''Shocked and Amazed! On & Off the Midway'' is both a book and nine-volume magazine of the same name by

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

, released from 1995 to 2007, which chronicle the history of sideshows, novelty acts, and variety exhibits of the 20th century, primarily of the United States. The book editions of the magazine issues were published by Dolphin Moon Press, also owned by Taylor. Focusing on

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

and

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

sideshows and 19th Century

dime museum Dime museums were establishments that grew in popularity starting from 1870 that were used to display freak show performers, human anatomy exhibitions, dioramas, oddities, and moral lectures to the general public.Sears, Clare. “Electric Brillia ...

entertainment, the journal also followed the history and characters of

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

and

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

, wax museums and world's fairs,

roadside attraction A roadside attraction is a feature along the side of a road meant to attract tourists. In general, these are places one might stop on the way to somewhere, rather than being a destination. They are frequently advertised with billboard (advertis ...

s and other forms of traveling novelty entertainment. The journal features interviews with the business’ “golden age” performers as well as modern talent and has included original works by

Teller (magician) Teller (born Raymond Joseph Teller, February 14, 1948) is an American magician. He is half of the comedy magic duo Penn & Teller, along with Penn Jillette, and usually does not speak during performances. Teller is a H.L. Mencken Fellow at the ...

, John Strausbaugh and Frank DeFord.. ''Shocked and Amazed!'' was recognized in

The Learning Channel TLC is an American multinational cable television, cable and satellite television, satellite television network owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learn ...

The History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the General Entertainment Content division of The Wa ...

, E!: Entertainment Television,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in London, and the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Enter ...

. ''Shocked and Amazed!'' Volumes 1-9 were published by James Taylor's Dolphin-Moon Press, while a ''“Best Of” Shocked and Amazed!'' was published in 2002 by Lyons/Globe Pequot, co-crediting James Taylor and Kathleen Kotcher.

References

External links

Shocked and Amazed - On & Off the Midway

Showhistory.com

Sideshow-art.com

Sideshowworld.com
Entertainment magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1995 {{entertainment-mag-stub