I enjoyed this book. The text is well written and easy to read. The accompanying illustrations are wonderful. It is a short quick read and I did wish there was more. Enjoy.

Not long before WWII, showman Ike Rose, following in the footsteps of P T Barnum and Florenz Ziegfeld, brought together a troupe of “midgets”, as they were then known, and created a travelling company he called Rose’s Royal Midgets. This is the story of that troupe. Rose himself died in 1935 but his vaudeville act thrived for another 25 years. It’s a compelling story and gives voice to the many Little People who performed with the troupe. They were incredibly popular and performed all over the world. Now nearly forgotten, the book brings them, deservedly, back into the public eye, and although attitudes to such “freak shows” have changed, accords them due respect. Wonderfully illustrated throughout, and meticulously researched, I found the book a deeply compelling and endlessly fascinating read.

While this book wasn't bad it was severely lacking in actual commentary. Your pretty much get chapters discussing histories little people before it turns into page after page of different photos. Now if you want a book that you can put on your coffee table and flip to a page and not worry about missing anything than this book is good. I was just expecting more out of it. Or I guess for it to say anything.

Rose’s Royal Midgets

Obviously, I was aware that I was going to have problem (as James Taylor in the introduction to this book states) with the application or misapplication of the terminology surrounding the history of carnivals and vaudeville - Freak, Midget, Sideshow etc. But the book does mostly use the preferred term ‘Little People’ throughout.
This book charts the popularity of the travelling troupes of Little People performers who were so popular in the late 19th/early 20th Century. Mostly focussing on Ike Rose’s troupe.
Includes some great pamphlets from the time and lots of photographs by Charles Eissenman.
A short book, but fascinating nonetheless.
* Thanks to Vaudevisuals Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this one. I really liked looking at all the vintage photos and programmes from the time. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

This book is the first ever ARC I have been able to get my hands on, and while it won’t be the last, it has certainly taught me a lot about what kind of books to avoid. I spent a whole lot of the time I was reading this book trying to give it any benefit of the doubt, affording it more chances than it frankly deserved. In all 122 pages, the only kind thing I have to say about this book is that it made great use of photos, illustrations, and scans from booklets. Chapters two, five, and six were scans of primary sources (a program, souvenir booklet, and photos respectively). These were an incredibly interesting addition, but they each could have benefited from some commentary, contextualization, or explanation from the author. However, it’s clear that Trav S.D. spent a great deal of time curating the collection of photos included in the book, which alone provided a fascinating look into the work little people did in Vaudeville.
Right off the bat, the author (and publisher) began their respective first chapter and forward by warning the reader about the use of an outdated and offensive term. They admitted that most little people don’t claim the term, “midget,” and explained that it would be used in the ensuing chapters for the purpose of historical accuracy and providing clarity. What I found instead was a frankly gratuitous use of the term, not just in the names of the troupes, but also in describing the people in them. The first chapter read more like a section in a Wikipedia page than a nonfiction account, with a very rushed exposition and explanation. This topic is really fascinating, and I really wish the author had gone into more detail in general, but more specifically about the little people that had worked in Vaudeville. That whole chapter is devoted to Mr. Rose, and the time he spent travelling and putting his troupe together, and how he tracked down the people that would become a part of it. This is a story anyone who’s seen The Greatest Showman is already familiar with. At the same time, famous little people are each given a paragraph or two in a chapter they all share. This book would have greatly benefited from the author spending significantly more time on those stories. It may be harder to find information on the lives of the exploited than that of the exploiter, but doing the hard work to tell interesting stories is the purpose of nonfiction literature!
This book had a lot of potential - the topic is little discussed, and there are so many stories to tell that had not been told before. The author appeared to be more interested in the story of Mr. Rose, even going as far as to appear to applaud the “affection and enthusiasm” shown by Rose towards his troupe in a marketing brochure. (This affection and enthusiasm was at best patronizing, and at worst a lie told as a marketing ploy). The way in which the writing of this book was handled is juvenile, and could have greatly benefited from more care and time put into research into the lives of Vaudeville’s little people and an additional critical analysis of the documents presented.

Incredibly fascinating read into the lives of Little People (or midgets) in Victorian times. I found the bills and programmes especially interesting as to how the vaudeville acts were marketed to the public.
Whilst it is not considered tasteful or correct in modern times, during this era it was big business - for the tour managers. Anyone from general white-collar public to Queen Victoria was entertained by performances which led to some of the entertainers reaching celebrity status.

I recommend this to anyone interested in the weird and wonderful history of the 19th century.