WILLIAM HENRY  "ZIP" JOHNSON
						Bill "Zip" Johnson had the longest and most successful career of all of P.T. Barnum's "What-is-It's". Much of his success was due to his love of entertaining and general good nature. Bill was taught early on how to "dummy up". Patrons of the dime museums (and later the sideshows) were less inclined to pay to see a performer if they could see you for free on the streets. So Bill learned the importance of "playing the part" during interviews or wherever he happened to be and consequently many came to believe he was a simpleton and others that he was not much more than an idiot. Bill was not retarded but a simple man who never received a formal education due to the color of his skin. Normally, when people retire, they tell the story of their life and set the record straight. But Bill worked up to the day he died. In fact it was his love of show business that contributed to his failing health. Eighty-three years old and suffering from bronchitis and pneumonia he refused his much needed rest, preferring to be with the circus on opening day. Consequently, we were all denied the opportunity to know "Zip" as the man he was and are left to understand him only through the photographic portraits he has left behind.
		Bill "Zip" Johnson standing on the beach at Coney Island, June 30, 1925. Brooklyn, New York, USA (photo courtesy www.corbis.com)