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Bertolotto and Flea Circuses in Birmingham

F

FleaCircusDirector

Guest
Does anyone have any information about L. Bertolotto and his Flea Circus who apparently performed in Birmingham. As you can see from this snippet, the spelling of his name is a little inconsistent (there were also copycat performers)

"In Birmingham, the largest town in the region, visiting showmen included: Monsieur L. Jacques, a seven-foot-four-inch giant from France, in 1823; a French-speaking doll in 1824; the Industrious Fleas of Signor Bertolletto in 1837"
From DICKENS AND POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT by PAUL SCHLICKE

https://www.fleacircus.co.uk/HistoryBertolotto.htm
 
What an unusual interest.

I was amazed to read that they had performing fleas around 1837 but I suppose it is the type of thing that would have been senational in its day and attracted a lot of people curious to see if it was true, I suppose.

Have you tried researching in the newspapers in Birmingham Archives as there may be an advertisement or an article about what would have been billed as a sensational show. The Archives also have a names index and he may be included in that if he visited Birmingham. Send them an e-mail and ask if they have any information.
https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/archives.bcc

Have you also tried the fairground and showmans archives at Sheffield University and maybe you could think about adding some more information to the archives about Bertlotto there or link to it with your own web page.

https://www.showmensguild.com/index01.html

https://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/

These other sites you may already know about

https://www.nhb.com/hunter/fleas.htm

https://www.noonco.com/flea/history.htm

Good Luck with your interesting project
Louisa
 
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