Please read 'Very Special People' by Frederick Drimmer
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Elephant Man
imbluzclooby — 10 years ago(November 25, 2015 09:15 PM)
For those of you who are fascinated and intrigued by human interest stories, this book that was published on paperback in the 70's features an assortment of so called 'freaks' (side show people from carnivals) including the Bearded woman, Three legged man, Siamese twins, The armless Violinist, Caterpillar Man, Tallest Man, Three Breasted Woman, Skeleton man, Shortest twins, fattest man and, of course The Elephant man - Mr. Joseph Merrick.
This book gives sentimental portraits and biographies treating the subjects sentimentally and with the due respect they deserve. Interestingly this book was written before political correctness became mainstream, yet still manages to show the very human and tender side of these people. In fact, the book is quite deceiving, because initially it will appeal to voyeurs who have a morbid and oddball curiosity. But the people of what this book is about are hardly oddballs, because they displayed gifts and contributions to society that many normal people fail to accomplish. It's really a neat book to sit through if you get a chance to find a print.
My brother got this for $1.95 at a book store. I also remember Joseph Merrick being featured after i remember having seen one of his photographs later. It took a while for me to realize this until I put the two together.