Memoirs of a Swallower By School of English Master student Serena Dewar

Introduction

This project explores and critiques the work of Daniel P. Mannix 'Memoirs of a Sword Swallower' (1951), and how this piece of literature details the experience of a man who became an entertainer in an American travelling during the 20th century. Although it focuses primarily on 'Memoirs', there will be references to his other work, 'Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others' (1991), and other academic and contextual resources.

The articles in this project will focus on Mannix’s background, a brief plot description, and finally the value and method of reading such a text. Memoirs of a Sword Swallower

Row of fairground early 1900s

Daniel P. Mannix (1912-1997) was an American author who is best known for his novel, 'The Fox and The Hound'(1967), which was adapted into an animated film feature by Disney studios in 1981, as well as his book ‘Those about to Die’ (1958), which was loosely adapted by screenplay writer David Franzoni into the film 2000 .

Mannix was both a non-fiction and fiction writer, an historian, and a journalist. Born in Philadelphia, Mannix developed an interest in looking after animals during his childhood and would train birds in his adult years. He was a navy lieutenant in the Second World War, and also enjoyed hunting and photography. An informative website named eNet Press has a page dedicated to him, which is the source of this biographical information regarding his work and background. On an interesting note, he was the co-founder of the munchkin convention in 1967, influenced by his research on L. Frank Baum, author of 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' series. The Munchkin Convention is a celebration held by The International Wizard of Oz Club, and consists of the gathering of fans of Baum’s work as well as movie enthusiasts.

Mannix's relationship with the travelling carnival is one found in the early years of his career, although it panned out into later years of his writing. One of his earlier works, 'Memoirs of a Sword Swallower', is a key piece of literature detailing his own personal experience with temporarily working in American traveling sideshows. One thing to note is that 'Memoirs' begins in Philadelphia, yet is vague on where exactly Mannix travels to, or how long he travels for. The dates of this experience are also vague, although one might assume that this could be before the Second World War due to Mannix’s age and background in working in the navy. As the title itself implies, Mannix performed sword , among other forms of entertainment between the late 1930s to mid-1940s. Although his lesser well-known piece of literature, this book is an intriguing viewpoint of first hand experiences of an oral performer and provides some context of modern American society's outlook on the travelling and carnival scene.

Examples of British fairground sideshows

One should keep in mind this is not the only book where Mannix details his knowledge of carnival performers, or ‘freaks’ as he likes to address them as. ‘Freaks: We Who Are Not as Others' (1976), illustrates his research and segments of his own experiences meeting carnival performers, most of which are directly taken from his 'Memoirs'. The key difference is that 'Memoirs' came years before 'Freaks', and was written not long after Mannix stopped performing to pursue a career in journalism. 'Memoirs' is his account of the time he worked at the sideshows, as opposed to 'Freaks', which was written and published decades after this and is composed of varying cases, which he took the time to research.

Through this project we will take a closer look into 'Memoirs' specifically, looking into the context, reading, and significance of this historical piece of circus literature.

Context:

As previously mentioned, 'Memoirs' takes place during the late 1930s to the mid-1940s in Philadelphia, where Mannix was born, and shows the gradual build of Mannix’s career as an oral performer. Oral performers are entertainers who are able to swallow items or things: for example , rocks, live animals, or fire. Stage Magician and author Ricky Jay (1946-2018) details this in his book 'Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women' (1986), providing the history of this style of entertainment from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, empathizing that the popularity and long history of is because 'with few exceptions, it is an exhibition devoid of trickery'.

This is relevant because Mannix’s fascination with oral performances such as and sword swallowing was to see if it was real, which 'Memoirs' states it is. Initially, he starts as a sword swallower, but gradually finds he is unfulfilled by this and jumps between multiple different acts, such as fire eating, neon tube swallowing, pick locking, mentalism, etc. His accounts of his training for such performances are quite graphic, as he describes in minute detail how the acts of swallowing tubes, blades and fire require immense focus and body strength. This enlightens the reader in the nature of oral performance, as it provides evidence of the authenticity of these acts and the level of difficulty in execution, which is as high and dangerous as one might imagine.

'Memoirs' is not just about Mannix himself though. Mannix meets and befriends various people in 'Memoirs', some of whom reappear in his book 'Freaks' as well. Jolly Daisy the fat lady, Billie the model, Aunt Matty the fortune-teller, Captain Billy the tattooed man, Rafael the sword swallower, and Krinka the human pin cushion- the list goes on. All of these are different performers who are ‘freaks’ in Mannix’s eyes, who either train Mannix or become friends with him. His description of the events that follow are enticing and detailed accounts of the sideshow environment as well as the highs and lows of being an entertainer. After some time passes, Mannix choses to leave the travelling sideshows to pursue a career in journalism.

Significance:

The value of 'Memoirs' is that it acts as an historical dissection of the twentieth century American freakshow culture as well as a rare first person perspective on oral performers.

As previously mentioned, Ricky Jay details the history of oral performers throughout the seventeenth century up until the nineteenth century in 'Learned Pigs' and briefly in 'Extraordinary Exhibitions' (2005) - yet it is rare to discover not only a twentieth century description of an American travelling carnival, but also a first-person perspective of such. Mannix describes the actual feeling of such acts and explains the process of training for it, who trained him, the subsequent effects of doing such acts, and so on.

Titania, sideshow performer

For example, there is one chapter when Mannix is training for sword swallowing, and he describes how he struggled to control his gag reflex, and how he could not eat or drink properly in the early stages of practising.

This personal account makes for both a morbid read as well as an explanation of what sword swallowing, as well as other oral performances, are like. It brings to attention multiple other performers, such as Jolly Daisy or Captain Billy, who are described as individuals who work hard as ‘freaks’ but have more depth and backstory behind them (namely Jolly Daisy, who has been married multiple times and has a daughter sent to a nun convent, whom she no longer sees). They suffer prejudices in ‘normal’ society, whether it is due to disabilities, being independent women, or being obese, and thus find meaning in being in the sideshow. Unlike Jay’s work or even Mannix’s research in 'Freaks', this book puts context to why the performers have chosen this life and treats them as individuals.

During the 1930s/1940s, American society stigmatized those who did not fit the 'cookie cut' idea of a ‘normal’ person, whether it was weight, gender, race or physical ability. Mannix’s work implies that the travelling sideshow was a safe zone for people such as these. On the one hand, as performers they could gain a certain level of economic independence and celebrity, while on the other, they found themselves trapped into a lifetime of performance, which perpetuated their social status as 'freaks'. Mannix is, however, privileged enough to have a choice and be able to leave the life of travelling performance once he is done with it, and his accounts of the other characters only goes surface deep into their struggles. Mannix was not a ‘freak’ in the sense that except for his rapid growth as a child, he did not possess any physical characteristics that bound him to this type of life forever. Thus, he was free to pursue any career path he wished and unlike other performers, he was not financially dependent in the sideshows to survive.

How to Read It:

One needs to consider how 'Memoirs' comes with potential bias or flaws to the work due to the nature of the text. Firstly, the memoirs are solely from Mannix’s perspective, and despite being convincing in his description of training for his performances, there is no guarantee in his validity on speaking for other characters like Jolly Daisy or Billie. It is not certain as to the length of time between Mannix leaving the sideshows, to Mannix writing these memoirs, which further puts to question the reliability of his memory. The book leans towards being fictional rather than biographical at times, using dialogue between Mannix and other characters to create twists in the plot or further Mannix’s own story. For example, in his final interaction with Jolly Daisy she abruptly tells him to leave the sideshows, which leads him to start a life as a journalist instead. This could be due to Mannix attempting to entertain the readers, as he entertains circus audiences, which Mannix does admittedly achieve. However, 'Memoirs' are supposed to document a person’s account of the past based on memory, not

The Hilton Sisters, British conjoined provide an entertaining read. twin performers

The line between fiction and non-fiction is blurred and there is little way of proving the reliability of Mannix’s words, which means the reader can only depend on his writing and side of the story.

His account of the ‘freaks’ he interacts with is also questionable; especially in his other book 'Freaks', where there is likely to be an aspect of romanticising their lives and applying a certain amount of artistic license. An article by David Sterrit and Mikita Brottman on the nature of ‘freak shows’ in contemporary culture mentions Mannix’s tendency to treat performers this way, stating the following: “Historical writing about carnivals has occasionally glorified the role of the freak as a saintly creature with a marvellously stoical disposition, considerate to those in trouble, and miraculous or angelic in spirit. Others have suggested that the freak claimed an elevated position in the carnival status system, having nothing to do but exhibit himself in order to make a sometimes quite substantial living. In distinguishing between "natural" and "self-made" freaks, for example, it has been claimed that "natural" freaks have higher status in the carnival than self-made freaks.”

'Memoirs' references this ‘self-made freak' concept, with Mannix classing himself as such. He treats people like Jolly Daisy as immensely popular and higher in status than others. This is troubling as those with physical disabilities or suffering from morbid obesity are glorified by Mannix, despite the circumstances of their lives differing greatly from his own, living as ‘freaks’ for a sense of financial security and autonomy. Although Mannix is not as explicit about this in 'Memoirs' as he is in 'Freaks', it is still concerning how he fails to see his own privilege in this situation. The closest he comes is when Jolly Daisy tells him the following; “I’m a freak because I gotta be, but somebody like you is making a freak out of himself because deep down inside you’ve got a craving for it”. Yet after this, Mannix proceeds to write books exploiting these experiences and speaking on behalf of these people. This is not inherently a negative aspect, as this is Mannix’s perspective of a part of his life. It does mean the reader needs to consider that his work is not solely factual.

Tattooed sideshow performer early 1900s

Furthermore, Mannix appears to be critical of the role of women in the circus, treating Billie as a doomed person who could live a normal life as a housewife but due to choosing to be in the circus performing as a model, can no longer do so. She fears being ‘trapped’ into married life, which Mannix views as a tragic situation for Billie.

Another woman in the book he found pitiful was Jolly Daisy, who goes from being assertive and proud of her career to warning Mannix to leave his life as a performer with a tone of regret as she too confesses to not being able to live the ‘normal’ life of a woman. Every man marries her for her wealth and exploits her vulnerabilities, and she is unable to raise her own daughter. She does not fit the acceptable gender roles of American society, which are based on the stereotypical concept of men and women having specific ways of living and acting in society. In the 1930s/1940s in America, women were expected to not pursue a career, but rely on a husband for financial security. The idea of women raising children was also set as an ideal, as seen with Jolly Daisy’s tragic abandonment of her daughter pressurised by her socio- economic situation as a 'freakshow' performer and her relationship with men. Jolly Daisy explains this to Mannix, saying, “You can’t be a side-show fat woman and a mother”. This context of Jolly Daisy’s defiance of gender roles is further explained by Mannix in the following quote- “most husbands earn all the money and support their wives, I remarked. Jolly daisy looked a little puzzled. Of course, she must have known that this was true. But in carnival life most women work and a surprising number of them are supporting some man”. This illustrates the outdated idea that women either had to be financially independent and unable to raise a family, or continue to follow the gender roles without any sense of autonomy. Keeping in mind, this book was written prior the women’s liberation movement in America,which happened during the 1960s-1970s, and involved protests demanding legal change for women to have equal rights and opportunities in the work place, 'Memoirs' is not necessarily gender biased but merely a reflection of what society as a whole believed to be right at the time.

Mannix’s 'Memoirs' show women exploited in the circus and left feeling trapped into continuing their work as performers. This is illustrated with Billie being unable to accept marriage proposals from other men and Jolly Daisy being unable to see her daughter. Instead, they stay in the sideshow to maintain financial independence and pay the price of their social defiance and noncormformity by losing the freedom to marry or start a family at the same time. Regardless, whether it is the outdated nature of the work or the questionable writing of this work, there are potential holes in its reliability despite the value in its historical significance.

Conclusion:

Despite its flaws, this book is an engaging piece of literature and valuable source of historical documentation in the modern American sideshow scene. If one considers the context whilst reading it, it becomes informative of how American travelling sideshows functioned.

Although it may not be entirely reliable, given Mannix’s bias, privilege, and questionable memory, it has importance in detailing the experience of oral performances as proof of the acts being legitimate, and it provides insight into the conservative society of American society during the 1930s/1940s, especially prior to the women’s liberation movement. It is furthermore an enticing read into the experience of a former sideshow performer. His enthusiasm to learn new skills, his charming interactions with other performers, and his detailed description of his journey makes the reader sympathise with Mannix and learn something new from history.

Contextual Information:

Daniel Pratt Mannix (1911-1997)

Daniel P. Mannix was an American author, journalist, photographer, sideshow performer, stage magician, animal trainer and filmmaker born in Philadelphia, U.S.A on 27 October 1911.

There's no denying that Mannix had an eclectic range of interests, heavily influenced by his life experiences.

He first became involved with animals at his grandparent’s farm, where he spent prolonged periods of time as a child. His relationship with animals soon expanded from farm and domestic animals to wild animals, especially birds, and became the inspiration for his first book ‘The Back-Yard Zoo’.

Although Mannix had started to develop a wide range of interests at an early age, he decided to follow a long family tradition and joined the US Navy at nineteen years old. However, he soon abandoned this career path to enroll on a journalism degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

During the Second World War, Mannix re-joined the Navy, serving as a Lieutenant with the Photo-Science Laboratory in Washington D.C. The Photo-Science Laboratory was established to centralise the production and preservation of all naval related photography operations during the war. They conducted research to develop new photographic equipment and techniques in the areas of motion picture production, still photography, aerial photography, graphic arts and photolithography, which gave Mannix a wide range of skills in the fields of photography and film making. Mannix combined his love for writing with a wide range of other professions included professional hunting, collecting wildlife for zoos and , training birds and performance. Perhaps his most extravagant job, however, was becoming a sideshow performer between the mid and late 1930s and travelling the American fairgrounds under the name of 'The Great Zadma', performing feats of sword swallowing and fire eating.

Mannix started to record his experiences as a performer in a series of articles co- authored by his wife during the mid 1940s, which eventually resulted in his book ‘Step Right Up’ first published in 1951 and later renamed ‘Memoirs of a Sword Swallower’. Mannix wrote books on children’s fiction, natural history, adventure, history and adult non-fictional topics, including biographical works and accounts of the lives of carnival and sideshow performers.

Mannix died in 1997, at the age of 85.

Freaks: We Who Are Not As Others

A classic of Daniel P. Mannix noir literature, this book was originally printed in a small edition in 1976 and soon after withdrawn from sale by the publisher, RE/Search Publications, who re-publish it in 1990.

Mannix tells the story of sideshow life and personalities at one of the high points of ‘freak’ show culture in modern history within the American carnival culture and society. The author describes a segment of the carnival community respected and revered by others in the carnival business. The book describes intimate stories of love affairs, sexuality, physical deformity, tragedy, obesity and performance from within this community.

Mannix who was part of the ‘freak’ show for three years during his youth felt a kinship towards people outside the mainstream social profile. He wrote ‘Freaks’ to challenge widely accepted perceptions and assumptions about this community of performers and celebrate their difference and ultimately their humanity.

The book is a combination of Mannix’s personal experiences as a performer, interviews, historical research and copious images from Mannix’s personal archive.

The Fox and the Hound

The Fox and the Hound is a novel written by Daniel P. Mannix in 1967. It is a poignant tale of the struggles between humans and wild life living side to side. In the story, Tod is a fox raised as a pet by the humans that killed his mum and siblings and took him away from the wild. As Tod reaches maturity, he returns to the wild and unintentionally causes the death of a hound that was chasing him. This provokes the ire of the hound's owner who commits the rest of his life to chasing Tod with his other hound, Cooper, to seek revenge.

As the plot unfolds, the story tells the dark tale of a man consumed by irrational hatred and the path of pain and damage this causes. Not unlike most of Daniel Mannix's books, The Fox and the Hound deals with some of the most disturbing aspects of humanity.

The novel was highly praised by critics and won various awards including the Athenaeum Literary Award and the Dutton Animal Book Award, which resulted in its publication and led to Walt Disney's Productions purchasing the film rights.

Those About to Die

'Those About to Die' also published as 'The Way of the Gladiator' is a novel of historical fiction, based on the Roman Empire's gladiators games, written by Daniel P. Mannix in 1958.

In Mannix's characteristic provocative style 'Those About to Die' provides a detailed and rather disturbing account of the lives of Roman gladiators. In this book, Mannix has delved in in-depth descriptions of sadism and torture forced upon gladiators, women, children and animals by the ruling Roman forces.

Mannix used a range of sources of inspiration to write 'Those About to Die' including contemporary accounts of , wrestling and hunting and historical archives.

'Those About to Die' was the inspiration for the film adaptation 'Gladiators' (2000) directed by Ridley Scott and witten by David Franzoni, John Logan and William Nicholson.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz', is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum originally published in 1900. Most widely known as The Wizard of Oz, it was adapted to a Broadway musical in 1902 and most famously to the musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Julie Garland in 1939.

In the book, Dorothy, a farm girl from Kansas, and her dog Toto are swept away from their home in Kansa by a cyclone and left stranded in Munchkin Country in the magical Land of Oz. Here the pair embark on a quest to find their way back home while they help a series of helpless characters they encounter in their path.

The book is one of the best-known stories in American literature and across the world, and has been translated to over fifty languages.

Munchkin Convention

The Munchkin Convention is an annual convention held in the USA, organised by the International Wizard of Oz Club.

The International Wizard of Oz Club was founded in 1957 to bring together all those interested in Oz and it has members of all ages throughout the world.

The convention celebrates everything and anything related to the Wizard of Oz series including the author, the films, the actors, the characters, the musicals and other adaptations of the book.

Ricky Jay (1946-2018)

Richard Jay Potash aka Ricky Jay, was an American stage magician, author and actor, of Hungarian descent. Jay was born in , , to a middle-class Jewish family. His interest in magic came from his grandfather, a public accountant and amateur magician who introduced him to magic at a very early age.

Jay proved to be a very quick learner, giving his first public appearance as a magician on the American television show 'Time for Pets' in the early 1950s well before he was even ten years of age. He quickly developed a following and a reputation for his sleight-of-hand feats, for which he was celebrated by his peers as the best in the business.

Among other things, Jay collected all sort of materials related to the history of magic, gambling and unusual entertainments, which he used to conduct research for the many books he authored during his lifetime, including 'Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women' (1986), 'Jay's Journal of Anomalies' (2001), 'Extraordinary exhibitions : the wonderful remains of an enormous head, the whimsiphusicon, & death to the savage Unitarians' (2005) and 'Celebrations of Curious Characters' (2010).

He also made a career as a consultant to the film industry working with Francis Ford Copola, and among others.

Ricky Jay died on 24 November 2018, aged 72 at his home in . Learned Pigs & Fire Proof Women

'Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women' is a book on popular entertainment history, written by stage magician, actor and writer Ricky Jay.

The book, first published in 1986, tells the real stories of some of the rarest entertainments and entertainers in the world. It provides a scholarly description of performers with natural talents and fabricated ones looking for fame and fortune, while analysing their practices within their contemporary society and culture.

‘Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women’ includes chapters in the art of mind reading, occultism, poison eating, quack medicine, human fire resistance, animals with arithmetic and singing capabilities and flatulism to name a few and it is beautifully illustrated by the many original posters, handbills and prints they left behind. The book is a homage to the forgotten entertainers, who amused and puzzled royalty and paupers alike across and America from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.

Extraordinary Exhibitions: The Wonderful Remains of an Enormous Head, the Whimsiphusicon & Death to the Savage Unitarians

This monograph by Ricky Jay published in 2005, is a study of his own collection of seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century popular entertainment broadsides. In ‘Extraordinary Exhibitions’, the author delves into a range of different acts of popular entertainment through the manner in which they are promoted while also studying the advertising techniques and psychology behind them. ‘Extraordinary Exhibitions’ is an observation of the text and imagery used in early show business publicity combined with Jay’s philosophical reflections on identity and society.

David Sterritt

David Sterritt (b.1944) is an American film critic, author and scholar, best known for his work on the film and culture of the 1950s, the Beat Generation, French New Wave cinema, the films of Alfred Hitchcock, Spike Lee and Terry Gilliam amongst others.

Since 1969, Sterrit has worked as a film and theatre critic for many prestigious boards, publications and public broadcasts in America and he has sat on the selection committee of various American film festivals. He has also held various roles as editor and critic for a range of film journals and publications.

He was appointed Co-Chair of the Columbia University Seminar on Cinema and Interdisciplinary Interpretation in 1999, position he held until 2015. Sterritt is currently on the Film Studies Faculty at Columbia University's Graduate Film Division at the Maryland Institute College of Art and is a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Goldring Arts Journalism Program at Syracuse University and Professor Emeritus of Theatre and Film at Long Island University.

Sterritt is the partner of psychoanalyst, author and scholar Mikita Brottman.

Mikita Brottman

Mikita Brottman (b.1966) is a British-American non-fiction author, scholar, and psychologist born in Sheffield, . Brottman has a keen interest in true crime and her writing incorporates aspects of personal life experiences, psychoanalysis, forensic psychology and literary history.

Brottman received a D.Phil in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford in 1994 and is a certified psychoanalyst. She has held several academic positions in U.S.A. universities including; Visiting Professor of Comparative literature at Indiana University, Chair of the Program in Humanities at the Pacifica Graduate Institute and faculty Professor in the Department of Humanistic Studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Brottman also works in the Maryland prison system and in forensic psychiatric facilities.

Mikita Brottman is the partner of film critic and author David Sterrit.