Martin Laurello

Martin Joe Laurello (born Martin Emmerling, 1885–1955), also known by the stage names Human Owl and Bobby the Boy with the Revolving Head, was a German-American sideshow performer and biological rarity who could turn his head 180 degrees to the rear. He performed with groups such as Ripley's Believe it or Not, Ringling Brothers, and Barnum & Bailey.

Early life Laurello was born Martin Emmerling in Germany circa 1886. In the words of fellow sideshow performer Percilla Bejano, known as the "Monkey Girl", "[Laurello] could put his head all the way around". and also had to "dislocate various vertebrae". He continued performing into the 1940s, including appearances at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and by the middle of that decade had worked more than 200 weeks for Ripley's Believe It or Not! alone.

Marketing and public image

From the early 1920s until the end of his career, Laurello was promoted as a medical curiosity whose extraordinary flexibility appeared to defy explanation.