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,TWO WEE PEOPLE MARRIED; TOM THUMB'S WIDOW BECOMES THE COUNTESS MAGRI The New York Times April 7, 1885 at the Church of the Holy Trinity in New York City.Some Recollections Mrs. Tom Thumb's Autobiography , New York Tribune Sunday Magazine, November 25, 1906
Career At tall E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) Magri was 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.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 House of Deception: Sideshow Performers
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. General Tom Thumb and His Circle Patt Kelley website
The Magris were said to have had very expensive tastes, and were therefore forced to exhibit themselves into old age. He appeared in a 1915 silent film, The Lilliputian's Courtship, as Uncle Tiny Mite along with Lavinia. Magri on the Internet Movie Database
Death Count Primo Magri died in 1920 at Middleborough, Massachusetts, aged 71 years.
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