Joseph Merrick: The Elephant Man

The Elephant Man Joseph Merrick

Bradley Cooper has recently been starring as deformed Joseph Merrick in the critically acclaimed play The Elephant Man ,in Broadway’s Booth Theater since November.The actor chose to portray Merrick using no prosthetic make-up, instead opting to display the disfigurement through his physicality, contorting his posture and facial expression ,Cooper stands at 6’ 1” while merrick was only 5’ 2” .The play is reported to have grossed a record $14.5 million in its four-month run and was originally set to end on Sunday, February 22. But due to the production’s success it has officially announced plans to transfer to the West End with its full cast, playing a limited season at Theatre Royal Haymarket beginning May 19.

Joseph Merrick ”The Elephant Man” was originally thought to be suffering from Elephantiasis but is now believed to have been afflicted with Proteus Syndrome; a Disease which has only been recorded to have affected 200 people.
Proteus syndrome which is named for the greek god Proteus who could change his shape, this rare hereditary disorder is characterized by multiple lesions of the lymph nodes, overgrowth of one side of the body, an abnormally large head, partial gigantism of the feet, and darkened spots or moles on the skin. Merrick’s appearance, and especially his skeleton, carry all the hallmarks of the disorder, although an extremely severe case. His head was so large that the burlap mask he wore in public measured three feet in circumference.

Behind his monstrous appearance there was a truly intelligent and sensitive human being.
Born in Leicester, England, in 1862, Joseph first began to develop tumors on his face before his second birthday. Merrick’s deformities were not extreme until about the age of five. He was born a seemingly normal baby. At 21 months he began developing swelling of his lips, followed by a bony lump on his forehead, which later grew to roughly resemble an elephant’s trunk and loosening of his skin. In later years, his left and right arms began to grow significant differences and both feet were enlarged. To add to his troubles, during his childhood he fell and suffered an injury to his hip which left him permanently lame. The Merrick family is said to have believed young Joseph’s condition was caused by Mary Jane being frightened by an elephant at a fairground during her pregnancy.

Despite his physical appearance, the boy and his mother were extremely close. No known photos of Joseph’s mother have survived, but an account of the family’s former housemaid claimed, she was also handicapped and had three additional children, two of whom died at a young age. She herself passed away in 1873 of pneumonia. Her death devastated poor young Joseph. Not only did he lose his only friend, but his father, now working as a haberdasher(a men’s outfitter), soon married the widow Emma Wood Antill who had two children of her own and demanded Joseph leave school and earn his living. Despite his growing abnormalities, he found employment at a cigar shop, but his right hand soon became too large to manage the delicate work of rolling cigars. In order to earn his keep, his father got Joseph a hawker’s license to sell gloves door to door. But his quickly deteriorating appearance frightened prospective customers. He attempted to hide his deformities behind a burlap mask, his sales were still dismal.

His form was a source of great amusement for the scores of children that would follow him from street to street, taunting him and calling out cruel names, he endured the constant harassment of local children and many adults. His condition quickly worsened as bulbous, cauliflower-like growths grew from his head and body, and his right hand and forearm became a useless club, his mouth had grown to 8–9 inches and severely inhibited his speech and made it difficult to eat.

Joseph Senior would often beat his son if he came home empty-handed and his stepmother would deny him full meals unless he had earned enough to pay for them. As result he ran away from home more than once. Fortunately, Joseph’s uncle, Charles Merrick, a barber, took his nephew in, but the deformed young man was still unable to make much of a living peddling gloves.And after two years, his license to sell was revoked on the grounds he was “terrifying the community”.

With no other resource, he went into the Leicester workhouse system, a Victorian institution for the poor and destitute marked by cruelty. He was 17 at the time, Merrick remained in the workhouse for five years. 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.

He saw this as his only way out of his miserable existence. Strangers had always stared at him, so why not get them to pay for the privilege? Exhibitor Tom Norman brought Merrick to London to be exhibited in the shop opposite the London Hospital where Dr. Frederick Treves found him. Showing himself as a terrifying oddity was his only means of financial support and it was not a happy way to earn his keep. Surgeon Sir Frederick Treves of the Whitechapel Hospital , came to hear of Mr. Merrick and paid him a visit. He privately viewed him at 123 Whitechapel Road, opposite the then Whitechapel Hospital ‘Treves expressed scientific/medical interest in Merrick, presenting him before the London Pathological Society in December 2, 1884, and then sent him back on his way. Merrick went to the hospital for examination two or three times.
Eventually, Merrick told Norman that he no longer wanted to be examined at the hospital. According to Norman, he said he was “stripped naked and felt like an animal in a cattle market.”

Joseph arrived at London’s Liverpool Street railway Station in June 1886. He had been earning a living in the only way he knew how, as a freak. Freak Shows had been outlawed in the United Kingdom by this time,he was no longer in Norman’s employ. So he worked across the Channel in Belgium. An Austrian showman named Ferrari, not connected with Tom Norman, robbed Joseph blind and left him destitute in Belgium. He unable to communicate due to a case of bronchitis worsened by his condition. The police who apprehended Joseph found Dr. Treves’ business card in Joseph’s coat pocket. His masked appearance and twisted body had caused hysteria among those at the railway station. Having been unrelentingly taunted by children, and attempting to escape from a number of acrimonious adults, Joseph was found crumpled on the floor in a heap, starving and breathless.

Joseph was taken to the London Hospital and put in Dr. Treves care. He was taken directly to the Hospital’s isolation ward in the hospital’s attic, so as not to alarm other patients. Some time later, plans were made to secure a final home and resting place for Joseph. In those days hospitals had the policy to never offer their beds to “incurables”. A permanent home was what was needed. Through Treves’ work with Joseph, they had both become quite the celebrities.

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. Princess Alexandra wished to meet the Elephant Man after a tour of the hospital, the royal party went to his rooms for an introduction. The princess shook Merrick’s hand and sat with him, an experience that left him overjoyed.She gave him a signed photograph of herself, which became a prized possession, and she sent him a Christmas card each year, leading other members of the upper class to embrace him. He eventually became a favorite of Queen Victoria. Philanthropists and well-doers from every corner of Britain and Europe were writing in to the Whitechapel Hospital , offering all kinds assistance, in addition, large amounts of money were offered to look after Joseph. Enormous pressure was placed on the Whitechapel Hospital to give this “Child of England” a permanent home.

The ground floor of the East Wing of the Hospital became Joseph’s permanent home. The happiest years of Joseph’s adult life were spent at the London Hospital, cared for by his friend Dr. Treves and accompanying nurses. Joseph felt respected and loved. He was very comfortable there. His small annex in Bedstead Square was adapted to his personal needs.
The rooms were adapted and furnished to suit Merrick, with a specially constructed bed and at Merrick’s request no mirrors. A specially designed armchair was built by the Chief Engineer, William Taylor. If there ever was a true example of human kindness, it was here. They went against all the rules to help Joseph. Joseph was unable to mingle in finer circles because of his appearance. Although he was self-educated, he had to rely mostly upon his imagination of social events. His dignified attitude would certainly be no less than that of an able bodied English Gentleman of the time, and his manners equal, if not superior at times, to those of more well-to-do backgrounds. Much of the time he was delightfully childlike, tending to over-simplify things. To wind away the many hours at home, often alone, He rose each day in the afternoon and would leave his rooms to walk in the small adjacent courtyard, after dark.

On at least one occasion, Merrick was able to fulfill a long-held desire to visit the theatre.Treves, with the help of Madge Kendal, arranged for him to attend the Christmas Pantomime at the Theatre Royal. Treves sat with some nurses, concealed in Baroness Burdett-Coutts private box. According to Treves, Merrick was “awed” and “enthralled”. “The spectacle left him speechless, so that if he were spoken to he took no heed.” For weeks following the show Merrick talked about the pantomime, reliving the story as if it had been real.

Merrick seemed content to live his life in the London Hospital. 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.

Joseph Merrick died on April 11th, 1890.
He was discovered lying on his back in his bed. One of the most tragic aspects Merrick’s life was the way in which he died, due to the weight of his enormous head it was impossible for him to lay in a prone position, he had to sleep upright with his head resting on his knees, his close friend Dr. Treves said Joseph often expressed his desire to sleep lying down, to “be like other people” His cause of death? A dislocated neck, Age only 27.

‘Tis true my form is something odd,
But blaming me is blaming God;
Could I create myself anew,
I would not fail in pleasing you.

If I could reach from pole to pole
Or grasp the ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the soul;
The mind’s the standard of the man.
-Joseph Merrick

Check out the links below for more information:

Joseph merrick
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Josephmerrick1889.jpg

Bradley Coopers Portrayal of Merrick
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0dbd6VdVBp4/U8WpG06-FDI/AAAAAAAAMrw/xrpVVvAq41s/s1600/Elephant05.jpg

Merricks skeleton on display at the Royal London Hospital Museum
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/69521000/jpg/_69521959_bones-624.jpg

Merricks plaster Death Mask cast by Dr.Treves
https://tomb76.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/death-mask.jpg

Merricks burlap mask
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3056/2862285290_d33d41ab27_z.jpg

Merricks custom built chair http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/01/08/article-0-1A7DA9D100000578-706_306x396.jpg

How Joseph Merrick Deformities affected his speech