behind her tattoos. Irene also told audience members that she was kidnapped by Native Americans and her father was made to tattoo her. Another story was that she was tattooed by her father by choice. Neither one of these stories was true; she was in fact tattooed by two of the most prominent tattoo artists of this era: Samuel O’Reilly and Charles Wagner.


Nora and Irene were not the only sideshows to tell fictitious stories of kidnapping and forced tattooing; most of the tattooed men and women of the circus fabricated their stories to make themselves more intriguing to the public.


The popularity of tattooing grew with the invention of the electric tattoo machine in 1891 by New York tattoo artist Samuel O’Reilly. The new machine made the tattooing process less painful and more acces- sible to a greater number of people – from potential circus performers to tattoo parlours and society women. People wanted to become famous by getting tattooed from head to toe and with the electric tattoo machine this dream became easier.


The tattooed ladies of the late 1800s and early 1900s had religious and patriotic themed tattoos; this helped to legitimise their careers in the tattoo world. The religious


38 Vintage Ink Magazine www.vintageinkmagazine.com


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