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Captain Don Leslie: Sword Swallower, Circus Sideshow Attraction
by Don Leslie and Madame Chinchilla
The amazing unvarnished story of one of the greatest, most versatile sideshow performers of them all, the Tattooed King of the Midway, the incredible, legendary Capt. Don Leslie, as told from his personal interviews, illustrated with colorful photographs from his circus trunks.
As a young boy, Capt. Don Leslie followed his dream and ran away from home to join the circus. He lived, worked and traveled with the circus sideshow for 55 years. The last of his kind, literally: the last man that bridges the gap in history between the sideshow swordswallower and the modern day tattooer.
"In my lifetime I touched three centuries of the circus. When I was
nineteen, people in their fifties were from the 1890's. I met
entertainers who worked for P.T. Barnum. Captain Don always knew he
was home when he smelled elephant sh**."
- Henry Goldfield, Goldfield's
Tattoo, San Francisco.
Softcover. 208 pages. Measures 9" X 11"