Welcome back to Herstory or I should say Her-Ms-story because very little is known about this week's
guess aside from her penchant for needles. Gotcha. I wasn't talking about those kinds
of needles. Although with that many tattoos you might make assumptions. This ladies and
ladies is Maud Stevens Wagner, America's first prominent female tattoo artist. Your picture
portrait has been circulated around the internet quite a lot and while we don't know much about
your biography we do know what you look like. Would you mind doing the pose for us? That
iconic portrait pose that you did and we can put it up next to the real portrait pose and
see how the two match-up. Maud, you don't have to keep, you don't have to keep posing.
Just relax, mi case es su casa. Now your tattoos are almost a love story because uh, what we
do know about you is that it was your husband Gus who first peaked your interest in the
needle arts, not to be confused with needlework, that's just the way I like to say tattooing
that just seems a little bit nicer than saying well you got really into ink. Tell us how
you met Gus. Okay I'm getting the sense that you are the quiet type. Spoiler alert I went
ahead and Googled you before you came over and found out that you and Gus actually met
in 1907 at the Saint Louis World Fair and Gus had already made a name for himself tattooing
and Gus said, oh honey why don't you go out on a date with me, you're a pretty fine gal.
You said oh, no. No! My mama didn't raise no fool I'm not going out with some man named
Gus who has got tattoos on his arms. And he preceded to go. And you said no! And he said.
Then you struck a compromise. You said to ole Gus, you said, 'Gus, I'll go out with
you, no smooches guaranteed if you teach me how to tattoo.' And the rest is history. You
got all tatted up and started tatting other people up too. I'm going to go ahead and assume
from that look on your face you mean, 'Yes, a thousand times yes.' You were also an aerialist
and contortionist and I can only imagine those were two other reasons why Gus asked you on
a date. Do you understand what I'm getting at? Flexibility. Gus was a stick in the mud
because he was an expert in handpoke tattoos and that is the kind of tattoos that he taught
you wherein you take a needle, stick it in some ink and then jab your skin with it, which
sounds incredibly painful, more painful than my entire high school existence. I still have
flashbacks of that cafeteria. On a lighter note-awkward--do you have a favorite tattoo?
That you can show us. I'm going to just assume that that means you love all of them equally.
Your daughter, let me see if I get this name right--Lovetta? That sounds like some kind
of anti-depressant that you see an ad for on television these days. Lovetta?Anywho how,
Lovetta became a prominent tattoo artist under yours and Gus' tutelage, but interestingly
enough her skin, unblemished by ink. Once you gave her the go ahead to get tattooed,
Gus was dead and Lovetta didn't want to get inked by anyone else. So the internet told
me. You know Maud I'm thinking about maybe getting a tattoo myself. The bust of Gloria
Steinem on my lower back. That'll bring all the boys to the yard. Maud is there anything
at all that I haven't brought up that you want to add about your, your very slim biography
I mean we know that you really rose to prominence, you like the handpoking tattoos, you had the
daughter, you have the husband, you can put your legs over your head in pretzel formation
because you're a contortionist which I'm getting mental imagery--just whisper something in
my ear. Someone likes garlic and onions. Well Maud thank you so much for coming on Herstory,
you have been, well you've been a guest. If I ever want to get myself tattooed I'm going
to call you. Oh wait no, you do that handpoking thing. No, I'm no sadist. I'll just get henna,
call it a day. [Singing] Well that's all for Herstory. More like today Worstory cause she
didn't talk at all. Oh. God holding that pose is a nightmare.