Wild Folk

Wildfolk are those performers advertised as "uncivilized, untamed, and animal-like". The classic stereotyped wildman was anonymous, wore animal-skin clothes, disheveled hair, and was most often, but not always, of black African descent. Like Ethnic Oddities they represented a type which fascinated because it was culturally other, but remained in their purest incarnations of mysterious, undifferentiated ethnic lineage. more>>
above, Detail of original handbill advertising THE WILD MAN OF CEYLON, from 1855, Boston.
Wild!

Rare cased tintype of Unidentified Wildman, circa 1868-1870.
>> Many of the wildfolk were apparently or obviously mentally deficient, or appeared to be so as part of the act. Often the category of wildfolk included performers listed elsewhere as Pinheads and Geeks, which though containing separate characteristics, incorporated many of the elements of the classic wildman. Many issues of race and disability come together in this category. (to be continued)

 
List of Performer:
 
Bambolla, Human Monkey [blk 0-669]

Bearina "The Bear Girl"[d-rcl] 

Charlotte "The Gorilla Girl"[d-rcl] 

Clico "The Dancing Bushman" 

Congo "The Jungle Creep" "The Voodoo Man" (Hezekiah Trambles-Trimble?) 

Congo, Headhunter & Wildman [d]

Davis, Hiram & Barney "Waino & Plutano" "The Original Wild Men of Borneo"

Eko & Iko (George & Willie Muse) "Ambassadors From Mars" "The Sheep-Headed Men"•

Ki Ki Blitz "The Original Haba-Haba Man" [d] •

Les Himalayas[d] 

Mariana "The Gorilla Girl"[d-rcl] 

Nathal "Man or Monkey?" [d]

Osca The Snake Fiend [d] 

Pigmy's From Abbyssinnia [d] 

Stall, George•

Zip (William Henry Johnson) "What Is It?" "Man Monkey"•

****
Unidentified Tintype of Young Black Wildman [d] 
The Man-Monkey Phenomenon•
 

References for this page:

[blk] Bernard L. Kobel Catalogue

[dpm] Daniel P. Mannix

[d] doghouse collection

[fd] Frederick

[rb] Robert Bogdan

[kkk] Kunhardt

[mm] Martin Monestier

m multi-talented, appears in more than one category

•Full article needed and/or forthcoming

 

  

 
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Wild Folk:
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Last update: 1/10/04