# Ending to "Freaks" movie from the 1930's
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 29, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353 "2001-10-29T19:58:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Von\_Erich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Von_Erich)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/1 "2001-10-29T19:58:21Z")
Warning: Contains SPOILERS
I saw this disturbing but interesting movie the other night. Towards the end the Freaks seek revenge and come after Hercules(the Strongman) with knives and other weapons, however I missed what happened to him and Cleopatra (the trapeze lady). I looked on the IMDB and could not find a detailed description of the ending. I did find suggestions however that there was two different endings. One where Cleopatra became one of the freaks and one with more of a real love story ending. Has anyone seen this movie and can you explain what happened at the end. I do remember seeing some sort of Chicken Lady at the end, was this what happened to Cleopatra or was the Chicken Lady a different character altogehter?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/2 "2001-10-29T20:00:25Z")
SPOILERS:
They killed Hercules and turned Cleopatra into the chicken lady. Some versions eliminated the shot of the chicken lady.
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### Author:  [@Von\_Erich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Von_Erich)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/3 "2001-10-29T20:05:24Z")
That’s what I thought happened. So did they show them turning her into the chicken lady, or was it just the shot of her as the chicken lady. If they did show them changing her, how the hell did they do it?
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/4 "2001-10-29T20:17:01Z")
We didn’t see them changing her, which I think is a good choice. The movie’s more creepy and horrifying that way.
It’s a fine, fine movie. It’s held back from true greatness, I think, by the thinness of the plot and the weak acting.
We can forgive the acting through our knowledge that most of the actors were (obviously) real circus freaks, not actors.
But the movie accomplishes all it sets out to do, IMHO, and some scenes are nothing short of brilliant, like the perfectly disturbing “We accept her…one of us” scene.
Highly recommended.
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### Author:  [@Von\_Erich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Von_Erich)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/5 "2001-10-29T20:25:42Z")
I also recommend it. That “one of us” scene will stay in my mind for a while. I also want to point out that Hans was a member of the Lollipop Guild in the Wizard of Oz.
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### Author:  [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/6 "2001-10-29T20:26:52Z")
As a slight hijack - one of the dwarves in “Freaks” (he’s in the party scene Fiver is refering to) later played the mastermind behind the pig-waste power generation system in “Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome.”
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### Author:  [@Vinnie\_Virginslayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vinnie_Virginslayer)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/7 "2001-10-29T20:38:59Z")
Here’s an online freak show for ya:
[http://www.joebates.com/joesfreakshow/freak2.htm](http://www.joebates.com/joesfreakshow/freak2.htm)
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/8 "2001-10-29T21:08:41Z")
Worth pointing out that Todd Browning’s _Freaks_ provided the inspiration for the Kids in the Hall’s [“Chicken Lady.”](http://www.kithaa.com/mark/m_chicken_small.wav)
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### Author:  [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/9 "2001-10-29T22:35:35Z")
Here’s what I’ve heard from more than one source, but no idea whether or not it’s true:
Hypothetical spoilers
The reason “Freaks” is so short is that the studio censors cut out a lot of parts that are now lost forever.
Among these cuts (no pun intended) is a final scene, not sure whether it would have appeared before or after the unveiling of the chicken lady, which shows Hercules singing in a carnival musical group- singing soprano. Or castrato, if you like.
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### Author:  [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/10 "2001-10-29T22:50:32Z")
gooble gobble, gooble gobble, one of us, one of us!
one of the very finest horror flicks of all time. tod browning of dracula fame made it, dontcha know.
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### Author:  [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/11 "2001-10-29T23:10:33Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by FisherQueen \*
> \*\*The reason “Freaks” is so short is that the studio censors cut out a lot of parts that are now lost forever.
>
> Among these cuts (no pun intended) is a final scene, not sure whether it would have appeared before or after the unveiling of the chicken lady, which shows Hercules singing in a carnival musical group- singing soprano. Or castrato, if you like. \*\*
That would have been a great scene, they never show what happened to Hercules in the current version.
The one shot I love is the guy that has no arms and legs crawling to attack Hercules (or the woman, I can’t remember which) with a knife in his mouth!!! It would have been priceless to have a scene showing how exactly he used it.
IIRC, one of the pinhead characters (one was named “Zip”) was the inspiration for the **Zippy the Pinhead** cartoon.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/12 "2001-10-29T23:22:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The one shot I love is the guy that has no arms and legs crawling to attack Hercules (or the woman, I can’t remember which) with a knife in his mouth!!! It would have been priceless to have a scene showing how exactly he used it.
I’ve often thought the same thing! I have to laugh every time.
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### Author:  [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)
#### Post date: [October 29, 2001, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/13 "2001-10-29T23:35:07Z")
The worm man with the knife in his mouth is my favorite!
In my freshman year of college, my friends and I had a tradition. Whenever someone’s birthday rolled around, we would pull out a tape of this movie and watch it. Good times.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/14 "2001-10-30T04:14:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The reason “Freaks” is so short is that the studio censors cut out a lot of parts that are now lost forever.
>
> Among these cuts (no pun intended) is a final scene, not sure whether it would have appeared before or after the unveiling of the chicken lady, which shows Hercules singing in a carnival musical group- singing soprano. Or castrato, if you like.
I’m sure I remember seeing the castrato scene, and not just reading about it. There’s also a tacked on “happy ending” with the two little people reuniting, which I think is on my taped copy. Now I feel compelled to look.
:::looking:::
Well, there’s no scene in my copy with the castrated Hercules singing. It does have the reunion. I taped it off TCM maybe last Halloween.
From Hoberman and Rosenbaum’s _Midnight Movies_:
> [@](#):
>
> In the original ending of _Freaks_, this \ involved castrating Hercules and turning Cleopatra into the horrible, cawing bird-woman that we still see in the film’s closing shot. (A reunion of Hans and Frieda, engaged earlier in the film, was hastily added to a subsequent rereleased version and sometimes turns up at the tail-end of recent prints–an awkward contrivance clearly meant to blunt the shocking conclusion.)
I still say I’ve seen Hercules sing, though.
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### Author:  [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/15 "2001-10-30T05:20:34Z")
One of the neatest parts is when the guy with no limbs rolls a joint. WOW.
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### Author:  [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2001, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/16 "2001-10-30T07:32:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by plnnr \*
> \*\*one of the dwarves in “Freaks” (he’s in the party scene Fiver is refering to) later played the mastermind behind the pig-waste power generation system in “Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome.” \*\*
Um, with very sincere respect **pl** old mate, are you sure? Wasn’t Mad Max made something like fifty years later? Happy to be proved wrong, of course.
And naughty **Badtz** , it’s called a cigarette. A roll-your-own. Now we all know why your posts are so hard to read (insert “joke” smiley here).
Redworm
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### Author:  [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2001, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/17 "2001-10-30T07:42:51Z")
What makes you so sure it’s a tobacco cigarette? The movie was made before marijuana was declared illegal, it could be either, really.
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### Author:  [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2001, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/18 "2001-10-30T12:31:10Z")
Yeah, now that you mention it, my copy (taped off of TCM) DOES have the ending with Hans and what’s-her-name (Frieda?) hooking up years later in his Stately Mansion.
It just slipped my mind… you know… 'cause of the Chicken Lady.
Okay, so I’m sick, sick, sick, but I love this movie.
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### Author:  [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2001, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/19 "2001-10-30T12:54:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Redboss says:_ Um, with very sincere respect pl old mate, are you sure? Wasn’t Mad Max made something like fifty years later? Happy to be proved wrong, of course.
His name is [Angelo Rossitto](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Rossitto,+Angelo) and his career spanned 60 years.
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### Author:  [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2001, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-to-freaks-movie-from-the-1930s/90353/20 "2001-10-30T13:09:33Z")
Thanks for the pick up on the question about Angelo Rossitto.
Neither of the pinheads in Freaks was named “Zippy.” They were both girls (sisters, IIRC) from North or South Carolina, and were, all by all accounts, charming. I started a post in GC about microcephaly and included a more detailed reference to them.
And I believe that marijuana was already illegal by the time “Freaks” was produced.
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