Rickards Latest Freak. FREAKS Ephemera

Postcard, 140 x 90 mm. old tape to top edge. Albert Ernest Pickard [1874 - 1964] was a Bradford born showman, publicist, eccentric and philanthropist who settled in Glasgow in 1904 taking over Fell's American Museum and Waxworks. He was probably the greatest showman in Scottish history and his acts included the "Lion Girl" ('Half-Woman Half -Lion'), "Tom Thumb" and "The Original Half-Lady." This image appears at first glance to represent a tattooed man, but he more likely has some sort of disfiguring skin condition which would more closely align with Pickard's anatomical freaks and explains the elephant's trunk on his head.