 1920s, Clarence Augustin Wortham’s “wonderful ability and tireless efforts” took him to the top of the carnival circuit, earning him a multi-show enterprise, complete with a parade of first-class ‘tattooed attraction-tattoo artists’ worthy of his sideshow stage. Second only behind the Johnny J. Jones Shows, C. A. Wortham’s railroad carnival was a prime platform for those who made their living displaying their skin decorations, in promoting their careers and keeping them well-connected in both show business and the greater tattoo world. In fact, the life paths of the tattooed marvels who trouped with his show yielded quite an interesting web of characters in tattoo history.
Long Andy Libarry
Long Andy Libarry (real name John Andrew Ellicott, 1885-1958), signed on with Wortham’s carnival sideshow during World War I.
By this time, Wortham had built-up several traveling shows and the particular one Andy had joined kept winter quarters in Walla Walla, Washington. At the end of the 1918 season, when the show route finished-up in Washington State, Andy started a hitch as a merchant marine in Seattle and sailed for Australia.
In addition to tattooing in New South Wales, Australia, through the years, Andy worked in various cities such as Chicago and Hawaii (and possibly Vancouver B.C.). But his history is usually associated with San Francisco, where he tattooed with his wife Bobbie Irene Libarry (birth name Willie Irene Golden, 1893-1978).
Coincidentally, his wife had been associated with Wortham many years prior via her first husband a magician, strongman, and tattoo artist named Prince Barha Mahommed Ali aka Ali Hindu (1872-1931). In 1912, Ali was the magician on Doc Turner’s sideshow on the Wortham & Allen Shows, which was C. A. Wortham’s undertaking with partner Tom W. Allen before he launched his own outfit in the spring of 1914. Andy and Irene met not long afterward.
Bobbie Irene Ali & Ali Hindu
Several years before Andy joined Wortham’s show, in 1914, he was set-up tattooing in Chicago. By 1915, though, he had taken to the road with the Con T. Kennedy Shows, the venue that introduced him to his one-day-to-be wife Irene, as well as, her then husband Ali Hindu, and her son Charles Walter Ali (Ali Hindu Jr.). Their meeting, as it happens, turned into a scandalous affair.
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It appears from Billboard Magazine notices that Andy and Irene left the show in the middle of the season and ran off together (they ended up in San Francisco for the Panama Pacific International Exposition). In August of that year, Ali Hindu placed an ad in Billboard Magazine inquiring after the whereabouts of Irene and Andy, because Ali Jr. was very ill. Fortunately, little Charles Ali (who later became a tattoo artist) recovered and Irene returned to her family. She only finally reunited with Andy again after Ali Sr. died in 1931.
1915 Aug 7 Billboard
“Alli [sic] Hindu, a member of Doc Turner’s Show is greatly distressed by the illness of his little son Walter. The boy has been sick for two weeks and as his mother is not with him now. Alli has had all the work of looking after him and seeing that he gets proper medical attention. His present condition is far from favorable.1915 Aug 15 Billboard
“Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Mrs. Ali Hindu, or Andy Ellicock [sic], kindly inform her that her baby is very ill at Toledo, O.
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To add to the intrigue of the saga, while traveling with the Con T. Kennedy Shows, Andy and the Ali family crossed paths with yet another of Wortham’s well-known tattooed attractions—Frank T. Julian. It isn’t clear whether Frank had transformed into a tattooed man by this time or not, but he’s listed with other Kennedy Show performers on a 1915 Kansas State Census record and also in Billboard Magazine listings (as a ticket taker).
1915 [Mar 1] State Census Linwood, Leavenworth, Kansas
Andy Ellicott [also listed as “Andy Elliott” on another page]
Ali Hindu
Ali Hindu Jr
Mrs Ali Hindu Jr
Frank T. Julian
Frank T. Julian
Frank Thomas Julian (real name Francesco Guiliano, 1880-1956) had immigrated from Italy to the U.S. with his family when he was 7-years-old. When he was 18-years-old, he ran away from home and joined the 11th Cavalry Volunteers to serve in the Spanish American War. He was rejected, however, because of his eyesight and afterward joined the merchant marines. Though the exact date he was adorned in tattoos for exhibition isn’t clear, by World War I, he was trouping as a tattooed man with the Wortham & Rice Shows headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.
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His fully-tattooed body, including a magnificent backpiece depicting three U.S. presidents, made a hit with Wortham’s audiences over the years. In 1920, Wortham heralded his beautifully decorated backside with the beckoning words “Meet Me Face to Face” in a celebratory Billboard Magazine ad presenting the show’s big acts.
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A year later, Frank and a special kind of partner caused a particularly spectacular sensation on Wortham’s World’s Greatest Shows platform in 1921. On September 13th, at the Toronto Canadian Exposition, Frank, the tattooed man, and his sweetheart, the fat lady “Alice from Dallas” (real name Alice Wade, 1892-1955), exchanged vows in front of friends and excited carnival patrons in Johnny Bejano’s Palace of Wonders.
1921 Sept 17 Billboard pg. 104
Wortham’s Shows…Toronto, Canadian Exposition… “A notable event of the week was the wedding of Frank Julian and Alice Wade in Johnny Bejano’s Palace of Wonders on Tuesday afternoon. Rev. T.T. Shields of the Baptist Church officiated and a big crowd was in attendance. Julian is the tattooed man in the show and “Little Alice” is the fat lady, who weighs but 610 pounds. The newspapers played it up prominently with stories and pictures on the front pages and the show picked up a tremendous amount of business during the week….”
As an aside …after Frank Julian’s friend Long Andy Libarry left the scene, his spot on Wortham’s Best Shows was no doubt replaced by several tattooed people in the years just following. In 1921, for instance, while Frank and Alice were on one coast alighting the sideshow stage on Wortham’s World’s Greatest Shows, a lesser-known tattooed man, Jack Thomassen, exhibited his tattooed hide from West to Mid-West cities on Wortham’s Best Shows venue with M.A. Gowdy’s Ten-in-One.
William Grimshaw
As uncanny as it seems, Frank Julian had still more Wortham links thru his intersecting relationships. During the carnival off-season, when he wasn’t on the road with Wortham’s outfit, Frank Julian spent time tattooing in various shops. Sometime just before or after the 1921 season, he was associated with William Grimshaw’s San Antonio, Texas tattoo studio on Houston Avenue (seen in a below photo), which was in operation from November of 1920 to late 1921/early 1922. Joe Darpel, who joined Wortham’s shows within the same decade, in San Antonio, was part of Julian and Grimshaw’s circle of friends right at this time.
(See additional information about Grimshaw’s tattoo shop: Anton Kamarit, Tattooer)
1920 Nov 13 Billboard
“Prof. W. Grimshaw, tattoo artist, the past season with the Mighty Doris and Southwestern Exposition Shows, closed at Greenville, Tex., and went to San Antonio, where he had established a tattooing studio which is said to be quite unique, the walls being covered with rare antiques, relics, rare skins, furs and pieces of art, while the outside is also lavishly decorated. “Tis comfy, cozy and classy, according to reports.”
1921 San Antonio (TX) City Dir pg. 403
W Grimshow [sic], tattooing, 420 1/2 W Houston, r208 E Pecan
Prof G.E. Gale
Furthering the interconnecting plot …it was also during this precise period that Julian and Darpel’s pal William Grimshaw tattooed his first bodysuit on an aspiring tattoo artist/tattooed man who was connected to one more of Wortham’s gigs—his name was Prof. G.E. Gale.
Gilbert Erickson Gale (real name Gulbrand Erickson, 1892-1960), was born in Gran, Oppland, Norway, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1909, where he made his early living farming in Montana. During World War I, he enlisted in the army and was sent to Fort George Wright in Washington State, then on to Brownsville, Texas. As was the typical young soldier of the era, he was drawn to tattoo shops and eventually stumbled into William Grimshaw’s Houston Street place in San Antonio. In a 1967 Pensacola News Journal Sun interview, Grimshaw said that Gale (“Gail Erickson”) took the plunge in 1921 …he had himself covered from neck to ankle with Grimshaw’s handiwork, so he could set out on the sawdust trail and exhibit his skin wares. By the following year, “Tattoo Man, Prof. G.E. Gale” was on display with John T. Wortham Shows—part of C. A. Wortham’s greater enterprises (John Terry Wortham was C. A. Wortham’s brother).
(Note: A photo of G. E. Gale’s back piece in Bernard Kobel’s mail order novelty photo catalog is incorrectly identified as having been done by William Cail of England).
Gale trouped with carnivals several more years before abandoning the itinerant lifestyle in the late 1920s and settling down with a wife in Los Angeles. But, in the interim, his show travels introduced him to a young woman named Mabel Kennedy (1910-1976) who would someday marry Joe Darpel, another Wortham tattooed man and friend of Frank Julian, William Grimshaw, et. al. In 1926, Mabel was performing as a ventriloquist with her parent’s traveling outfit, the Wild Bill Kennedy Shows, in Venice, California, and Prof. G. E. Gale was on exhibit as their tattooed man.
1926 Jan 16 Billboard pg. 72
“On the front stage was Mabel Kennedy, ventriloquist who doubled on Buddha. Next Bill and Bessie Kennedy with their impalement and sharpshooting act, which scored immense favor. Next came Punch and Judy, and then, successively. E. C. Gale, tattooed man, and Lola Kennedy with a crackerjack magic act.”
C. A. Wortham’s Death
Joe Darpel’s time with Wortham’s carnival came after C. A. Wortham’s untimely death in 1922. On September 24th of that year, Wortham succumbed to appendicitis while Wortham’s World’s Greatest Shows was on site in Cincinnati, Ohio. Known as the “Little Giant” because of his short stature but great accomplishments, by the time of death he had made his mark in a big way …as proprietor of two large carnivals, Wortham World’s Greatest and Wortham World’s Best, and financial investor in the John T. Wortham Shows, Greater Alamo Shows, Snapp Bros. Shows, J. George Loos Shows and Morris & Castle Show.
After Wortham’s passing, the show carried on. Fred Beckman, the show’s manager, and Barney Gerety, secretary, purchased the equipment from Wortham’s widow, Belle (Snapp) Wortham, a year later and kept the Wortham name until the end of the 1930 season.
Joseph Frank Darpel
After encountering so many others with links to Wortham’s gigs, Joe Darpel (1900-1968) himself joined Wortham’s World’s Best Show near the end of the 1920s. In 1926, he was part of Lentini’s Palace of Wonders sideshow with Wortham’s performing as tattooed man and tattooer.
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Within a couple years, he launched his own sideshow in conjunction with Wortham’s and hired tattooed attractions, such as Sailor Joe Simmons, for the stage.
At this time, Darpel was still married to his first wife Rose. It wasn’t until the 1940s that he met and married Mabel Kennedy. Before then, Mabel had been married twice (to Abraham Shamoon and James Kelly) and worked on a number of shows as “LaDora” the mindreader. After marrying Darpel, she learned to tattoo and etched the shoulders, chests, and arms of patrons right alongside him.
1935 Oklahoma City Dir
LaDora Shamoon astrologist r203 NW 6th
Mrs Mabel Shamoon r1936 NW 12th
Wm H. Kennedy (Bessie) showmn r 1936 NW 12th
Malcolm Shamoon
To bring the connections full circle, Malcolm Shamoon, son of Mabel (Kennedy) Darpel, and stepson of Joe Darpel, became acquainted with some of his parents’ tattoo friends. In 1948, he spent time with Joe and Mabel in Norfolk, Virginia for 6 months when he was 17-years-old. He roomed at the Victoria Hotel near the Gaiety Burlesque house on Main Street, and attended the local barber school (he was planning on being either a barber or a fry cook). While in town, he met Bert Grimm, who was there on a visit and also staying at the Victoria Hotel; and Cap Coleman, who was obssesed with playing the stock market; and none other than Joe Darpel’s long-time friend William Grimshaw. In a 2010 conversation with the author, Malcom explained how all the Norfolk tattooers had supplemental jobs to help keep them afloat financially. Of Grimshaw Malcom said:
“Grimshaw was an artist from England. He was a lion tamer and ball room dancer. He was married to a younger woman and they danced at debutantes’ coming out parties. He was a sign painter and commercial artist. A real serious guy.”
And true to Malcom’s word a picture of William Grimshaw and his wife Sylvia Grimshaw dancing turned up in a newspaper article.
(Note: As a boy, Malcom had also worked on his grandparent’s show).
Wortham’s Tattoo Web
Countless other tattooed attractions surely set foot on Wortham’s sideshow platform and interconnected in the same manner. Big carnival enterprises like Wortham’s shows that traveled the country on the rails, and smaller venues too, wove together a substantial web of showfolk and tattooers. The constant movement of these shows brought together a diversity of people and places and kept the shows exciting and lively, and their festive nature, in turn, continually attracted showfolks of like-mind. It all resulted in an ever-replenishing loop of grandeur and spectacle.
As for the tattooed attractions, their bodysuits of designs uniquely fashioned for exhibition embodied all the wonder and pomp of the sideshow, both promoting the carnival itself and boosting their own careers.
Additional Wortham Tattooed Men in Listings:
1914: Prof. Thomas was tattooed man on Johnny Wortham’s Big Circus Side-Show, with the C. A. Wortham Greater Shows
1918: Prof. S. J. Edwards (Real name Edward Joseph Spousta, 1883-1971) was tattooed man with the Wortham & Rice Show, along with his wife Madame Melba, snake charmer.
1919: Charles Worth joined the show in Topeka, Kansas on May 19th.
Questions or Comments? Email:
carmennyssen@buzzworthytattoo.com
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