Fedor Adrianovich Jeftichew (Russian: Фёдор Адрианович Евтищев, ''Fyodor Yevtishchev'', 1868 - January 31, 1904), better known as Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy (later ''Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Man''), was a famous Russian sideshow performer who toured Europe with his father, the ‘Wild Man from the Kostroma Forest’, in 1873Un monsieur de l'Orchestre, Les Coulisses de l'Homme-Chien, Le Figaro, no 290, 17 octobre 1873, page 3-4 and was brought to the United States of America in 1884 by

P.T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...

Biography

Born in Saint Petersburg,

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

in 1868, Fedor Jeftichew suffered from the medical condition hypertrichosis. His father Adrian, also hypertrichotic, had performed in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

circuses. In 1873 Adrian appeared in European exhibitions as the 'Wild Man from the Kostroma Forest', along with his son. Ten years later Fedor returned as 'Theodore Petroff', was recruited by a P. T. Barnum agent in 1884, and joined Barnum in America as 'Jo-Jo The Dog-Faced Boy' when he was sixteen. Barnum created a story that involved a

hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

in Kostroma who tracked Fedor and his father to their cave and captured them. Barnum described Adrian as a

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who could not be

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. Barnum made a point of stressing Fedor's resemblance to a dog, and explained that when he was upset he would bark and growl. In the show, Fedor obliged by doing so. Fedor spoke Russian,

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, and English, and toured Europe and the United States extensively. He died in Salonica, Greece, then part of the Ottoman Empire, from pneumonia on January 31, 1904.

In popular culture

* In the 1940 movie '' Strike Up the Band'' (time 54:27), Mickey Rooney takes his date to the fair, and they see a carnival ''

barker Barker may refer to: Occupations * Barker (occupation), a person who attempts to attract patrons to entertainment events * Barker (coachbuilder), a builder of horse-drawn coaches and later of bodywork for prestige cars * a person who strips tanbar ...

'' who is charging $1 to come into the tent and see "Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy". * In the 1988 movie '' Big Top Pee-wee Benicio del Toro portrays Duke, the Dog-Faced Boy *In the 2017 movie '' The Greatest Showman'', a fictional portrayal of

P. T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...

, Luciano Acuna Jr. portrayed "Dog Boy"

Gallery

File:Adrian-and-Fedor-Jeftichew-by-Lumiere-c1875.png, Fedor with his father Image:Jeftichew-14.jpg, Fedor Jeftichew, c. 14 years of age. File:Fedor Jeftichew by Eisenmann.JPG, before 1904 File:Fedor Jeftichew by Fred Park Swasey, 1888-96.jpg, between 1888-1896

References

Bibliography

*Hornberger, Francine. 2005. "Fedor Jeftichew". In ''Carny folk: the world's weirdest side show acts,'' pp. 144–145. New York: Citadel.

External links

Learn more about Fedor, Lionel and other Hairy Folk from James "Showman" Taylor.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeftichew, Fedor 1868 births 1904 deaths People with hypertrichosis Sideshow performers Entertainers from Saint Petersburg Deaths from pneumonia in Greece Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States