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ANTIQUES PEEK by Jessica Kosinski
ANTIQUES PEEK

Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

tlantic City has one of the most well- routinely passed by the spot that it seemed like
known boardwalks in the United the perfect place to display odd attractions.
AStates, and arguably the world. One of Of course, it wasn’t just inanimate objects on
the most popular attractions on the Atlantic display inside the Ripley museum that kept
City Boardwalk today is the Ripley’s Believe It the attention of those built-in crowds. Many
or Not! Odditorium, a museum housing odd performers thrilled audiences, both inside
and unusual exhibits from around the world. and outside in front of the museum over
However, the current museum isn’t the first the years. Today, Ripley’s keeps an archive
Ripley’s to grace Atlantic City. Let’s look at featuring records of most of those performers.
how the iconic Ripley’s Believe It or Not! got
its start, in general, and in Atlantic City. Who Were They, and Why Did
They Draw Such Crowds?
Robert Ripley Starts the Believe The Ripley’s performers of the 1950s
It or Not! Phenomenon Atlantic City Boardwalk were certainly odd.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! is known One was billed as “The Pain-Proof Man.”
for finding the world’s oddest facts and attrac- Another was “The Fire-Proof Man.” Such
tions. Today, Ripley’s is a multi-faceted acts usually involved the performers doing
franchise. It includes everything from comic 1933: The first Odditorium opened in Chicago uncomfortable, dangerous, or seemingly
books to television shows, not just museums at the World’s Fair. Inside the museum were dozens of impossible things. For example, the fire-
displaying unusual oddities. However, it Ripley’s famous cartoons, live performers, and hundreds proof man routinely touched his skin with
wasn’t always that way. The start of Ripley’s of strange and exotic artifacts Ripley acquired on his burning torches. Obviously, those acts were
and the history of its founder are just as odd as worldly travels. The success of the Odditorium led impossible for audiences to ignore. Today,
the franchise itself. to several more appearances at world expositions such sideshow acts are sometimes frowned
(Leroy) Robert Ripley was born in 1890. across the country. upon, but in the 1950s similar circus and
By 1918 he was a successful cartoonist with an photo: ripleys.com carnival acts were still popular everywhere.
emphasis on drawing sports cartoons. On slogan, including trading cards and books.
December 19, 1918, he published the first By 1950, the first permanent Ripley Museum The High-Diving Horses and
Believe It or Not! cartoon after being unable had opened in Florida, but Robert Ripley did Ripley’s Boardwalk Success
to come up with a traditional sports cartoon not live to see that happen. He died of a heart The first Ripley’s museum at Steel Pier
idea. Instead, he compiled a collection of attack the previous year. didn’t just attract guests with its own oddities.
unusual sports facts. The concept quickly The opening of that first museum led to The pier itself was known for oddities already.
took off, and Mr. Ripley eventually went on a several others, including the first Atlantic One of the most popular was an act called
trip around the world to find unusual facts City, NJ Ripley museum. It opened in the the “High-Diving Horses.” The act actually
and artifacts beyond just those that were mid-1950s and closed a
sports-related.
few years later. It was con-
structed on the famous
Steel Pier and included a
miniature chateau carved
out of wood. That chateau
still stood on the pier for
decades, prompting the
opening of a new Ripley’s
museum there in 1996,
which is still open today.

The Attraction of
the Boardwalk’s
Early Ripley’s
Museum
You may be wondering
why the early Ripley
Ripley working on one of his museum opened on the
Believe It or Not! cartoons Atlantic City boardwalk in
the first place. After Robert
The Birth of the First Atlantic Ripley’s death, the franchise
City Ripley’s Museum was kept afloat by his cousin
The first Ripley museum, known as an and some business partners.
“Odditorium,” opened at the World’s Fair of They saw a built-in audience The Ripley’s Museum at night on the
1933 in Chicago. Over the following 20 years, in Atlantic City’s boardwalk Atlantic City Boardwalk
many products were released with the Ripley crowd. So many people

30 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles