June 17, 2008

Investigating Singer's Midgets

Here's a page from a great case file from the BOI (Bureau of Investigation - precursor to the FBI).

During World War I the BOI investigated people who were accused of pro-German sentiments. In this case, the leader of a Vaudeville troop called Singer's Midgets was reported, but the folks who reported him may have had an ulterior motive--his act was more popular than theirs.

Singer

You can read the full case file starting here and using the filmstrip at the bottom of the page to get to the rest of the images and here's a link to some additional pages from the investigation (see the images connected to this one by clicking the "Connect" button at the top of the viewer).

[update] According to IMDB and Wikipedia, Singer's Midgets featured prominently as Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz

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