Peter Robinson (born April 8, 1873; credited professionally as The Living Skeleton or as The Cigarette Fiend, and The Thin Man), was an American theater and
sideshow art performer, perhaps best known for his only film appearance in the
Tod Browning cult film ''
Freaks'', with a lengthy career in the carnival circus circuit at
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...
and with
Ringling Bros
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...
. He also appeared briefly in Broadway.
He worked as a carnival sideshow entertainer, weighing in at 58 pounds. He had a career in that genre in the vein of circus thin man
Isaac W. Sprague and
Artie Atherton. He was married to fellow sideshow entertainer
Baby Bunny Smith
Helen "Baby Bunny" Smith (1888–1951) was an American sideshow performer. She made her living traveling with sideshows in the early 20th century billed as a circus fat lady.
Smith was born in 1888. Despite a normal childhood, she became very h ...
, a , circus fat lady. He married her numerous times for promotional purposes.
He was also purported to be an expert
harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
player.
Early life
Robinson was born in
Chicopee, Massachusetts, on April 8, 1873. He was the son of Abraham Robinson, a native of Vermont, and Canadian Victoria Hebert. In later records he used April 6 as his birthday and gave