1920s RPPC of Tom Ton 700+ Pound Sideshow Performer & His Family

Description

Offered is a real photo postcard Tom Ton – “The World’s Heaviest Man”. Born March 26, 1896 in Florence, Arizona, Teodulo A. Valenzuela would grow into a heavyweight. By age 16 Teo was rapidly moving up through 450 pounds and daily dealing with taunting and derisive cries of “Fatty.” Sometime before 1905 the family moved to Tempe Arizona where Teo tried to fit in as best as possible. As young boy Teo shined shoes at Wyatt’s Barber Shop. Later Valenzuela became manager of a pool hall at the foot of Tempe Butte at 4th Street and Dewey in the Mexican enclave of San Pablo. It was during that period Teo surpassed 600 pounds. Needless to say a 600 pound man was certainly an unusual site in a small town like Tempe. But the good natured Valenzuela took comments and stares in stride. Teodulo Valenzuela was arguably Tempe’s most reluctant celebrity. “The World’s Fattest Man” is not the title most would seek. Curiosity wherever he went, Teo was besieged by requests to become a circus and sideshow attraction. When conventional employment became impossible, Teo finally relented making his first sideshow appearance in 1920 at Mesa’s Arizona Cotton Festival and later that year at the Arizona State Fair. By 1921 at age 25 Teo came to accept his future lie as a sideshow freak under the continual stare of gawkers. Valenzuela found a manager who soon got him work at the Pike, an ocean-front amusement strip in Long Beach. Within two years Teo was traveling with the Snapp Brothers Shows ─ a small town touring circus and sideshow. Called “Happy Val” Teo was featured in a dime attraction called the “Congress of Fat People.” Teo’s leap to the big time came in 1924 after Barnum & Bailey invited the 745 pound heavyweight to join its “Congress of Strange People.” Now called “Tom Ton” a name more befitting the “World’s Fattest Man,” Teo was featured with “Ima Whale” the world’s heaviest woman and another newcomer, “Major Mite” On May 27, 1926 Tom Ton passed away peacefully two days before his 41st birthday. Unposted. AZO stamp box (1922-26). Mild general wear and some waviness.