"This person was born half man, half woman." "If you'd like to meet her/him, shake her hand, his hand... there ya go." "Anybody else?" "Oh, here's a young lady that would." "There she is... she's brave." "Nice!" "Oh, my gosh!" "Oh, my gosh, it's Jesse the half-man." "And there's Asia Ray, the youngest female sword swallower in the world." "Folks, today, you will witness the strangest creatures on earth." "The living wonders of the world and the most amazing people on the planet." "They're all inside." "What you thought was a myth, you will see with your own eyes." "Welcome to the "Freakshow."" "Boys okay." " Hey." " Hey." "I'm gonna need the sink, honey." "Okay, hold on one second." "Listen, I got a couple guys comin' over that are gonna stay with us for a few days." " Who?" " These two guys Jim and Jesse." "One's got no arms and one's got no legs and what I'm thinkin' about doin' is trying to recreate that pitch card with the two guys on the tandem bike." "Yeah, this photo shows you that nothing is impossible." "That even a man with no legs and a man with no arms can ride a two person bike." "It's one of the rarest pitch cards in the world." "It's also probably my favorite." "I think Jim's gonna pick up Jesse." "Watch the turtle juice..." "away from the food." "Oh, sorry." "Where are my waffles." "Oh, dear God." "What the hell!" " That's a chupacabra, baby." " Oh, my gosh!" "The scary thing is he got infested with flesh eating Beatles." "That's why..." "I'm trying to freeze him out of there." "In my freezer." " Yeah... want me to show you." " No." " You know you love me." " You're lucky I do." " Hey!" " What's goin' on?" "You made it... good to see you." "Come on in, fellas." "Good to meet you, Jim." "Hey, brother!" " Good to see you?" " Good to see you, Jesse." "Ya'll come on in!" "So your flight, everything was good." " Yeah, mine was." " No problems at all?" "No." "Man, you got a lot of stuff here." " Oh, yeah." " It's a large collection." "Fellas, I've been collecting." "Wow." "This is just a little bit of it." "You know, I know ya'll got business' and everything and I really appreciate ya'll taking' the time." "Actually, I kinda want to get to know about your background." "I went to regular grade school and high school and..." " I did too." " I played on the sports." "I mean, I was their number one pitcher." "You know, I pitched on two WA championships." "Just with my foot." " You gotta be kiddin' me." " I pitched every game." "Jim, don't mess with me." "No, I pitched every game, every inning." "How about you, Jesse?" "Pretty much a normal life also, um, played backyard football with everybody on my hands." "In the late '90s, opened up a satellite business." "Wow." "Climb ladders, hang satellites." "From the time you were little, it never was a tough thing for you?" "If you're born this way, you never had it," " so you don't miss it." " Exactly." "I wouldn't know what to do if I had a pair of arms." "You know, that's really why I like ya'll so much." "I think it's important for people to see that" " life is kind of a miracle." " It is." "And there's some people that grab it right by the balls." "You guys do." "Did anybody ever mess with ya'll when you were little?" "Is that what you'd do to 'em if they messed with ya?" "So fellas, here's the pitch card, right here." "It's one of the most astounding images" "I think in sideshow that's ever been done." "There's Charles Tripp and Eli Bowen doin' it right there." "The first time I saw this photo," "I couldn't believe my eyes." "It represents wonder and amazement." "Everything that we live for here at the Freakshow." "I notice he's got his foot on the ground, so they're in still motion." "Yeah, I don't think they were movin' in that." "I'll tell ya what, we'll go one step better." "I'll pedal it, he'll steer it, we'll put that baby right down the boardwalk." "Make a motion picture." "Could you do that, ya think?" "My belly might hang out a little bit more than his does." "Yours and mine both." "How would you stop the bike?" "Errrr!" "Feet, don't fail me now!" "If we recreate the photo, that'll be a dream come true for me." "But if you fellas pull that off, that'll be somethin'" "I couldn't even have dreamed of." "By the way, what's that brown thing over there?" " Uh, that's a two-headed goat." " Oh, two-headed goat." " Look who it is." " Yeah." "I keep wonderin' about these guys." "I mean, there's a lot of times like this guy will wanna go over here and that guy just wants to sleep and this guys dragging' him over there and then they start struggling'." "This is Chang and Eng, the original siamese twins." "We named our conjoined dragons after them, 'cause they're connected in the same way, a thin bit of flesh on their sides." "I kinda wonder if it'd be possible to separate them." "How'd they do that... with a scalpel?" " Yeah." " Uh..." "It'd feel weird." "That's why I'm kinda going through a struggle right now with these guys 'cause I mean, even though it's cool to see 'em conjoined." "Right there, his claw's in his ear." "You see, that's what I'm talkin' about." "You know, is it more humane to separate 'em or is it better to keep 'em as they were born." "The only way I can figure to see if they can even be separated is if we take 'em to the vet." "Yeah." "At least that way I can get an idea of like how they're connected." "Do they share an organs... like, is there a danger?" "Then it would help us make a decision." "Yeah." "Well, I was born with no arms and do everything with my feet." "I've never let it stop me." "I've just done everything normal." "Everything comes to me naturally." "I'm just like, does it with your hands." "I just use my feet..." "that's the only difference." "I don't consider myself disabled." "There's nothin' I can't do." "I can play sports with anybody and fish with anybody and hunt with anybody." "Writin' and drivin'..." "I mean, I can do anything." "If you find somethin' I can't do, then we'll talk." "Jim, ya ready to get to the Freakshow?" "Let's do it." "Hey, Jesse, you ready?" "Sounds great." "Kids, come on!" "All right, folks, look up top, there's all these amazing people." "They're all live in the Freakshow." "You're gonna see the rubber girl, the sword swallower, the fire eater, the electric lady, the human blockhead... they're all inside." "Are ya'll ready for the show?" "Folks, this is Jesse the half man, right here." "Say "hello," fellas." "We were talkin' and we feel like obviously you're really strong, right?" "Back in high school, I used to be able to bench 360 pounds." " Wow!" " No big deal." "I wanna see you do that!" " What's your name?" " Jessie." "Well folks, we're gonna get the show started on the stage... if you would, give these gentlemen a big round of applause." "You're gonna see something right now that no other man has ever done in history." "Murrugun." "Yeah!" "Murrugun!" "Give Jim a big hand!" "Folks, if you think that was amazing, wait until you see these two men." "They're gonna recreate this photo and you can see it in just a few days here at the Freakshow." "Hi, Todd." " How are you?" " Good." " So good to see you." " Good to see you." " Got your kids, huh?" " Yeah." "Chang and eng." "Excellent... well come on back... yeah." "All right." "So how long have you had Chang and Eng?" " About five or six months." " Okay." " See how they're struggling right there?" " I do." "You know, I just wondered would they be happier if they didn't have to deal with each other like this all day." "If it's possible surgically, an X-ray will be able to show us that." "Okay, let's get 'em in there." "It's interesting because it looks like they're just laying on top of each other, which is what they do in the wild, so they might be very comfortable that way." "That's a good point." "I never really thought about it that way." "All right." "So these are the X-rays that we took and we have a couple ribs that have just fused all into one." "They do have separate organs." "The thing I can't tell from this X-ray is do the lung fields connect?" "Meaning, if one takes a breath in, is there a connection between the lung fields and that would be something you wouldn't know until you went into surgery." "So do you see any benefits of separating them?" "Absolutely." "They could walk around a lot easier." "Right." "They could live more of the bearded dragon life of climbing and chasing crickets." "Mm-hmm." "Of course the downside of separating them is that surgery is a risk." "The anesthesia is a risk." "Post-operative infection is a risk." "But you also might find that one may thrive and one may not once they're separated." "It's just such a hard decision." "It's a hard decision." "You know, 'cause there's moments when I worry about 'em and there's moments when I don't and it's a... well I got a lot to think about." " It's a big decision." " It is a big decision." "All right, lets put these fellas to the test." "Especially this guy." "I'm gonna set this here for you." "You have to pull back?" " Every shot." " Every shot." "You hit it!" "First shot!" "Forget being in the show, you're gonna be security." "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "See what you can do, Jesse." " Yeah!" " Yeah!" "Is there anything you can't do?" "Nothin' I can't do." "Here's the bike shop." "This is the one we need right here." "We gotta try this." "Wait, wait." "Whoa-whoa." "Oh!" "There they go." "Come on, man." "Lets make this baby move!" "That is hilarious." "How's it going, guys?" " Hey, do you run this place?" " I do." "Hey, I'm Todd Ray from the Venice Beach Freakshow." "Todd, nice to meet you..." "I'm Dustin." "Nice to meet you." "So listen, we're lookin' for a two-person bike for Jesse in the front, it'd be nice if he had handle bars that would almost be like a bit of a support behind him like that." "I think I've got exactly what you're lookin' for." "Okay." "What about this bad boy?" "Actually, that one looks really good." "Jim, what do you think?" "That's kinda like what we were talkin' about right there." "How's that for your height?" "Everything in position?" "Now we're in position." "Jessie, you wanna climb up here?" "I'll hold onto it..." "it ain't goin' nowhere." "Let go just for a second, murrugun." "I just wanna see how you are." "Yeah, you see how it keeps wanting to go one way or another." "Yeah." "Jim, let's get you off the bike for a second." "Yeah." "He's leaning off to the left anyways." " Try to keep your balance." " No... ain't no way." "Without legs, you don't think about it, but it's a big part of how you keep yourself balanced and when he's up there, his weight wants to shift this way or that way." " All right, hold on." " That could be a danger." "So we're gonna figure out the best way to keep it safe and still pull it off." "I think the only way to do it safely is to have some kind of support." "Yeah." "And not have to worry about the damn thing falling out from under you at any time." "Let's re... go ahead and reinforce it." "I mean, it never hurts." "I'd love it if we can do that." "Don't worry..." "I'll work on it tonight, and I'll get it done." "All right, well let's get out of here." "Come on." "I say we just hit the bar." "Let's hit the bar." " Oh!" " Oh-oh!" "Ready?" "When I play, nobody wants to be around." "Uh-oh!" "Yeah!" "Oh!" "Whoo!" "The idea of normal is just an idea." "If... you either accept it or you don't." "And these guys, they refuse to be held back." "They really have absolutely no limitations." "I know guys with two good arms, two good legs," " can't do nothin'." " Exactly." "You know what I always think about, too?" "Is kids that are born without limbs, they need people that they can be inspired by." "Ya'll entertain people and educate them but for those kids, it's an inspiration." "Right." "'Cause once in awhile we get kids come through." "What would you tell them?" "Don't loose faith." "There's a lot of things you can do." "I'll just go right to their houses." "I'll work with them one on one." "What do you tell kids like that?" "Same thing I tell you: "If I can do it, you can do it."" "Yeah!" "My dad told me a story one time and I was just a little kid." "He says, "Jim, I want to tell you something right now."" "He says, "you've been dealt some pretty bad cards, man." "And one of these days, I ain't gonna be around to take care of you... you need to take care of yourself."" "And that's never left my head and I take care of myself." "I dress myself, feed myself." "But I'll see people all the time," "I'll be workin' on the car or something, or workin' on a yard or something, they'll drive by and I'll see 'em back up... vroom!" "He was using his knee back there!" "People stare at me for free, every day." "Why not get paid for it?" " To the Freakshow." " To the Freakshow!" "Whoo!" "I'm still trying to figure out what to do about, uh, Chang and eng." "The vet said they can be split fairly easily, but she said that the anesthesia could possibly kill them." "There's a lot of times that they put him under, they just don't come back." "What do you think?" "I don't know how I feel." "I'm like so torn because when I watch them," "I feel like they're so separate." "It might just be like an easy separation." "They might have that feeling of like... finally, I could move the way I wanna move and do what I wanna do." "I don't think you should separate them." " You don't?" " No." "I mean, how old are they?" "Five." "I mean, I think if they were born that way, that's the way that they are supposed to be created." "I'd say keep 'em the same." "'Cause they're so used to it already." "Why risk the life?" "Whatever's best for them is what I want but I'm not really sure which way to go." "Like, if me and Phoenix were conjoined," "I personally would rather be alive and have discomfort than to risk dying to be separate." "I think I agree with you." "So my decision is this, nature made 'em this way and nature will decide when they go away." "So I'm not gonna do it." "We'll just leave it at that." "People don't believe in magic, you know?" "They can't see the wonder that's right in front of their eyes." "But when you take a two-headed animal and put them in front of their eyes, wonder comes alive." "So for that, these animals deserve all the protection, love and happiness they can get." "Wow..." "I feel a weight lifted off me." "Yeah." "'Cause I've been worried about it so much." "Folks, it is showtime." "Yeah!" "You're gonna meet a man that's gonna help us do a stunt right here live." "He has no arms and he is one of the strongest men" "I've ever seen in my life." "Give it up for the amazing man they call Jim the armless wonder!" "Are ya'll ready to meet our next special guest?" "Folks, this amazing man is part of a dynamic duo that's about to do a stunt that will be remembered for the rest of history." "Here he is, Jesse the half man!" "Oh, here he comes riding in on a skate board." "There he is." "Whoo!" "He's known as the half man." "He was born without legs." "But this man does incredible things." "You've got to see to believe." "Look at that, folks!" "Give him a round of applause." "Folks, you're about to see something that's a piece of history." "Over a hundred years ago, a photo was taken of two men." "Today, we are gonna recreate that amazing stunt!" "These two men down there, they're gonna ride that bike all the way down the boardwalk right here in front of the Venice Beach Freakshow." "The man with no legs is gonna steer it while the man with no arms pedals it." "If you look at the photo, they're just sitting there." "They're not really riding it and to have them actually ride the bike... this has never been done before." "Are you fellas down there ready?" "This is like Evil Knievel all over again!" "Here we go!" "Five... four..." "Three... two..." "One!" "There they go!" "Oh, my gosh!" "They're doin' it... there they are!" "Put the pedal to the metal!" "There they go!" "Look at that!" "I don't believe it!" "They're riding that bike right down the boardwalk!" " That's a piece of history right there, folks." " Yeah!" "Seeing Jim the armless wonder and Jesse the half man ride that two-person bike, was like stepping back in time to a whole 'nother era." "That pitch card I have looked at a thousand..." "I have looked at that thing a hundred thousand times and I saw it right in front of my eyes, in front of the last living Freakshow on planet earth." "And if this place closed down tomorrow, people will remember that forever." "And I will remember it till the day I die." "Okay, guys, smile." "We're gonna show you something you've never seen in your life, okay." "Oh." "All right, down the hatch without a scratch." " Yeah!" " All right!" "Oh, my go..." "I almost puked."