Snakes in the Tattoo Biz: The X-Factor
Researched & Written by Carmen Nyssen
For a minute, put aside tattoo history’s themes of global culture, sailor traditions, and such. Consider snakes. They have a place.
In my book, specifics in tattoo history are just as important as the big picture. Every tattoo character counts: the best of the best tattooists, the part-time blue collar tattooers, the jaggers and carnies and showman tattooers …even… snake-handlin’ tattooers.
“Lonesome” Jack Allman
Adventurous tattooer “Lonesome” Jack Allman (1887-1941) (real name Elmer Lee Allman) was a snake aficionado. Starting in the early 1900s, he wrangled them, fanged them, and awed crowds with his snake show—both on Los Angeles’ South Main Street entertainment district and on the carnival circuit. In the 1910s, he upped his show game demonstrating rattlesnake poison antidotes for the Off & Vaughn Drug Company dressed in a flash cowboy get-up. And, since he was also an actor, he later became Hollywood’s go-to guy for live reptilian props.
A circa 1910 business card depicted in Alan Govenar’s Stoney Knows How (pg. 19) indicates that tattooing AND snakes were Jack’s calling at the same time for a spell:
Reptiles Bought and Sold-Tattoos Removed
Sunset Phone Main 5420
Lonesome Jack-The Tattooer
612 Gladys Ave. Los Angeles, Cal.
(1910 Los Angeles City Dir (pg. 69) Elmer L. Allman tattooer r 612 Gladys av)
According to notes in Stoney Knows How, Allman’s business card is from the scrapbook of fellow tattooer-snake guru, Gus Wagner, who as it happens, lived only a couple blocks from Allman in Los Angeles in 1907. (Allman’s 1910 residence, 612 Gladys Ave, was nearby too).
1907 Los Angeles City Dir pg. 1526
Gus Wagner tattooer 806 E 5th h same
1907 Los Angeles City Dir pg. 75
Elmer K. Allman [sic] floorlyr r 907 E 6th
Interestingly, Gus Wagner’s scrapbook, in the Alan Govenar and Kaleta Doolin Tattoo Collection at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York, includes a novelty postcard of Allman and one of his snakes. Exactly how the two were connected isn’t clear, but they had probably met a couple years earlier in a different town. After his stint tattooing at the St. Louis World’s Fair, Wagner set-up in Kansas City, Missouri, where Elmer Allman was also residing.
1905 Kansas City City Dir pg. 47
Elmer Allman r 906 Jefferson (Allman’s father is also listed)
1905 Kansas City City Dir pg. 1176
Gus Wagner tattooer rms 709 Main
According to a 1905 military enlistment, Allman was working as an “artist” by this time. Given his young age of 18-years-old, it’s possible he learned a thing or two from Wagner about tattooing and/or snakes while in the city. At the very least, the fact that they were into snakes and tattooing is the reason for this post!!!
Globetrottin’ “Gus” Wagner
Augustus “Gus” Wagner (1872-1941), the “tattooed Globetrotter,” having sailed from one exotic port to the next in his youth, where he encountered varied cultures and wildlife, was taken with the “unusual.”
In addition to tattooing and exhibiting as a tattooed man, contortionist, and “wild man,” Gus was a taxidermist. In the early 1900s, he and his tattooed/tattooer wife, Maude, trekked the carnival routes with a “Natural History” museum-on-wheels displaying stuffed specimens, including snakes and lizards, hunted and treated by Gus.
An especially exciting story exemplifying tattooer Gus’ snake hunter/handler talents is when he and best friend Lem tracked and killed an escaped 25-foot-long “demon” carnival snake that was wreaking havoc in Chase, Kansas in the 1930s. After a monster fight, Gus prepped the snakeskin for his friend and kept the skeleton for show purposes.
More Tattooer Snake Shows
“Lonesome” Jack Allman and Gus Wagner weren’t alone in their reptilian undertakings. Boston tattooer Otto Mason rounded up snakes for their sought after oil as a side gig at the turn of the century.
Mose Smith gave up his niche as “Chicago’s celebrated tattoo man” (and tattooer) and put together a popular “Big Snake Show” and took it out on the carnival circuit in the 1930s. Showman George “Slim” Lewis of the Pacific Northwest tattooed a short while in Seattle, then took to the road with a Big Ape and Monster Snake trailer in the 1950s.
And we can’t forget tattoo artist Alfred “Sailor Katzy” Henly, who met his untimely death at the mercy of his prize show snake. Mrs. Katzy didn’t condemn the snake. In true carnie fashion, she put it to work on tour as “The Snake That Killed Sailor Katzy.”
Why Tattooing-Snake Performers?
Well, the perceived danger element in both “performances” is a sure-fire captivator for tattooees and audiences. It’s the carnie way, right?
The more awe-inspiring the show, the greater the cash flow.
But the lot of historical tattooers in the snake business indicates a greater arching influence: What I call “Tattooing’s X factor”—a combined affinity for adventure, mystery, danger, the worldly, the exotic—inborn in tattooers through the ages. Think snake-wielding carnie tattooers, sailor tattooers on the high seas, rough-and-tumble biker tattooers, etc. There are overlapping influences, of course. But you get the picture.
Snakes & Stuff
Tattooing’s adventure-inspired X factor even manifests in tattoo shop decor.
Take William Grimshaw’s 1920s ‘a la Ernest Hemingway’ tattoo studio décor for example. This San Antonio, Texas shop was “…said to be quite unique, the walls being covered with rare antiques, relics, rare skins, furs and pieces of art, while the outside is lavishly decorated.”(Billboard Nov 13, 1920 pg. 77).
Or Gus Wagner’s Chase, Kansas novelty trade outpost, where he sold his eclectic wares: semi-precious gems, wood carvings (totems, western scenes), animal skins, and taxidermy.
And Old Doc Webb’s Vallejo and San Diego tattoo shops decorated with tikis, totems, and other worldly goods, collected during numerous jet-setting trips.
Then there was Rattlesnake Pete Gruber, not a tattoo artist himself, but also a snake-wrangler, who kept tattooer Richard Lawrence “R. L.” Beck in his hire for years at his relic-filled 8 & 10 Mill Street museum/restaurant/saloon in Rochester, New York …that is, when Beck wasn’t working with partner Ed Smith at their Providence, Rhode Island tattoo shop or on the New York Bowery. (R.L. Beck was also a dog breeder!)
Not unsurprisingly, as evidenced by letters in Gus Wagner’s scrapbook, Wagner and Rattlesnake Pete corresponded about their shared interest.
Studying Tattoo History
So, there you have it. Snakes, as do many other seemingly trivial aspects, factor into tattoo history.
Informing tattoo history is a vast and varied pool of colorful tattoo characters, events, places. The more we research, document, and study these puzzle pieces—no matter how insignificant they seem in the bigger scheme—the clearer our overall understanding of history.
Specific tattoo artists, tattoo shops, etc. sit at the bottom of a conceptual “ladder of abstraction.” They are concretes that breathe life into an overarching culture (i.e. sailor traditions, carnie traditions, metropolitan Main Streets, etc).
Gus Wagner’s life, for instance, epitomized tattooing’s X factor.
Tattoo History Ladder 1
Tattooing’s X Factor
Adventure-loving Tattoo Artists
Tattoo Artist-Performers
Tattoo Artist-Snake Handlers
Lonesome Jack/Gus Wagner/Etc.
OR
Tattoo History Ladder 2
Tattooing’s X Factor
Adventure-loving Tattoo Artists
World-Traveling Tattoo Artists
Animal Hunting/Handling-Tattoo Artists
Tattoo Artist-Snake Handlers
Gus Wagner
A solid foundation enables us to glean new insights as we move up and down the ladder(s)…
…and continually build on them.
For Example: Tattooing’s X factor is also reflected in tattoo shop decor.
Tattoo History Ladder 3
Tattooing’s X Factor
Adventure-loving Tattoo Artists
Worldly Tattoo Studio Décor of Adventure-loving Tattoo Artists
William Grimshaw’s 1920s San Antonio Tattoo Studio
A solid foundation of tattoo history ensures tattooing’s essence isn’t lost in translation.
The Alan Govenar and Kaleta Doolin Tattoo Collection at the South Street Seaport Museum is available for researchers. Please inquire within to collections@seany.org.
Published on: May 25, 2016 @ 03:53
Questions or Comments? Email:
carmennyssen@buzzworthytattoo.com
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