Edith “Stella” Grassman, born in 1909, worked both sides of the needle.[1][2] She toured as a tattooed attraction in the 1920s and then tattooed professionally, almost certainly taught by her husband, Samuel “Deafy” Grassman, who also tattooed her bodysuit.[1][2] In the 1930s the couple shared a shop at 19 Bowery and advertised it with a two-sided card for the “Original Deafy & Miss Stella.”[1] They also worked in Philadelphia, and in other port towns. This page follows her life; his page follows the itinerary in more detail.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1909, as Edith Grassman
- Died
- January 26, 1977
- Known as
- Stella Grassman; “Miss Stella” on a shop card
- Husband
- Samuel “Deafy” Grassman (1889–1965); they divorced in the mid-1950s but share a grave marker in Charleston, South Carolina
- Shops
- 19 Bowery, New York, in the 1930s; also 836 and 839 Race Street, Philadelphia, and other rooms tied to Deafy’s itinerary
- Shows
- Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, 1938; Hubert’s Museum, New York, 1939; Harry Lewiston Museum, 1940–41
A bodysuit and a circus career
Stella toured as a tattooed attraction in the 1920s.[1][2] The suit was Deafy’s work. A photograph of her back is hand-lettered “Tattooed by ‘Deafy.’”[1] Sunny Buick, describing the designs, lists angels and saints on the shins, spiderwebs on the feet, an Indian girl and a gypsy girl on the forearms, stars on the knees, a butterfly chest piece, a geisha, a flag girl, and, across the back, a dragon and a tiger battling on a Japanese fan.[2]
She kept performing after she began to tattoo. She was with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey in 1938, at Hubert’s Museum in New York in 1939, and with the Harry Lewiston Museum in 1940–41.[1][2] The combination — a woman on the stage and behind the machine — is the same double life Millie Hull and, earlier, Maud Wagner had lived, in different registers of the trade.
19 Bowery and the later years
The couple’s New York room was at 19 Bowery, in the 1930s, advertised on a double-sided card.[1] They also tattooed at 836 and 839 Race Street in Philadelphia, and Deafy’s itinerary — Newark, Newport, Charleston — took the work to other ports. Those addresses are listed, with dates, on his page, because they are documented as his shops as well as hers.[1]
They divorced in the mid-1950s.[1] Despite the divorce, they share a grave marker in Charleston, South Carolina.[1][2] Deafy died on March 7, 1965, in Philadelphia.[1] Stella died on January 26, 1977.[1][2]
The Tattoo Archive has noted that few photographs or flash sheets of Deafy’s survive, and that Stella’s bodysuit is the best evidence of his skill.[1] Her career is the evidence of her own: a performer who became a tattooer, with a Bowery card that put both of their names on the same shop.
NYC Tattoo Shop is at 141 Canal St, a short walk from 19 Bowery. The history here belongs to New York. We’re proud to work nearby.
Photo gallery
From the NYC Tattoo Shop History Digital Archive. Additional photographs of Deafy tattooing Stella, used on his page and already published on the history page, are credited to the same archive. Color National Geographic pictures and Bernard Kobel photographs were not used, because of rights.
