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OUTLINE OF THE LIFE OF JACOB
ERLICH
(JACK EARLE)
Jack Earle was born in Denver
Colorado in 1906 as Jacob Erlich
[Often incorrectly spelled as
Ehrlich] Only a fragile four pounds
when born, his parents were worried
about him surviving.His family
called him Jake He had two brothers,
Myer and Ben.
At ten years old he was over six
feet tall.
Lived in El Paso, Texas growing up
"Jacob would avoid people by walking
the alleys on the way to school so
he could hide if he saw someone
coming."
At 13 he was over 7'1" and traveled
with father to Los Angeles.
Century Comedies Jerry Ash and Zion
Meyers offered him a job in the
movies because of the stir he made
in Los Angeles.
Jacob took the screen name Jack
Earle, and appeared in many movies.
"Over the next few years Jack Earle
was busy in the movie making
business, and going to school. He
appeared in films like Hansel and
Gretel in 1923 and Jack & the
Beanstalk in 1924."
Appeared in 48 movies with stars of
the day including Baby Peggy
"Jack's movie career came to an end
during the filming of one of his
movies when he fell from the
scaffolding he was standing on. The
scaffolding broke loose and Jack
fell to the ground were he broke his
nose and ended up in the hospital.
While he was in the hospital his
eyesight became blurry and within
days he lost his sight completely.
As his doctor examined him he found
a pituitary tumor. The tumor had
pushed up against his optic nerve
during the fall. For the next four
months Jack underwent X-ray therapy.
His eyesight returned and it was
thought the treatment may have
stopped his growth.? Another version
of this story is that he was thrown
from an antique automobile (what was
antique in 1920') Late in life Jack
is quoted as saying he was thrown
from a truck. The Saturday Evening
Post says, "Jack's cinematic career
ended disastrously during his
forty-ninth picture when he fell
from a scaffolding attached to one
of the studio's so-called comedy
cars. He crashed fourteen feet to
the ground and was simultaneously
beaned by a timber that had broken
loose. He woke up in the hospital
with a cracked nose and blurred
eyesight, and within three days he
was totally blind."
Jack also did vaudeville in the
Chicago area and elsewhere.
At approximately 17 he was eight
feet six inches tall.
"Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey
Circus passed through El Paso, at
the time they had a man working for
them who was billed as the worlds
tallest man, at seven feet five
inches tall Jim Tarver was still
thirteen inches shorter then Jack
the Giant. The circus offered him a
one year contact which turned into
fourteen years."
Jack said that "he didn't want to be
a sideshow freak but that he needed
to make a living"
"He speaks a little disdainfully of
what was euphemistically called his
"show"; the immobile hours on the
bare stage, the thoughtless
youngsters' who banged his shins to
prove that he was not on stilts, the
staccato of embarrassing or foolish
questions, the ubiquitous drunks
looking for a fight. He soon lost
count of the number of times he had
one of the midgets sit on his palm
to demonstrate the thirteen- inch
span of his fingers"
GOLF
Fond of golf. Enrolled as a golf
student in a Chicago golf school.
Jack had special extra-long set of
clubs made for him by the Chicago
Golf Company in 1924. The golf club
heads were normal size.
The clubs were contributed to the
USGA museum through Lee Trevino by
Jack?s brother, Myer Erlich, in
1972. Myer was an avid golfer and
knew Lee Trevino through their
connection to El Paso.
Jack's clubs were probably the
longest set ever made to that time,
and may still the second or third
largest set behind Robert Danziger's.
Jack Earle's club lengths (2)
Brassie 50" shaft, metal
[Unspecified name] 49" shaft, metal
Mid-Iron 42.5" shaft, hickory
Mashie 40" shaft, hickory
Niblick 39" shaft, hickory
Putter 37.5" shaft, hickory
Jack was a good friend of Roy
Drachman who was Tucson City Golf
Champion and was involved in
bringing the Pro Leo Diegel to
Tucson, and in helping develop the
first made-for-television golf match
Leo Diegel created the Tucson Open,
and was reported to give Walter
Hagen one-a-side.
There's a great golf gamesmanship
story where Hagen, posing as Diegel,
called a priest and told him he was
despondent and going to commit
suicide. Diegel was a devout
Catholic. The Priest went to
Diegel's house and stayed with him
all night despite Diegel's protests.
Diegel was so exhausted he lost the
next day's match to Hagen.
Roy Drachman went to school with
Jack's brother Ben. Roy says Jack
enjoyed surprising people with his
great height.
Sold thousands of rings made of lead
that said "Jack Earle Giant" on
them. My grandfather may have
provided the lead. He'd buy back any
that did not bring luck to the
purchaser.
 "Liked
midgets best, and counted many as
close friends." "Most of all he
liked the Dancing Dolls, the family
of four little people whom we met in
an earlier chapter. A familiar sight
in the circus was the giant walking
between the tents, his big voice
booming in reply to a high-pitched
remark from little Harry Doll or
some other midget who was perched on
his shoulder. In Jack's first season
with the circus, Harry, in
particular, was very helpful to him.
On Jack's first day in the sideshow
he felt ill at ease when the midget
Harry Doll pointed out to him that
there were more "freaks" in the
audience than there were on the
sideshow platform."
Harry, Daisy, Tiny and Grace Doll,-
a famous family of midgets,
subsequently became Jack's most
intimate friends, and he still
visits them every winter in their
home at Sarasota, Florida.?
Jack also worked with and is
pictured with with Major Mite
(Clarence Chesterfield) who was 2'
2" tall during his tenure with
Ringling Brothers.
"On the road he was wedged into
Ringling's famous Car 96 with the
rest of the freaks."
"He suffered from claustrophobia and
other terrifying complexes, and he
had only scorn for the people who
stared at his great frame. "There
were times," he says in painful
reminiscence, "when I wished I had
never been born. I hated the world."
 Described
as most talented of a long line of
Ringling Brothers Circus giants.
Weighed 385 -pounds.
Jack stayed with the circus until
the late thirties early forties, and
traveled with many circuses. He left
the Ringling Brothers circus at some
point and started his own sideshow
which he took to Australia and New
Zealand.
During World War II was classified
1-A by his Draft Board but was
rejected by the army when he
reported for duty in October 1943.
He reported for duty with Charles
Amasalian who was 4 feet 11 inches
who was also rejected by the army
despite being classified 1-A.
Painting and Sculpture:
"Professional caliber painter" of
still-lifes and delicate landscapes.
Delphic Studios in New York City
staged an exhibition of his work.
Two versions of how Jack entered art
school: "The interest in the art
began when he did a head in clay of
an Australian bushman exhibited by
the circus. John Ringling saw the
work, sensed the fact that his giant
was talented, and sent him to an art
school to study sculpture. There he
became interested in the field of
painting and studied with the
Mexican painter Emilio Cahero of El
Paso." Jake's nephew says that Jake
was a extraordinary artist and that
he was with some of the sculptors
who were making objects for the
Ringling circus - animals and such
-and that he did some things with
clay that got their notice and they
- the circus artists - arranged for
him to get a scholarship to art
school.
Worked in watercolors and oils,
watercolors only after becoming
traveling salesman.
Jack leaves the circus and sideshow
for good after 14 years. He moves
back to California.
After Jack left the circus he
represented the Treasure Island
World Fair.
Sometime later Jack became a
traveling salesman for the Roma Wine
Company and worked his way up to
public relations.
There are two Roma Wineries, named
as such in different contexts. The
first was founded in 1889-90 in
Sonoma by the Scatena brothers who
initially called it the Santa Lucia
Winery before it was named the Roma
Winery. It was sold in the 1920?s to
the Domitilli and Massoni families,
who sold it in 1944 to the Alta
Vineyards Company. Finally the Roma
Winery ended up in the hands of the
Seghesio wine family who purchased
it in 1949 to add to their current
winery holdings. Another Roma Winery
was founded after Prohibition by
John Battista and Lorenzo Cella, who
expanded their operation to become
the single biggest producer of
California wines in the days
following Repeal. This winery was
later taken over by the Cribari
family, and the Cribari label was
bought by the Wine Growers Guild in
1970, which later became the Guild
Wineries.?
During Prohibition the Cella
brothers shipped grapes and produced
cooking sherry, wine sauce,
concentrates, and sacramental wines.
Cella Brothers advertised the the
Roma Wine Company as the largest
winery in the world. After selling
to Schenley in 1942, by the 1950?s
Roma was the best selling wine in
the United States. Roma is still a
wine brand owned by Canandaigua.
[note ? Roma is not listed on their
web site. Other brands include
Manischewitz, Almaden, Inglenook,
Cribari and Taylor. Cribari is the
name Roma was changed to at least in
part.]
Part of his route included Humboldt
in far northern California. He
stayed at the Humboldt Inn where
they made him a special bed. He
spoke to service clubs in the
Humboldt area.
Spent up to 11 months per year on
the road as traveling salesman.
"Jack travels constantly through
forty six states, crisscrossing the
land three or four times a year."
"Learning to overcome the hardships
of traveling" such as having to buy
my socks a gross at a time and
sleeping doubled up in train berths
wasn't the chief difficulty. It was
psychological " getting people to
realize that, despite my size, I was
just a normal person trying to earn
a normal living in a normal manner."
Other Special Issues of Extreme
Height: "He wanted to drive a car
like other men, for in-stance, but
no ordinary car would hold him. He
finally had to remove the front seat
of a large five -passenger coupe,
add nineteen inches to the steering
column, and drive it from the rear
seat. Even then he discovered that
the steering wheel blocked his view,
so he sawed off the upper half."
Visiting the homes of newly found
friends, Jack disconcerted
housewives by noticing dust on high
shelves and moldings that others
could not see. "I used to dust the
moldings at home for my mother," he
says with a grin, "and I just
couldn't resist poking my fingers
into dusty places."
"He found his huge fingers would not
fit the holes on a dial phone, so he
has to use a pencil instead."
"He wanted to ride the subway-an
ambition still considered balmy by
some of his New York friends- but
gave it up on the first try when his
skull connected with the blades of a
ceiling fan. He has to avoid night
clubs because they are badly lighted
and he always crashes into
things-such as unused
chandeliers-that are suspended from
the ceiling."
"The first time he was given a wrist
watch by his employers, he found
that the strap was three inches
short. He couldn't wear it until his
brother, an El Paso jeweler,
designed a special gold clasp to
bridge the gap."
"Jack still takes a giant's view of
guest towels in the average house
because they're never large enough
to dry fingers that have the same
diameter as a fifty cent piece."
"Jack can't ride a Pullman car
without instructing goggle-eyed
porters how to combine two
drawing-room berths into one". "In
most hotel rooms he has to have two
beds, placed end to end, and made up
with an intricate overlapping of
sheets."
"There are also merchants in
strategic locations from coast to
coast who can handle the unique
emergencies that arise in his daily
life. There is a Hollywood tailor,
for instance, who makes a new suit
for Jack four times a year, an
undertaking that would intimidate
the stoutest haberdashering heart.
Jack's suits, which cost $185 [in
1950] each and require elaborate
blueprints so that pockets, cuffs,
lapels and other parts are in proper
proportion, use up eight yards of
cloth and cannot be pressed on
ordinary machines. His shell-rimmed
glasses, shirts, hats and gloves are
all made to order. He has to buy
socks a gross at a time because the
mill won't tool up the special
machinery for less, and his handmade
shoes" 'I really get a bargain on
those," he laughs-are twenty-five
dollars' a pair, a price on which
the manufacturer takes a sizable
loss.
Wore a four-and-a-half-carat diamond
ring.
Jack had "no permanent home, because
the average house might have to be
completely remodeled to fit his
needs."
Jack lived in hotels where the
management was familiar with and
willing to assist him with his
special problems.
"Jack was a carefree driver until he
had an accident one winter in
Colorado. The car overturned and he
was trapped inside. His back was
wrenched so severely that he had to
go to the Mayo Clinic for
treatment."
"Jack used to bowl along the
highways at a dizzy clip, but he has
slowed down since the car skidded on
an icy Colorado road several years
ago and turned over. . 'The road
crew that found his Herculean body
stuffed under the dashboard tele-phoned
for a tow car and understand-ably
reported that two men had been hurt.
Jack never really recovered from
this violent impact, and has already
visited the Mayo Clinic four times
for treatments on his wrenched back.
"I suppose it was quite an event
when I showed up in Rochester," he
admits modestly. "They had to put
two dia-thermy tables together and
use two ex-amination booths. They
had a staff meeting for me, and a
seminar with all the
endocrinologists. If nothing else,
the world will remember me as the
greatest guinea pig the Mayos ever
had."
One of the ablest merchandising
specialists in the wine business.
During the period Jack Earle was
with the Roma Winery it went from
being a small provider of bulk wine
to the largest wine seller in the
country.
"To promote the biggest winery in
the world Roma hired the biggest man
in the world, Jack Earle."
"Constantly visited crippled
children's wards and hospitals in
the San Francisco area where he told
original stories he created about
boys and girls who had giants for
friends."
Broadcast original fairy tales over
a west coast radio system.
Wrote a whimsical children's book.
Very artistically talented and
worked in a variety of mediums
including painting, sculpture,
photography, poetry, storytelling,
and played the saxophone, piano and
sang.
Jack was published in a book called
The Long Shadows.
"He has taken prize-winning
photographs, usually of strong but
sad human faces."
Fixture in San Francisco which was
the closest place to home he had.
"Here, [in San Francisco] once a
year, he puts on white whiskers and
a red coat to act as a giant Santa
Clausin orphanages or hospitals for
children. Dogs and children have a
curious warm affinity for him, and
hundreds of youngsters in the San
Francisco area have learned to play
the "Jack Earle story game," a
pantomime in which his windmill arms
and hands magically turn into
enchanting birds, fish, trees, river
and hills. It is in San Francisco,
too, that he has the only chair in
the United States large enough to
hold him comfortably. It was made
for him by his company, and in it he
has spent many a spare hour creating
advertising ideas or painting water
colors and oils, which he always
gives away. On weekends he visits
Harry Serlis, the com-pany
vice-president, or plays chess with
Ken Pearson, his oldest friend and
advertising manager for the firm."
Roma Wine Company had headquarters
in San Francisco.
Jack spent about two months a year
in San Francisco.
"While there [in San Francisco] he
occupies a huge room in the Palace
Hotel and sleeps in a
nine-by-six-foot bed which has what
must be the largest sheets in the
world. Jack's few personal
possessions are also stored there-a
shotgun with a stock as big as a
canoe paddle, special coat hangers
big enough for two average suits,
fishing rods only slightly smaller
than a flagpole, extra custom-made
belts and suspenders and other odds
and ends, mostly odds. Jack also
garages his trick car in San
Francisco, and uses it on his
Pacific Coast routes. The machine
was altered for him by a Bakersfield
mechanic and is probably the only
expensive car in San Francisco
without theft insurance. No one
else, with the possible exception of
another giant, can drive it."
Only met one person taller than him
in his whole life 'Robert Wadlow of
Alton, Illionis who stood 8 feet 9
and one-half inches. "Wadlow was
then almost nine feet tall, and Jack
was so flabbergasted to find himself
looking up instead of down that his
mind went blank and the hateful
question popped out automatically.
"Hey, Bob," he blurted, "how's the
weather up there?" Wadlow took it
gracefully, and Jack says it taught
him a lesson. "People still ask me
about the weather up here," he says,
"but I don't really mind it any
more. I can even shoot back an
answer: hot air at the summit,
somewhat cooler in the foothills."
Jack was also reported to be an
excellent skeet shooter, skilled
chess player, a game fish angler of
note in Florida, and an avid reader.
22-size shoes and 18-size gloves.
On November 4, 1950 the Saturday
Evening Post ran an article titled
Private Life of a Giant.
"No one ever makes him wait for a
seat in a restaurant, for example,
and elsewhere crowds open up like
the Red Sea when he is coming
through. Businessmen who meet Jack
never forget him or his name, and
when he conducts a sales meeting
there are no chair squirmers or
wandering minds. "No secretary ever
tells me the boss is in conference,"
he chuckles."
"The average man," he says with wry
humor, "wants to be different. I, on
the other hand, have spent the past
ten years trying to be an average
man."
"He is drawn restlessly to the
seashore, and most of his paintings
have surf and sand."
Jack's nephew Andrew does not
believe Jake ever had a great love
other than his family, did not marry
and had no children.
He says himself, "There are thoughts
I had as a boy that I still haven't
escaped. I remember the grown people
laughing at me. But I don't epect
the world to be made over just for
me. If I had a chance now to become
a man of average size, I don't think
I'd take it. And when I feel low I
can go to my room and lock the door,
and I can read or paint or write.""
Jack died of kidney failure on July
18, 1952 at the Hotel Dieu Hospital
and is buried in Texas. He was 46
years old.
Jacob Erlich was very quietly
spoken, mild mannered, warm,
supportive kind and gentle.
Sensitive and artistic, a gentle
giant, "his large eyes peered shyly
at you through a huge pair of
spectacles." An exceptional athlete,
remarkably intelligent, a loving
family person, an extraordinary
human being.
A poem by Jack Earle:
Shadowy mists
Swirl and steal
Dawn the cornices
Of my mind,
Quietly at first
Then faster and faster,
Into the deep hiding places
Of my terror
They penetrate,
My steps quicken . . .
And I flee in fear
From the pursuing shadows.
Click here to read more:
Bob Danziger - Music, Energy,
Invention, and A Funny Thing
Happened on the Way to Energy
Independence
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