Not currently on display at the V&A

London telephone directory torn in half by the strong woman, Joan Rhodes

Telephone Drectory
1939 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

London telephone directory, A-K, dated August 1939, in two parts, torn in half by the strong woman, Joan Rhodes, in 1947.

Joan Rhodes (1921-2010) first appeared in variety shows at the Nottingham Empire in the 1950s. She had answered an advertisement for 'freaks' in the Stage newspaper. Joan was petite and blonde with the good looks of a chorus girl: the only thing 'freakish' about her was her strength. She could bend steel bars with her teeth, break six inch (15 cm) nails and tear telephone directories in half.

Rhodes said that she had discovered her strength at the age of 12 while working in her aunt's public house, where she surprised the customers by lifting the heavy beer barrels. At 14 she was working in a circus as a strong man's assistant and, convinced that she could perform the same tricks, began to rip up telephone books. She tried working as a model and a dancer, appearing with the internationally known dance troupe, the Bluebell Girls, in the South of France, but carried on performing feats of strength for her own amusement, and then decided to try and make a career from her unusual skills. Her employer at Nottingham wanted her to wear a leopard skin, the traditional costume of the circus Strongman, but Joan Rhodes wanted to maintain her feminine appearance. She became 'the Mighty Mannequin', showing off her 50-centimetre waist in evening dresses and diamanté-covered leotards, and appearing on television and in cabaret around the world. In interviews she said that she preferred working in cabaret because 'the audience are so close. They can see if any of my equipment is faked'. This phone book is labelled ‘Torn by Joan Rhodes 1947’ so dates from the early part of her career. She calculated that during 25 years as a strong woman she had torn up 25,000 telephone books and bent more than two and a half tonnes of nails.




Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Telephone Directories
  • Telephone Directories
TitleLondon telephone directory torn in half by the strong woman, Joan Rhodes (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Printed paper
Brief description
London telephone directory, A-K, dated August 1939, in two parts, torn in half by the strong woman, Joan Rhodes, in 1947
Physical description
London telephone directory, A-K, August 1939, torn in two halves, the tear running horizontally across the book. The blue paper cover printed with an advertisement for Esso Ethyl petrol. Each half with a paper label, annotated 'Torn by Joan Rhodes 1947'.
Dimensions
  • Upper half of directory height: 15.2cm (maximum, measured at spine)
  • Upper half of directory width: 21.5cm (approx.)
  • Lower half of directory height: 16.8cm (maximum, measured at spine)
  • Lower half of directory width: 21.7cm (approx.)
  • Depth of both halves, measured at spine depth: 5.0cm (approx)
Credit line
Given by Joan Rhodes
Summary
London telephone directory, A-K, dated August 1939, in two parts, torn in half by the strong woman, Joan Rhodes, in 1947.

Joan Rhodes (1921-2010) first appeared in variety shows at the Nottingham Empire in the 1950s. She had answered an advertisement for 'freaks' in the Stage newspaper. Joan was petite and blonde with the good looks of a chorus girl: the only thing 'freakish' about her was her strength. She could bend steel bars with her teeth, break six inch (15 cm) nails and tear telephone directories in half.

Rhodes said that she had discovered her strength at the age of 12 while working in her aunt's public house, where she surprised the customers by lifting the heavy beer barrels. At 14 she was working in a circus as a strong man's assistant and, convinced that she could perform the same tricks, began to rip up telephone books. She tried working as a model and a dancer, appearing with the internationally known dance troupe, the Bluebell Girls, in the South of France, but carried on performing feats of strength for her own amusement, and then decided to try and make a career from her unusual skills. Her employer at Nottingham wanted her to wear a leopard skin, the traditional costume of the circus Strongman, but Joan Rhodes wanted to maintain her feminine appearance. She became 'the Mighty Mannequin', showing off her 50-centimetre waist in evening dresses and diamanté-covered leotards, and appearing on television and in cabaret around the world. In interviews she said that she preferred working in cabaret because 'the audience are so close. They can see if any of my equipment is faked'. This phone book is labelled ‘Torn by Joan Rhodes 1947’ so dates from the early part of her career. She calculated that during 25 years as a strong woman she had torn up 25,000 telephone books and bent more than two and a half tonnes of nails.


Collection
Accession number
S.821:1,2-2017

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Record createdJune 29, 2017
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