Ink drawing on paper, 9.75 x 5 inches (24.77 x 12.70 cm)
Private collection

Johnny Eck was known in sideshow as “The Living Half-Boy,” “The Most Remarkable Man Alive,” and “King of the Freaks.” Eck was also something of a Renaissance man: actor, magician, acrobat, musician, painter, puppeteer, model-maker, race car driver, and more. He is best known for his appearance in Tod Browning’s infamous 1932 film, Freaks, but also appeared as a bird-like creature in three Tarzan films from 1932 through 1941.

Johnny Eck, born John Eckhardt, Jr., in 1911, was a native of Baltimore, Maryland. While his fraternal twin Robert was physically normal, Johnny was born with sacral agenesis, a congenital disorder that left him without lower limbs. Despite his physical difference, Johnny was able to walk on his hands as a toddler before Robert learned to walk. Johnny’s career in entertainment began in 1923 when he and Robert attended a magic performance by John McAslan at a local church. During the performance, the magician asked for a volunteer from the audience and was startled when Johnny popped onto the stage. McAslan convinced Johnny to become a sideshow attraction and his parents signed a 1-year contract with McAslan as manager on condition that Robert also be employed. Johnny went on to create an act in which he would appear in a tuxedo jacket on a tasseled stool and perform sleight-of-hand magic and acrobatic feats such as the one-armed handstand that became his signature act. He would go on to appear with the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey circus; in the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium; and many others.

Johnny and Robert worked out routines that capitalized on their similar appearance but physical difference. In one notable example, they worked a stage illusion act in the late 1930s in which Robert would play the role of heckler during the magician’s lead up to the traditional sawing-a-man-in-half routine. Robert would then be invited onto stage to serve as the victim, at which point Johnny would be cunningly swapped for Robert’s upper half. After the saw completed its motion, the newly separated halves of the body would move in different directions (aided by a dwarf disguised as a pair of trousers and shoes) with Johnny shouting about wanting his legs back and chasing after them on his hands. Eventually, the the upper and lower halves would be reunited and spun off the stage, at which point Robert would re-emerge looking bewildered and threaten to sue. The act was met with gales of laughter and shrieks of horror with some audience members so overwhelmed that they would flee the theater in panic.

As the sideshows declined in popularity, Johnny and Robert returned to their childhood home in Baltimore. There they performed in their own 12-piece orchestra, briefly ran a penny arcade, and Johnny served as conductor on a miniature railway in a local park. Johnny also became a noted puppeteer and folk artist especially known for his screen paintings. Johnny Eck passed away in January 1991, followed by Robert in February 1995.

This portrait — based on Carle Vernet’s 1805-1810 painting of Napoleon Bonaparte — includes Johnny Eck’s beloved twin and tokens of Johnny’s many interests.