Ripley’s Believe It Of Not! Summer Sideshow Coming To Quassy Amusement Park

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MIDDLEBURY, Conn. – Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, step right up and see Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! ® Summer Sideshow at Quassy Amusement Park.
Something old is indeed new again as a piece of Americana is being reinvented for daily performances July 9-22 at Quassy’s Carousel Theatre stage.
In the works since last winter, the circus-style sideshow will feature Todd Robbins, a renowned performer, actor and author from New York. The multi-talented Robbins will eat fire, swallow swords and marvel guests with other unusual feats during each performance.
“I hold several world records, but the achievement I’m most proud of is being immortalized in a Ripley’s cartoon for having consumed more than 4,000 light bulbs during the course of my career,” the artist said during a recent dress rehearsal at the lakeside property.
Magician Jim Sisti of Beacon Falls, Conn., produced the show, which will be presented more than 40 times during its two-week run.
There is no admission to Quassy Amusement Park and the free shows start daily at 1 p.m., with three performances Sunday through Thursday and four shows Friday and Saturday. There is a $6 parking fee and at the end of each performance guests may make a donation to the Connecticut Food Bank if they so desire. There are fees for rides, food, attractions and the waterpark at the lakeside facility, located at 2132 Middlebury Road.
Learned From The Best
Robbins, 53, who resides in Manhattan, is a living example of what is considered a dying art form.
“It’s a very important thing to be doing this kind of performance,” he said of the Quassy show. “I was very fortunate being of an age to have learned the art of the sideshow from the last generation of circus and carnival sideshow professionals.”
In 1929 a performer by the name of Melvin Burkhart created an act of hammering a nail into his nose.
“And he did it in such joyful manner that when Robert Ripley of Ripley’s saw him do it, he said ‘Melvin, you’re a human blockhead!,’” Robbins said of the act.
After Ripley coined the phrase “human blockhead,” it has stuck around ever since, being picked up by virtually every performer who has mastered the art.
“Melvin was a good friend and mentor of mine,” Robbins added. “At the Quassy show, I will be doing my version of his classic act.”
He continued, stating: “That’s what is special about the Quassy sideshow. We are bringing back to an amusement park a classic form of American popular entertainment that we will present to amaze and amuse a whole new generation.”
Quassy officials are equally thrilled about the production and partnership with Ripley’s.
“Magician Jim Sisti has been with us for years and when he presented the sideshow concept, we were certainly excited,” said Quassy President Eric Anderson. “Todd found time in his busy schedule to visit this past winter and when he committed to the production, we were sold on it.”
“As the show started to take shape behind the scenes, we had a conversation with Ripley’s and explored the possibility of a partnership. It was Todd’s credentials that really pushed it over the top for Ripley’s to agree to come on board,” Anderson asserted.
“We are very excited to partner with Quassy Amusement Park and with the world-renown performer Todd Robbins for the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Summer Sideshow,” said Tim O’Brien, vice president of communications of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! “The acts that park guests will see on stage are traditional sideshow skills that date back hundreds of years. It’s not too often these skills are demonstrated to the public in this type of sideshow setting. Guests, especially the younger family members, will leave the park with memories that will last a lifetime.”
Leave It To The Professionals
Quassy’s Carousel Theatre will be decked out with several sideshow banners reminiscent of the bygone era when the productions were presented at most county and state fairs as well as some amusement parks.
Colorful and exciting, the title banner is quick to point out “Don’t Do This Stuff At Home” – a gentle, yet firm warning for the audience. All of the routines performed onstage will be done by highly-trained professionals.
“It’s very dangerous to do,” Robbins said of chomping down on an incandescent light bulb, which he will do on several occasions at Quassy. “There is no trick to this. I bite into the bulb which has been examined by the audience and then chow down on the broken glass.”
“And the most dangerous part of the stunt is that all of that broken glass will be washed down with Connecticut water,” the comedic performer added.
Around 15 years ago Robbins was injured while performing the act on July 4th weekend at Coney Island in New York.
“I was working the sideshow there and bit into a light bulb, cracked a tooth and exposed a nerve,” he said of the painful experience. With more than 30 shows still on the holiday schedule, Robbins performed at each one before heading to the dentist the following Tuesday to get the tooth repaired.
It’s no secret that he has a genuine love for his art and entertaining the crowds who gather to see him.
“I’m very honored to be up here in Connecticut, which was the home state of Phineas Taylor Barnum,” Robbins said the circus sideshow legend, more commonly known at P.T. Barnum. “I’m so fond of that man that my 4-year-old is name Phineas Taylor Robbins.”
More Of The Things To Come
“I’ll be working with the master of magic, Jim Sisti, each day along with (Sisti’s wife, Sandy) Princess Sandra,” he added. “She is the elastic lady, who will bend, stretch, twist and contort in ways you didn’t know possible.”
For that part of the production, Robbins has acquired the legendary “blade box” from the former Riverview Park (1904-67) in Chicago. Sandra will be placed into the box with numerous metal blades piercing the container.
The show will also feature “Electra,” whom Robbins refers to as “the high-voltage woman” who will ignite light bulbs in her bare hands.
A seasoned performer, Robbins has a long history with the Ripley’s organization. He appeared at the grand opening of the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Odditorium in New York’s Times Square as well as the newest Ripley’s in Baltimore’s inner harbor which opened last month.
How They Met
The magic/comedy of Jim and Sandy Sisti has been synonymous with Quassy Amusement Park for years. The husband and wife duo has been performing steadily at the park over the past decade, bringing in new elements to their family-friendly shows each year.
“Todd and I have crossed paths numerous times,” Jim Sisti, a 30-year professional magician, said of the sideshow artist. “We both lecture at magic conventions and in the summer of 1994 I was in an off-Broadway production ‘Richard Robinson’s Magic Show.’”
The famous Coney Island sideshow was in the same theater during the winter months and it was at the venue that Sisti and Robbins initially met up.
“Todd has some pretty hefty credentials,” the 55-year-old magician added. “He has worked on shows for Penn and Teller and as a consultant for Criss Angel’s ‘Mindfreak’ on A&E.”
Robbins and Sisti both worked on Angel’s television show the first season, which ran for seven consecutive years.
Robbins also co-wrote and starred in the one-man, critically acclaimed off-Broadway show “Play Dead,” directed by Teller of the renowned entertainment duo Penn & Teller.
“I said to Sandy this winter: I’d love to do a sideshow,” Jim said of the concept. “The Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus came to Connecticut all of the time when I was a youngster. I would go every year just to see the sideshow. Those banners and the whole vibe of it was very romantic and American – a distinctly American type of entertainment.”
Sisti went on to point out that P.T. Barnum had his museum of oddities and decided to take it on the road, hooking up with the Ringling Brothers Circus.
“So, that’s where this (circus sideshow) all started,” the local entertainer said. It was also the beginning of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
As the magician’s Quassy sideshow idea evolved he touched base with Robbins to see if a summer gig would fit into his demanding schedule.
“Not only is he a fantastic performer, but a historian, a curator and a preservationist of this great art,” Sisti exclaimed. “When I finally asked Todd, I was flabbergasted when he said he would do it.”
Robbins also helps to run the famous Coney Island USA’s Sideshow School, in hopes of creating a new generation of performers to carry on the art form so dear to him.
Jim Sisti will be the emcee of each performance and incorporate some magic as well during the shows.
“It will be different from what families have seen Sandy and I do in the past. Todd will come out and display a number of his skills and at the end of each show we will do either the blade box or electric chair, starring Sandy,” he noted. “What’s neat about the blade box is that we will allow people to peek behind the curtain and actually see how it’s done.”
As for the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Summer Sideshow at Quassy Amusement Park, perhaps Todd Robbins summed it up best: “Once seen, never forgotten!”
About Ripley Entertainment
Ripley Entertainment Inc., keepers of the venerable Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Brand, is a global leader in location-based entertainment, entertaining more than 12 million annually at its 80 attractions in 10 countries. In addition to its 32 Believe It Or Not! Odditoriums, the Orlando, Florida-based company has publishing, licensing and broadcast divisions, best-selling books and the popular syndicated cartoon strip, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, that still runs daily in 42 countries. Ripley Entertainment is a Jim Pattison Company, the third-largest privately held company in Canada. For more information visit Ripleys dot com.
About Quassy Amusement Park
Quassy Amusement Park is celebrating its 104th season in 2012 and is home to the award-winning “Wooden Warrior” roller coaster, which opened in 2011. New for 2012 is the “Crazy Cups” ride. The park features more than two-dozen rides and attractions as well as the popular “Saturation Station” waterpark, beach, restaurant, redemption arcade and games. There is no admission charged to enter the amusement park, but a parking fee is charged. All-day wristbands or individual ride tickets are available. Everyone entering the water area must have an all-day wristband or pay a $12 admission fee. For more information visit Quassy dot com.