Baird Jones, Party Invitations Featuring Mike Anderson, 1989

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Lot includes two invitations.

Invitation to “Danse Macabre” at Surf Club, 1989. Print on paper, 5 1/2″ x 3 1/2″.

Invitation to “Midget Bowling” at Jammin’, 1989. Print on paper, 5 1/2″ x 2 3/4″.

Baird is best known for his controversial “dwarf tossing” and “midget bowling” events, featuring dwarf actor Mike Anderson (later of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks). While dwarf tossing seems to have originated in Australian pubs in the early ’80s, Baird might have invented midget bowling, in which Anderson was hurled on a skateboard into a set of bowling pins. The practice caused such outrage that, in 1990, New York governor Mario Cuomo signed legislation banning it in bars. According to an Associated Press report at the time, Baird “said his dwarf events are performance art designed to satirize the values of mainstream America,” and carefully distinguished himself from “someone promoting wrestling in Jell-O between naked women.”

Danse-macabre

“Question: ‘How do you toss a dwarf who has had over 300 operations due to brittle bone disease?’ Answer: ‘Very, very carefully.’ The Disco Dwarf Little Mike Anderson (star of Drella films) will plead for mercy ‘Please, God, Do Anything-But don’t toss me again!’ Will preppies give him a break?”

Midget-bowling

“New York City sure is a tough town. I’ve had over 300 broken bone operations because I am a dwarf with brittle bone disease. But I’ve decided to chance it all in this upcoming midget bowling competition. I’m sure everyone will be laughing at me, like a freak, and I know I’m letting down the little people, that it’s demeaning, blah, blah, blah. It’s like the beggar who mutilates himself to make a buck so he can survive. I hope they don’t outlaw midget bowling and dwarf tossing, and I hope you come.”—Little Mike Anderson, the human bowling ball.

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The Anomalous Baird Jones (1955–2008)

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Few people personify the free-wheeling, polymorphous spirit of fin-de-siècle downtown New York as well as the idiosyncratic curator, club party promoter, photographer, author, and celebrity gossip Baird Jones.