Commodore Foote, Colonel Small, and the Fairy Queen
Carte de visite by Charles D. Fredricks of New York City. Three of America's top stage performers gathered for this portrait dressed in fine clothes. In the center stands Joseph Huntler (about 1846-1870), who performed using the stage name "Colonel Small." To the left is Charles Nestel (1849-1937), known as "Commodore Foote" to adoring fans. Charles's younger sister, Eliza Nestel (1857-1937), who performed as the "Fairy Queen," stands to the right with a bonnet at her feet.
The Nestels began performing in 1861 in a show called The Little People. They went on to perform in dime museums, P.T. Barnum’s circus sideshow, and the American Lilliputian Opera Company. Promoter William Ellinger first paired Huntler and Charles Nestel on stage in 1862.
A Washington, D.C., newspaper ad describes them as "those miniature men, Samsons in intellect," who entertained crowds by speaking in different languages and posing for motionless and slow-moving tableaux—in the vernacular, poses plastique and tableaux vivant.
Ellinger also brought the Commodore and the Colonel to the White House to meet the First Family in January 1865. They "were received with the greatest courtesy by the President of the United States, Mrs. Lincoln and the members of the Cabinet," noted a newspaper report. The celebrities made their way from the Executive Mansion to the Capitol and were escorted to the floor of the House of Representatives. There the same news story stated, "So great was the interest evinced, that the Speaker of the House placed the dwarfs, one on each end of the desk, which positions they occupied for several seconds." The Speaker was Schuyler Colfax, a Lincoln Republican who represented a district in Nestel's home state of Indiana.
I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.
Commodore Foote, Colonel Small, and the Fairy Queen
Carte de visite by Charles D. Fredricks of New York City. Three of America's top stage performers gathered for this portrait dressed in fine clothes. In the center stands Joseph Huntler (about 1846-1870), who performed using the stage name "Colonel Small." To the left is Charles Nestel (1849-1937), known as "Commodore Foote" to adoring fans. Charles's younger sister, Eliza Nestel (1857-1937), who performed as the "Fairy Queen," stands to the right with a bonnet at her feet.
The Nestels began performing in 1861 in a show called The Little People. They went on to perform in dime museums, P.T. Barnum’s circus sideshow, and the American Lilliputian Opera Company. Promoter William Ellinger first paired Huntler and Charles Nestel on stage in 1862.
A Washington, D.C., newspaper ad describes them as "those miniature men, Samsons in intellect," who entertained crowds by speaking in different languages and posing for motionless and slow-moving tableaux—in the vernacular, poses plastique and tableaux vivant.
Ellinger also brought the Commodore and the Colonel to the White House to meet the First Family in January 1865. They "were received with the greatest courtesy by the President of the United States, Mrs. Lincoln and the members of the Cabinet," noted a newspaper report. The celebrities made their way from the Executive Mansion to the Capitol and were escorted to the floor of the House of Representatives. There the same news story stated, "So great was the interest evinced, that the Speaker of the House placed the dwarfs, one on each end of the desk, which positions they occupied for several seconds." The Speaker was Schuyler Colfax, a Lincoln Republican who represented a district in Nestel's home state of Indiana.
I encourage you to use this image for educational purposes only. However, please ask for permission.