Account of George Romondo.

A ventriloquist in drag, known as "Thora ?". Photographic postcard, 191-.

Street entertainers in Nottingham: James Burne, called Shelford Tommy, a ventriloquist (left) and Charley, a man playing a shawm (right). Etching with aquatint, 1797.

Racial types and people with physical abnormalities exhibited at S. Watson's American Museum of Living Curiosities. Colour lithograph.

A group of entertainers parading: the monstrous craws, a ventriloquist, a learned pig and two mesmerists. Etching, 178.

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1 print : etching, with aquatint ; platemark 15.9 x 20 cm

The ventriloquist is in drag holding a prop under his chin, looking at the viewer. The question mark following Thora printed on the postcard suggests they perform with an androgynous gender expression.

The James Gardiner Collection. Photographs.

James Gardiner Collection: photograph album labelled Drag. 

James Gardiner Collection: photograph album labelled ‘Drag’.

The ethnic types depicted are the following: "African", head of a black man with big lips; "Australians", two aboriginal people with pointed heads; "North American Indian", man wearing head-dress; "Mexican", wearing sombrero; "Soudanese", wearing turban
The "living curiosities" depicted are the following: "A living mystery.", a woman without body below the waist; "The stoutest lady in the world", a fat lady; "Snake charmer", sitting cross-legged, holding two snakes; "The tallest & shortest woman in the Universe, (pretty & of good figures)"; "Neither arms nor legs.", a man without a body below the waist and without arms, placed on the seat of an armchair; "The twoheaded marvel.", a woman who appears to have two heads; "The finest head of hair ever seen.", a woman with long blonde hair down to the ground; "The fat boy"; "The tallest & shortest man in the world. These men are the long and the short of it", the tall man lighting a cigarette from the flame at the top of a gas lamp, the short man standing at the foot of the lamppost. In the centre are are a lion-tamer, a conjurer, and a ventriloquist

Pages 115-6 from a book. This is about George Romondo who appears to have been a mimic and ventriloquist.

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Ventriloquists

Images

Works

Street entertainers in Nottingham: James Burne, called Shelford Tommy, a ventriloquist (left) and Charley, a man playing a shawm (right). Etching with aquatint, 1797.

A ventriloquist in drag, known as "Thora ?". Photographic postcard, 191-.

Racial types and people with physical abnormalities exhibited at S. Watson's American Museum of Living Curiosities. Colour lithograph.

A group of entertainers parading: the monstrous craws, a ventriloquist, a learned pig and two mesmerists. Etching, 178.

Account of George Romondo.

Today’s opening times

Wellcome uses cookies.

Ventriloquists

Images

Works

Street entertainers in Nottingham: James Burne, called Shelford Tommy, a ventriloquist (left) and Charley, a man playing a shawm (right). Etching with aquatint, 1797.

A ventriloquist in drag, known as "Thora ?". Photographic postcard, 191-.

Racial types and people with physical abnormalities exhibited at S. Watson's American Museum of Living Curiosities. Colour lithograph.

A group of entertainers parading: the monstrous craws, a ventriloquist, a learned pig and two mesmerists. Etching, 178.

Account of George Romondo.

Wellcome Collection

Today’s opening times