Count Primo Magri

Count Primo Magri (1849–1920) and Count Rosebud were the stage names of a 19th-century Italian dwarf who married Lavinia Warren, the widow of General Tom Thumb on Easter Monday, April 6, 1885,[1] at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City.[2]

Count Primo Magri (left) with Lavinia Warren and Baron Magri (right) in about 1885

Career

At 2 feet 8 inches (81 cm) tall[3] Magri was two inches shorter than Lavinia's first husband. Together they operated a famous roadside stand in Middleborough, Massachusetts, and with their troupe composed of other dwarves as well as people of regular height travelled the world, performing plays such as The Rivals and Gulliver Among the Lilliputians before the public and royalty, including Queen Victoria.

Magri's supposed twin brother, Giuseppe (or Ernesto) Magri (1850-?), also a dwarf, used the stage names Baron Magri and Baron Littlefinger.[4][5][6][7]

While the military and aristocratic titles that P. T. Barnum gave his dwarves were fantasy titles, it is claimed that the Count was given his title by Pope Pius IX.[8][9]

The Magris were said to have had very expensive tastes, and were therefore forced to exhibit themselves into old age.[9] He appeared in a 1915 silent film, The Lilliputian's Courtship, as Uncle Tiny Mite along with his wife, Lavinia Warren.[10]

Death

Count Primo Magri died in 1920 at Middleborough, Massachusetts, aged 71 years.

References
  1. TWO WEE PEOPLE MARRIED; TOM THUMB'S WIDOW BECOMES THE COUNTESS MAGRI The New York Times April 7, 1885
  2. Some Recollections Mrs. Tom Thumb's Autobiography Archived 2006-05-08 at the Wayback Machine, New York Tribune Sunday Magazine, November 25, 1906
  3. E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898)
  4. The Seattle Telegraph, June 24, 1892 p. 5; Seattle Press-Times, June 24, 1892 p. 3; The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 19, 1892 p. 13; Ibid., June 23, 1892 p. 5. By Greg Lange, February 22, 1999
  5. "Bradenburgh Museum—Philadelphia; Thumbiana & Liliputian Opera Company; Royaume de Liliput de Paris". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  6. "University of Washington Libraries". Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  7. House of Deception: Sideshow Performers
  8. General Tom Thumb and His Circle
  9. Patt Kelley website
  10. Magri on the Internet Movie Database
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