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Ward Miles Hall (June 21, 1930 – August 31, 2018)

Early life

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On June 21, 1930, Ward Miles Hall was born in Trenton, Nebraska.[1] His father Glen Hall worked on the railroads and his mother Opal worked as a credit manager.[1] At some point in his childhood, the family moved to Colorado.[1]

At thirteen years old, Hall responded to an advertisement in Billboard looking for a clown and general circus assistant.[2] His father was against this, however, and forced him to remain in school.[2] After five weeks of ninth grade, he left education and worked on the railroads and at a bingo hall.[2]

At fourteen years old, Hall began working as a circus clown.[3] The following year, he left home and began working for the Dailey Bros. Circus after responding to another Billboard advertisement.[1][3] The company, which had been travelling through Texas at the time, was looking to hire someone to work as a fire eater and magician on its sideshow.[1] Hall had been training himself to do magic,[2] but was inept at fire eating, having burned both himself and a building when trying to teach himself the skill.[1] Hall was hired by the sideshow to work as a magician and believed it would be a good place to learn further skills.[3]

By 1948, Hall was working for a different circus after apparently receiving no pay from a previous employer.[3] He soon began working as the manager of a circus sideshow.[2]

Career

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During the 1940s, Hall began working with Harry Leonard (né Gottsacker), his first partner in the circus industry.[4] A Sheboygan native, Leonard had performed in tent shows since the 1920s as a magician, knife thrower and trapeze artist.[4] The pair often billed themselves as the "Two Leonardos" and performed a knife throwing act with Hall as the target.[5]: 258  During this period, Hall also performed as a ventriloquist and worked on revues alongside acts like Cab Calloway and Boyd Bennett And His Rockets.[6][7]

During 1954, Hall recruited Norbert "Pete" Terhurne into his sideshow while performing in Breckenridge, Minnesota.[5]: 108  Terhurne, who had dwarfism, soon began performing under the name of Poobah and became known for his fire eating skills.[5]: 109 

During the 1960s, Hall continued to recruit acts for other sideshow owners like Peter Hennen.[5]: 144 

As Harry Leonard was suffering ill health during the 1960s, he and Hall created a smaller and more efficient sideshow called Pigmy Village, which promised six acts; all three were performed by Terhurne.[5]: 72  This set-up lasted only a few seasons, however, as Terhurne became exhausted from performing too much.[5]: 72 

From 1960 to 1967, Hall and Leonard took their sideshow to New York City's Madison Square Garden to perform with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.[2]

On November 23, 1964, Leonard died of a heart attack in New York City.[4]

In 1967, Hall was joined in his business by Chris Christ, who became the youngest sideshow operator in the United States at nineteen years old.[5]: 347 

Between 1979 and 1982, Hall brought his sideshow to the Smithsonian Institution for its summer family entertainment series.[2]

In 1994, he performed as master of ceremonies for the Circus Blues show at Carnegie Hall, featuring blues singers who began their careers in the circus.[2]

While many of the oddities shown on Hall's were "genuine", he admitted to exhibiting fake or "gaffed" acts at times: in one example given, a supposed hermaphrodite was created by the performer using a loop of elastic to draw his penis between his testicles to give the illusion of a vulva with a penis hanging down.[5]: 196  Another of Hall's acts known to gaff part of their act was Bill Durks, whose genuine extreme cleft palette (giving the appearance of having two faces) was often made even more of an oddity by the addition of a third eye.[5]: 161–2 

Retirements

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By the early 2000s, World of Wonders was one of very few sideshows still running in North America.[8] In 2003, it consisted of around five performers, including: Bruce Snowdon, an overweight man who went by the stage names of Harold Huge and Howard Huge;[8][9] Norbert "Pete" Terhurne performing as Poobah, a fire eating dwarf;[9] and John LeBrun, a mental health counselor who performed as a human blockhead.[10] The sideshow also featured 24 wax statues of famous acts from the past, such as Betty Lou Williams, a woman who had a parasitic twin growing from her side.[2]

In October 2003, Hall announced that World of Wonders would be opening for the final time that month in Tampa.[9] He gave several reasons for the decision, including the old age of himself and his performers,[9] the popularity of large imported rides which took up space in carnivals and an alleged increase in political correctness which created a general disapproval towards the showing of human oddities.[2] By January 2004, World of Wonders had been put up for sale, with Hall saying: "I'd like to see the whole show continue [...] But it will go to anyone who wants it and writes the check".[2] Retiring alongside Hall was Norbert Terhune ("Poobah").[2]

By November 2006, Hall had began touring World of Wonders again alongside Christ and Terhune.[11] The revived show was prohibited from featuring human oddities on its bill and saw reduced support from the organisers of carnivals and fairs, being placed at the rear end of sites.[11]

Personal life

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Hall never married or had children.[11]

Death and legacy

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Hall died on August 31, 2018 in Sun City, Florida.[1]

Following his death, magician and historian Todd Robbins said that "Ward Hall is to the sideshow as oxygen is to all of us".[1]

Hall has featured in several documentaries, including the 2003 film Traveling Sideshow: Shocked and Amazed by Jeff Krulik.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Genzlinger, Neil (September 11, 2018). "Ward Hall, 88, king of the carnival sideshow". The Boston Globe. C9. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bleau, Liz (January 22, 2004). "Sideshow Showman Takes His Bow". The Tampa Tribune. Northeast, p. 5. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "Sideshow 'King' Revels in Heyday of Circus". Tampa Bay Times. December 25, 2011. Archived from the original on April 23, 2024.
  4. ^ a b c "Harry Leonard, Famed Local Showman, Dead". The Sheboygan Press. December 2, 1964. p. 10. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nickell, Joe (2005). Secrets of the Sideshows. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2358-5. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  6. ^ Bourke, George (March 14, 1956). "Night Life". The Miami Herald. 8B. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  7. ^ "At the Southland Club". Pensacola News Journal. February 14, 1951. p. 6. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  8. ^ a b "Last call for sideshow". Sun Journal. August 15, 2003. C22. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e Montgomery, David (October 24, 2003). "Strange Attraction". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  10. ^ Lewerenz, Dan (October 19, 2003). "Last traveling sideshow folding its tent". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  11. ^ a b c LeDuff, Charlie (November 13, 2006). "Step Right Up, Ladies and Gents, to See the End of an Oddity". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 27, 2023. Retrieved May 1, 2024.

Sources to use

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Mentions

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