Typically, there’s only one photo of him, when he weighed about 700 pounds—a full body shot from the side. Typically, once someone gets to weigh around 1000 pounds, they’re bedridden. There is very little information on him that isn’t just repeated from the Guinness book, mainly a) birth and death dates, b) his weight, and c) cause of death. So far as I know, there are no photos of him at his greater weights. Guinness does have this photo on their site, but that looks similar to the other one, just a frontal view.
The questions: How was peak weight calculated? By today’s standards, would it be considered reliable? And is there any record of his having been bedridden from his excessive weight.
Well, they certainly couldn’t use a bathroom scale for him, but there are industrial scales, including those used at truck weigh-stations, that could be calibrated to accurately record his weight.
A calculation of mass might be fairly accurate also, but I am not a scientist and don’t know the variables in a human body. I’m just thinking that a calculation based on the average mass of fatty tissue, since it would surely be dominant given the size of the sample, would not materially skew the result.
I think the “piano case” myth was created by Bobby Reynolds, a West coast showman who ran sideshows displaying freaks, until this was outlawed. He also came up with the spiels "It takes four women to hug 'im and a boxcar to lug 'im!
He’s SO fat that when he dances he shakes like a bowl of your grandma’s jelly on a cold frosty morn!
Sorry no cites but I used to work for the guy.
Is there really any such thing as a piano case? I can see how a piano would need to be crated up for shipping, but I can’t picture a fella showing up at a concert hall carrying a piano case alongside the trombone cases and cello cases.
My father has a portable Yamaha electric baby grand piano with removable legs, removable sustain pedal, and a large case. I don’t recall the model# or the case dimensions but it was built in the early 80’s. Keyboard/synthesizer technology has improved such that bands do not use portable pianos as frequently in live performances these days. Whoever wrote the Guinness book description of the Earl’s coffin likely was thinking of an upright piano case rather than a grand piano case IMO.
Anyway, if I may return to Mills Darden (sorry for the mis-spelling of his name earlier), it would seem that he did top the half-ton mark long before Robert Earl Hughes set foot on the Earth. http://www.dimensionsmagazine.com/dimtext/kjn/people/heaviest.htm
That cite lists a LOT of er… somewhat overweight people.
Mr Darden is number 13.
If I remember correctly, Robery Earl Hughes used to be the subject of a Jerry Seinfeld monologue (sometime in the 1980’s). “Hey, I gotta feel sorry for this guy. He could lose a hundred pounds and his friends wouldn’t even notice.”
No, not at all. It’s just not “the done thing” anymore. I believe the Coney Island boardwalk still has a traditional freakshow, the last of its kind that I’m aware of.
I don’t find a newspaper blurb from a century and a half ago to make a very compelling case. Same with his height (7’ 6"). Maybe it was, maybe not. Without some corroboration, I personally view it rather skeptically.
Well besides a newspaper blurb, my 1974 copy of Guinness (sorry for not having a more recent edition) lists Mills Darden. However, I’ll agree with you that his weight (and maybe even height) could have been exaggerated due to folk legends.
I could scan the page if you want. (It also mentions Robert Earl Hughes of course).
