Drew Friedman: painting of The Monkey Girl

Drew Friedman continues his new series of portraits depicting legendary circus and carnie sideshow freaks. The paintings are for a private collector, who I wish was me. Fortunately, Drew says they'll eventually be collected in a book. Seen here is Julia Pastrana Percilla Lauther aka "Percilla The Monkey Girl." Her story is strange, tragic, and also quite touching. From J. Tithonus Pednaud's fantastic site, The Human Marvels:

In the late 1930’s, while performing with the Johnny J. Jones Exposition, Percilla met fellow marvel Emmitt Bejano, the Alligator-Skinned Man. Despite her heavy beard and his ichthyosis a sweet romance blossomed between the unique couple. The pair saw past their physical differences. Emmitt was a man with calloused skin who spent performance intermissions submerged in vats of ice water because he could not sweat. Emmitt was quite literally ‘thick skinned’ and he had a ‘hard shell to crack’ but beneath he was a compassionate, gentle, charming and passionate man. Percilla, despite looking more beast than beauty, was elegant, eloquent and possessed and enchanting singing voice. Before long Percilla realized that the gentle Emmitt was the love of her life and the two eloped in 1938.

Percilla The Monkey Girl (Human Marvels)
Drew Friedman's The Monkey Girl (Drawger)

[#1 posted by nanuq, July 4, 2009 10:22 AM]

It's hard to know what to say about this. On one hand, displaying people with unfortunate medical conditions as freaks is appalling but it also gave unemployable people a way of making a decent living. It's good to hear Percilla's story.

[#2 posted by Takuan, July 4, 2009 10:28 AM]

but these days anyone willing to go on television can be a freak. There has been a great, democratic levelling.

[#3 posted by The Lizardman, July 4, 2009 11:32 AM]

"On one hand, displaying people with unfortunate medical conditions as freaks is appalling "

Please explain - seriously. I have never heard a good rationally defensible explanation of this default position.

Is it because you assume that the display is inherently exploitative because it is not - exploitation is and was a case by case characteristic of the display - some are/were and many weren't/aren't

Is it because you think that being a 'freak' is a necessarily bad thing? It is not. The term freak can be used negatively, neutrally, or positively and those who use it negatively are often the rubes who are truly being taken advantage of by the freaks.

Regardless, and to the second portion of your post, most freaks are not otherwise unemployable but rather have found the most lucrative and least laborious route to making a living - often supporting entire families. Who wants to dig ditches when you can get paid to entertain, often just by sitting there.

[#4 posted by Takuan, July 4, 2009 11:35 AM]

so why can't I find work telling people they are stupid?

[#5 posted by hokano, July 4, 2009 12:52 PM]

The paragraph you quote states that the Alligator-Skinned Man and the Monkey Girl eloped in 1938. I just don't see how that can be right. Senator Inhofe was born in 1934.

[#6 posted by Darren Garrison, July 4, 2009 1:25 PM]

Okay, that is Bob Ross in drag.

[#7 posted by unmoris, July 4, 2009 2:51 PM]

You've gotten you stories mixed up. Percilla the Monkey Girl and Julia Pastrana are two different women suffering from the same ailment. Pastrana died in 1860. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Pastrana
Percilla died in 2001. Emmitt died in 1995.
http://www.sideshowworld.com/mvuf-Emmett-Percilla.html

[#8 posted by Takuan, July 4, 2009 4:31 PM]

ailment?
http://www.amazon.com/Hyperpilosity/dp/B000FBJ1N6

[#9 posted by hokano, July 4, 2009 4:48 PM]

tonikaku ne... chinbotsusen wa doko?

[#10 posted by NateV, July 5, 2009 12:35 AM]

That is so creepy.

[#11 posted by Takuan, July 5, 2009 1:12 AM]

Chinbotsusen no Monkey Girl

Kanashikute kanashikute kanashikute
Hikari mo todokanu umi no soko

Issho ni shizunda zaihou wa
Anata to sugoshita jikantachi

Omoide wa abuku ni natte natte
Sora e to nobotteku

Anata ni aenakunatte kara
Watashi wa chinbotsusen no MONKII GAARU

* Aenakunatte kara
Chinbotsusen no MONKII GAARU

Kirai ni naretara ii kirai ni naretara ii
Anata wo kirai ni naretara ii noni

Aenakunatte kara
Watashi wa chinbotsusen no MONKII GAARU

* repeat

Kanashikute kanashikute
Namida no umi de oboreta MONKII GAARU

Uh...

[#12 posted by Takuan, July 5, 2009 1:14 AM]

I'm sad...
[In] the depths of the ocean where even light cannot reach

Together, the sunken treasure and I spent many hours with you

The memories become bubbles
that rise up to the sky

I can't see you because
I'm the monkey girl of the sunken ship.

I can't see you cause
[I'm] the monkey girl of the sunken ship

If I come to hate you, it's alright
I wish I'd come to hate you (but I won't)

I can't see (you)
I'm the monkey girl of the sunken ship

* repeat

I'm sad...
I'm the monkey girl who drowned in a sea of my tears

Uh...

[#13 posted by Takuan, July 5, 2009 1:36 AM]

more accessible?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsjtvQtoaiU

[#14 posted by Anonymous, July 5, 2009 9:05 PM]

I know many female-designated people who grow full, lush beards & moustaches unless they shave or use electrolysis. It's not at all uncommon. At least two people I know could easily have gotten jobs as "bearded ladies" in the days of freak shows. One of them is extremely pleased to have found work in a cafe in San Francisco, where she is not required to shave off her beard in order to fit in to what people assume a woman (or woman-shaped human being) should look like, and the other considers herself fortunate to have grown such a neat & attractive little beard.

[#15 posted by username, July 6, 2009 1:30 PM]

did questlove pose for that one?