Marie (Riche) Lille
Even less is known about the prolific Marie. Performing as a "fat" lady for the Barnum and Bailey Circus from 1903-1906, she was also described under many titles. “The English Fat Girl”, “Beautiful Marie”, and the “Human Mountain” were a few listed within the circus route books. Nothing is mentioned about her personal life outside of the circus, though a few interesting stories from life on the road were written. In one of these stories, Marie was paramount in alerting her other colleagues in the side show when the building they were sleeping in had caught fire, making sure everyone was awake and getting out safely.
"A world of normality with only one freak left alive would be a most uncomfortable one for the freak," is how the route book described the way in which the sideshow performers cared for one another. 8 Though a horrible way to describe the incident, it does give insight into the familial nature of the sideshow artists, living and working together as equals being ostracized from the rest of society.