Amy Arlington: "America's Representative Snake Performer"

Snake charming was popular in sideshows and circuses in the 19th century. It has its origins in Ancient Egypt and in India, though it was practiced in various parts of Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. Itinerant healers and magicians, often those specializing in the treatment of snakebite, apparently hypnotized snakes by playing music and then handled them with no ill effects. They carried the snake or snakes in a pot or basket. The snake (serpent) was considered to be sacred by the Hindus as well as by the Ancient Egyptians, hence the dual role of the snake charmer as both healer and entertainer.

In the Victorian circus and dime museum the snake charmer was something rather different: a woman who could handle snakes and perform with them without fear. She was usually dressed in a spangled, pseudo-Eastern costume, and often took on an exotic stage name. Here are four women of the 1860-1900 period who charmed snakes:

Amy Arlington was known as "America's Representative Snake Performer." She worked, most famously, for Barnum and Bailey in the the 1890s, though the above photograph was taken in the 1860s, according to Picture History (I suspect that it was taken in the 1880s-90s). She was a versatile performer, doing "character changes" in 1882; in the same year she was also billed as a "charming operatic vocalist, Serio Comic," at Brooklyn's New American Standard Museum. In 1883, George and Amy Arlington were billed together at the Standard as "Teutonic comedians." George and Amy were most likely siblings or husband and wife.

George is probably the showman George Arlington, father of Edward Arlington (1878-1947). In 1916, George and Edward were co-owners (with Joe Miller) of the 101 Ranch Shows, which were associated with Buffalo Bill. Edward, like Amy, worked for Barnum and Bailey at one time. In the 1910 census he is shown as living in Brooklyn, age 33, the proprietor of a "Wild West Show." His father was born in Germany, and his mother in Tennessee; I have not yet found any of the three Arlingtons in an earlier census, though.

Picture of Amy Arlington from Picture History.
Many more wonderful Amy pictures here at quasimodo.net

Tomorrow in Snake Charming Women, Part 2: Rosa Lansing, Coney Island runaway, and the true identity of Nala Damajanta.

SOURCES

Bogdan, Robert. Freak Show (U of Chicago Press, 1990), p. 258.

Buffalo Bill and Sarah J. Blackstone. The Business of Being Buffalo Bill: Selected Letters of William F. Cody, 1879-1917 (Greenwood, 1988), p. 77.

Kline, Tiny and Janet M. Davis. Circus Queen and Tinker Bell (U of Illinois Press), p. 326.

Reddin, Paul. Wild West Shows (U of Illinois Press, 1999), p. 162.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle ads for the New American Standard Museum on Dec. 13, 1882, p. 3, Dec. 16, 1882 (p. 1), Dec. 18, 1882 (p. 1) and Apr. 1, 1883 (p.5).

Edward Arlington household, 1910 US Census, Brooklyn Ward 30, Kings, NY; #84/93, Series T624, Roll 985, p. 27.