Trivia / Freaks

• Actor-Shared Background: Roscoe Ates had grown up with a stutter like his character, and incorporated it into many of his film characters.
• Banned in China:
  • This movie was banned in Britain, as it proved to be too scary for audiences at the time. Some viewers were emotionally scarred, and there are rumors that a female viewer had a miscarriage because of this movie.
  • It was banned in a number of American states and cities. Although no longer enforced, some of the laws were never officially repealed. Therefore, it is still technically illegal for this film to be shown in some areas of the USA.
  • It was also banned in Australia and Italy.
• Box Office Bomb: The film ran at a loss of $164,000 due to negative audience reactions (a lot of them bolted out in mid-showing) leading to its premature exit from theaters. The budget was of $316,000 or $350,000 depending on your source, which means the box office earnings were about $152,000 or $186,000.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: The famous "One of us! One of us!" scene has the freaks chanting more than just "One of us!" Specifically, it starts out with one of them saying "We accept her! One of us!" and then a few others joining in. Eventually it becomes "Gooble gobble! Gooble gobble! We accept her! We accept her! Gooble gobble! Gooble gobble! One of us! One of us!"
• Creator Backlash:
  • Before his death, Angelo Rossitto was asked about the film and this is what he said: "I don't want any publicity. When you look like me, walking down the street's enough publicity."
  • Almost all of the "freaks" bar Johnny Eck were eventually embarrassed by the film. Olga Roderick, who played the bearded lady, was the most vocal about it.
• Creator Killer: Tod Browning's directorial career was halted by the controversy surrounding the film during its initial release. He would direct only a few more films before retiring in 1939 and eventually dying of cancer in 1962.
• The Danza: Many of the eponymous "freaks" were playing characters with the same names as them, notably Daisy and Violet Hilton. Ditto Roscoe Ates as Roscoe the clown.
• Deleted Scene:
  • Prince Randian had a scene where he rolled a cigarette and lit it. The scene is cut short in the film.
  • The chase scene for Cleo ran much longer; a tree would fall on her after getting struck by lightning, allowing the freaks to surround her. The others putting out the fire in Venus' caravan would hear Cleo's screaming and find her alone, horrified by what has happened. Then the freaks chase the injured Hercules and corner him. Fade to black.
  • Hercules' final fate was to be shown singing soprano in Madame Tetrallini's sideshow - as the freaks had castrated him.
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Notably, "Prince Randian" (who was born with tetra-amelia syndrome, or the absence of all four limbs), Simon Metz (born with microcephaly, a smaller skull and brain), Minnie Woolsey (who suffered from Virchow Sekel Syndrome, a combination of skeletal malformation and dwarfism), Daisy and Violet Hilton (pyopagus conjoined twins), Johnny Eck (who had underdeveloped legs due to sacral agenesis; he could hide them under his clothing, making it appear he had no body below the waist), and Harry and Daisy Earles (dwarfism).
• Dyeing for Your Art: Olga Roderick, the bearded lady, opted to dye her hair jet black (despite Tod Browning requesting her to leave it natural).
• Enforced Method Acting: A publicity example. While taking promotional pictures, Harry Earles kept making lewd remarks to Olga Baclanova, with the result that her looks of disgust are real rather than posed.
• Executive Meddling:
  • One of the saddest examples EVER, because the movie was so disturbing when it first came out that the MGM decided to cut most of it and transform the 90-minute-long film into... 60 minutes. Adding the first scene and the last one, when Hans and Frieda get back together. And no, you can't watch the original film because the scenes are lost forever. The most notable lost portion includes a shot of Hercules on display as a castrato singer (having had his genitals removed by the Freaks), after Cleopatra is shown as the chicken-woman.
  • MGM also added in the Distant Finale where Hans and Frieda reunite, also confirming that Venus and Phroso ended up together - to make for a happier ending.
• Incestuous Casting: Romantic couple Hans and Frieda were played by siblings Harry and Daisy Earles. Naturally, the love scenes with them are really downplayed.
• Irony as She Is Cast: Olga Baclanova was cast as the scheming Cleopatra who hates all the freaks. The actress however got on very well with the performers on set, especially her on screen husband Harry Earles (they bonded over both speaking German). After meeting them, she says she felt like crying out of sympathy for their conditions.
  • The role of Cleopatra is also ironic compared to Baclanova's other best-known role, Duchess Josiana in The Man Who Laughs. While Josiana is herself a scheming vamp, she has a deeply sexually fetishistic crush on the disfigured Gwynplaine and wants him all to herself because he's a sideshow freak. One gets the impression that if you swapped their places, Cleo would have simply ignored Gwynplaine in disgust while Josiana would have latched herself onto a far "freakier" freak than the adorable Hans and been all the happier for it, probably shuddering with pleasure at being accepted as "one of them."
• Missing Episode: The film initially ran over 90 minutes but was severely truncated following the horrific reactions it provoked. That extra footage is now presumed lost.
• Stillborn Franchise: Johnny Eck claims that Tod Browning wanted to make a sequel focusing entirely on his character.
• What Could Have Been:
  • MGM had purchased the rights to the story "Spurs" as a possible vehicle for Harry Earles and Lon Chaney, who'd starred together in Tod Browning's The Unholy Three, but Chaney's death in 1930 nixed that idea.
  • Myrna Loy turned down the part of Cleopatra, finding the script offensive. Jean Harlow was similarly approached to play Venus, but declined. Victor McLaglen was considered for the role of Hercules.
  • The romantic subplot between Venus and Phroso was altered in editing. The original cut showed Venus starting out as a bad girl who has a Heel–Face Turn. The enmity between Venus and Hercules was also built up a bit more.
  • A role was written for dwarf John George in the screenplay, but he doesn't appear in the film.
  • The scene in which a landowner comes across the performers with Madame Tetrallini ran much longer, with dialogue from the latter humanizing them even more; the landowner clearly meant to be an Audience Surrogate.
    Landowner: When I go to the circus again, Madame, I'll remember.
    Madame: I know, Monsieur. You will remember seeing them playing — playing like children. Among the thousands who have come to stare, to laugh, to shudder... you will be one who understands.
• Written-In Infirmity: Averted here, as they did not try to hide the fact that most of the cast is deformed.

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