Sideshow Personality of the Week: Dolly Dimples, The Fat Lady Diet Guru
Celesta Herrmann was born a completely normal weight in Cincinnati in 1901. Thanks be to a family friend that happened to be a butcher! The friend often visited and played a game with the baby that involved dangling a piece of meat in front of her. Baby Celesta loved the game so much her very first word was "Meat" (a girl after Kristov's own heart- hope it was raw!) by the 5th grade she was 150 pounds and the subject of many a class joke. By the time she reached 295 pounds she dropped out of high school.
In the ultimate manifestation of opposites attract many a fat lady married her human skeleton counterpart but usually the couple met working IN the show. Celesta and her lovin' stick figure were actually simply attending the carnival outside Detroit in 1927 when they were discovered, in the manner of all performers dreams, and offered jobs as Fat Lady an Human Skeleton.
Celeste was given the stage name of Dolly Dimples and billed as The World's most Beautiful Fat Lady.
All was well in Freaky Paradise as Dolly grew in weight and popularity eventually pulling a dollar per pound at appearances. Through the 1930s and 1940s Dolly and her husband toured high on the hog (or two or three) with Ringling Bros.
The World's most Beautiful Fat Lady sat pretty in custom dresses each requiring 12 yards of fabric until 1950. She suffered a major heart attack and was ordered on a strict 800 calorie a day baby food diet by doctors. It was lose weight or die, so she dieted.
In a little over year Dolly lost 443 pounds and once again became Celeste (guess the World's Thinest Fad Lady doesn't really pull much of a crowd).
Celeste devoted the rest of her life to being a diet guru writing books and going on lecture tours. She remained a trim 112 pounds until her death in February of 1982.
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