This "Hot Cripple" Series is an experiment; an effort to bring attention to the fact that Disability isn't necessarily synonymous with Ugly- as in Ugly Laws, which proliferated this country for over a century.

This month we feature Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. ​​

Frida Kahlo was born on July 6, 1907, in Coyocoán, Mexico City, Mexico. Her work has been celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national and indigenous traditions, and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.

Kahlo suffered lifelong health problems, many of which were caused by a traffic accident she survived as a teenager. The isolation associated with the recovery from her various injuries influenced her works, many of which are self-portraits. Kahlo suggested, "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."

When Kahlo was six years old, she contracted polio, which rendered her right leg shorter and thinner than the left. She noted that the experience profoundly changed her personality, but it also bonded her to her father due to their shared experience of living with disability. Guillermo Khalo, who had severe epilepsy, taught her about literature, nature, philosophy and encouraged her to exercise and play sports to regain her strength after polio. She took up bicycling, roller skating, swimming, boxing, and wrestling, despite the fact that many of these activities were then reserved for boys. Her father also taught her photography and she began helping him retouch, develop and color his photographs.

​On September 17, 1925, Frida Kahlo was riding in a bus that collided with a trolley car. Kahlo suffered nearly fatal injuries--an iron handrail impaled her through her pelvis, fracturing the bone, and she also fractured several ribs, her legs, and a collarbone. She initially spent a month in the hospital and two months recovering at home. After the accident, Kahlo neglected the study of medicine to begin a painting career. Of her 143 paintings, fifty-five are self-portraits which often incorporate symbolic portrayals of physical and psychological wounds. She insisted, "I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality."

​As a young artist, Kahlo communicated with the Mexican painter Diego Rivera, whose work she admired, asking him for advice about pursuing art as a career. He recognized her talent and encouraged her artistic development. They began an intimate relationship and were married in 1929.

​Their marriage was often troubled. Kahlo and Rivera both had irritable temperaments and numerous extramarital affairs. The bisexual Kahlo had affairs with both men and women. Rivera knew of and tolerated her relationships with women, but her relationships with men made him jealous. For her part, Kahlo was furious when she learned that Rivera had an affair with her younger sister, Cristina. The couple divorced in November 1939, but remarried in December 1940. Their second marriage was as troubled as the first. Their living quarters were often separate, although sometimes adjacent.

Her health issues became nearly all-consuming in 1950. After being diagnosed with gangrene in her right foot, Kahlo spent nine months in the hospital and had several operations during this time. She continued to paint and support political causes despite having limited mobility. In 1953, Kahlo received her first solo exhibition in Mexico. She may have been bedridden at the time, but she did not miss out on the exhibition’s opening. Arriving by ambulance, Kahlo spent the evening talking and celebrating with the event’s attendees from the comfort of a four-poster bed set up in the gallery just for her. Kahlo’s joy was dampened a few months later when part of her right leg was amputated to stop the spread of gangrene.

Deeply depressed, Kahlo was hospitalized again in April 1954 because of poor health, or, as some reports indicated, a suicide attempt. She returned to the hospital two months later with bronchial pneumonia. No matter her physical condition, Kahlo did not let that stand in the way of her political activism. Her final public appearance was a demonstration against the U.S.-backed overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala on July 2. About a week after her 47th birthday, Kahlo died on July 13. There has been some speculation regarding the nature of her death. It was reported to be caused by a pulmonary embolism, but there have also been stories about a possible suicide.

Since her death, Kahlo’s fame as an artist has only grown. The feminist movement of the 1970s led to renewed interest in her life and work, as Kahlo was viewed by many as an icon of female creativity. 

Dear Friends, Viewers, Advocates, and Supporters,

Has your brain ever caught fire with an idea? Mine did a few months ago when I walked into The Lark and laid out my plans, such as they were at that point, for the event that was to become “Telethon!” The Lark could have dismissed the whole notion as crazy. But they said yes. Actually, they said something along the lines of, “Sure. Go for it. Let us know how we can help." Together, we have crafted The Apothetae and Lark Fellowship and Initiative, and "Telethon!" to foster a broad and necessary conversation around Disability in the theater. I am extremely thankful for The Lark's continued extraordinary support.

I also need to draw special attention to Kristjan Thor; who shot and managed all the videos, The New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts and Stone Street Studios for allowing us to shoot in their spaces and, of course, all the artists who participated.

And lastly, I would like to thank YOU. Thank you for watching. With every view, "like" and share, YOU have said 'yes' and offered your compassionate support as well.

The Apothetae is an idea. Without the people who nurture that idea, it is nothing. Throughout this past month, all of you have stoked the sparks of inspiration and ideas. You have allowed us to catch fire.

The theologian, John Wesley once said, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm, and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” Whether you watched every week, or are just joining us, we’re glad you did. This episode is over, but we’re far from finished. We’re just getting warmed up.

- Gregg Mozgala, Founder & Artistic Director of The Apothetae

​Please stay tuned for future details regarding The Apothetae & Lark Initiative and Playwriting Fellowship! We are currently, actively seeking major funders to help us launch this program and hopefully open submissions next season. Until then!

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will be held from September 7th through September 18th. Around 4,350 athletes from more than 160 countries will travel to Rio to compete in 528 medal events in 22 different sports.

Much like the 2016 Olympic games, the lead-up to the Paralympics have not been without speculation and scandal.

• Zica.
• Russia's Paralympic team was officially banned amidst a much publicized doping scandal.
• By the end of the 2016 Olympics low ticket sales, empty seats and allegations that money for travel stipends allocated to Paralympic athletes from 50 nations were spent elsewhere (on the 2016 Olympics and non-disabled athletes), raised fears that this year would result in a huge step backward for the games and the Disability community. 
• Vogue Brazil did the impensável; publishing a spread where images of non-disabled actors were photoshopped to appear as disabled athletes. The editors' decision to not use actual disabled athletes raised the ire of many current/former athletes and Disability advocates. 
• The NBC network devoted thousands of hours to the 2016 Olympics and broadcasts numerous commercials using Paralympic athletes to sell the products of their sponsors. NBC's subsidiary NBCSN-SPORTS recently released the full schedule  and is devoting only 66 hours to the 2016 Paralympic games.

Former Paralympian (and recent HOT CRIPPLE) Dr. Anjali Forber-Pratt had something to say about that-

Okay folks, this is important...the Paralympic TV schedule for the U.S. has been announced. You will notice that the times are crappy (i.e. 1AM) on NBCSN. However, if people do not tune in, and we do not get the viewership, this will NEVER change. So PLEASE turn your tv on and keep it on mute while you sleep, DVR it, host a midnight party, TUNE IN! Pretty please...we have so far to go in order to catch up to countries like the UK and Canada, but this is the most coverage there has ever been, so we must show that it is important to us Americans. Thank you."

Shortly after that statement was posted on line ticket sales for the Paralympics skyrocketed and broke a record for the most tickets sold in a single day. These two events are unrelated. Or are they?

Despite all the scandals and fears swirling around the 2016 games, the Rio Olympics were a huge success. We have no doubt this year's Rio Paralympics will follow suit. In a recent article in the New York Times, Frank Bruni wrote-

"Don't tell me what's wrong with the Olympics. Let me tell you what's right with them.
In a world rife with failure and bitter compromise they're (the athletes) dedicated to dreaming and to the proposition that limits are entirely negotiable, because they reflect only what has been done to date and and not what's doable in time.

They make the case that part of being fully alive is pushing yourself as far as you can go. Every Olympic record, every personal best and every unlikely comeback is an individual achievement, yes, but it's also a universal example and metaphor."

Who knows more about pushing limits and being a stand in for universal metaphors then PWD's?

We wish all the athletes participating in this year's games the best, but of course our hearts are with the men and women of TEAM USA! 

Check out individual profiles of some of the featured athletes:
Brad Snyder, Paralympic Swimming
Lex Gilletter, Paralympic Track & Field
Matt Stutzman, Paralympic Archery
Melissa Stockwell, Paralympic Triathlon
​Tatyana McFadden, Paralympic Track & Field

​This "Hot Cripple" Series is an experiment; an effort to bring attention to the fact that Disability isn't necessarily synonymous with Ugly- as in Ugly Laws, which proliferated this country for over a century.

This month we feature painter, musician, actor and rock and roll vagabond, Ian Dury. 

From his website...
​Ian Robins Dury was born in Harrow, West London on 12th May, 1942.

The roots of Ian’s creativity can be traced back to the cultural wastelands of post-war Essex and the various schools he attended in the 1950s. After contracting polio in 1949, at seven years old, Ian was confined to Braintree Hospital in Braintree for eighteen months before attending Chailey Heritage Craft School for disabled children from 1951 until 1954, followed by the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe. The schools proved tough going for Ian. Chailey let the children fend for themselves in spite of their varied disabilities, and physical and mental hardships were not uncommon. The Grammar School was also a challenge and its academic private school traditions provoked Ian’s rebellious character. He sought to sublimate the rigours of school life, and gain respect, by expressing himself through drawing and music, becoming an authority on reproducing images of glamour girls and knowing all the latest record releases. The wild rock and roll sounds of Elvis Presley and Gene Vincent and the Bluecaps became the backdrop of his teenage years.

The death of Gene Vincent in 1971 inspired Ian to form his first band, Kilburn and the High Roads. He became the vocalist and lyricist, co-writing with piano player Russell Hardy. A year later Ian enrolled into the group a number of the students he was teaching at Canterbury School of Art, including guitarist Keith Lucas and bassist Humphrey Ocean. The Kilburns, as they were affectionately known, found favour on London’s Pub Rock circuit and signed to Dawn Records in 1974, but despite acres of favourable press coverage, an album – Handsome – and a tour opening for The Who, the group never rose above cult status.

In 1975 the Kilburns disbanded. A chance encounter in a musical instrument hire shop with former Byzantium guitarist Chaz Jankel led to a new songwriting partnership. Jankel, armed with reams of Dury’s lyrics, fashioned a number of songs, including the classic Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll. Jankel’s treatment of this material was precisely what Ian had been searching for and soon they were recording, assisted by drummer Charley Charles, bassist Norman Watt-Roy and the former Kilburns saxophonist Davey Payne.

An album was completed, but major record labels passed on Ian Dury, whom they may have seen as a Pub Rock no-hoper. However, next door to Ian’s manager’s office was the newly formed Stiff Records, a perfect home for his oddball genius. The now legendary single Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll / Razzle in My Pocket marked his Stiff debut and this was swiftly followed by the album New Boots and Panties!! that eventually achieved platinum status.

In October 1977, Ian signed up for the Stiff Live Stiffs Tour, alongside Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric and Larry Wallis. Ian’s new band, now augmented by guitarist Johnny Turnbull and keyboard player Mickey Gallagher, was christened Ian Dury and the Blockheads and the group became the surprise hit of the tour. To capitalise on this, Stiff Records launched a concerted Ian Dury marketing campaign, resulting, in the Spring of 1978, in the Top Ten hit What a Waste. 

New Boots and Panties!! continued to sell in greater quantities and in November that year, Ian released the irrepressible Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick, which became a UK Number One hit in January 1979. Dury was now a bona fide pop star and, with the Blockheads, toured to great acclaim.

While New Boots and Panties!! headed towards its remarkable 90 week chart run, the group commenced work on the follow up album, entitled Do It Yourself. Another Top Ten single, Reasons to Be Cheerful (Part Three), kept Dury in the public eye during this arduous period of recording. The album was eventually released in June 1979 in a Barney Bubbles-designed sleeve of which there were over thirty variations, all based on samples from the Crown wallpaper catalogue. In 1980 Chaz Jankel departed the Blockheads to concentrate on a solo career, signing with A&M Records. Chaz was replaced by former Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, who further enlivened the group’s stage act and contributed to the next album, Laughter, and its two minor hit singles – I Want to Be Straight and Sueperman’s Big Sister.

In 1981 Ian Dury and the Blockheads disbanded, Ian quit Stiff and signed instead to Polydor, who released the album Lord Upminster. This included the controversial single Spasticus (Autisticus). For this record, Dury was re-united with Chaz and they recorded in the Bahamas with the legendary rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. A second Polydor album, 4000 Weeks Holiday was released in 1984 and it was toured with a new band, Ian Dury and the Music Students.

In the mid-eighties Ian scaled down his musical output to concentrate on film and stage work. His theatrical CV includes films such as Roman Polanski’s Pirates, Bob Hoskins’ The Raggedy Rawney and Hearts of Fire with Bob Dylan, plus a voice-over for the fondly remembered Toshiba TV commercial, ‘Hello Tosh – got a Toshiba?’ He also acted in the stage plays Road and Talk of the Devil and wrote songs with Chaz and Mickey for Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money and his own stage musical, Apples, produced by the Royal Court Theatre in 1989.

In 1990, Blockheads drummer Charley Charles became ill with cancer and the group decided to help with a series of benefit concerts but sadly Charley did not live to see these shows. The re-united Blockheads, with new drummer Steve Monti, produced the live album Warts ‘n’ Audience, released on Demon Records. Throughout the early nineties, the group played gigs on a regular basis, often in mainland Europe. A second album for Demon, The Bus Driver’s Prayer & Other Stories, was released in 1992.

In late 1995 Ian returned from filming in America feeling unwell and in 1996 he was treated for colorectal cancer, undergoing surgery and making a good recovery. He and the Blockheads began work on material for a new album and Ian became involved with UNICEF, accompanying the organisation to Zambia to witness an immunization programme. Ian’s work rate didn’t slow throughout the following year even though he was re-diagnosed with cancer in early 1998. In June that year he and the Blockheads released their first album for seventeen years – Mr Love Pants. It was greeted with rapturous acclaim, many critics opining that it was Ian’s best album since the seminal New Boots and Panties!! It was followed by a guest appearance next to Paul Weller at an open-air gig in London, and a sell-out UK tour.

Ian continued to work for UNICEF, traveling to Sri Lanka with Robbie Williams in October 1998. His profile remained high and he used it to good effect, working for the charity Cancer Bacup on the launch of their new helpline number. In April 1999, Ian and the band played three sell out London gigs followed by a string of shows around the country and later that year the band returned to the studio to start laying down tracks for a new album. Sadly, Ian became too ill to finish this album and it was released posthumously in 2002 with the unrecorded vocals covered by Chaz and Robbie Williams.

Before Ian died he kicked off the new Millenium with ‘New Boots and Panto’ on February 6th 2000. It was a special evening at the London Palladium, with Kirsty MacColl as guest support. Ian drew on his last reserves of energy to give an astonishing performance. It would be his final gig. Six weeks later he passed away peacefully at home with his family.

Ian Dury died on March 27th 2000.

This "Hot Cripple" Series is an experiment; an effort to bring attention to the fact that Disability isn't necessarily synonymous with Ugly- as in Ugly Laws, which proliferated this country for over a century.

This month we feature doctor, activist and former paralympic athlete, Anjali Forber Pratt

From the good doctor's website...
Born in Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) India, Anjali lived in an orphanage for two and a half months before being adopted by her family from Natick, Massachusetts. Two months after arriving in the United States, she contracted an illness resulting in the diagnosis of transverse myelitis, a neurological disorder that affects the spinal cord. Rushed to the hospital, she was not expected to live. However, she survived, paralyzed from the waist down.

Anjali was introduced to the world of sports at the young age of five. She attended a sports clinic for children with disabilities at the Massachusetts Hospital School in Canton, MA. Exposed to a variety of sports, Anjali took a strong liking to track. She quickly excelled and by the age of nine she was competing at the national level in track and field.

She is the former world record holder in the 200m. She focuses on the sprints, namely the 100m, 200m and 400m events.

• July 2007, Anjali competed at the United States Paralympic National Track and Field Championships, where she finished 1st place in the 100m and 200 meter events, 2nd in the 400 meters and 4th in the 800 meters.
• She was named to the United States Paralympic Track and Field Team and selected to represent the United States at the ParaPan American Games in Rio de Janeiro—where she came home with two gold medals in the 100m and 200m and a bronze in the 400m.
• Anjali was the Bronze Medalist at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, in the 400m.
• Anjali was the Bronze Medalist at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, in the 4x100m relay.
• Anjali was the Gold Medalist in the 200m, Silver Medalist in the 100m and Silver Medalist in the 400m at the 2011 World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand.
• Anjali went on that same season in 2011 to break the world record in the 200m at a competition in Switzerland.
• Anjali represented Team USA at the 2012 London Paralympic Games competing in the 100m, 200m and 400m.

As a Paralympic medalist in the sport of wheelchair racing, she has dedicated her life to helping others recognize their potential.

Anjali J. Forber-Pratt, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor at the Department of Human & Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University. Her research agenda adopts a social-ecological framework and looks at issues surrounding identity, equity and empowerment through methodology for individuals who are different in some way, with a large focus on disability. Forber-Pratt has a strong background in qualitative methodology and her research focuses on individuals who struggle to succeed due, in part, to some difference that has labeled them outside the mainstream. Those differences include, and are not limited to, disability, race, gender, and sexual orientation. Her work cuts across education (elementary, secondary, postsecondary), sports, work, and quality of life contexts.

Globally, she is involved with disability advocacy efforts related to access to education, employment and sport through public speaking and media appearances. Dr. Forber-Pratt has appeared on several television programs and radio shows including: NPR; The Stream; and Sesame Street; and has been quoted in the national print press, including The Boston Globe, New York Times, Huffington Post, USA Today, and Runner’s World. She was honored by the White House as a Champion of Change in 2013 and had an opportunity to participate in a roundtable discussion with President Obama about disability policy issues.

This "Hot Cripple" Series is an experiment; an effort to bring attention to the fact that Disability isn't necessarily synonymous with Ugly- as in Ugly Laws, which proliferated this country for over a century.

This month we feature American icon, Christina Olson.

Christina Olson is the woman in Andrew Wyeth's striking painting Christina's World, and questions surrounding why she is sprawled in a field, looking longingly toward a far-off farmhouse have drawn in viewers for decades. The true story behind Christina's World makes the 1948 painting even more intriguing. 

The 31-year-old Wyeth modeled the painting's brunette after his neighbor in South Cushing, Maine. Anna Christina Olson suffered from a degenerative muscular disorder that prevented her from walking. Rather than using a wheelchair, Olson crawled around her home and the surrounding grounds, as seen in Christina's World. 

The neighbors first met in 1939 when Wyeth was just 22 and courting 17-year-old Betsy James, who would later become his wife and muse. It was James who introduced to Wyeth to the 45-year-old Olson, kicking off a friendship that would last the rest of their lives. The sight of Olson picking blueberries while crawling through her fields “like a crab on a New England shore” inspired Wyeth to paint Christina’s World. 

"The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless," he wrote. "If in some small way I have been able in paint to make the viewer sense that her world may be limited physically but by no means spiritually, then I have achieved what I set out to do." 

Olsen was a recurring muse and model for Wyeth, captured in paintings like Miss Olson, Christina Olson, and Anna Christina.

Though it would become his best-known work and an icon of American art, Christina's World was described by Wyeth as “a complete flat tire” when he sent it off to the Macbeth Gallery for a show in 1948. He also wondered if the painting would have been improved if he “painted just that field and have you sense Christina without her being there.”

Alfred Barr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, was so taken with Wyeth’s work that he purchased Christina's World for $1800. While the early critical reception was lukewarm to cool, the painting's prestigious position at MoMA fortified its reputation. Today it’s one of the museum's most admired exhibits. 

Though undeniably iconic, the painting has long been undermined by vocal detractors. Art historians have often snubbed Wyeth's works in their surveys, and some naysayers have attacked the painting's widespread popularity, deriding it as "a mandatory dorm room poster." Meanwhile, critics have chastised Wyeth's attention on Olson's infirmity and characterized it as exploitation. Still others claim there was no art in rendering realistic imagery in paint.

One person who didn’t object to Wyeth’s depiction of Olson was Olson. In her book about her husband's work, Betsy James Wyeth recounts a conversation she had with Olson about the piece, writing:
Christina's World remained her favorite to the end. Once when I asked her why, she simply smiled and said, 'You know pink is my favorite color.'
'But you're wearing a flowered pink dress in Miss Olson and holding a kitten. I thought you loved kittens.' 'Course I do, but in the other one Andy put me where he knew I wanted to be. Now that I can't be there anymore, all I do is think of that picture and I'm there.' 

Today the farmhouse is a national landmark. The Olson house has won comparisons to Monet's garden at Giverny because of the plethora of paintings and sketches it inspired. In the 30 years from their first meeting to Christina's death, Wyeth created over 300 works at the Olson house, thanks to the Olsons allowing him to use their home as his studio. Explaining the house's hold on him, Wyeth said, "In the portraits of that house, the windows are eyes or pieces of the soul almost. To me, each window is a different part of Christina's life." 

For all this, the Olson House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2011. As part of the Farnsworth Museum, patrons will be able to visit the Olson house starting on Memorial Day weekend, 2016. Until then, the house is closed for vital infrastructure upgrades.

Christina's World made Olson famous. Shortly after the painting made its MoMA debut, one overzealous admirer walked into Olson's home, came upon her resting, and asked for an autograph. Twenty years later, her death made national news, reviving interest in Christina's World. 

MoMA has only loaned out Christina's World once. Following Wyeth's death in 2009 at the age of 91, the museum allowed Christina's World to visit its creator's birthplace, Chadds Ford, Penn., where the Brandywine River Museum exhibited the polarizing painting for two days in memorial before returning it to New York.  

Wyeth is buried near his painting's birthplace. Down the hill from the Olson house lies a cemetery, where Andrew Wyeth's grave can be found in the family plot of Alvaro and Anna Christina Olson. Wyeth's tombstone faces up toward the house at an angle that closely resembles that of Christina's World. According to his surviving family, it was his final wish "to be with Christina."

​This "Hot Cripple" Series is an experiment; an effort to bring attention to the fact that Disability isn't necessarily synonymous with Ugly- as in Ugly Laws, which proliferated this country for over a century.

This month we feature American freak show performer, side show and film actor, Johnny Eck. 

Johnny Eck, (John Eckhardt, Jr.), is best known today for his role in Tod Browning's 1932 cult classic film, Freaks and his appearances as bird creature in the Tarzan films. He was often billed as the amazing "Half-Boy,"  "The Amazing Half-Boy," "King of the Freaks" and "The Most Remarkable Man Alive." Besides being a sideshow performer and actor, the multi-talented Eck was also an artist, musician, photographer, penny arcade owner, Punch and Judy operator and expert model maker.

John Eckhardt, Jr. was born on August 27, 1911 to Emilia and John Eckhardt, Sr. in Baltimore, Maryland, as a fraternal twin. His brother Robert Eckhardt was also a performer and he had an older sister named Caroline. Eck was born with a truncated torso due to sacral agenesis. Though Eck would sometimes describe himself as "snapped off at the waist", he had unusable, underdeveloped legs and feet that he would hide under custom-made clothing. Though Eck capitalized on the resemblance between himself and Robert, the twins were fraternal. Aside from the sacral agenesis, Eck was healthy.

​In 1937, Eck and Robert were recruited by the illusionist and hypnotist, Rajah Raboid, for his "Miracles of 1937" show. In it they performed a magic feat that amazed audiences. Raboid performed the traditional sawing-a-man-in-half illusion, except with an unexpected twist. At first Robert would pretend to be a member of the audience and heckle the illusionist during his routine, resulting in Robert being called on stage to be sawed in half himself. During the illusion, Robert would then be switched with his twin brother Eck, who played the top half of his body, and a dwarf, who played the bottom half, concealed in specially-built pant legs. After being sawed in half, the legs would suddenly get up and start running away, prompting Eck to jump off the table and start chasing his legs around the stage, screaming, "Come back!" "I want my legs back!" Sometimes he even chased the legs into the audience. The subsequent reaction was amazing - people would scream and sometimes even flee the theater in terror. As Eck described it, "The men were more frightened than the women - the women couldn't move because the men were walking across their laps, headed for the exit." The act provided the perfect jolt by frightening people at first but then caused just as much laughter and applause. The illusion would end with stage hands plucking up Eck and setting him atop his legs and then twirling him off-stage to be replaced by his twin Robert, who would then loudly threaten to sue Raboid and storm out of the theater. Their act was so popular that they played to packed audiences up and down the East coast.

In addition to film, sideshow and stage, Eck was also pursuing other interests in this period. He and his brother were musicians, having their own twelve-piece orchestra in Baltimore. Eck conducted while Robert played the piano. Eck continued his love of drawing and painting; early on choosing such subjects as women, ships and himself. He was also a race car enthusiast and the driver of his own custom-built race car that was street-legal in Baltimore, the "Johnny Eck Special". In 1938, Eck climbed the Washington Monument on his hands.

​The song "Table Top Joe", which describes a man without a lower body who becomes a famous entertainer, by Tom Waits is based loosely on the life of Johnny Eck.

On January 5, 1991, Eck suffered a heart attack in his sleep, dying at the age of 79 at the home where he was born. Robert followed him on February 25, 1995, aged 83. They are buried under one headstone in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore.

Ella Kate Ewing was a Missouri woman considered the world's tallest female of her era. She would use her great height to earn a living as a sideshow attraction, popularly known as "The Missouri Giantess." She was of normal size while a baby and young child, with the first signs of any abnormality appearing shortly after her seventh birthday. At age fourteen she towered over not only other children, but her parents and other adults, measuring 6 feet 10 inches. Ewing's maximum height is a matter of dispute, but in several accounts she was claimed to be over eight feet tall. Her mother's journal indicated that Ella's growth finally stopped when she was age twenty-two, at 8 feet, 4 inches tall. However, this is not well documented, and as such she is not mentioned in Guinness World Records. The Guinness Book of Records has stated she measured 7 feet 4 and a half inches tall, and may have reached 8 feet 4 inches by the time she died. As typical of many people afflicted with pituitary gigantism Ella's arms were very long, with her hands and feet exceptionally big. She wore a custom-made size 24 US shoe and often wore multiple rings on her fingers to mask their unusual length.

Ewing initially disliked being gawked at, but decided that as it was unavoidable she might as well make some advantage to it, so agreed to make appearances and tours. Her Baptist faith, however, meant she would not make appearances on Sundays. For a time Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus introduced her as the Earth's tallest woman. Her professional career began at age twenty when Lewis Epstein, a museum owner and impresario from Chicago offered $1,000 for twenty-seven day appearance at his establishment. As part of her contract Ella's parents were allowed to accompany her and the family considered it something of a paid vacation, touring the sights of the Windy City when she was not on display at Epstein's museum. Not long after returning home Lewis Epstein made an even bigger offer, a five-month engagement for the then-astounding sum of $5,000. Convincing her hesitant father that was more money than he could earn in five years of hardscrabble farming, she accepted and thus embarked permanently on a career as a museum and circus sideshow attraction.

​Ella died of tuberculosis and is buried at Harmony Grove Church near her hometown of Gorin. In Scotland County, Missouri there is an "Ella Ewing Reservoir" for fishing and an arts festival in Memphis, Missouri was also named for her.