Johnny Eck

Johnny Eck, born John Eckhardt, Jr. (August 27, 1911, Baltimore, Maryland – April 28, 1991, Baltimore, Maryland) was an American freak show performer born with a truncated spine and useless, withered legs and feet that he hid in his clothing, giving the appearance that he is missing the lower half of his torso. He was often billed as the amazing "Half-Boy" and "King of the Freaks". Eck is best known today for his role in the 1932 cult classic film Freaks.

In his 79 years on this earth Johnny Eck (his name was shortened by his first manager) accomplished more than most people with legs. He was a sideshow performer, artist, photographer, magician, Punch and Judy operator, expert model maker, race car driver, swimmer, gymnast, actor, train conductor, traveler and all around Renaissance man.

All that and he only reached a height of eighteen inches tall!

He never let his lack of legs prevent him from attempting anything he dreamed up. Someone once asked him if he wished he had legs. "Why would I want those? Then I'd have pants to press." was his reply.

Early life

The twin sons of Baltimore couple Amelia and John Eckhardt, Robert and John Jr., were born on August 27, 1911. Twenty minutes after the delivery of Robert, John Jr. appeared, to the horror of his parents and his midwife, who is said to have cried, "Oh my lord, he's a broken doll!" It wasn't a clean break, though; rather than appearing "snapped off at the waist" as he would later claim, little Johnny was left with withered, useless legs that never grew even as the rest of him did. Clothed as he always was in a neat tuxedo jacket, however, Johnny appeared to be a perfect half-man.

Eck had an older sister named Carolyn and a twin named Robert, neither of whom was born with Eck's congenital birth defects: Eck was born with a truncated torso due to Sacral agenesis and with his tongue permanently embedded in his cheek. At birth, Eck weighed two pounds and was less than eight inches in length.

Eck was educated at home by his older sister Caroline, and had learned to read and write by 4 years of age. Robert was charged with looking after his brother, who was handicapped in name only. Johnny taught himself to walk on his hands at the age when most children learn to walk on their feet. His mother intended that he would go into the ministry, and the young Eck was often called upon to perform impromptu sermons for guests. "I would climb atop of a small box and preach against drinking beer and damning sin and the devil," Eck recalled in an autobiographical fragment. These sermons quickly came to an end when Eck began passing around a saucer for donations.

Eck and his brother enrolled in public school at age 7. He recalled that larger students would "fight each other for the 'honor' or 'privilege' of lifting me up the stone steps" to school, and that school windows were blacked out to discourage throngs of curious onlookers from peering in at Eck during his studies.

At an early age, Eck developed an interest in painting and woodworking, and would spend hours with his brother carving and painting elaborate, fully articulated circuses. He was also a prolific screen painter.

Professional career

In December 1923, Eck and his brother attended a performance of stage magic at his local church. Eck clambered onto the stage at one point to accept a gift from the magician, John McAsian, who was flabbergasted at the sight of the boy. McAslan offered Eck a contract with a local carnival, and his parents signed a one-year contract, which Eck claims the magician later changed to a 10-year contract by adding a zero.

Eck was billed as a single-o (solo sideshow act), though he traveled with Robert and used Robert's normalcy to emphasize his own abnormal physique. His performance included sleight-of-hand and acrobatic feats including his famous one-armed handstand.

Eck and Robert were recruited by illusionist/hypnotist Raja Raboid for his Miracles of 1937 show. Robert would be "recruited" from the audience for a hypnosis stunt, then kept on-stage for a sawing-in-half illusion. During the illusion, Robert would be switched with Eck and a dwarf wearing trousers that covered his whole body, disguising him as the subject's pelvis and legs. Raboid would saw between Eck and the dwarf. Eck would then chase his "legs" across the stage. Stage hands would pluck Eck up, set him atop the dwarf, and twirl them off-stage, replacing them with Robert, who would then threaten to sue Raboid and storm out of the theater. Though the act met with applause and laughter, Eck would later tell stories of audience members fainting, screaming, or fleeing the theater in terror.

John loved everything about show business. In the circus, he did acrobatics with his extraordinarily strong arms, trained animals, juggled and played the front end of the "sawed in half" illusion. When not performing as a circus freak, he and Robert conducted their own Baltimore-based orchestra. Johnny also drew and painted, and drove a custom-built race car, the "Johnny Eck Special".

Eck is featured as the "Half-Boy" in Tod Browning's 1932 film Freaks and as a bird creature or "Gooney Bird" in three Tarzan movies: Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), Tarzan Escapes (1936) and Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941).

Later life

After these Hollywood appearances, the Eckhardt brothers went into semi-retirement in Baltimore, running a kiddie train ride in a local park. John also made a living with his screen paintings and pursued his interests in race cars, photography, music and model-making.

The event that turned Johnny from a beloved local celebrity into a sullen old recluse was a robbery at the family home, which he and Robert inhabited, in 1987. Old and enfeebled, Johnny was unable to defend himself as a gang of thieves physically restrained him (one sitting on him) and walked off with his valuables. It was this incident that is said to have inspired his famous quote, "If I want to see freaks, I can just look out the window," indicating that the once-congenial King of Freaks had finally lost faith in his fellow man. Soured by the experience, he and Robert thenceforth lived in seclusion, declining to admit strangers into their home.

On January 5, 1991, after almost four years of living in total seclusion, Johnny suffered a heart attack and died. Robert followed him in 1995, aged 83. They are buried under one headstone in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore.

References

• Skal, David J. The Monster Show, pages 145-6. Second edition, 2002. Faber And Faber, New York. ISBN 0-571-19996-8
• American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers (Tarcher/Penguin, 2005) by Marc Hartzman. Johnny Eck and his twin brother are featured on the cover.

External links

• Profile at phreeque
• Johnny Eck Museum, online collection of photographs and ephemera