Tattooed Circus Lady
This week’s historical woman is more than just a circus freak. FLASH DAY is March 26, see the new flash below. We donated 2 more $150 gift certificates, this time to Drum Point Elementary PTA for their upcoming May events. Don’t forget the New England Convention is 4 weeks away! Book your Connecticut appointment today!
“It hurt something awful, but it was worth it.” - Betty Broadbent
Sue Lillian Brown, aka Betty Broadbent, was born in Zellwood, FL 11/1/1909. When she was 14, she met Jack Redcloud on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. She was fascinated by the fact that he was covered in tattoos. This began her interest in tattooing. Redcloud introduced her to his tattoo artist, Charlie Wagner, who, in 1927, along with Tony Rhineagear, Joe Van Hart, and Red Gibbons, began tattooing a 565 piece body suit on her.
She was offered a position in the circus from Wagner’s friend Clyde Ingalls. Not only was Betty the tattooed lady for Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey, but she also performed with Tom Mix as a steer rider. She worked as a tattoo artist in shops from NYC to San Francisco and as far north as Montreal. Her international career began in 1937 when she worked for independent circuses in New Zealand and Australia.
Being a woman in the 1930s with a body full of tattoos she did not embody the traditional views of beauty for women of the time. In 1939, she challenged these views by participating in a beauty pageant at the NY worlds fair. Of the 300 contestants was a large group of women who were fair workers and performers. The theme of the fair that year was “The World of Tomorrow” and the slogan they used was “The Dawn of a New Day.” Little did they know tattoos would steadily become more and more popular from then on. Another noteworthy fact about that pageant was that it was the first televised beauty pageant.
In a New York Times interview, Betty said of her famous back piece, a spread eagle that covered her back from shoulder to shoulder and took over 6 sessions, “It hurt something awful, but it was worth it.” Other tattoos include the Madonna and child on her back, Charles Lindbergh tattooed her right leg and a tattoo of Pancho Villa on her left leg.
Betty worked in the US until her retirement in 1967. In 1981, she was the first person to be inducted into the Tattoo Hall of Fame and was the most photographed tattooed woman of the 20th century. While living in Florida, she passed away in her sleep on March 28, 1983.
