I’ll do the update first… If you missed yesterday’s post, (here) I shared a book review for “Children of the Past.” It was just a photographic depiction of children’s portraits from 1860 to around the 1920’s. I shared my opinion and posted quite a few pictures of children. One picture in particular caught everyone’s attention and several comments were made about it. My comment for the picture was “Your guess is as good as mine.” Since I knew Photo Shop wasn’t around back then, I decided to see if a “prankster photographer” was the culprit. After a little searching, I thought I’d fill you in on the real story. First of all, here’s the picture in question again…
It turns out that Josephine “Myrtle” Corbin was born in Tennessee in 1868 with four legs. She entered the traveling circus and was nicknamed “Four Legged Girl from Texas” when she was 13 years old. One of her first promotional pamphlets described her as having “a gentle disposition as the summer sunshine and as happy as the day is long.”
O-K-A-Y… now where are you going to get that kind of information in any other blog, huh?
Now that we know about Myrtle, let’s find out about Wren and Katie. I was very happy over the weekend to find some pictures I thought I had lost. A few days ago I did a post of Orange and Black fashions… if you missed seeing it, (here) is that post. I featured a few of my girls in their black and white fashions for the month of October. Well… I found a few more of two girls who look pretty cute in their ensembles.
For Wren, it’s a fun mix and match set that I did from coordinating orange and black colors. If you happen to have a 14″ Wren doll, by Helen Kish, you are very fortunate. I personally think she was the prettiest of all the Kish Chrysalis dolls. Talk about a peaches and cream complexion, she has one. We had fun with this photo shoot one afternoon and I thought I’d share it with you, to get you in the mood for Fall! Again, these are pictures taken way back when I had no idea what I was doing, so they aren’t the most promising things you’ve ever seen…
This is sweet little 18″ Katie Effanbee, showing off her black and orange jumper set. She looks awfully cute in this, doesn’t she?
Well, I hope this simple post makes you want to dig through your fabric stash and look for black and orange fabrics. I’ll be waiting to hear from you to see what you come up with!!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Thanks for letting us know what you found out about that photo. Wow! It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? Back then, they didn’t have the surgical skill to fix abnormalities like we do today.
HI Cindy,
Yes, it is hard to believe that she had to go through life like this. Actually she got married and had a daughter… that’s almost even harder to believe!
Blessings, Jeanne
Thanks for the update. I had a feeling the photo had to be real and untouched. Poor child, sounds like she made the best of her life. I hope so anyway.
Lovely outfits and beautiful dolls! :o)
Carolyn,
I was positive it had to be a prank but it turned out not to be so. Did you see my comment to Cindy above your’s… she actually got married and had a child! That’s almost as incredible to me as her just having four legs.
She must have had some great parents and a lot of self confidence!
Blessings, Jeanne
Thanks so much for the update Jeanne, that’s amazing. I feel a bit mean thinking it was a trick of some sort now. Isn’t it sad though that children born with abnormalities like this were of so much ‘use’ to the circus…..thank goodness that nowadays we have the knowledge to deal surgically with this sort of birth defect. It’s also amazing that she went on to marry and have a child of her own.
Hugs Sharon in Spain x
HI Sharon,
Yes, it really is amazing that she did! I just can’t imagine going through life like this. Incredible woman I’d say!
Thanks Sharon,
Blessings, Jeanne
I love the back and orange outfits. I have that check fabric, now if I could only sew as well as you. Sigh!
Hi Regina,
Come on now… give it a try… If you think you can’t do it, go back a few blog posts and read the one where I started out sewing Barbie clothes. They are awful, but you have to start somewhere!
Blessings, Jeanne