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| Rob was with the Barnum and Bailey circus from 1894 to at least the turn of the century. The postcard to the left and the photopage below are from the circus's five year European tour 1897 - 1902. He was billed as the "albino dislocationist" or the "albino contortionist". Since folks with albinism oftentimes are also double-jointed, Rob used this to his advantage and incorportated it into his act. |
| One thing I've noticed is that Rob wore some sort of belt/harness. Did that have something to do with his act or did he have some sort of orthopedic condition? |
| Records indicate Rob Roy died in 1908. When and of what is not known, however, his widow soon remarried to a farmer name Harry Wright. Our friend Dan Meyer has researched the life of Annie Roy and writes of her in one of his Websites. He had previously known that there was a female sword swallower active in the 1890's named Annie Roy. I wrote to him suggesting that perhaps she was one and the same Annie the albino, wife of Rob. He looked into it further and now believes it is so and has filled in many details of Annie and her last days. A sideshow afficionado purchased some swords that the seller claimed were once owned by King Roy, so it is definitely possible Annie learned the craft and taught it to her son although I've never seen a photo of either of them with a sword [except perhaps for the postcard above. "Die Schwertschluckerin" translates as "The (female) Swordswallower".] |
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| 1903 group pic, Barnum and Bailey Circus. Can you find Rob Roy? Rob was said to be great buddies with Eli Bowen, "the man with feet but no legs" (front row, just left of center). Sitting just behind Eli is Edith Clifford, Sword Swallower. With the birth of King Charles, who would have been 9 years old when this pic was taken, did Annie quit the business to become a full-time Mom? |
| photo author's collection |