James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On & Off the Midway [Paperback]

James Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002

The planet's foremost sideshow authority takes you on an unforgettable tour. (SEE QUOTE.)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"James Taylor knows more than anybody else about sideshows."
--Lynn Dougherty, Sideshow: Alive on the Inside

From the Back Cover

As the world's only publication devoted to sideshow, James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed! On & Off the Midway is chock-full of carnival and circus midway madness and mayhem. Hear the truth behind this uniquely American art form from the lips of the human marvels themselves! Shocked and Amazed! invites you to explore and satisfy your curiosity for the strange, the weird, the bizarre, the odd and the unusual.Witness never-before-seen photographs from the personal collections of sideshow superstars from yesteryear! Marvel at the sideshow stories presented personally for your pleasure by sideshow performers! Thrill to these titillating tales of laughter and woe on the sawdust trail from the likes of: Frank Lentini, who could kick a football the length of the midway with his third leg; Melvin Burkhart, the Human Blockhead who could pound six-inch spikes into his head; Harold Huge, the sideshow fat man who needs "Six Gals to Hug Him, and a Boxcar to Lug Him"; Percilla the Monkey Girl and her husband, Emmitt the Alligator Skin Man; Bill Durks, the Man with Three Eyes and many, many more. (7 x 10, 288 pages, b&w photos)

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585747076
• ISBN-13: 978-1585747078
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,567,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Taylor is a graduate of the University of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars and co-founded Dolphin-Moon Press in 1973, making it one of Baltimore's oldest small press publishing houses. For nearly a decade, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Taylor was literary chairman to the Baltimore Mayor's Advisory Committee on Art and Culture and was a member of the Maryland governor's panel choosing the state's poet laureate. In 1999 he co-founded with Dick Horne the American Dime Museum in Baltimore, a museum that was part Victorian recreation and part homage to circus, carnival and dime museum culture; Taylor dissolved his partnership with Horne in 2003. Almost immediately, he began work on reestablishing his own museum attractions in Washington, DC, in the Palace of Wonders, which opened in 2006. He has given countless readings of his work both here and abroad and has been featured internationally on numerous occasions on TV, radio and in print in connection with his own writing, his museums and Dolphin-Moon Press. He has also served as historical consultant to numerous television productions in his capacity as variety arts historian. He has three books of poetry and fiction to date: Tigerwolves, Tricks of Vision, and Artifacture (featuring illustrations by half a dozen artists). His Shocked and Amazed! - On & Off the Midway, published through Dolphin-Moon since 1995, is the world's only journal devoted to novelty and variety exhibition and life in the sideshow; in 2002, Lyons/Globe Pequot Press published a "Best Of" Shocked and Amazed! In his private life, he has worked for the state government of Maryland since 1975, and for 25 years, beginning in 1984, he was an Associate Professor of English at the Dundalk Campus of the Community College of Baltimore County.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, June 22, 2003

By 

Trent Reinsmith "Trent Reinsmith" (Baltimore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On & Off the Midway (Paperback)

You wouldn't know it on the East Coast due to all the rain, but summer is upon us. School's out, the days are longer, the nights are hotter, the beer goes down a little easier and in some parts of the country the fairs and carnivals are starting to roll through town. The fairs and carnivals of today are filled with shaky rides, artery clogging concessions, grifted games and not much else. Maybe you'll be graced by the occasional handpainted sideshow banner or, if you're lucky, perhaps you will come across an animal curiosity act, but the days of the old shows are long gone. The days of the ten in one, the talker working the tip, the days of THE SHOW have passed us by. The midway today is dominated by Bobo the Clown taunting passersby from his perch in the dunk tank. And while Bobo is a good show, he'll never replace the "good old days." Thankfully James Taylor and Kathleen Kotcher have been documenting the days of yore in the journal "Shocked and Amazed: On and Off the Midway" since 1995, and thankfully Lyon's Press has graced us with what is basically a Best of "Shocked and Amazed."
Lyons Press has included 21 pieces that they deemed most representative of the six earlier issues of the "Shocked and Amazed" journal and placed them together to form the bulk of this book. However, this book should not be looked at as simply a reprint of the journals of the past. Lyons, Taylor and Kotcher have added a number of never before seen photos, an introduction and an index, as well as updated some of the interviews to create a classic of sideshow lore and legend.
Included in this volume are pieces on the three legged man, the Human Blockhead, a sideshow fat man, the Monkey Girl and her husband the Alligator Skin Man, the Half Girl and her husband the American Giant, the Human Fountain, the Man with Three Eyes among others. Also included are pieces on P.T Barnum, Ward Hall, known as King of the Sideshows, Girl Shows, and Bobby Reynolds, the self proclaimed "greatest showman in the world."
There are other books that cover these topics on the shelves of your local mega bookstore/Starbucks, but "Shocked and Amazed" has one distinct advantage over those titles: it treats its subjects with respect and as people, and that comes through in the interviews. When reading this book you never get the feeling that Taylor is there to exploit his subject. Instead you get the feeling that Taylor has a genuine affection for, and interest in these people and is just there to document their stories and histories. The interviews are all very well done and offer the reader a candid look into the lives of these people and performers. Taylor does an outstanding job in this book of letting his readers get a candid and revealing glimpse into the world of the sideshow.
If you decide that this is a book that you should read (and it is!), then set aside a day in which to read it, because once you open it up you'll be hard pressed to put it down until you have devoured every piece of information contained in its pages. "Shocked and Amazed!" is a must have book for anyone interested in the lore, legend and myth of the sideshow.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best of ballyhoo, April 29, 2003

By 

James G. Mundie (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On & Off the Midway (Paperback)

Finally, those who have been outbid on eBay trying to acquire the long out-of-print early issues of James Taylor's sideshow magazine can read all fascinating articles in this book, which acts as a sort of "Shocked and Amazed" greatest hits collection. Over 250 pages of memories, history and humbug straight from the carnie's mouth are compiled in one handy volume, generously illustrated with unusual photographs.

One can only hope that this is the first in a series of volumes to collect articles from the fabulous magazine.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On and Off the Midway, January 1, 2003

By 

Rick West (Nacogdoches, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: James Taylor's Shocked and Amazed: On & Off the Midway (Paperback)

James Tayor's writing is as interesting and colorful as his subject matter. He really loves the sideshow business and it shows in his writing. He gives the reader an intimate,insider, look at the shows, their operation and their performers. The photographs alone are worth the price of this book. "The shows about to begin...get your ticket and go now!"