The Tattooed Venus
Today, a woman covered in tattoos is a common sight. In the 30s? People would actually pay money to see one. Meet Betty Broadbent, the Tattooed Venus.
She Was A Florida Girl
Born in Florida in 1909, it's unknown when Sue Lillian Brown started to go by the name that made her famous: Betty Broadbent.
State Library of New South Wales, Wikimedia Commons
She Started Working Young
Betty had to start working young. The family eventually moved to Philadelphia, and at 14, Betty got a job as a nanny for a wealthy family in Atlantic City.
While walking the city's iconic boardwalk, she saw a something that horrified most girls her age—but she was utterly transfixed.
She Was Fascinated
The 14-year-old Betty came across a man named Jack Redcloud who had attracted a crowd on the Atlantic City boardwalk. Why? Because he was covered in tattoos.
She Was Inspired
While the tattoos inspired horror and disgust from the crowd, Betty had to know more. She connected with Redcloud, and soon he introduced her to legendary tattoo artist Charlie Wagner.
She Needed Money
Soon, Broadbent would become Wagner's canvas. There was just one problem: Wagner's shop was in New York City, and for a girl like Betty, that was a long ways away.
She Went All In
Broadbent's family was poor, but she found work riding horses in a rodeo when she was a teenager. When she'd saved up enough, she spent all her life savings on a trip to New York City.
In New York, she'd get her tattoos. Nothing else mattered.
State Library of New South Wales, Flickr
She Got Covered
In 1927, four years after they first met, Wagner began work on Betty's body suit. But this was a serious project—he couldn't get it done alone.
State Library of New South Wales, Flickr
Several Artists Joined In
Pioneer American tattoo artists like Tony Rhineagear, Joe Van Hart, and Red Gibbons all helped contribute artwork to Betty's full body suit—but they had a lot of work to do.
State Library of New South Wales, Flickr
It Took Years
Wagner and the other artists spent over two years putting over 500 tattoos on Betty's back, arms, chest, and upper legs.
State Library of New South Wales, Flickr
She Didn't Have A Theme
If you scanned Betty's tattoos, you'd have trouble coming up with a theme: There was Pancho Villa, Charles Lindbergh, Queen Victoria, and the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus.
State Library of New South Wales, Flickr
Her Eagle Was The Most Famous
Betty's most famous tattoo was the large spread eagle covering her chest from shoulder to shoulder, which is rumored to have taken six full sessions to complete.
State Library of New South Wales, Flickr
She Made The Papers
Betty's tattoos made her a curiosity for the rest of her life. In 1939, she had attracted enough notoriety that the New York Times published a story about her. For Betty, it was just another chance to spread the good word of tattooing.
JavierDo, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
She Gave A Classic Answer
The interviewer from the Times asked Betty what getting the eagle was like. Her answer was the same that most tattooed people give: “It hurt something awful, but it was worth it".
She Joined The Circus
Maybe you're wondering how a woman covered in tattoos made a living in the 1930s. Simple: Charlie Wagner had connections with the Ringling Bros. Circus.
It was a match made in heaven.
She Was An Attraction
Billed as the Tattooed Venus, Betty would emerge on stage wrapped in a long robe. The ringleader would announce, "And now, ladies and gentleman, the lady who’s different:” and Betty would drop the robe, revealing her tattoos to the oohs and aahs of the crowd.
She Had Many Skills
Betty already knew how to ride a horse, but with the circus she could train with the best. When she wasn't working, learned how to ride professionally horses, steers, and mules for performances.
Queensland State Archive, Flickr
She Had High Standards
Her tattoos might have shocked audiences, but Betty Broadbent always made sure to maintain a respectable act. She kept up her image as a Lady, and she never showed more skin that was acceptable at the time.
FREDERIC J. BROWN, Getty Images
She Didn't Mince Words
When asked what made her act different from other performers, Betty made it clear she was a cut above: "I don't bump and grind like those carnival floozies".
They Made Up Stories About Her
Especially when she was starting out, Betty didn't always have control over how she was marketed. Ringleaders would make up elaborate backstories—but some of them made Betty furious.
Gibson & Co., Wikimedia Commons
They Made Her A Captured Woman
Audiences would know of stories like Olive Oatman, the white woman who was captured by Native Americans and tattooed against her will.
This was a popular backstory that ringleaders liked to give Betty—but she wasn't having it.
Benjamin F. Powelson, Wikimedia Commons
She Was Always Herself
Betty always pushed back against these phony narratives and always presented herself as she was: A regular, American woman, covered in tattoos.
She Didn't Like Her Name
Betty didn't even like the name Tattooed Venus. She would have preferred just going by her own name, but she couldn't deny how much the moniker drew in crowds.
Times Started To Catch Up
As times changed and it became acceptable for women to show more skin, Betty had more and more blank canvas to cover, and she didn't waste the opportunity.
She Got Even More Tattoos
Eventually, Betty had legendary tattoo artist Bert Grimm tattoo her upper thighs. She then had her stage bathing suit shortened to show off the new art.
Manfred Kohrs, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
She Got Bored
Just being the Tattooed Venus was enough at first, but after a few years Betty decided to spice things up. She put her horse riding skills to work and got a job performing in Harry Carey's Wild West Show.
film screenshot, Wikimedia Commons
She Never Stood Still For Long
The Wild West show couldn't keep Betty Broadbent entertained for long. Soon, she was itching for a new adventure. And for a woman like her, adventure was never too hard to find.
She Wanted To Push Boundaries
Betty had managed to eke out a living, but mainstream society was still nowhere near ready to accept a woman covered in tattoos. She wanted to change that.
She Entered A Beauty Pageant
Betty entered the beauty pageant at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City—the first-ever televised beauty pageant. This was a great chance to spread the good word.
Waeltkm, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
She Lost, But It Didn't Matter
Another woman won the contest—let's not go crazy here—but Betty Broadbent definitely got noticed. Enough that she decided it was time to take her show on the road.
She Went Down Under
After the beauty pageant, Betty took her show Down Under. She travelled to New Zealand and Australia, where she performed with whatever circuses she found along the way.
She Went Right Back To It
Betty went right back to her performing when she got back stateside, working with both the Cole Brothers and Sells Floto circuses. But she'd found a new passion as well.
Royal Australian Historical Society, Wikimedia Commons
She Started Tattooing
In the off season, Betty worked as a tattoo artist herself out of her shop in San Francisco—or wherever she happened to be at that moment.
She Worked All Over
While travelling North America with the circus, Broadbent kept working as an artist on the side, working as a guest artist in shops all over the country.
If you know someone who got a tattoo in the 50s or 60s, maybe it's an original Betty Broadbent!
She Worked With Tom Mix
Tom Mix was the original movie cowboy, but when he wasn't in front of the camera, he was a circus performer, and Betty spent much of her career performing with him, either as the Tattooed Venus or on horseback.
Agence de presse Meurisse, Wikimedia Commons
She Love To Perform
By the 1960s, a person covered in tattoos wasn't exactly the awe-inspiring attraction it once was. Most of the tattoo acts had retired by then, but Betty Broadbent kept going longer than pretty much anyone else.
She kept performing until 1967, when she was 58.
She Moved Back Home
After retiring, Betty moved back to her home state of Florida, where she kept working as a tattoo artist out of her home for the rest of her life.
She Always Missed The Road
Betty did eventually settle down, but don't go thinking she did it by choice. When asked about her retirement, she said, "Boy, do I miss the people and the travel".
Atwell, Harry, Wikimedia Commons
She's The Most Photographed
By the end of her life, Betty Broadbent became the most photographed tattooed woman of the entire 20th century.
State Library of New South Wales, Wikimedia Commons
She's A Legend
Betty Broadbent spent her entire life spreading her love of tattooing all around the world. It's no wonder that when the Tattoo Hall of Fame opened in August 1981, she was the very first inductee.
She Passed Peacefully
Two years after she was inducted into the Tattoo Hall of Fame, Betty Broadbent passed peacefully in her sleep. She was 74 years old.
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