Horace Ridler was a professional freak

Freak

In current usage, the word "freak" is commonly used to refer to a person with something unusual about their appearance or behaviour. This usage dates from the so-called freak scene of the 1960s and 1970s. "Freak" in this sense may be used either as a pejorative, a term of admiration, or a...

 and sideshow

Sideshow

In America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair or other such attraction.- Types of attractions :There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions:...

 performer, a tattoo

Tattoo

A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...

ed man exhibiting himself as The Great Omi or The Zebra Man.

Early life

Though there is some uncertainty due to the characteristic embroidering of sideshow performers' stories, by his own account Horace Ridler was born into an upper-class family living outside London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and enjoyed a relatively privileged childhood, marked by travel, private schooling and comfort. There are two competing theories about his young life. In one version he is said to have gone on to Oxford or Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, graduating with honors. In the second version, he instead pursued a career in the army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Soon after receiving his commission, his father died, leaving him a substantial inheritance. But (again according to the second version) he rapidly frittered his inheritance away on parties, gambling

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

, entertainment and poor investments; and these and other circumstances led to his resigning his commission.

When World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 began, Ridler, now 22, enlisted and was decorated for his outstanding conduct and gallantry when serving in Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...

. Demobilized at the end of the war with the rank of major, with a small pension

Pension

In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...

 and few prospects, but willing to take chances, he decided to become an act at the Odditorium. In 1922 he received his first few pictorial tattoos, and began exhibiting himself in small sideshows. This afforded him a meager living, but was not the success he had hoped for.

Becoming The Great Omi

At some point between 1927 and 1934, while living in Mitcham

Mitcham

Mitcham is a district in the south west area of London, in the London Borough of Merton. A suburban area, Mitcham is located on the border of Inner London and Outer London. It is both residentially and financially developed, well served by Transport for London, and home to Mitcham Town Centre,...

, a few miles south of London, Ridler took steps to improve his career as a sideshow act. Contacting tattooist George Burchett

George Burchett

George 'Professor' Burchett was born George Burchett-Davis on August 23, 1872, in the English seaside town of Brighton, East Sussex and became one of the most famous tattoo artists in the world....

, he inquired about having himself "tattooed all over". Burchett performed more than 150 hours of tattooing on Ridler with a pattern of curved black stripes, often described as zebra

Zebra

Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...

-like, masking the earlier tattoos. He later claimed he spent $10,000 for the procedure, although Burchett said it was only $3,000 and that he was never paid in full.

The extent of tattooing on his lower body is a matter of some debate, but viewers who saw him perform in 1941 have reported that much of his lower body was tattooed with more conventional designs. His body and face thus transformed, he began exhibiting himself at the London Olympia

Olympia, London

Olympia is an exhibition centre and conference centre in West Kensington, on the boundary between The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, London, W14 8UX, England. It opened in the 19th century and was originally known as the National Agricultural Hall.Opened in 1886,...

 and toured England and France, under the name The Great Omi.

Upon his return to England, aware that his act was not interesting enough to provide steady work, he decided to take his transformation a step further, having his ears pierced and stretched to accept large-gauge jewelry, and acquiring a large septum piercing from a veterinarian

Veterinarian

A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....

. He hired a dentist

Dentist

A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...

 to file his teeth and began to wear elaborate costumes, completing his physical transformation.

Like many sideshow performers, his act consisted of telling tall tales about his body modification

Body modification

Body modification is the deliberate altering of the human body for any non-medical reason, such as aesthetics, sexual enhancement, a rite of passage, religious reasons, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, shock value, or self expression...

. After being introduced by his colorfully dressed wife, Gladys Ridler, performing under the name Omette, he would appear on stage and tell his story. A common monologue claimed that he had been captured and tortured via tattooing in New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

, and is similar to tales told by other tattooed sideshow performers. While today this story seems completely implausible, at the time a general lack of knowledge about many areas of the globe provided an opportunity for performers to play on the audience's ignorance and fantasies. Later in life, during his retirement, his stories became even more fanciful, less believable, but no less colorful.

Career

On June 6, 1939, Ridler, now The Great Omi, and his wife Omette arrived at the World's Fair

World's Fair

World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...

 in Queens, New York, having crossed the Atlantic on the ship Laconia

RMS Laconia (1921)

The second RMS Laconia was a Cunard ocean liner built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson as a successor to the Laconia of 1911 to 1917...

 and taken up residence at the Hotel Claridge in Times Square

Times Square

Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...

. Twenty-two million people attended the fair, where Omi was appearing at John Hix's Odditorium, alongside Betty Broadbent nicknamed the Tattooed Venus, Iron Eyelids, the Anatomical Wonder, and Marvello the Fingerless Pianist, all for an entry price of 40 cents.

Just a few days after arriving in New York, the couple reported being attacked with a knife

Knife

A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...

, claiming that Omi's cheek

Cheek

Cheeks constitute the area of the face below the eyes and between the nose and the left or right ear. They may also be referred to as jowls. "Buccal" means relating to the cheek. In humans, the region is innervated by the buccal nerve...

 was slashed by an unknown assailant. No photos of the injury were taken, and the "attack" may have been a publicity stunt, as the New York police records department has no record of the incident. The New York Times News, New York Daily Mirror

New York Daily Mirror

The New York Daily Mirror was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the Evening Journal and New York American, later consolidated into the New York Journal...

and New York Herald Tribune

New York Herald Tribune

The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...

all reported the story on June 10, however.

Immediately following the fair, Omi appeared at Ripley's Odditorium Theater as the star attraction. Ripley retained Omi for six months, the longest time Ripley ever showcased a single performer. During that period he appeared more than 1,600 times, often doing nine or ten shows daily.

In 1940, Omi toured with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, appearing as Omi the Zebra Man. He was billed as the star attraction in the sideshow, but left the circus after only one season.

In early 1941, Omi toured both Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, and spent much of the latter part of the year performing at the beach sideshow Happyland and Bert Lorous Jr.'s "World Fair Freaks" show in Vancouver, Canada

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

. He finished 1941 with appearances with the Rubin-Cherry show in San Diego, California. The Ruben-Cherry show next traveled to Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

, closing their season in early 1942, and Omi and his wife then criss-crossed America before returning to England. Before leaving America, with World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 underway, Omi tried to re-enlist with the British army, but was not considered acceptable for active service by the British Consul.

Arriving home in a war-weary England, Omi donated his services, giving free performances to troops and charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 organizations. He also supported the Allied effort by promoting the sales of war bonds. Omi continued to perform into the early 1950s, retiring at the height of his fame to Ripe, a small village in Sussex, England

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

, where he died in 1969.

External links

• Horace at the Sideshow Wiki
• Hollywood Studios article on Omi (with picture)
• Great Omi bio in James Mundie's Sideshow Ephermera Collection (with picture)
• The Zebra Man Channel 4 film, RealPlayer format
• THE GREAT OMI - Tattooed Gentleman