#human marvel

The times and tribulations of The Elephant Man, Joseph Carey Merrick, have long been the subject of books, films and theatre. As a result, ‘The Elephant Man’ is without a doubt the most famous human prodigy of all time. His story garnered the sympathy of Victorian England and after the span of one hundred years, his plight remains no less heart wrenching or inspiring.

Joseph Merrick was born on August 5, 1862 in Leicester to Mary Jane and Joseph Rockley Merrick. He had a younger brother and sister and was completely normal until the age of three.In an autobiographical note which appeared on the reverse side of his freak show pamphlet, Merrick noted that his deformity first manifested with small bumps appearing on the left side of his body. By the time he was 12, and his mother passed away, Joseph’s deformities were severe. When his father remarried, his stepmother expelled him from the house and young Joseph began struggling not only against his deformity, but starvation and homelessness as well.

For a time, Joseph Merrick attempted to earn a living by selling door-to-door and on the street. Despitehiding his face behind a burlap mask, Merrick still endured the constant harassment of local children and many adults. His sales attempts were futile and he eventually ended up in the Leicester Union workhouse.

Victorian workhouses were not friendly places. They were akin to prisons, where the unemployed and unemployable toiled in the most unwanted laborious tasks of the era. Due to his progressing deformity, Joseph was soon unable to manually work at all and on August 29, 1884 he took a job as a curiosity attraction.

Contrary to film accounts, Merrick was well treated as an exhibit and well paid for his time. While on exhibit on Mile End Road in London, now the London Sari Centre, his path first crossed with Dr. Fredrick Treves. Treves, who would later chronicle and befriend Merrick, gave him one of his business cards after Merrick politely declined an examination. When human curiosity exhibits were outlawed in the United Kingdome in 1886, Merrick travelled to Belgium for work. There he was indeed mistreated and ultimatly robbed and abandoned by his promoter. He also contracted a severe bronchial infection further complicated by his deformities.

Upon his return to London, Merrick was the involved in a disturbance at Liverpool Street train station when his masked appearance and twisted body caused hysteria. Merrick was unable to speak due to his bronchial infection but had retained the business card of Dr. Treves, which he presented to authorities. Treves was quickly summoned from the London Hospital and soon arranged for Merrick to be given permanent quarters in the hospital.

It was during this time that Joseph Merrick thrived.

Despite a living in constant physical and emotional pain, The Elephant Man possessed an indomitable spirit. He quickly became the subject of much public sympathy and something of a celebrity in Victorian high society. Alexandra, then Princess of Wales and later Queen Consort, demonstrated a kindly interest in Merrick, leading other members of the upper class to embrace him. He eventually became a favourite of Queen Victoria. However, Treves later commented that Merrick always wanted, even after living at the hospital, to go to a hospital for the blind where he might find a woman who would not be repelled by his appearance and love him. In his later years, he found some solace in writing, composing remarkable heartfelt prose and poetry.

In the summer of 1887, Merrick spent time vacationing at the Fawsley Hall estate, Northamptonshire. Special measures were taken for his journey there as he was forced to travel in a carriage with blindsdrawn. Merrick enjoyed his time away from urban London greatly and collected wildflowers to take back with him to London. He visited Fawsley Hall again in 1888 and 1889.

Joseph Merrick was cared for at the hospital until his death at the age of 27 on April 11, 1890. He died from the accidental dislocation of his neck due to its inability to support the weight of his massive head in sleep. Merrick, unable to sleep reclining due to the weight of his head, may have tried to do so in this instance, in an attempt to imitate normal behaviour.

Joseph Merrick was originally thought to be suffering from elephantiasis. In 1971, Ashley Montagu suggested in the book The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity that Merrick suffered from neurofibromatosis type I, a genetic disorder also known as von Recklinghausen’s disease. NF1 is still strongly associated with Joseph Merrick in the mind of the public; however, it was postulated in 1986 that Merrick actually suffered from Proteus syndrome, a condition which had only been identified in 1979.

In July 2003, Dr. Charis Eng announced that as a result of DNA tests on samples of Merrick’s hair and bone, she had determined that Merrick certainly suffered Proteus syndrome, and may have had neurofibromatosis type I as well. As it stands, many people still mistakenly refer to his condition aselephantiasis.

Merrick’s preserved skeleton was previously on display at the Royal London Hospital. While his remains can no longer be viewed by the public, there is a small museum focused on his life, which houses some of his personal effects and period Merrick memorabilia.

Note: While Joseph Merrick is better known as John Merrick, it is not his birth name. Sir Fredrick Treves recalled the name as such in his memoirs. It is unclear if Treves recalled details incorrectly or if Joseph Merrick went by John.

DICK HILBURN – The Quarter-Man

Man is often greater than the sum of his parts.

On January 15, 1918 an infant named Dick Hilburn was born in Bladenboro, North Carolina. He was born physically incomplete.

Dick Hilburn was born with a single arm and physically little else. He possessed no left arm and no legs, only a vestigial two-toed foot protruded from his left hip. Yet, despite what would normally be considered a crippling handicap, Dick Hilburn possessed an unconquerable spirit and indomitable work ethic which allowed him to not only surpass expectations but to also exceed the ambitions of many able-bodied men.

Dick Hilburn conquered his mobility limitations with little more than a rolling board. He used his arm to propel and steer his body and in the process developed great physical strength. That strength allowed him to hoist his body wherever he willed it with relative ease.

Having dealt with his mobility issues, Hilburn focused on developing his mind and ingenuity. He proved to be a talented artist and became fairly well know for his skills with a tattoo needle. He was also sought after as a commercial painter of signs, banners, trucks and semi trailers.

He possessed a natural business sense and rather than rely on showmen for exhibition purposes, Hilburn developed and operated his own show. He exhibited himself on his own terms and, later, added a second attraction. A young parastremmatic dwarf, a dwarf with twisted limbs, named Carl ‘Frogboy’ Norwood joined the venture and Hilburn generously provided for the both of them. During the off season the two operated a local diner, which was also owned by the one-armed wonder Dick Hilburn.

Successful in life, art and business Hilburn was also successful in love. He later married an average woman who had all her fingers and toes.

Dick Hilburn ran his sideshow until the day he died in June of 1971. He lived his life as any man free of handicap would. His only limitation in life was his mortality.

TOM JACK – The Ice King

In 1900 a young mystifier took Europe by storm and perplexed Scotland Yard with his ability to escape from all marshal restraints. That man was none other than Ehrich Weiss, the master escape artist better known as Harry Houdini. Houdini actually owed a lot to the human marvels he shared the stage with when he was inexperienced conjurer at the famous Huber’s Museum. The Armless wonder Unthan, for example, showed young Houdini how to accomplish dexterous tasks using only toes and feet. It was a skill Houdini utilized many times during his career as an escape artist. One can argue that previous to 1900 Houdini was a moderate success in his adoptive homeland of America but his tour or Europe is what truly skyrocket his fame. With his phenomenal success it was not long before Houdini imitators and a multitude of escape artists appeared in performance venues everywhere. None of them were as good as Houdini, but ‘The Ice King’ Tom Jack was almost as unique.

Tom Jack was born as Karl Breu on January 10, 1884 in Dubiau (now Northern Bohemia of The Czech Republic). Karl Breu was born with severe albinism, a hypopigmentary congenital disorder characterized by a lack of melanin pigment in the eyes, skin and hair that only occurs in about 1 in 17,000 births. Karl’s albinism manifested as snow white skin, colorless hair and pink eyes. Karl’s ghostly appearance was a shock to his parents but they treated the pale Karl on par with his average hued sister Lori. By all accounts, the Breu household was a happy one. Unfortunately the family unit was broken when Karl’s parents unexpectedly died early in his childhood and as orphans he and his sister were separated and fostered by family members in distant locations. Karl ended up in Lenory, Sweden while his sister was taken to Vienna.

Despite his appearance, or perhaps because of it, Karl Breu developed into a very jovial and outgoing young man. He was known as something of an adventure seeking class clown amongst his peers and so it was no surprise that when a traveling circus arrived into town the teen aged Karl was among the first townies to purchase a ticket for the tent show. It was also little surprise that Karl stole the show by mocking and impersonating the ringmaster from the stands.

Following the show, Karl was approached by the director and offered a job. He was initially offered a position as a clown. However Karl surprised the director by showing an interest and affinity for illusion and manipulation. The director most certainly thought the brash boy wasn’t suited to the dedication magic required. But, against his better judgment, the director allowed the spectral boy to study under the resident illusionist. To the surprise of many, perhaps even to Karl himself, through uncharacteristic diligence and practice Karl quickly became adept in performing simple magical arts. In the coming years his skills only improved.

It was around this time that Houdini became a sensation and Karl saw the young American as the embodiment of the adventure he sought. Determined to cheat marshal bonds and tempt death itself, Karl set about learning the astonishing intricacies of escapism. Karl Breu studied feverishly and focused on chain escapes. It is unknown whether his escapes were based on illusion and trickery or involved the physical contortions, lock and restraint manipulations Houdini genuinely utilized. Like his idol Houdini, Karl Breu adopted a pseudonym to perform under. He took the Americanized name of Tom Jack and soon would be known by the epithet Ice King due to his frosty appearance. His genetic gift was gimmick enough to stir interest and generate paying crowds.

It is known that Tom Jack became very good at what his did and carved a fair measure of fame during his lifetime for his escapes. He toured Europe, as Houdini had, and also nearly died during a performance in London when tossed from the Tower Bridge into the Thames and failed to escape from his restraints.

While not overly popular abroad, Tom Jack was quite famous close to home. He also accumulated much wealth during his heyday as following WWI he financed the building of a memorial to the fallen in his adoptive hometown. Also following WWI Tom Jack married a young girl, and fellow albino performer, Wally Paradise and together they had an average pigmented boy and girl.

Just before WWII Tom Jack retired and purchased a plot of land in Lenory with the intention of retiring there with his family. Their time there was brief however as following WWII, and despite serving the Allied forces as an interpreter, Tom Jack and his family were the victims of displacement. They settled in Beinstein, Germany and carried on for some time there.

BETTY BROADBENT – Tattooed Beauty The beautiful Betty Broadbent was born in 1909 and during her childhood she was a rather innocent lass. She was rarely in trouble and was both trustworthy and kind. At the age of fourteen she was employed as a nanny in Atlantic City, New Jersey and took to wandering the boardwalk. It was there that she had a chance encounter with tattooist Jack Red Cloud and fell in love with the art form that would forevermore shape her life and future.

By 1927 Betty was well on her way to completing a tattoo body suit. Over 350 designs adorned her pinup model-like body, designs created and applied by notorious and revolutionary tattooists like Charlie Wagner, Joe Van Hart, Tony Rhineager and Red Gibbons.

Tattoos were not in vogue amongst women of the era. In fact, tattoos in generally were fairly rare outside of sailors and riffraff. It was even more unusual to find tattoos in such a high concentration on a single human being, never mind on a voluptuous and desirable female body fit for fantasy. While her body was nearly covered with ink, Betty’s beautiful face was completely untouched, as a result of this contrast Betty quickly drew a great deal of attention and opted to embark on a career of exhibition. Betty’s first job was with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus and almost instantly Betty fell in love with show business. Many women quickly grew tired of the rigorous carnival lifestyle. But Betty thrived in exhibition and she spent the next 40 years in and around the show business and circus scene. In fact, Betty flaunted her tattoos in every significant American, Australian and New Zealand circus the era had to offer. Betty was even a featured attraction at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Betty retired from exhibition in 1967 and disappeared from the public eye for quite some time. She was rediscovered by tattoo enthusiast and historian Lyle Tuttle and it was revealed that she had retired to Florida where she became a tattoo artist herself. She spoke quite fondly of her role in tattoo history and her life as a living exhibit.

Betty Broadbent became the first person inducted into the Tattoo Hall of Fame in 1981.