Freak Show Posters.
The freak show, now pretty much a thing of the past, was once thought to be good entertainment for the whole family. You paid your money and were treated to an array of medical. biological, scientific natural and unatural curiosities. Usually the specimens were alive, sometimes the preserved remains were exhibited by their "owners".
Such wonders as tattooed women and men, drawves, midgets and giants all vied for attention alopng side the more exotic sounding Lobster Boy, Alligator Man, Mule Face Woman, Jojo The Dog Faced Boy and of course, Joseph Merrick, the famous Elephant Man.
Posters for these more unusual exhibits often grossly exagerated the phenomenom, with fantastical portraits that more often than not bore little relation to the reality.
These freaks shows, once a regular sight at fairgrounds and shows, have drastically diminished in number in our more enlightened times, but the art of the billboards and posters advertising such shows lives on and has become highly collectable.
Today, I believe the freak show ethic lives on in TV programmes such as Extraordinary People and Embarrassing Bodies
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