9/13/11: Spectacle of Deformity

KUER 90.1 | By Doug Fabrizio

Published September 13, 2011 at 10:22 AM MDT

"Laloo the Hindoo" performed throughout Europe and in the United States - exhibiting the parasitic twin attached to his chest.

Tuesday, Doug talks to the scholar Nadja Durbach about the age of the freak show. She's written a book that examines the era when so called "freaks of nature" were marketed and displayed for paying customers - figures like The Elephant Man and Laloo the "Double-Bodied Hindoo Boy." Durbach's interest goes beyond the questions of taste and exploitation. She found that these displays revealed something deeper about body differences and the idea of otherness. (Rebroadcast)

Books and Music from Today's RadioWest:

The Spectacle of Deformity: Freak Shows and Modern British Culture
The Felice Brothers, Greatest Show on Earth
The Felice Brothers, Saint Stephen's End

Profiles

Doug Fabrizio

Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

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