Editing Tod Browning (section)

==Circus, sideshow and vaudeville==
Browning was fascinated by [[circus (performing art)|circus]] and [[traveling carnival|carnival]] life as a child. At the age of 16, and before finishing [[high school]], he ran away from his well-to-do family to join a traveling circus.<ref>Brogan, 2008: "Browning had been fascinated with circus culture from childhood."<br />Eaker, 2016: "He had run away from an affluent home at the age of 16 to join a carnival sideshow and the dancer he had fallen in love with."<br />Rosenthal, 1975 p. 7: Born July 12, 1880, in Louisville, Kentucky. "...according to most sources...ran away from home at the age of sixteen without finishing high school...joined a circus..."<br />Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 10: "...ran away with a traveling carnival when he was only 16..."</ref>

Initially hired as a [[roustabout]], he soon began serving as a "spieler" (a [[Barker (occupation)|barker]] at [[sideshow]]s) and by 1901 was performing song and dance routines for Ohio and Mississippi riverboat entertainment, as well as acting as a [[contortion]]ist for the Manhattan Fair and Carnival Company.<ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 10: "...a manager and roustabout..." And: Manhattan Company "contortionist."</ref> Browning developed a live burial act in which he was billed as "The Living Hypnotic Corpse", and performed as a clown with the [[Ringling Brothers]] circus. He would later draw on these early experiences to inform his cinematic inventions.<ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 10: "...a significant number of his movies [are] set in the world of the circus and the sideshow [and] Browning knew very well the milieu" he portrayed. And: See here for comment on living corpse routine.</ref><ref>Barson, 2021: "Browning...found steady employment in circuses and carnivals as a clown, contortionist, magician's assistant, and barker."</ref><ref>Brogan, 2008: "Browning...reportedly became a Ringling Brothers clown, a contortionist..."</ref>

In 1906, Browning was briefly married to Amy Louis Stevens in Louisville.<ref>Alford, 1995: "Browning married Amy Louise Stevens in 1906, but the union was short-lived since, according to some accounts, Browning was a no-good, money-borrowing layabout. Browning apparently abandoned his wife for vaudeville."</ref> Adopting the professional name "Tod" Browning (''tod'' is the German word for death),<ref>Herzogenrath, 2006 p. 10: "...baptized and reinvented himself as 'Tod' Browning..." And: Herzogenrath provides English-German translation the tod = death.</ref> Browning abandoned his wife and became a [[Vaudeville|vaudevillian]], touring extensively as both a [[magic (illusion)|magician]]'s assistant and a [[blackface]] comedian in an act called ''The Lizard and the Coon'' with comedian Roy C. Jones. He appeared in a [[Mutt and Jeff]] sketch in the 1912 burlesque revue ''The World of Mirth'' with comedian [[Charles Murray (American actor)|Charles Murray]].<ref>Rosenthal, 1975 p. 7: "He...later entered vaudeville, touring extensively in such acts as ''The World of Mirth'', '[[Mutt and Jeff]]' and 'Lizard and Coon'"<br />Barson, 2021: "After working in vaudeville as a blackface comedian, he was hired for the long-running burlesque revue ''The Whirl of Mirth'', in which he appeared in sketches based on popular comic-strip characters of the period."<br />Brogan, 2008: "...a magician's assistant."</ref>