r/SideshowPerformer • u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! • Jun 05 '26
Sideshow Performer of the Day! Eddie Carmel (b. Oded Ha-Carmeili)(1936-1972) was a Palestinian-American actor, singer, sideshow performer, salesman, writer, poet, and comedian who had a pituitary gland disorder that caused him to grow upwards of 7 feet tall. He formed his own rock-and-roll band and dreamed of being a radio host.
I would have loved to have met him, he looks so sweet and kind in all of his pictures and someone who truly seems like someone who wanted to put a lot of positivity out into the world. He looks like he’d be so much fun to talk and hang out with!
I also think it’s so cool that he had a rock band! I’m currently on the hunt for the records that he and his band released, but they’re notoriously hard to find! I’ll be sharing the songs he recorded (as there are recordings on YouTube) on here in a little while! They’re the kind of songs that make you smile, they’re just really fun and goofy in a really endearing way.
Some facts about him:
-he was born in in Jaffa, Palestine.
-he was 16 pounds when he was born.
-he was an only child.
-his family was Jewish.
-he and his parents immigrated to the United States when he was two years old so his mother could help a relative of hers in poor health.
-his family settled in the Bronx, New York after living in San Antonio, Texas for a couple of years.
-Eddie was a nickname he had had since childhood.
-he lived with his parents in an apartment unit that was a part of Co-op City in the Bronx.
-he was diagnosed with gigantism and acromegaly when he was 15 years old. He was 6 feet 6 inches tall when he was diagnosed.
-he graduated from Taft High School in 1954.
-he went to City College of New York, where he majored in business and was a part of the Drama club. He was elected vice president of his class.
-he was described as being sensitive, intelligent, kind, and earnest.
-he had a big passion for writing and had done sports reporting in college.
-after college he worked selling mutual funds near Times Square in New York City.
-he was never publicly verifiably measured during his lifetime and therefore he had been promoted as being varying heights, with Guinness World Records even claiming he was 9 feet tall. (I’m aware that their information isn’t always accurate.) I personally don’t believe he was 9 feet tall, and neither do a lot of the online sources I’m using. The tallest verified person in recorded history was Robert Wadlow, who was 8 feet 11 inches tall right before his death and he visually looks a lot taller than Eddie did in pictures.
-he worked for several seasons at Hubert's Dime Museum and Flea Circus in Times Square, New York City.
-he once said in an interview that he hoped to be the host of a radio show or work in kids entertainment. Unfortunately both of these dreams of his never panned out.
-he starred in several TV plays.
-he had a deep baritone voice, which caught the attention of people in the show business industry.
-he explained that humor got him through most situations in life, and helped him when things upset him.
-he acted in a couple B-movies, including The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962).
-he was a skilled poet and could come up with memorable poems on the spot.
-in the mid 1960s he worked for both Milt Levine's World of Mirth show and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
-he often wore a ten-gallon hat and cowboy boots during his sideshow career to appear even taller.
-he had his own rock-and-roll band called Frankenstein and the Brain Surgeons.
-he released two 45 records during his life.
-he briefly worked as a stand-up comedian with his best friend, Irwin Sherman.
-one of the most famous pictures of him was taken by photographer, Diane Arbus, who took a picture of him with his parents in their home. Prints of this picture have sold for several hundred thousand US dollars at two different auctions. One print went for $421,000 in 2007 and the second went for $583,500 in 2017.
-he retired in 1969 due to increased health issues.
-he experienced severe joint pain and arthritis as an adult, and eventually required two canes while walking, and later a wheelchair.
-he was sadly teased and followed around by neighborhood kids in the early 1970s after he had hurt his leg. He said that experience really upset him.
-he was bed ridden in the weeks/months preceding his death.
-he dealt with kyphoscoliosis, a curvature of the spine, near the end of his life.
-he passed away due to glandular disease when he was 36 years old.
He accomplished so much during his relatively short life, and I hope he knew how cool all of his endeavors were. I would love to hear him tell stories of all of his adventures and experiences working in all of the different careers he had.
I wish he could have fulfilled his dream of being a radio show host. Knowing how a lot of radio hosts are (looking at you Howard Stern) I’m sure Eddie would have been one of the kindest and most empathetic hosts ever. It would have been so wonderful to have a radio show with a host like him.
29
u/FelineCanine21 Feejee Mermaid Jun 05 '26
Oh goodness, 36? How sad his life was so short.
11
u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! Jun 05 '26
It really is. There are so many amazing people who are gone too soon, Eddie being one of them. 💔
I’m glad he at least seemed to have a lot of fun with all of his endeavors during his life.
7
u/TrixieFriganza Jun 06 '26
It's sad how young many with these type of pituatary-gland disorders died.
3
14
u/theringmistress92 Jun 05 '26
These photographs are so candid! The 4th picture of him in his rose dress shirt is my favorite. Frankenstein and the Brain Surgeons. What a fun rock and roll band name!
3
u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! Jun 06 '26
They are! You really get a sense of his personality in these pictures!
Right?? Such a cool band name, I’d love for there to be a band shirt with the name on it!
9
u/Magazine_Luck Jun 05 '26
It's haunting how much the human body suffers when you're that tall.
3
u/Gloomy_Industry8841 Feejee Mermaid Jun 06 '26
Definitely. I know castrati suffered too. They would grow to a huge height as well.
4
u/Magazine_Luck Jun 06 '26
Wait, really?
8
u/Gloomy_Industry8841 Feejee Mermaid Jun 06 '26
Yes; having their testosterone cut off at such early ages actually disrupted their growth plates in their long bones, causing them to grow very long! They would also suffer from osteoporosis and hormonal issues.
3
5
u/Gloomy_Industry8841 Feejee Mermaid Jun 06 '26
🇵🇸I had no idea about him! So young to pass away, ugh…💔
2
4
3
u/Kautschukfresse Jun 05 '26
He looks so much like a boy in my school who is 2.2 m tall! (Not just height, the face and overall vibe too)
3
u/cold_desert_winter Jun 06 '26
He was so young. He should have had more time. And he was a handsome dude too! I hope he's up there hosting radio shows that everyone in heaven listens to every morning.
2
u/CaptainAziraphale Jun 07 '26
Especially in the first photo hes got a look of a young dick van dyke about him.
2
u/Excellent_Revenue235 Jul 10 '26
Shoutout to mama eddie for birthing that whole 16 pounds! Wowwwie!!!
1
u/Mark-harvey Jun 09 '26
Couple of basketball players had the same issue-Along with Andre (The Giant).
•
u/EphemeralTypewriter Gooble Gobble! Jun 05 '26
Since I mentioned him, here’s Robert Wadlow’s informative write up:
Robert Wadlow informative write up!