The Tattooed Lady And The
Illustrated Man
Ever since Captain Cook returned from the South Pacific in 1769 with drawings and descriptions of tattooed tribes, the world has been both fascinated and outraged by tattoos. The sailors from these trips got tattoos as souvenirs and brought the techniques back with them. When the circus and sideshows grew with popularity in America it was a natural progression to include the many tattooed sailors in its tours. From the 1870s the men with full tattooed body suits attracted audience members and surrounded themselves with an air of mystery.
By Jes Bussey F
or women in the 1880s it was the draw of $1,000 per week that the tattooed men earned that lured them to the circus. After the American Civil War, women wanted to seek work outside of the home and getting tattooed and join- ing the circus was the perfect way to travel across America. Unfortu- nately, the first influx of Tattooed Ladies did not earn as much as their male counterparts (a much smaller $100 per week) but they did make more than the average stage actor of their day.
The most prominent women in these early days were Irene Wood- ward and Nora Hildebrandt; both were tattooed in the traditional ‘hand poked’ method which was a very painful and lengthy process.
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Nora Hildebrandt was the daugh- ter of tattooist Martin Hildebrandt and she made her professional debut in 1882. He was a tattooist who specialised in freehand designs on sailors, soldiers and sideshow exhib- its. In his spare time Martin tattooed Nora, covering her body with 365 tattoos, mostly of birds and flowers. Nora claimed that she and her father were captured by Native Americans and that Martin was ordered to tat- too Nora every day for a year. Nora did finally admit that this was a lie, but her story portrayed her as a vic- tim who the spectators felt sympathy for and kept coming back to see. Irene Woodward, or ‘La Belle Irene’, first made her professional appearance just weeks after Nora; she also made up various stories
Vintage Ink Magazine 37
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