On this day in 1890, the man with severe deformities who was exhibited as a human curiosity and known as The Elephant Man, Joseph Carey Merrick died in The London Hospital (now known as the Royal London Hospital) at the age of 27. The exact cause of Merrick’s deformities is unclear. It is thought that Merrick suffered from either neurofibromatosis type I or Proteus syndrome or perhaps both. He was befriended by Dr. Frederick Treves who tried to diagnose and treat Merrick’s condition and saw to it that Merrick could stay at The London Hospital.
The Final Footprint – Merrick donated his body to science. His skeleton was mounted and remains in the pathology collection at the Royal London Hospital. Merrick’s life story became the basis of a Tony Award-winning play and an Oscar nominated movie. The play, The Elephant Man (1979), by playwright Bernard Pomerance, featured Philip Anglim, and later David Bowie as Merrick. The film, The Elephant Man (1980), directed by David Lynch, featured John Hurt as Merrick and Anthony Hopkins as Frederick Treves.
#RIP #OTD in 1977 poet (“Les feuilles mortes”, “La grasse matinée”, “Les bruits de la nuit”, “Chasse à l’enfant”), screenwriter (Les Enfants du Paradis) Jacques Prévert died of lung cancer in Omonville-la-Petite, France aged 77. Cimetiere d’Omonville la Petite
#RIP #OTD in 1983 actress (Flying Down to Rio, Madame Du Barry, María Candelaria), dancer and singer Dolores del Río died from liver failure at the age of 78, in Newport Beach, California. Cremated remains interred Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres, at the Panteón de Dolores, Mexico City
#RIP #OTD in 1987 novelist (Tobacco Road, God’s Little Acre), short story writer, Erskine Caldwell died of emphysema and lung cancer in Paradise Valley, Arizona, aged 83. Scenic Hills Memorial Park, Ashland, Oregon
#RIP #OTD in 1987 chemist, partisan, writer (If This Is a Man, The Periodic Table), Jewish Holocaust survivor, Primo Levi died from injuries sustained in a fall from his third-story apartment landing in Turin, aged 67. Cimitero Monumentale di Torino, Turin
#RIP #OTD in 2007 writer (Slaughterhouse-Five) Kurt Vonnegut died in Manhattan as a result of brain injuries incurred from a fall at his brownstone home, aged 84. Final footprint details not known
On this day in 2013, Native American and America’s first major prima ballerina Maria Tallchief died in Chicago at the age of 88. Born Elizabeth Marie “Betty” Tall Chief (Osage family name: Ki He Kah Stah Tsa) on January 24, 1925 in Fairfax, Oklahoma.
Almost from birth, Tall Chief was involved in dance, starting formal lessons at age three. When she was eight, her family relocated from Fairfax to Los Angeles, California, to advance the careers of her and her younger sister, Marjorie.
At age 17, she moved to New York City in search of a spot with a major ballet company, and, at the urging of her superiors, took the name Maria Tallchief. She spent the next five years with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where she met legendary choreographer George Balanchine. When Balanchine co-founded what would become the New York City Ballet in 1946, Tallchief became the company’s first star.
The combination of Balanchine’s difficult choreography and Tallchief’s passionate dancing revolutionized the ballet. Her 1949 role in The Firebird catapulted Tallchief to the top of the ballet world, establishing her as a prima ballerina. Her role as the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker transformed the ballet from obscure to America’s most popular.
She traveled the world, becoming the first American to perform in Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater. She made regular appearances on American TV before she retired in 1966. After retiring from dance, Tallchief was active in promoting ballet in Chicago. She served as director of ballet for the Lyric Opera of Chicago for most of the 1970s, and debuted the Chicago City Ballet in 1981.
Tall Chief was honored by the people of Oklahoma with multiple statues and an honorific day. She was inducted in the National Women’s Hall of Fame and received a National Medal of Arts. In 1996, Tallchief received a Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievements. Her life has been the subject of multiple documentaries and biographies.
with Erik Bruhn in 1961.
as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Nicholas Magallanes as her cavalier The Nutcracker (1954).
in a 1955 promotion for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
on the front cover of Dance Magazine in 1954.
During her first year at the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo Tallchief dated Alexander “Sasha” Goudevitch, the darling of the company. “For both of us it was our first love,” Tallchief recalled. “We saw each other every day and I was convinced it was true love.” Goudevitch moonlighted for extra money, and bought Tallchief an engagement ring. However, in the spring of 1944 he had a sudden change of heart when another girl began to pursue him. “My heart was broken,” she recalled.
After George Balanchine was hired by the Ballet Russe, he was attracted to Tallchief professionally and personally. She, however, was unaware of his attraction: “It never occurred to me that there was anything more than dancing on his mind… It would have been preposterous to think there was anything personal.” Although their relationship became more personal, it was a shock to Tallchief when Balanchine asked her to marry him. During the summer of 1945, he asked her to meet him after a Los Angeles performance. Balanchine opened the car door for her; when she got in he sat in silence for a moment before saying, “Maria, I would like you to become my wife”. “I almost fell out of my seat and was unable to respond,” she recalled. She eventually replied, “But, George, I’m not sure I love you. I feel that I hardly know you.” He answered that it did not matter, and if the marriage only lasted a few years that was all right with him. After a day to think it over, Tallchief accepted his proposal.
While they were engaged, Balanchine made extravagant romantic gestures and treated Tallchief with great affection. “He was obviously trying to convince me [that our marriage] was inevitable,” she wrote. “I didn’t need convincing. I was falling in love.”
Tallchief and Balanchine were married on August 16, 1946, when she was 21 years old and he was 42. Her parents opposed the marriage, and did not attend the ceremony. The couple did not have a traditional honeymoon: “For both of us, work was more important.”
According to Tallchief, “Passion and romance didn’t play a big part in our married life. We saved our emotions for the classroom.” However, she described Balanchine as “a warm, affectionate, loving husband.” Their marriage was annulled in 1952, when both parties were attracted to other people.
In 1952, Tallchief married Elmourza Natirboff, a pilot for a private charter airline. The couple divorced two years later. In 1955, she met Chicago businessman Henry D. (“Buzz”) Paschen Jr. “He was very happy, outgoing, and knew nothing about ballet — very refreshing,” she recalled. The couple married the following June, and honeymooned with a ballet tour of Europe.The couple remained together, through Paschen’s brief imprisonment for tax evasion, until his 2004 death.
The Final Footprint
Tallchief is interred in Fairfax Cemetery in Fairfax.
#RIP #OTD in 2013 comedian, actor (It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), author, television host, artist, Jonathan Winters died of natural causes in Montecito, California, at the age of 87. Cremation
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