Sealo

Stanley Berent, better known as Sealo the Seal Boy, was afflicted with a condition called phocomelia, in which his small hands grew directly from his shoulders. Literally "seal arms", phocomelia is most commonly associated with prenatal exposure to the morning-sickness drug Thalidomide, although Sealo was born years before Thalidomide was invented. Sealo's fingers were fully mobile and in his act, he sawed a board, shaved his face and autographed his publicity photos. For tasks which his hands couldn't reach, such as zipping up his pants, he used a stick with a hook attached. He had trouble getting up and down the stairs to the stage, so he spent most of the day onstage, selling pitch-cards. He preferred to sleep in hotels and took taxis to the show-grounds each day. In 1972, Sealo and Pete Terhurne, the fire-eating dwarf, successfully fought to overturn a Florida law that banned the exhibition of the physically handicapped. During his career, Sealo worked with almost every major sideshow in the United States, though he spent the longest time with Pete Cortes. Pete, like Sealo, loved to play cards. After 35 years in the sideshow business, Sealo retired to the International Independent Showmen's Association retirement center in Gibsonton, then returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh in the mid-1980s as his health began to decline. He died in a Catholic hospital and is buried in a Catholic cemetery.