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Rasmus
Nielsen
Rasmus
Nielsen worked
as a blacksmith
in the mining camps
near Angels Camp,
in the Goldrush
Country north of
San Francisco.
Nielsen is said
to have amused
himself by getting
tattooed in the
evenings.
Nielsen made the decision to join
the show business world, but found
the tattooed man slot on the sideshow
platform crowded. Instead, he chose
to pierce his chest and develop
a weight lifting act using those
piercings.
Another often seen photo shows
Nielsen in 1936 in a pose that
would become one of his most used
- lifting a large anvil with the
rings in his chest. Through the
years the weight of the anvils
changed from 50 to 100 to even
250 pounds. He used this image
for many years on his pitch cards.
Rasmus Nielsen is known in the
sideshow world as a self-made freak.
He was not born with any abnormality
that would win him this position
on the show platform; he had to
work at it. A reporter wrote in
the 1950s, "Rasmus Nielsen is
probably the best example of a
man who was determined to make
a freak out of himself."
The earliest photo of Nielsen in
our collection is from the late
1920s or early 1930s showing a
full front and back view of Nielsen's
tattoos, which include a large
Statue of Liberty back piece topped
with eagle, shield and flags. Christ
heads are seen on his ribs, and
his legs carry such designs as
a portrait of Bill Cody and California
redwood trees. This is not your
normal tattoo fare. "Brooklyn" Joe
Lieber did much of Nielsen's work.
Nielsen's chest was pierced at
this point but not as stretched
as it was in later photos.
In 1940 Nielsen arrived in San
Francisco to work at the Golden
Gate Exposition for the famous
Robert Ripley's Believe it or Not
Odditorium. One of the many souvenirs
available at that Expo was a beautiful
hand tinted linen postcard showing
Nielsen doing his famous anvil
lift. Often these cards can be
found with Nielsen's signature
on the back.
For the next decade Rasmus Nielsen
worked as a sideshow attraction.
He worked with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey
Circus in 1936, again in 1942 and
continuing with them until 1948.
He was often billed as the "Tattooed
Wonderman" or the "Tattooed Strongman." He
also did the tongue lift.
One of the photos in the Archive
is of Nielsen at the annual Calaveras
County Frog Jump in Angel's Camp,
California. Nielsen is sitting
with a group of local miners who
are crushing rocks with their bare
hands. He is wearing short pants
and a short sleeve shirt and seems
almost unaware that a picture is
being taken. Rasmus Nielsen's history
after 1950 is not known, nor is
the year of his death.
Tattoo Archive © 2003
See
a biography of Ramus
Nielsen in our online
store.
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