Due to all the enthusiasm about Johnny that has been generated recently, there are many new Johnny Eck projects in the works. Please consider pitching in on one of them:

Johnny Eck Memorial. Al and Jeanie Tomaini's daughter, "Rustie," has volunteered her services as a stone carver to make a Johnny Eck memorial monument to be errected in his home town of Baltimore. James "Shocked and Amazed" Taylor is working on facilitating a location. Amsha has volunteered to transport if no other means of getting the stone from Florida to Baltimore is forthcoming, but she really isn't ideally equipped for the task so if you have a truck, speak up. The rest of us are pitching in with moral support and will be donating the money to pay for the stone. Contact Rustie at Freak/Carnival Discussion for more information.

Johnny Eck Exhibit. James "Shocked and Amazed" Taylor will be including Johnny Eck material at an exhibit at Baltimore's Museum of Visionary Arts. I have also been in touch with the Painted Screen Society of Baltimore about trying to assemble a collection of Johnny's paintings for a permanent or traveling exhibit. For this, we need information on any Johnny Eck paintings or other visual things he did with his own two hands. I'm not 100% up to speed on this project. Visit Freak/Carnival Discussion for more information.

The Johnny Eck Documentary will far surpass original expectations. Many wonderful people have contacted me through Johnny's World, and I am currently looking for backing from local production companies. Keep your eyes peeled for Johnny's friends, associates, and memorabilia. Dig up what you can NOW so it can be included!
We need Johnny stuff. Here are some clues we can go on:

1. The Baltimore newspapers might have information. Their computer database doesn't go back far enough to help me, so if any of you have access to old Baltimore newspaper indices, or other potential sources of info, here are some things you can look into for me:

-- Johnny claims he was born on a nice, melodramatic dark and stormy night. What was the weather REALLY like in Baltimore on August 27, 1911?

-- Johnny was "discovered" by a magician at a show for "poor and crippled" children put on in a neighborhood church in December of 1923. There might have been a write up in a paper (more likely an East Baltimore neighborhood paper) about the show.

-- The brutal break-in that left Johnny and Rob reclusive was in June of 1988. There might be a police report filed, or a brief write-up in the paper.

-- The Baltimore tax office should have records on the house, at 622 N. Milton. Johnny said that it was almost on the block for back taxes just after he'd made Freaks. He said the notice of auction came in April. His will, written in 1931 or 1932, leaves the house to his mother -- did he own it at that point? Can anybody get to the tax office and find all documents relating to the little red brick row house Johnny held so dear?

2. Other towns and names:

--John and Rob set up as a single-o in 1924, according to Johnny's autobiographical essay. Their first stint was in Plainfield, NJ, under "Captain John M. Sheesley." Can any New Jersians find anything about this?

--Johnny said that his first manager had a small park outside Hagerstown, Maryland. He doesn't give a date; I would guess sometime between 1924 and 1930. Johnny is a little vague on this. Probably later, since Johnny recalled it as later that same summer that he went to the Canadian Exposition, which was in 1931.

-- Any Canadians here? the Canadian Exposition would have been in 30 or 31. I don't even know where that was. Johnny mentions Toronto.

--Dallas, Chicago, and Cleveland folks -- starting roughly 1932, 1933, Johnny was performing at Ripley's Believe it or Not in these cities.

-- Buffalo. There was an incident Johnny describes on a train just outside of Buffalo, perhaps in 1931 or so, involving a shooting in a dining car. He said 20 mils outside of Buffalo. The show manager he was with was Jack Burns. Johnny said he was twenty years old at the time; he was born August 27, 1911. Johnny said the incident took place at about midnight.

-- North Carolina -- in 1931, late 1931, Johnny bought a used Chrysler limo for $125. Would the DMV have any info?

-- Culver City, California. Johnny said there were news people there for the arrival of the freaks on the train for filming of Freaks, would have been probably late 1931. Also he stayed in the Castle Apartments. He described it as beautiful, spanish grill wrok, tile roof, stained glass windows, and so on. Assistant direction was Earl Taagart -- did he write any memoirs that anybody knows of? He also wrote of a Margaret Berts, who he said was on the cast of Freaks. Freaks premiered in San Diego, 1932. Any write ups in papers? Anybody or their mama or grandpa recall?

-- MGM - does anybody know how to find out what MGM did with Johnny's bird costumre from Tarzan the Ape Man?

-- Washington, DC. Johnny climbed the Washington Monument in 1937 according to one source 1938 in another. I have a pic of two photographers lying down to get pictures of Johnny standing on a lawn. Any clippings?
Any other help you can think of would be welcome. Jump on the bandwagon if you have anything to offer.
Drop a note in the Guestbook if you can help me.

Johnny Eck Biography. Because of the many people who have contacted me via the web site, I will have enough information to write a biography of Johnny. In particular, his family will be providing information. Keep posted!

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