They combined their comic act with lectures on individualism, often appearing in as many as fifteen shows daily in theater after theater as they crisscrossed the nation and traveled abroad. Between the years 1904 and 1906 they spent a great deal of time in Mexico and the Mexican arm of the FONI became a well established backbone of the entire Fraternal Order.

"Noodles" Fagan (front, left) in Mexico City, 1904. The local chapter of the FONI was already well established and active. Reuben Vasquez (front, right) was the chairman

The fact that vaudevillians tended by nature toward nonconformism helped Noodles and Elsie in their cause. Many of their fellow performers became members of the FONI and in turn spread the word across the entertainment circuits.

In the years before the Great War the Fagans traveled through Egypt for a protracted time. Mr. Fagan hoped to found a strong center for nonconformism in North Africa and ultimately pinned his hopes on one man, Ibrahim ibn Fadlan. Ibn Fadlan was a camel drover, and the son and grandson of camel drovers. He was educated - in the accompanying photograph he is seen holding a copy of the Manifesto of the Fraternal Order of Nonconformists, International - and he was a respected man in his part of Egypt.

Tragically, the son of camel drovers ultimately turned his back on the cause of Nonconformism, choosing to become an accountant and financial advisor. Mr. Fagan's hopes were crushed: at the end of their tour, the Fagans headed north into Europe, where they met with greater success. Several nascent chapters of the FONI were created in France, Holland, and Greece and by the time they returned to the United States the FONI seemed well established in these key nations of Europe.