Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of an American Outlaw

Rating:
Summary: Corny and better than Cornwell!
Review: I just sequed into reading Elmer McCurdy's story immediately after reading Cornwell's newest on Jack the Ripper; I mention this because both authors like to ramble way off track, but unlike Cornwell, Svenvold never forgets to bring us back to Elmer and tie up all the strings; his forensic notes are written and described well, and backed up with data; all of which Ms C. just stumbles through. I live in the town where Mr. McCurdy was found, and I am in charge of an archival collection that has just added this book to a permanent collection of Long Beach history materials. I was wishing for more photos and illustrations, but I realize those were often difficult to find. This is a very entertaining and interesting read; but plan to take your time; it's not for people in a ripping hurry. Enjoy it!

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Summary: Dead but still in show biz
Review: Many people have been more famous in death than in life, but Elmer McCurdy would seem to take the prize for post-mortem renown. McCurdy died at the relatively tender age of 31, then had a remarkably fertile career as a celebrity corpse, first in funeral parlors, then in carnivals, a wax museum, film and, finally, an amusement park. The entire stint lasted 65 years.

With insight, and with tongue planted firmly in cheek, Mark Svenvold relates the story of this unusual figure in his new book Elmer McCurdy: The Misadventures in Life and Afterlife of an American Outlaw. In the process, the author also presents an incisive commentary on American entertainment history. While dead bodies have been held sacred since the time of the ancient Greeks, the underbelly of America's low-end entertainment scene thought nothing of exploiting a human corpse along with the average American's fascination with the grotesque.

McCurdy began life inauspiciously as an illegitimate baby in rural Maine. He earned his dubious claim to fame as an outlaw by bungling a couple of train robberies. His death, in a shoot out in 1911, featured all the color and flamboyance that his life lacked.

McCurdy's body, unclaimed by friend or relative, languished at Johnson's Funeral Home in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, laced with enough arsenic to preserve it well into the 21st century. Presumably to defray the expense of his storage, the embalmer put McCurdy on display for paying sightseers.

For the next several decades McCurdy traveled the beer-and-pretzels entertainment circuit, changing hands when one get-rich-quick scheme gave way to another. It isn't clear when or where folks lost track of the fact that he was a dead body and not an inanimate prop. Svenvold hints that truth didn't much matter to the carnies and B-movie makers who passed McCurdy's body from one enterprise to another.

Part of McCurdy's appeal in death was his ability to tap into America's secret fascination with outlaws and self-destructive behavior. In reconstructing his eventful life and afterlife, Mark Svenvold holds up a mirror to this interesting contradiction in our nation's collective psychological profile.

Rating:
Summary: Go places you didn't want to go, but end up glad you did....
Review: The case of Elmer McCurdy is right up there with Marilyn Monroe and the Simpson-Goldman murders in terms of fascinating twists and turns to finally arrive at "what happened". I was familiar with the case beforehand, but received this book as a gift from a co-worker. I can honestly say I enjoyed the book, but was a tad miffed that the writer kept taking these side jaunts with the story...but at the end, I feel the side trips helped create a total immersion into the era, the players and basically covering issues that have long since stopped being talked about or have been forgotten. To think it all could have been avoided if a funeral director had done "the right thing" and not tried to make money off the body of Elmer McCurdy. I would have liked to read more of the forensic efforts made, but all in all, a decent read.

Rating:
Summary: Truth is stranger than fiction! !
Review: What a crazy mixed up pile of stuff! I like Westerns,Ripley's Believe it or Not!,truth is stranger than fiction stuff,unusual characters,history,oddities,greatly miss the old freak shows that travelled with the carnivals,real life outlaws,and you name it.History is full of this stuff and to me much more fun to delve into than fiction.While the author didn't seem to come up with too much on old Elmer;probably because his short and non-illustrious produced very little;he sure found enough to spin around what he did have to create a good interresting read.I believe the period after the Civil War until the start of the 2WW produced some of the most interresting characters and times in American history.That was all before the do gooders, politically correct,boring and otherwise anal-retentive got everything under control.But then again, they probably prefer reading about some corporate business scam to the gangster days of Capone and all. Since this was the first thing I've read by the author I'll be looking to find something else from him.From what he did with this story I am sure he'll be giving us some more good stuff in the future.