Portrait of Frieda Pushnik and a Patron at a Casement Drawing

Frieda Pushnik was born on 10 February 1923 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Although healthy, Frieda was born without arms or legs - caused, Frieda said, by a botched appendectomy performed on her mother. Despite her lack of limbs Frieda taught herself to perform many useful tasks, some of which would become part of her act. Frieda attended public school, carried to class in the morning by her mother and home again in the afternoon by her brother William or sister Erma. In 1933, ten-year-old Frieda was engaged by Robert L. Ripley for his first Believe-It-Or-Not Odditorium at the World's Fair in Chicago. In pitchcards, Frieda was generally held by her mother, who would be her constant companion through her career. Ripley promoted her as “Freda Pushnik, The Little Half Girl Born Without Arms or Legs”: Although born without arms or legs, she has overcome this handicap to the extent that she can do many apparently unbelievable things. She writes beautifully, threads a needle, and works jig-saw puzzles. At the Ripley ‘Believe-It-Or-Not’ Odditorium her cheery smile has won her a host of friends. Pushnik spent six years with Ripley, but in 1943 she joined the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus Sideshow, becoming a member of their Congress of Freaks. This arrangement became a family affair with sister Erma working under the big top as a trapeze artist and dancing girl for several seasons before becoming the secretary to the manager of the circus. Traveling all over the country with her mother and sister, Frieda worked for Ringling until 1956, after which she entered into semi-retirement in southern California. Frieda made a brief foray into film, appearing in The House of the Damned (1963) and the Argentine remake filmed the following year. In 1981, Pushnik appeared in Sideshow, a made-for-TV movie. Other than that, Frieda seems to have enjoyed a quiet and comfortable retirement in Costa Mesa, well looked after by her family. Frieda Pushnik, the Armless and Legless Wonder Girl, died on Christmas Eve of 2000 at the age of 77 due to the effects of bladder cancer. My portrait of Frieda Pushnik was partly inspired by Fra Filippo Lippi's 15th-century painting of an unknown Italian lady in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The space depicted in that painting, with a gentleman peering in through a window, reminded me of a peepshow. One would certainly not be disappointed to find this attraction on display.

Drawing:Pen and Ink on Other

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:0.4 W x 0.4 H x 0.1 D in

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