Captain Costentenus: The Tattooed Greek of New York City
CAPTAIN COSTENTENUS:
THE TATTOOED GREEK OF NEW YORK
By Steve Frangos
Special to The National Herald
Published in The National Herald, June 3, 2006
------------------------------
I am excited to announce that The National Herald has given Hellenic Genealogy Geek the right to reprint articles that may be of interest to our group.
------------------------------
Among the Greeks of Old New
York, none were more remarkable
than, or had such a unique influence
on American politics as, George
Constantine Alexandrinos.
Between roughly 1850 and 1880,
we can easily document the presence
of a small but notable colony of
Greeks living and working in New
York City. While the Greek merchant
class has occupied the attention
of most writers, there were certainly
other Greeks who definitely
caught the attention of the wider
American public. In this regard,
there is no question that the man
generally known as “Captain Costentenus”
was then among the most
recognized Greeks, not simply in
New York City, but throughout the
United States.
Captain Costentenus, a self-identified
Greek Albanian, was the first
fully tattooed man to become a national
celebrity. We must quickly
stress that this Greek performer was
not the first tattooed individual to
tour the country. Tattooed individuals
such as Cabri, Rutherford and
O'Connell unquestionably preceded
him. But Captain Costentenus
had two things these other persons
did not:
First, his traditional Burmesestyle
tattoos were more elaborate
than any seen before in public; second,
P.T. Barnum.
In a striking combination of blue
and red, the Greek's tattoos “consisted
of 388 symmetrically arranged
and closely interwoven images
which covered his entire body, including
his face, eyelids, ears and
(genitals). The designs, according to
his publicity, consisted of crowned
sphinxes, dragons, serpents, monkeys,
elephants, leopards, tigers, lions,
panthers, gazelles, cats,
crocodiles, lizards, eagles, storks,
swans, peacocks, owls, fishes, salamanders,
men, women, fruit, leaves
and flowers. Most of them were
quite small but exceptionally exact
in their detail (wikibmezine.com).”
According to Alexandrinos, he
received his tattoos in Chinese Tartary
(the general location of present day
Burma) as punishment for his
part in “unspeakable crimes” during
a rebellion against the king. It seems
that Burmese lettering also constituted
his tattooing in the interstices
between his fingers. When asked
what the writing said, his stock answer
was that it branded him “the
greatest rascal and thief in the
world.”
LIVING CANVAS BACK
Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-
91), “the Shakespeare of Advertising,”
as he was called during his lifetime,
'discovered' the Greek in the
early 1870's, and thereafter prominently
showcased him in his Hippodrome
Museum. Such was Captain
Costentenus' status that Barnum
paid him a reported $1,000 a week
which, in the 1870-80's era, was a
staggering amount of money. It was
Barnum who dubbed him both
“Captain Costentenus” and “The
Living Canvas Back.”
As a teenager, long before I
learned Costentenus' name, let
alone his ethnicity, I once saw a full color
4x6 square-foot original poster
of this man in an exhibit. It was stunning.
All one saw was Costentenus'
back, with his arms on his hips and
his face in profile. With the proud
words “Greatest Show on Earth” as
a banner, Barnum's name and all
the rest, this poster was valued at
more than $250,000 - at that time.
While many legends and P.T.
Barnum publicity “hokum” still surround
Captain Costentenus' career,
it is generally accepted that this
Greek was the first person to consciously
decide to get his entire body
completely tattooed for the sole
purpose of being an attraction. This
decision, once he was in Barnum's
hands, made him world-famous.
Emblematic of the Greek's
standing in Barnum's productions,
we need only note what took place
on December 9, 1876 during the last
performance of the season for the
Greatest Show on Earth: “During
the performance, Mr. P.T. Barnum presented a gold metal to the tattooed
Greek, Captain Georges Costentenus,
prefacing the presentation
with a brief address, complimentary
to the man, and describing the
painful manner in which he became
tattooed… The medal is two inches
in diameter, and is valued at $200. It
was manufactured by Tiffany &
Company. On one side is engraved a
portrait of the tattooed man, showing
the animals (etc.) on his body,
and on the other side is the following
inscription: 'Presented by P. T.
Barnum to Capt. Georges Costentenus,
in recognition of his honorable
conduct and gentlemanly deportment
during a two years' successful
engagement. New York,
1877.' ”
To place this event within its
wider historical context, 1876 was
the country's centennial and a year
of elaborate public celebrations.
1876 was also the year of the battle
of Little Big Horn, which had occurred
on June 25. News of the massacre
was not released to the general
public until after July 4 so as not to
spoil the Centennial observance.
Still, exactly how prominent was
Captain Costentenus? By October
23, 1881 no less a source than the
New York Times opines that concerning
“Captain Costentenus, the
tattooed man… anybody in the
country who has not seen him must
live far in the backwoods.”
Contributing to the Greek's notoriety
were the various editions of
his booklet, “The True Life and Adventures
of Captain Costentenus,
the Tattooed Greek Prince (Popular
Pub Co., New York: 1881).” Undoubtedly
a total fabrication, copies
of this booklet are still to be found at
the Princeton, Harvard and British
Museum Libraries. The contemporary
availability of this booklet is due
to the fact that, during the Greek's
career, the volume always experienced
“good sales
(www.bmezine.com).”
Not every New Yorker seems to
have appreciated Captain Costentenus.
On March 31, 1878 the New
York Times reported the following
incident: “Captain Costentenus, the
tattooed Albanian Greek whom
P.T. Barnum introduced a few years
ago to the wondering visitors at the
Hippodrome, walked up Broadway
on Friday evening at 6 o'clock, and
reaching Gallagher's saloon in the
Albemarle Hotel Building, he
turned aside to enter. As he pushed
open the swinging door, two men
stood in the passage, and in his effort
to get in, the Greek jostled
against one of them. The two men
were Cathcart, a well-known sporting
character, and a man known as
'The Doctor.' Costentenus, who is a
very polite man, speaks poor
English, but he said, 'Excuse me. I
go inside,' as he pushed between the
two men. One of them laughed at
him, and the other punched him in the side with his elbow. This enraged
the Captain, and he made an impatient
remark. Without further parley,
one of the rude men who barred
the doorway struck him a powerful
blow with his fist, hitting him in the
temple. He fell to the floor, where
he remained in a dazed condition
for about a quarter of an hour. The
outer doors were closed to keep out
the crowd, and when the injured
man revived he was permitted to go
away, his assailants having disappeared.
Yesterday, the Captain had
his head bandaged, and showed a
large swelling on his head as a result
of the encounter. He said he had
never before seen the men who attacked
him, and he would not know
them if he should meet them. He
wears very handsome diamond rings
and other jewelry, valued altogether
at about $3,000, and usually goes
armed to protect himself from persons
who might attempt to rob him.
He says he was so unexpectedly assaulted
that he had no time to offer
resistance.”
This incident did not deter the
good Captain from continuing his
career and life without a backward
glance. In fact, we should note that on December 22, 1883 Captain Costentenus
“took out naturalization
papers in the Superior Court.”
A fascinating moment in American
and Greek American history involves
a political cartoon referring
directly to Captain Costentenus.
James Gillespie Blaine (1830-93), a
U.S. Congressman, was running
against Grover Cleveland (1837-
1908) in the November 1884 Presidential
election. “Cleveland had
dallied with a widow and refused to
marry her when she became the
mother of his child, and Blaine had
taken gifts from businesses and lied
about them. The choice, as a local
paper put it, was between a private
immoralist and a public immoralist
(www.tattooarchive.com).”
At this juncture, Bernard Gillam,
a political cartoonist, working for
Puck's, an independent weekly, began
a series of political cartoons
commenting upon Blaine's political
indiscretions. In Puck's April 16,
1884 issue, Gillam's anti-Blaine cartoon
appeared with the caption,
“Narcissus: Or The Man Who Was
Mashed on Himself.” Blaine is
shown gazing fondly at his own reflection
in a pool of water. Aside
from the Classical Greek reference,
Blaine is made to resemble Captain
Costentenus by showing him covered
in tattoos. The tattoos were not
animals, plants or other decorations,
however, but the names of the trusts
and special interests which had purchased
Blaine's support during his
years in Washington.
The tattooed images caught the
popular imagination, and wherever
Blaine traveled thereafter, he was
met with shouts of “Tattooed Jim.”
Many historians contend that these
cartoons determined the final outcome
of the 1884 presidential campaign.
We can not now say how the
wider Greek colony of Old New
York responded to the presence of
George Constantine Alexandrinos,
but we do know he left a visual impression
which still resonates within
popular American culture to this
very day.
Comments
Post a Comment