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Carnival midway showman Ward Hall said
of him: “Melvin was a great guy. I never heard him say a
bad word about anyone and I never heard anyone ever say a
bad word of him.
A
remarkable, wonderful way to go through life.”
Friends, I only have a Minute’s More.... |
“Friends, I only have a minute’s more time now to complete
my particular part of the program. Then, you’re going to
see the good acts – right here next on this stage or
platform – right here next will be the two-faced man. Then
you’re going to see the sword swallower, the Indestructible
Girl -- each and every act follows one right after the
other.”
“I’ll
show you now why Ripley of Believe It or Not fame cartooned
and called me the man without a stomach, the man with the
rubber neck, the man that grows. He said that I was an
anatomical blunder… ah… wonder! He also cartooned me
because I can actually smile on one side of my face and
frown on the other – all at the same time! Smiling on one
side and frowning on the other… {He puts the lower part
of his face through a series of wiggles that accomplishes
nothing.} …just warming up now. {His faces freezes
in the twisted grimace that has become one of his
trademarks. He displays it by covering half at a time –
first with his right hand and then with his left.} I
usually get a little applause on that, but that was little
enough.”
“Now to
get right down to the bare facts. {He opens his colorful
shirt to reveal a tee shirt cut to show a bare stomach area.}
Oh, the bare facts – a few feats of muscular control of the
body. {He has hung his shirt across a table and now wears
only the ventilated tee shirt.} Air conditioning… not
moths. You see, this is my Sunday shirt. It’s a little
holy.”
{As
he changes certain physical features, he poses to show off
each change.}
(1)
“First of all, a weight plan. (In a sequence, he points
to his chest, his arms and, last, his head.) Nothing
here, nothing here, nothing he… here! Then after taking the
weight plan with scores of exercise, it’s supposed to look
something like this.
(2) The
rubber neck – without stretching it too far. (His head
rises away from his shoulders, accenting the ligaments and
tendons of the neck.) Don’t you try that. You’ll strip
your gears.
(3) A
one-sided development… (One arm and half his chest are
muscular. The other side droops.)
To be
continued
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