Coney Island Circus Sideshow

About The Sideshow

Sideshows, freak shows, string shows and ten-in-ones — these presentations of the strange, the unusual, the bizarre and unconventionally beautiful have been woven into the fabric of American culture since the days of P.T. Barnum, and a part of the Coney Island landscape for more than a century. Each of Coney Island’s three major parks (Steeplechase, Luna Park, and Dreamland) featured sideshow performances.

The day after Dreamland burned to the ground in 1911, the park’s general manager, Samuel Gumpertz, pitched a tent on the still-smoldering soil and opened the Dreamland Circus Sideshow. For more than twenty years, the Dreamland Circus Sideshow was the flagship for the world of sideshow. Whereas most sideshows offered up ten acts in their shows (which is why they are called “ten-in-ones”), the Dreamland show featured as many as twenty acts in each performance.

Historically, sideshow managers recruited the unusual, the hideous, and the bizarre to capture the fascination of the public. Most “freaks” were ordinary people defined by their extraordinary appearances - victims of accidents, or those suffering from birth defects, disease or physical deformities. Far from being exploited, these “born different’ performers found a community within their shows, and an opportunity to make a living that might otherwise have been denied to them. The shows also included acts of amazing dexterity and unthinkable risk, including sword swallowers, fakirs, blockheads, strongmen, and fire-eaters. 

Numerous ten-in-one sideshows operated in Coney Island, including Hubert’s Museum, the Steeplechase Circus Big Show, the Strand Museum, the Wonderland Circus Sideshow, and Sam Wagner’s World Circus Freak Show. 

By the 1970’s, the tradition of the sideshow in Coney Island had died out. But in 1985, Coney Island USA invited carnival showman John Bradshaw to perform for the Labor Day weekend. The shows were so successful that Bradshaw was invited back the following year to do a full summer season — and sideshow returned to Coney Island. Bradshaw brought a full troupe of sideshow acts with him, including such legendary performers as Melvin Burkhart and Otis Jordan. After five seasons, Bradshaw decided to not return, but Coney Island USA continues to produce its sideshow — very much as it had been produced 35 years earlier, and since the turn of the last century. 

A nostalgic construct, the tradition of the tent sideshow traveling through the backroads of America has all but vanished, and the continuous admission, ten-in-one model has since been replaced by scheduled performances. But you can still experience the thrills and wonder of the traditional, ten-in-one sideshow at Coney Island USA’s Sideshow By the Seashore Theater.