Medicine show
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Medicine shows were touring acts that peddled "miracle cure" patent medicines and other products between various entertainments. They developed from European mountebank shows and were common in the Un
A reenactment of a medicine show in Ringwood, Illinois
Flea circus
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A flea circus is a circus sideshow attraction in which fleas are attached to miniature carts and other items, and encouraged to perform circus acts within a small housing.
Medicine show
…medicine" (products which were for the most part unpatented, but which took the name to sound official). Entertainments often included a freak show, a flea circus, musical acts, magic tricks, jokes, or storytelling. Each show was run by a man posing as a doctor who drew the crowd with a monologue. The entertainers…
The flea circus of Maxfield Rubbish, San Diego, CA (2009)
"The Go-As-You-Please Race, as seen through a Magnifying Glass", engraved by J. G. Francis, from an article by C. F. Holder in St. Nicholas Magazine, 1886
Fleas in dresses at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, Seattle, WA