Miss Plump of Coney Island

The winner of the 1925 Miss Plump of Coney Island contest was Jolly Irene, which was the stage name of sideshow performer Amanda Siebert. According to Marc Hartzman's American Sideshow:

Amanda Siebert wasn't always the jiggly Jolly Irene. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, she was quite normal for the first twenty-one years of her life. In 1901 she weighed a respectable 120 pounds and gave birth to a child. Not only was a baby born, but because of a few glands gone awry, so was Jolly Irene.

The pounds piled up and the flesh got fleshier. Diets were ineffective, leaving her helpless against her newly acquired mass. One reporter later described her as having "biceps three times as large as Jack Dempsey." But at 620 pounds, rather than box the heavyweight champion, she turned her tragedy into profit by joining Ringling Bros.

Siebert died in 1940, at the age of 65.

Baltimore Sun - Aug 26, 1925

Central New Jersey Home News - Nov 20, 1925

Louisville Courier-Journal - Dec 1, 1940

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Thu Dec 28, 2017
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests | Human Marvels | 1920s

Comments

World's heaviest at a mere 620 (or 700) pounds? An Egyptian woman recently died at age 37. She had weighed over 1100 pounds at one point.

Posted by ges on 12/28/17 at 09:11 AM

I've been blessed by never having been overweight and feel sympathy for those who are. I think it amazing that she made it to the age that she did, even with the primitive medical science of the times.

Posted by KDP on 12/28/17 at 11:41 AM

Her legs make it look like she may have had a severe case of Lymphedema.

Posted by PupTentacle on 12/30/17 at 01:13 AM

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