Behind Your Mask

After first seeing the film "The Elephant Man," I was moved to write a song for Joseph (who was called "John" in the film and Broadway play of the same name.) I was haunted by the idea of a living, suffering being with a gentle soul and longing for human contact, forced to wear a concealing mask whenever he was in public. You might say he spent his life behind a mask, until Frederick Treves brought him to the London Hospital and introduced him to society.

Even then, Joseph could only go outside at night, concealed in his iconic hat, mask and cloak. When he went to Drury Lane Theater, he needed to be shielded from the public gaze. That required elaborate arrangements --smuggling him into the theater by the royal entrance and seating him in a private box behind three nurses in evening dress.

Visits to the countryside required more elaborate preparation. Joseph was conveyed in a cab with drawn blinds to a second-class railway car on a separate siding from the main train. He boarded there and then the car was coupled to the rear of the train for his journey to Northamptonshire, for a wonderful holiday on a private estate owned by Lady Louisa Knightley. Only then could he roam freely in the woods by daylight, savoring the fresh breeze and warm sunlight, the sights and sounds of animals and brooks. He wrote excited letters to Treves and other friends, pressing flowers and leaves between the pages. Those three extended holidays gave him a taste of freedom the rest of us take for granted.

In my work at an elder home, I am reminded of Joseph. The residents, some of whom are unsightly and frozen in wheelchairs, don't wear actual masks, but their mental state keeps them confused and foggy most of the time. They are like living statues. Yet if you sit face to face, touch their hands and speak their names, they respond, often quite eloquently. As with Joseph, people underestimate how much these elders understand, think, and feel. I wish I could spend hours with each one of them as Treves did with Joseph, drawing them out and encouraging them to express their thoughts, but the busy schedule only allows for a few brief moments with each person.

A few years back, the celebrated neurologist, Oliver Sacks, wrote a book which was made into a film, called "Awakenings," about his patients with equine encephalopathy - many of them had spent decades in a frozen trance. The use of L-dopa seemed to miraculously bring them back "to life," but they were convinced it was still the roaring twenties. People emerged as individuals with passions and memories - for a short time anyway. The drug had mixed success and some had to be taken off it. But the point of the film and this long blog is to reflect on how many people live behind some kind of mask, real or metaphorical. It only takes the human touch and a moment of contact to awaken them.

BEHIND YOUR MASK (for Joseph Merrick)

I saw a photograph of you the other day

Far beyond my strangest dreams

A sidehow of the age, a showpiece on an English stage

where horror mixed with love like a bitter wine.

Behind your mask you were a dreamer

A suffering heart

Behind your mask, you had the courage to be a man

And I wish I could have known you

I wish that I could have seen behind your mask

where you lived and dreamed.

I heard the story of your life the other day

Far beyond my strangest dreams.

Building a cathedral in your room, lonely man

Living with your poetry and portraits of fine ladies

You longed to be the hero of their hearts

Behind your mask, you were a dreamer.

M Siu Wai Stroshane c 1982

Remembering Joseph's Last Day

April 11, 1890 122 years ago.

Joseph lingered late in bed. Some days he didn't have the strength to get up until noon.

At approximately 9:00 a.m, Sister Emma Ireland, his longtime nurse, came to attend to his needs. She spoke to him and left him settled and comfortable, but didn't notice anything unusual.

At 1:30 p.m., a ward maid brought Joseph his lunch for him to eat in his own time.
She was the last person to see Joseph Merrick alive.

At 3:00, Mr. Ashe, one of the young house doctors, stopped by to check on Joseph. He found Merrick lying across the bed and saw at once that he was lifeless. Shaken by the discovery, he left without disturbing the body, and fetched the senior attending doctor, Mr. Hodges.

They examined Joseph and determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation, probably due to the weight of his head pressing on his windpipe.
An inquest held three days later concluded that his sudden death was accidental, caused by asphyxiation.

Was Joseph's death accidental? Or did he choose to end the life he had sustained for 27 heroic years? In his last book, 'The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences,"
Frederick Treves writes that Joseph lay flat deliberately, trying to "sleep like normal people" rather than in his usual sleeping position, sitting up against a pile of pillows.

Recent research by forensic anthropologist Rose Drew and orthopedic surgeon Alex Vaccaro concludes that Joseph's death was accidental. The damage to his spine was in the C-1 and C-2 vertebrae.

We can only hope the end was quick and painless, and that Joseph is now resting in peace.

The Elephant Man: A Study in Human Dignity

This is a review of the classic work by psychologist Ashley Montagu, who maintained that Joseph Merrick was able to love others because he himself had received enough maternal love.

An entire generation has grown up knowing Joseph's story, thanks to the semi-fictional 1980 film that was based on this book and Frederick Treves's memoirs. It's a powerful testament to Merrick's legacy of dignity and courage that he continues to move us. Treves's memorable account of Merrick, and this classic work both show us Merrick's humanity and remarkable ability to live without bitterness or hatred towards his fellow human beings.

But Frederick Treves did have a definite bias against Mary Jane Merrick, Joseph's mother. Though Treves knew she did not abandon Joseph at an early age, he accuses her of putting her son in a workhouse. Even though Joseph carried around a cherished portrait of his mother and spoke of her with unfailing love, Treves dismissed his stories as wishful fantasy.. In fact, he portrayed the highly intelligent young man in 19th century sentimental terms such as a "primitive elemental being" and "amiable as a happy woman." Treves took considerable literary license with his story. The known facts about Joseph Carey Merrick contradict the memoirs.

Dr. Montagu is right in asserting that because of the early nurturing Joseph received from Mary Jane Merrick, he was able to 'love, work and play." This shows in Joseph's generous sharing of his handmade gifts - models, baskets and poems. Montagu's case for the power of early maternal nurturing remains as solid as ever. The main flaw --which isn't really his fault - is that a lot of information on Joseph's life has become outdated since this book was first published. As others mention, the best work so far is "The True History of the Elephant Man," but there is a need for an even newer biography. Perhaps there will be one for the 21st century.

Joseph's Last Easter

Though we're still a few weeks away from Holy Week, I find myself reflecting on Joseph's last days. His condition was rapidly deteriorating, and it often left him so weak he stayed in bed until noon. Treves watched helplessly and tried to make him comfortable. There was little else he could do.

Yet Joseph maintained a core of spiritual strength, and attended the hospital's weekly Sunday services, thanks to the ingenuity of the chaplain, Reverend Tristram Valentine. To avoid alarming other patients or staff, Joseph was allowed to sit unseen in the vestry where he could take communion and hear the service. Perhaps in gratitude, he gave Reverend Valentine one of his visiting cards. They show the only known image of Joseph seated and wearing a three-piece suit specially tailored to his unusual form.

Joseph died on Friday, April 11, 1890., five days after attending not one but two Easter morning services. The Easter season with its story of Jesus's death and resurrection, must have been of great comfort to Joseph. We can only hope his end was peaceful..

Unsung Heroes: Joseph's Caregivers at the London Hospital

There’s no doubt that Treves acted out of compassion in his aim to provide shelter for a fellow human being in need. But Joseph would never have survived without the devoted care of his nurses and hospital staff. As the Head Matron declares in the film, “I bathed him, I fed him, I cleaned up after him, and I see that my nurses do the same.” This is exactly right.

For four years, the nurses, maids, and porters who volunteered to care for Joseph Merrick had to go out of their way to reach him. Armed with bath supplies, linens, medicines and meal trays, they made the trek several times a day up many flights to the Isolation Ward, and later to his home in the remote wing of Bedstead Square. They are truly the unsung heroes of Joseph’s last years.

Could I Create Myself Anew...

...I would not fail in pleasing you." That line comes from a poem by Isaac Watts called "False Greatness." Joseph often quoted from part of it to sign his letters, perhaps as an assertion of who he felt himself to be. The lines he used run as follows:

"Tis true my form is something odd
But blaming me is blaming God.
Could I create myself anew
I would not fail in pleasing you.

Were I to reach from pole to pole
Or grasp the ocean with a span
I would be measured by the soul
The mind's the standard of the man.

On Youtube, a graphic artist has posted an extraordinary forensic reconstruction of how Joseph might have looked sans Proteus deformities. Go to Youtube and type in "Reviving the Elephant Man." It's a stunning animation that slowly strips away the excess skin and bone from a familiar clinical photo of Joseph and reveals a slim, Elvis-like young man, dark and handsome with a contemplative gaze. Not only are the tumors and lesions excised before our eyes, the painful scoliosis of the spine is gradually straightened, the right arm becomes a slender, lean counterpart to the left, with a small taut hand that matches the left. The abdomen becomes muscular and tight, the envy of any young bodybuilder.
The skin is smoothed out, the brow lowered, the giant skull slowly reduced to normal proportions, and the distorted lips become a gentle mouth. What would his first words to us be?

Joseph Merrick & Leila Maturin

If you were on your way down a busy street and saw the famous, almost iconic figure of the Elephant Man in his sweeping black cloak, hat and concealing mask, how would you react?
Would you:

a) cringe and look away
b) stare
c) hurry away

I think we might do all three if caught off guard. Joseph's disfigurements, due to a rare disorder called Proteus syndrome, were so severe that some women would actually faint at the sight of him (although we're talking Victorian times and corsets so tight they could hardly breathe. Fainting was fashionable.) Someone who looks as strange as the little Elephant Man did would make us all uncomfortable, perhaps even queasy.

Now imagine that a friend of yours asks you to meet his friend named Joseph, who has lived a life of loneliness, shunned by most of mankind and convinced he's a monster. Joseph is gentle, softspoken, loves to read poetry, and speaks about all kinds of interesting things. All you would have to do is shake his hand, smile, and say hello. Your friend says this will make an enormous difference in the young man's perception of himself.

So you muster your courage and go to Joseph's small basement apartment because you want to do your friend a favor. At the first sight of Joseph, you might gasp, avert your eyes or suddenly feel dizzy. He really does look awful. But then you look into his eyes and see a living, suffering human being. You realize he is terrified of what you're going to do or say.

You discover it's not as hard as you thought to take his hand and say "I'm pleased to meet you." And you mean it, because you can see the pain in his expressive brown eyes and you want to let him know you care.

That's exactly what a young woman named Leila Maturin did when Frederick Treves asked her to meet Joseph Merrick. Her warm smile and friendly greeting shocked him so much he dissolved into tears, unable to believe a woman had just touched his hand and looked into his eyes without screaming.

If we come face to face with someone whose appearance frightens us, whose disability embarrasses us, think of Leila Maturin's simple act. Her smile changed Merrick's life. After that day, he began to see himself as human, as someone who was worth knowing. At the end of his short life, he was surrounded by people who had discovered how lovable he was behind that strange mask.

If we take the time to see behind each other's masks, we might find the same.

John Thomas Merrick: The Missing Merrick Child

Last summer, while Hurricane Irene raged up the East Coast of the US, work was canceled, and I had unexpected free time.  As always, I enjoy probing every aspect of Joseph's story I can find, and by sheer luck happened upon this gem while reading a Merrick family tree.

There was a FOURTH Merrick child, never mentioned in any of Joseph's biographies before. He was born two years after Joseph, on April 21, 1864, and named John Thomas Merrick. So there was indeed a "John" Merrick (and actually, the name is quite common in the Merrick family, as is "Joseph.") Alas, this little John only survived for three months, succumbing to smallpox in July of 1864. He was buried on July 21 in Welford Road Cemetery in Leicester.

This is significant in Joseph's family history. It means that Mary Jane was pregnant with a second child at around the time Joseph began to show the first sign of his disorder, at around twenty months. A small lump appeared beneath his upper lip on the right side, and began to grow firm, eventually pushing his lip upwards and almost inside out. This change in Joseph's face is probably what caused Mary Jane to think of her frightening encounter with a circus elephant when she was six months pregnant with him. Did she worry that her new baby would suffer the same fate, even without an encounter with an elephant?

It must have been a time of great worry and apprehension, praying that the new child would be healthy. It's quite possible that John Thomas was born normal, so that his death only three months later was all the more heartbreaking.  When William Arthur was born two years later, in 1866, the story was repeated, exceptWilliam survived for five years before dying of scarlet fever. Again, the Merricks' hopes for a healthy son were dashed. I wouldn't be surprised if Rockley Merrick's poor attitude towards Joseph grew with each disappointment and loss. Theirlast child, Marion Eliza, was born with a disability, "crippled" in their terms, and survived to the age of twenty-three before succumbing to myelitis.

A shadow of tragedy hung over the family, and it greatly weakened Mary Jane's health. She died on May 19th, 1873 at only thirty-six (though it was NOT on her birthday as is often stated.)

I wonder how Joseph felt when Treves insisted on calling him 'John?" Did it reawaken memories of the lost little brother who came and went before Joseph's second birthday? He would have been too young to remember him, but no doubt he heard of him, and perhaps Mary Jane went to lay flowers at the grave when she could.
Rest in peace, little John Thomas, restored to your family's story once again.

JOSEPH'S CHRISTMAS TIME AT THE HOSPITAL

I was wondering, do we know anything at all about Joseph's Christmas experience(s) at the Hospital?  Christmas was celebrated  in 19th century hospitals, just as it is today - with decorations, carols, and chapel services.

"Words For Elephant Man": poetry by Kenneth Sherman

“Words For Elephant Man” by Kenneth Sherman: a review

“Hauntingly beautiful!”

Although these words are overused, they really apply to this collection of poems. This is a journey through Joseph's short, painful life, told in the first-person with dark wit, longing and keen observations of the 19th-century conditions around him.


Unsentimental yet deeply moving, "Words For Elephant Man" take us into Merrick's world of fairgrounds, the grim workhouse from which he was desperate to escape, the society ladies who awakened his awareness as a man, and Frederick Treves, the doctor who secured for him a permanent home at the London Hospital.

Unlike the movie and the play, these poems are historically accurate, being based on the superbly- researched biography, "The True History of the Elephant Man (Howell & Ford, 1980.)

A real tour de force for anyone who admires Joseph Merrick, as well as for readers new to his story, "Words For Elephant Man" should be on every library shelf. Highly recommended for all!

The Real Nurse Ireland

In the "Elephant Man" movie, Treves has painstakingly rescued "John" Merrick from his cruel owner, Bytes, and furtively admitted him to the hospital, tucking him away in an attic isolation ward for food, care and rest. The sharp-eyed hospital governor spots him carrying Merrick's breakfast and summons him away for questioning just as a student nurse happens by. Treves hands her the bowl of porridge and gently reassures her, "Don't worry, he won't hurt you." It's hardly sufficient preparation for Merrick's shocking appearance. At the sight of him, she screams, drops the bowl and runs away, sobbing. This was partly based on Treves' memoirs but he did not name the nurse. In the film, her name is Nora Ireland.

As it turns out, Joseph did have a Nurse Ireland taking care of him, but her real name was Emma Gertrude. She was a 29 year old nursing student the day he was admitted to the London Hospital after being rescued from the train station, broken and starving. From the Royal London Archives, archivist Jonathan Evans gives us this fascinating story about her.

Notice the interesting dates in her life:
Emma Gertrude Ireland (1857 – 1898), has a poignant life story. She entered the London Hospital School of Nursing in March 1886 at the age of 29, having previously worked at St. Pancras Infirmary. She became Sister in Blizard Ward [then a surgical ward at The London] in 1888 .

Emma had been on duty in Cotton ward when Joseph Merrick was first admitted to the London in 1886.
Sshe was the last nurse to see Joseph Merrick alive on the morning of Friday April 11th, 1890.

Emma Ireland knew Joseph from his first day at the LH to his last. Surely she must have learned his speech well and had interesting conversations with him, perhaps confiding her dreams of serving humanity in other places. Three months after Joseph's death, she left the London Hospital and traveled to Hong Kong to care for plague victims. She herself died of the plague in 1898. Here is the notice in the press about her:

1898 Plague in Hong Kong—Two nursing sisters have died from the plague in Hong Kong. A plague patient in delirium coughed in the face of Miss Elizabeth Frances Higgin (Sister Frances) on April 2oth; on the 25th she became ill, and was found suffering from bubonic plague, the worst form of the disease. She died on April 29th. The sister who attended her, Miss Emma Gertrude Ireland (Sister Gertrude), was admitted to the hospital May 2d. The next morning the typical bacilli were found; she died May 5th. Both these sisters served through the plague epidemic of 1894.

Among other British army, navy, and other civilians, the two women were awarded the Hong Kong Plague medal, the highest army medal awarded to civilians. One side was an allegorical scene of a nurse and soldier tending a Chinese man lying on a bed supported by two sawhorses. There is a pail of whitewash between the soldier’s legs. Death flies above the victim, poised to thrust his fatal blow. The Chinese characters from Hong Kong are present on the right side and the date “1894” is present at the bottom.

She was truly a devoted nurse, who gave her life to serving humanity

"The Elephant Man"play review

For a moment, Paradise!"
That's the phrase spoken by one of the main characters in the play's most tender and heartrending scene. This is the tragic story of Joseph Merrick (called "John" Merrick here) by award-winning playwright Bernard Pomerance.

A prominent young surgeon (Frederick Treves) comes across the Elephant Man earning a living in the sideshows (which Joseph did fairly successfully in real life until he was robbed and abandoned by a callous manager. This is shown in the play as well.)  Treves presents Merrick to his fellow physicians in a lecture scene, again based on a real event.
As Treves displays slides of Joseph, a normal actor begins to twist and contort himself in an approximation of Merrick, and remains that way through the rest of the play. The audience is asked to suspend belief and perceive the actor  as Merrick, based on the other characters' horrified response to him. It's not always easy to keep that in mind, but Pomerance makes the point that beneath his deformities, Joseph was a human being like the rest of us, with normal feelings, dreams and desires.

At the center of the play is Treves' relationship with Merrick as he changes from a somewhat overbearing protector and savior of the impoverished young man, to a self-doubting, spiritually adrift scientist in an age that seems bent on self-destruction. Merrick, on the other hand, believes steadfastly in God and constructs a beautiful church as a symbol of his faith. The cynical Treves sees it only as a futile groping towards nothingness.

The real warmth of the play takes place in the fictional friendship between an actress, Mrs. Kendal, and Joseph. Treves has asked her to befriend him, which she does. Alas, she does, too successfully, leading to the moment of forbidden "paradise." What happens after that must be experienced firsthand.  Every month the play is being performed somewhere in the world. Don't miss a chance to see it if it comes your way!

Joseph Merrick & Christmas

Now that we're into the Christmas season, I'm reminded of what Christmas meant to Joseph throughout his life.

During his childhood, while his mother was still alive, his family might have been able to enjoy a modest Christmas. His father worked two jobs and his mother ran the family haberdashery as well as managed the household of three children, but perhaps they had enough for small gifts for the children.

After Mary Jane died, though, the family fell on hard times. Rockley Merrick remarried a widow named Emma Antill. She had two daughters of her own and was cruel to young Joseph when he was unable to find work. His father made him hawk haberdashery goods, but beat him if he didn't meet his quota. Finally Joseph fled to his uncle's house, where he stayed for two years.

Joseph continued hawk his father's goods, but his appearance drew unwanted crowds of jeering followers, and finally the city refused to renew his hawker's license. Unable to find work, Joseph resorted to admitting himself to  the Leicester Union Workhouse. It was just past Christmas and a terribly sad time to part from loving relatives. Charles must have been heartsick to let Joseph go, but he too had no choice - with a growing family, he could no longer support Joseph.

The workhouse was a grim place of long grueling hours, filthy living conditions, and poor nutrition. At Christmas the inmates were served plum pudding and extra rations of gristly meat, but there was very little holiday joy.

Joseph lived there for four long years. He remained bitter about that terrible time for the rest of his life. Going on the road to perform as the Elephant Man came as a welcome escape and a lucrative way to pay his way in the world. Perhaps his managers and fellow performers enjoyed Christmas dinners and gifts in their small close-knit community.

Fast forward to 1886 and the London Hospital, where the London public, generous patrons, and the hospital committee had guaranteed the Elephant Man a home for life. Settled in comfortable rooms, Joseph was visited by Princess Alexandra, who later sent him not one but THREE Christmas cards, each with a personal message. Gifts poured in from friends, hospital staff, and the public. The hospital always did a bang-up celebration, with the doctors serving a holiday feast and putting on a musical show for the patients. Santa brought presents for the children, and nurses decorated the wards and trooped around singing carols. Even the porters and ward maids were treated to a dance and a midnight supper.

One  year, Joseph was taken to see a Christmas pantomime, "Puss in Boots." To say he was thrilled is an understatement. Treves tells us he believed in the story as if it were real, and talked about it for weeks afterwards.

Then there was the famous dressing bag (or case)  so beautifully depicted in the film. At Joseph's request, Treves bought him a dressing case equipped with elegant fittings-- a silver-backed hairbrush, toothbrush, comb, razor, cigarette case and mirror. Treves removed the mirror and filled the cigarette case with cigarettes so Joseph could pretend to smoke them. Though he couldn't actually use a single item in reality, he spent hours imagining himself as a dashing young Don Juan preparing for an evening out with the ladies.

In his last years,, Joseph must have often given thanks to God for bringing him safely into harbor among loving friends to celebrate Jesus' birth. The story of the baby born to a young woman with the same name as his mother and a humble carpenter, also named Joseph, must have been a powerful comfort and inspiration to him. It was the message of God's love for even the poorest people on earth, as he himself once had been.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, ONE AND ALL!