Carl Charles was born in June 1873 in Quincy, Illinois. He was the third son of Edward Benson Charles, Jr. (1840-1903) and the former Francis C. Green (1840-1873 His mother was herself the firstborn of my maternal great great grandparents Ephraim Scudder Green (1810-1868) and the former Maria M. Bassett (1815-1913). Carl was the first cousin of my maternal grandmother, Edithe Alois Beutler. (This biography of Carl is derived from my book, Unsung But Not Forgotten [computer link to book].)

Carl was not interested in business, unlike the other members of his immediate family. His leanings were more toward the artistic and the theatrical. The local newspapers were quick to offer praise for his achievements. In February 1885 (Quincy Daily Herald), when he was eleven, he won a prize for “most comical costume” at a fancy-dress carnival held in Quincy’s park skating rink. His costume was a jointed fishing pole and line. In September 1888, when he was 15, the Quincy Daily Journal, in the “City News” section, said:   

Carl Charles, son of Ed. Charles, is the boy wonder of Quincy. He can do anything that any other living being can accomplish. His paintings and his drawings have attracted more than ordinary attention, and some of his pounded brass work would be a credit to the artists of the old country.

In addition to his art, he decided to explore his talent in gymnastics. His specialties were contorting his body and balancing his weight on one hand. He soon decided to become a professional acrobat. At age 15, he was already giving performances in his hometown in preparation for getting booked into professional entertainment companies that toured the country. His staid, socially conscious, late-Victorian family must have been horrified. However, he persevered.           

In 1889, at age 16, Carl left Quincy for Kansas City and made this centrally-located city his residential and professional home base. He lived there for many years.

In July 1890, when he was only 17, Carl, already a professional acrobat, came back to Quincy with the Lemon Brothers, a one-ring circus show. The Quincy Daily Journal, July 16, 1890 (page 4) said:

Carl Charles, the contortionist, commonly called the human snake, is with Lemon Bros. Show, which appears here this week. This is Carl’s home and, as he has not been at home for over a year, his many friends will be glad to see him. Few boys at his age have attained such a reputation in the profession as has Carl. People who are good judges of   his business say that he is as fine as is possible for man to be. He displayed his ability in Quincy two winters ago at Turner Hall, while taking part in an amateur entertainment. He went on the road soon after.

In Carl’s day, there were four major performance venues in Quincy – Turner Hall and the Bijou Theatre, which opened in the 1880s, and the Empire Theater and the Eden Musee, which opened in the 1890s. Carl always enjoyed the hearty welcome and adulation that he continually received from his hometown audience whenever he performed in Quincy.

Needless to say, Carl’s act was an unusual one. He was not an actor, or a singer, or a dancer. He was a contortionist and was also called an “equilibrist,” one who was adept at balancing. In Carl’s case, he could balance his entire body on one hand. His act could easily be presented in a circus or as a novelty act in a minstrel show or vaudeville theater. He was booked into a number of different theatrical companies over the next twenty years:

• Circus companies – Four-Paw Show, Hanlon Brothers, Lemon Brothers

• Minstrel shows – Barlow, Beach and Bowers, Raymond and Freemond

• Spectacles – Paine’s “Last Days of Pompeii”

• Vaudeville – Keith-Orpheum circuit

His bookings tended to concentrate around the Midwest, although some were in California and New York.

Carl married Effie Helm in 1896, and near the end of the decade they moved to Omaha, Nebraska, Effie’s home state. According to the Omaha city directories, they lived there in 1889 and 1990. In the 1900 federal census, Carl’s profession is recorded as “acrobat.” Effie is listed as being “at home.” She was not in show business. In the same year, Carl performed at an outdoor carnival in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Nebraska State Journal (Lincoln, NB), October 3, 1900 (page 6) said:

Carl Charles, hand equilibrist, performs at the various stages. He balances himself in difficult positions on his hands and has a peculiar feat of twisting himself sideways and supporting himself on one hand. When he does this, perched on two chairs placed none too securely on top of a pyramid of stairs, the difficulty of his act is apparent.

Within a few years, Carl moved back to Kansas City and is again listed in its city directory. It is unclear what happened to Effie. After 1900, she is not listed beside his name in any city directory or any state or federal census. Did they divorce, or did she die?

In any case, Carl continued with his acrobatic performing. During the early 1900s, Carl’s name appeared frequently in national newspapers as well as in the show business trade papers, such as New York Clipper, Billboard, and Variety. In these, he appears in minstrel shows, such as the Barlow Company. He also did gigs in vaudeville houses all over the country, even playing in Quincy’s Bijou theatre in February through March 1905 to much local critical acclaim.

In late 1905 through to mid-1906, he spent a lot of money to improve his sets and costumes. Billboard in November 1905 mentions “a new nickel-plate stage setting.” A Wisconsin newspaper in January 1906 reports that his “performance is accompanied by pretty electrical effects.” Billboard again, in June 1906, says that he “has all new wardrobe and stage settings.” Regardless of the money he had recently expended to improve the outward trappings of his act, he inexplicably chose to take a three-year retirement in late 1906. His last publicized gig, listed in the October 21, 1906 issue of Billboard, was at a vaudeville house, the Bijou Theatre in Wichita, Kansas. However, three years later, in the December 18, 1909 issue of Billboard, it was reported that:

            Carl Charles is back in vaudeville again with a hand-balancing act, after having been in retirement for three years.

But after this last announcement in Billboard, there are no more reports of gigs for Carl in any sources.

Carl continued to live in Kansas City. The 1910 city directory lists his employment as “actor.” However, the same directory for 1911 lists his employment as working at the “Fitwell Shirt Factory.” Charles seems to have abandoned show business and for the rest of his life worked in the apparel business. The 1912-1914 directories list him as “manager” of the Uniform Custom Shirt Company. The 1915 directory lists him as a “cutter” in the same company. A brief note that appeared in the Quincy Daily Herald in March 31, 1915 (page 4) said:

   Carl Charles is in Kansas City, city salesman for a shirt factory owned by his uncle.

It must have pleased his business-minded family tremendously to see him finally involved in a legitimate goods and services industry rather than appearing on stage in an unusual novelty act.

For the rest of Carl’s life, he resided in Kansas City and worked in the shirt business. The 1920 federal census and the 1925 Kansas state census record him as a “shirtmaker” and “single.” In the 1930 federal census, the situation is the same, except that he now owns his shop.

Carl died on September 5, 1936 at age 63 in Kansas City. He was buried in Woodland Cemetery in his hometown, Quincy.