A Circus Life for Me

Many women have helped shape America into what it is today. While tattoos were still considered to be distasteful and meant for the corrupt during the turn to the 20^th century, fearless women took a chance and threw themselves into the public’s scrutiny. I would like to acknowledge two who really helped make tattoos tolerable for the mainstream, Nora and Betty. Two brave women from the Victorian era pushed the social norm by enduring full body tattoos and showcasing themselves in freak shows with the traveling circus. And as a result of the lives they lived, women today aren’t labeled as the underbelly folk for having tattoos.

Nora Hildebrandt

During this time in history, women began to toy with the idea of tattooing. Straying from the expectations of Victorian society, women obtained modest embellishments so that it could be easily concealed. The remarkable Nora Hildebrandt enlisted in Barnum & Bailey Circus as the first fully tattooed lady in America. She regaled her spectators with a narrative of how she was taken by force, along with her father, by American Indians. Nora claimed she was tied to a tree and tattooed day after day for a year before they were able to earn their freedom. (Pednaud) Over the 1880’s she displayed her body art bringing a little more excitement and sex appeal into the circus for both male and female patrons. Her audience loved her, even when her story was discredited. Her 365 tattoos were given by her father Martin Hildebrandt, the first professional tattooist in America, who used her to practice on. Weather his intention or not, Martin secured a circus life for his daughter. However, her fame was short lived when more and more women joined the stage, this just goes to show how much of an impacted she made on women.

Betty Broadbent

Sometime later in 1909, a girl full of moxie was born, Betty Broadbent. She fell in love with tattoos at the age of 14, and only four years later she had been tattooed from neck line to toe. She not only broke down barriers with her tattoos, she took control. She started her career at a tattooed lady with the Ringling Circus revealing her 565 tattoos. Betty made history being the first fully tattooed woman to appear in the beauty contest at the 1937 World’s Fair. (Pednaud) She did not win the televised contest, but she was definitely remembered. In taking this chance, Betty laid the ground work for social change. She continued her performances, even making appearances in New Zealand until the age of 58 when she retired from show business. Betty received a place in the tattoo hall of fame in 1981 (Pednaud), for her public displays of respect for tattooing art and culture.

Because these two rebellious women faced discrimination and embraced social change head on, heavily tattooed women of today are not ostracized. Household names like Kat Von D, Masuimi Max, and even Angelina Jolie, who has over 10 tattoos, are able to be prominent women in society. Visual body art on women, as of 2012, has a 4% lead over men for the first time ever according to a poll taken by Harris Interactive. Women who are tattooed no longer thought of as prostitutes, criminals, or freaks. This proves that Nora and Betty have helped quiet the discrimination and stigmas faced by tattooed women in general society and the women of today are continuing the tradition.

Sources

J. Tithonus Pednaud

         http://www.thehumanmarvels.com/nora-hildebrandt-the-first-tattooed-lady/ 

         http://www.thehumanmarvels.com/betty-broadbent-tattooed-beauty/ 

 

The Godfather of Tattooing

 

 

Around the dawning of the 20^th century was the time when tattoo masters first started to develop their skills. There were none as brash or as brilliant as Norman Keith Collins; Sailor Jerry that is. He seemed to be America’s spotlight, shining a new light on tattooing in a time when it was mostly practiced by an obscure number of America’s population. The electric tattooing machine was still brand new, and the quality of tattoos, as well as tattooing conditions were not regulated. Tattoos were good, bad, and unsanitary. Sailor Jerry’s mission was to tattoo well, but he ended up turning an oddity into a breathtaking art form.

It’s said that Norman Collins was a troublemaker from the moment he was born in 1911. His father gave him the nickname, “Jerry” after he noticed his son had the same rebelliousness disposition as their mule, Jerry. (Weiss) At an early age, Jerry often found himself in trouble for tattooing his classmates. He ended up learning how to hand-poke tattoo while he was seeing America by way of the freight train. During his adventures he met Big Mike of Alaska who taught him some tips of the trade. He eventually ended up in Chicago in the 1920’s where Gib “Tatts” Thomas taught Jerry Collins how to use an electric tattoo machine. (Weiss) Collin’s wit and joking nature helped him secure friends quickly; this allowed him to train and pick up tattooing tips with ease, he practiced this trait throughout his whole life.

Norman Collins

Jerry enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the age of 19 at the Great Lakes Navel Academy. This actually helped his tattooing even though he stopped all together! He gave up tattooing because of a disagreement with the IRS. Nevertheless he was able to experience other countries. Sailor Jerry, which everyone was now calling him, was exposed to many new cultures and art. He was able to learn East Asian art forms and tattooing techniques from a Japanese tattooing master known as Horis. Sailor Jerry relocated to Hawaii, he would remain there for the rest of his very active days. He got back to tattooing and down to business.

Just think, a bunch of merchant marines and sailors, on leave with money. It was a common thing for these sailors to be in lines outside of bars and shops, waiting for their 4 shots, a prostitute, and a tattoo (instead of a doctor’s visit). (Weiss) He worked Downtown Chinatown, Honolulu on Hotel St., it was a place where anything goes. He was a big guy who could hold his own, especially when he would get into fist fights over his raise in prices. Jerry’s trademark tattoos revolved around what he loved patriotism, anchors, weapons, hearts, and swallows.

At the end of World War II Sailor Jerry came back to Hotel St. and went back to tattooing. He had to rebuild his whole business. He realized that all of these men and woman were receiving tattoos in crap conditions and in return had huge sized scabs over their new tattoos plus long healing periods. Everyone was drunk, no one was clean or wearing gloves, and no one washed their equipment. (Weiss) Equipment means their tattoo guns, tubes, and needles! Blood borne disease was very much alive and it was tearing at tattooing's increased popularity. To counteract this, Sailor Jerry sought to implement hospital standard regulations in his shop. He was among the first to use single use needles and tubes, and an autoclave for sterilization. He created better battery sources and new needles formations that lessened the trauma to skin while it’s being tattooed. All of this helped the reputation of his craft among Americans.

Flash Art

Sailor Jerry was ingenious with tattooing and art. He was able to create a new genre, were he joined the traditional big bold black lines with American stylized Japanese art. He created a new way of water blending tattoo. He found a human-safe color purple! After writing ink companies for a free sample of purple ink, he’d use it to tattoo himself. In fact, that is how you knew he liked you. (Weiss) Sailor Jerry was a fierce defender of his trade, a real secretive man. A lucky select few became an apprentice of Sailor Jerry: Mike “Rollo”Malone, Don Nolan, Cliff Raven, and Don Ed Hardy are some bigger names. Ed Hardy as we know him today, was his favorite and became one of his closest confidant. Jerry even wanted to leave his studio to him when he was on his deathbed. Hardy is well known today from franchising tattooing and flash designs.

While traveling American and eventually the world, Sailor Jerry was uncovered his talents for tattooing. He is responsible for safer tattoos, cleaner tattoo studios, superior art techniques, and he motivated others to be better. His inquisitive nature for art conjoined with his love for sticking it to the man made him the Grandfather of tattooing.

By the way, I  really recommend the documentary, "Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry: The Life of Norman K. Collins".  It has a great anecdotes. Plus, you can rent it from Amazon.com for $3 dollars.

Pictures and Information

·        - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Jerry#mediaviewer/File:Norman_Keith_Collins.jpg

·        - “Norman Collins.” http://sailorjerry.com/norman-collins/. William Grant & Sons. Web. 2012. 
         - Weiss, Erich, dir. Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry: The Life of Norman K. Collins. South by Southwest Film Festival) 2008. Film.