On August 27, 1911, a child was to be born to John Eckhart and his wife Emely. The boy was planned to be named Robert. Robert came out of his mother's womb healthy and beautiful. The midwife accepted him - but what a marvel! - the contractions did not stop. Is it a twin brother?
The second child was also born alive. He walked head first, and at first everything seemed normal. Exactly to the waist. Because below the belt there was nothing at all. "Oh my God! It's some kind of broken doll! " the midwife exclaimed.
The broken doll was named John Eckhart Jr. His face was very much like his brother, but his body was not. "Halfboy" - so called him in numerous freakshows where Johnny worked. The question is that this half-boy lived a much more eventful and stormy life than 90% of ordinary inhabitants.
He led an orchestra, played several musical instruments himself, acted in films, drove a car, performed magic tricks, photographed and was one of the most famous freaks of recent years on freakshows - before they were banned.
His disease was called "sacral agenesis" - the entire lower half of the body was underdeveloped. The entire hip part was deformed and crumpled, tiny legs and everything else were pressed into the body somewhere. The amazing thing was that his deformed organs never grew - while the upper half of the body developed in a completely normal way.
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At his peak, Johnny was about 18 inches (45 centimeters) in height and was in excellent health. While all children learned to walk on their own feet, Johnny learned to walk on his own hands in the same way. With his brother, they were inseparable, like many twins.
Both were excellent students at school, Johnny wanted to become a priest. Johnny went to school, by the way, like all children, at the age of 7, before that he was taught at home by his older sister Carolyn: he learned to read at the age of 4.
In 1923 Johnny found his calling. She and her brother attended a performance by illusionist John McEslan, who needed volunteers to perform another stunt. How surprised the magician was when little Johnny ran out onto the stage in his arms! McEslan couldn't miss such a tidbit. He immediately signed with Johnny himself and with his parents a one-year contract for Johnny's performance in the circus. Robert went with Johnny - McEslan taught the boys his art.
A year later, they left McEslan and went under the auspices of another illusionist - a certain John Shisley. By this point, Johnny had shortened Eckhart's surname to Eck and formed his own performance program. He demonstrated a range of power acrobatic stunts, including the one-arm stand that became his trademark.
Eck's career went uphill. He moved to the Ringling Brothers Circus, and then to the famous Barnum & Bailey. In 1931, he performed in Montreal, Canada, and was noticed by a representative from MGM Studios, who asked him to act in films. In 1932, the half-boy played the role of himself in the acclaimed and banned almost all over the world film "Freaks" by Tod Browning.
Browning fell in love with Eck as a brother - he talked a lot with him, listened to his advice on filming, consulted about the psychology of freaks from the show, and so on. Eck tried to be normal in everything. During filming, he fell in love with an actress of Russian origin Olga Baklanova and presented her with gifts. He had no chance, because nature forbade him to be a man. But he fought.
Eck's Hollywood career continued with roles in three Tarzan films starring Johnny Weissmuller: Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), Tarzan Escapes (1936) and Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941). He played in all the films of the bird-man. In 1937, he and his brother performed with the famous illusionist and hypnotist Raja Raboid. Raboyd came up with a number of tricks that exploited Eck's half-heartedness and resemblance to his brother.
Eck had other hobbies as well. In Baltimore, he and his brother founded a small orchestra of 12 musicians. Eck himself played the piano (the pedals were redesigned so that he pressed them with his hand) and conducted (more often than he played, of course). Eck drew a lot. Most of all, he loved to draw women and ships. He also performed a number of self-portraits.
In 1938, with familiar mechanics, he designed the Johnny Eck Special racing car with his own hands, which he sometimes drove in amateur auto races. In the same year, with the help of his hands, he climbed with a large crowd of people on the George Washington Monument (170 meters).
By the end of the 30s, interest in freakshows declined, and a little later they were finally banned in all American states. The brothers were engaged in various circus business - playing machines, children's railways.
In the early 1980s, the film "Freaks" was declassified and shown uncut. He immediately gained cult status, and a new wave of public interest fell on Eck. He was the last living character of this film. True, the public was mainly children who rang at his door only to look at half of the person.
In 1987, the brothers were robbed, and very cruelly. The thieves mocked the unfortunate 76-year-old Eck and his brother for several hours. After this incident, the brothers went into complete seclusion. There is a well-known statement by Eck, dating from around that time: "If I want to see ugly creatures, I'll just look out the window."
Johnny Eck died on January 5, 1991 at the age of 79 from a heart attack in his sleep. On February 25, 1995, Robert followed him. They are buried under one stone in Green Mountain Cemetery, Baltimore, USA. In his native Baltimore, a real Johnny Eck Museum is open, where various things and relics of the "half-boy" are collected.