-Caveat Lector- an excerpt from: Very Special People Fredrick Drimmer Amjon Publishers�1973 245 W. 19th St. NYC 10011 LCCN 73-87451 413 pps. ----- 7. Carl Unthan: the Armless Fiddler "Bravo!" "Bravo!" "Bravissimo!" A storm of applause and enthusiastic outcries rocked the Dianasaal, the concert hall in old Vienna. The conductor, Johann Strauss, bowed until his back ached. But not all the applause was for the famous maestro. A new performer, Carl Unthan, had just made his debut with the orchestra. He was only twenty, but he played the violin, many in the audience said, "wie ein Engel"�like an angel. With his soft eyes and gentle, spiritual face he looked like an angel, too. The spectators had not been able to take their eyes off him all evening. Had it really happened? Had that beautiful young man actually drawn such exquisite music out of his violin�with his toes? It couldn't be true. Yet the audience knew it was. They had watched the young man seat himself and slip his feet out of his shoes. His jacket was draped over his shoulders, so they hadn't realized at once that he had no arms. His violin was tied to a stool in front of him. He had raised his feet. The spectators saw that the lower part of his socks was cut off, and his toes were exposed. He placed the toes of his right foot on the strings on the upper part of the instrument. With the toes of his left foot he grasped the bow, gave it a musicianly flourish, and drew it across the strings. Others who lacked arms and performed feats of dexterity or strength in circuses or vaudeville were billed as "armless wonders." Unthan, because of his unique ability with the violin, was to gain fame as "the Armless Fiddler." One of the greatest showmen of his time, he was to win the applause of millions of music lovers and theatergoers on three continents. For the armless prodigy, that day in Vienna was the happiest he had ever known. It was certainly far, far happier than another one twenty years earlier�the first day of his life. "Let Me Hold a Pillow over His Face!" Carl Unthan was born on April 5, 1848, in Sommerfeld, East Prussia. Holding up the red-faced, crying infant she had just ushered into the world, the midwife screamed in horror. Never in the many years she had practiced her profession had she seen such a disheartening sight. For instead of arms the tiny creature was waving short little stumps. The midwife put down the child. "Herr Unthan!" she called. "Kommen Sie mal her!" She gestured frantically toward the squirming little figure. "It's hopeless." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Let me hold a pillow over his face. God will forgive me. . . . "That would be murder." Herr Unthan picked up his baby boy gently and carried him to his wife. She was barely conscious. "Sieh, Liebchen. . . . He has no arms." She saw, and wept. Herr Unthan shook his head vigorously. "Nein, nein! We are not murderers. This is our child. God gave him to us and He will not abandon him." Why Children Are Born Without Limbs Little Carl, like the other Very Special People whose stories are told in this section, was the victim of a birth defect. What factors cause a child in the womb to develop without arms or legs, or both, medical science cannot always say. Often the condition is due to an abnormality of the chromosomes�the minute units that transmit the human heritage from parents to children. Or it can be the result of an infection of the mother, especially during the early weeks of pregnancy. German measles can wreak havoc on the developing embryo. Birth defects can also be caused by a drug the mother has taken. In our own day, thalidomide�a drug intended to help expectant mothers sleep soundly-was given to the world before it had been tested adequately. The result was a nightmare. In Great Britain and Germany alone, over three thousand children were born deformed, many of them without limbs. Three Rules to Grow By Carl grew rapidly into a healthy, vigorous little boy. Relatives and neighbors were often moved to tears when they saw the armless child. They fondled him and clucked over him with sympathy. Herr Unthan became aware of what was happening. His face grew dark. "If people show the boy they feel sorry for him, he'll feel sorry for himself," he roared to his wife. "Self-pity can destroy him!" And he laid down the first of three iron rules that were to guide Carl's early life. "No one is ever to show pity to the boy!" he thundered. On that anvil Carl's character was hammered out. Often the little boy wore shoes and socks, as befitted the son of a schoolmaster. Whenever he wanted something, his mother, anticipating his wish, rushed to give it to him. Carl was one year old when his father became aware that the armless boy was reaching with his feet for things he wanted, if he was barefooted. And Carl's mother heard his father frame what was to be the second rule: "Don't put shoes and socks on the child!" Allowed to crawl around with bare feet, the little boy used his toes more and more. He developed unusual dexterity with them. His thighs and legs grew noticeably more powerful and flexible than those of other children his age. One night the family was seated at dinner. Frau Unthan passed a bowl of oatmeal down the table. As the bowl went by Carl, he reached out a foot and dug his toes into the cereal. He brought a footful to his mouth. He licked his toes contentedly, wreathing his mouth with the oatmeal. Carl's mother rushed to wash his foot and his face, bringing a spoon to feed him. Everyone else was eager to help. But not Herr Unthan. He brought his hand down hard on the table and announced his third rule: "Let Carl do as he wants! Anyone who helps him will have me to deal with!" It was a Prussian household in the old style; father's word, God's word. No one dared to disobey the three commandments, no matter how sorry they felt for the child. Guided by the rules his father had laid down, Carl, without arms and hands, began to do innumerable little things for himself that other children depend on their mothers for. If he didn't succeed at first, he kept trying. And trying. He learned early in life something that many other people never learnthe art of being infinitely patient. The Climb up the Ladder The child started to walk late. He was two years old when he abruptly picked himself up off the floor and marched out into the street. Other armless people report similar experiences. He started to play with the other children of the village. He taught himself to take part in their games, using his feet in place of the arms he had been denied. Carl was still a small child when he saw a house being put up nearby. Working men were clambering up and down a ladder. He watched them and envied them, as a little boy will. When the men went away he saw his chance. He seated himself on the ladder, his back to it. He looked up. Then he placed his feet on the bottommost rung, gave his body a shove upward, and found himself on the next rung. Another shove and he had moved up another rung. Rung by rung, the boy tirelessly pushed his way up. Seated at the top of the ladder, Carl looked down with pride at the many rungs over which he had traveled so slowly and laboriously. He was filled with excitement. Although he did not realize it at the time, that climb up the ladder was a symbol of the kind of life he was going to lead, of the kind of person he was becoming. He simply refused to be kept at the bottom of the ladder by an accident of birth. The Secret Scholar The house in which Carl's family lived was attached to the schoolhouse where Herr Unthan taught. The little boy used to creep into the back of the classroom when school was in session and hide. There, without being seen or heard, he could see and hear everything. And he could learn. He got a little slate for himself and, clutching it with the toes of one foot, he wrote on it with a piece of chalk held by the toes of the other. By the time he was six years old and his father enrolled him in the school, he had already taught himself how to read and write. Learning to Swim Nearby was a pond where the Sommerfeld boys swam in warm weather. Carl envied them. He could do almost everything else they did�why couldn't he learn how to swim? One day the armless boy decided to try. Walking into the water, he took a deep breath, till his lungs were full of air. Slowly, he leaned backward till his upper body was resting on the water. At the same time he raised his feet to the surface and began to beat them up and down. Instantly his head went under the water. Gasping and coughing, the boy regained his footing. Then he started all over again. Before that summer came to an end, Carl was lying on the surface and propelling himself all the way across the pond with rapid, regular strokes of his little legs. Carl Helps All the other children in the family had chores to do and the boy without arms didn't want to be left out. It was a thrilling moment for him when his father hung a small basket around the boy's neck, gave him some money, and sent him off to Weeskenitt, a mile away, to buy fish for the family's dinner. The sympathetic fisherman gave him the fish at a bargain price and he started back home. The day was hot and the fish was heavy; the string of the basket cut into his skin. Carl's neck was chafed and he was tired when he walked through the doorway with his burden. But he was smiling. Bringing home the fish was only one of the boy's chores. He taught himself to polish shoes with his feet, and delighted in shining the entire family's footwear spanking bright. Although Herr Unthan was a teacher he was also a farmer, and Carl took his place with the rest of the family working in the fields. In the springtime he tramped behind the plough and shoved manure into the long furrows, using his bare left foot instead of a rake, as the others did. When the vegetables were ripe, he helped to gather them. Resting his weight on his right foot, he thrust his left into the soil and pulled the potatoes up, one by one. Undressing Without Arms Many tiny tasks that the normal child does without a second thought can loom like a mountain before the child who has no hands. Take undressing. The day that Carl succeeded in undressing himself was one he remembered all his life. One evening the boy decided he was just too big to let himself be undressed by his mother any more. He was wearing a jacket and, sitting down, he used his toes to pull it over his head. If you think that's easy, try it sometime for yourself. His trousers came next. They had buttons, and opening them was the problem. Pulling in his stomach to gain some slack, he inserted his big toe next to the topmost button and tried to force it open. Finally he succeeded. Then, one by one, he pulled the rest open, always working with his toes. Getting to his feet, he wiggled until the trousers fell. When he had finished, his clothes were hanging neatly over the back of the chair. Dressing himself was considerably harder and took him longer to master. A Thin Skin Becomes Thicker At bottom, handicapped people are usually far more sensitive than those who have all their faculties. The handicapped are always being reminded that everybody else has something that they don't�and that, as a result, they're not as good as others are. It took Carl a long while to develop a realistic acceptance of his lot. He was still a child when his little brother died and he was assigned the mournful task of writing invitations to the funeral. Again and again people looked into the dead boy's casket and said, "The dear Lord has certainly taken the wrong one this time." Each remark, each reminder of his plight, was like a sharp slap in Carl's face. But with time he learned how to take such slaps. And not to feel them too much. First Violin Lessons The armless boy loved music. Others around him were given violin lessons, but playing a musical instrument seemed to be something a child with his handicap could never learn to do. Carl disagreed. Borrowing a violin, he tied it down to a stool in the kitchen. Then, seating himself, he took up the bow with his left foot. With his right he began to "toe" the strings, while he scraped the bow back and forth across them. To the rest of the family it sounded like two angry cats. They held their hands over their ears and groaned. To Carl, however, it was melody, or the beginning of it. He had taken a position at the bottom of the ladder of music. With infinite patience he would get to the top. Carl was about ten when he began to study the violin by himself. He practiced so long and so hard that his knees ached. Little by little, he began to make progress. One day, Herr Unthan in the next room, pricked up his ears: Could that be his little armless rascal producing that sweet melody? The boy was given lessons. At sixteen, Carl was sent to the conservatory. Excitedly, he studied the theory of music, the aesthetics, the history. And he practiced. Hour after hour, day in, day out. Endlessly. Exhaustingly. His First Concert Finally-Carl could hardly believe it�he was giving his first concert. The pieces he played were far from easy, but the violin sang under his bow. When he finally put it down, people crowded around to congratulate him. They were eager to shake hands with the talented young musician. But it was his foot that Carl held out to them! One concert led to another. The youth was soon being hired to perform for money. Soon he was traveling to other cities to give performances. People, he discovered, had heard many fine violinists, but never one who played with his toes. They were willing to pay handsomely for the privilege. An Emergency One evening Carl was in the middle of a performance��the hall was crowded�when one of the worst things that can happen to a violinist happened to him. The E-string snapped on his violin. A long, drawn-out oh-h-h of sympathy rose from the audience. Jumping up, the young man ran over to his violin case, took out another string, and deftly substituted it for the broken one with his toes. The audience, which had been watching in complete silence, broke out in cries of astonishment. The intent young musician raised his big toe to his lip. "Hush!" he said. If he had needed to win his audience, that spontaneous, utterly natural gesture would have won it. It was a long time before the spectators allowed him to resume the concert. Unthan had discovered that he could entertain an audience by doing other things than playing for it. He began to introduce other features into his performance�things that showed his dexterity with his toes. Soon he was signed to a long-term contract and was winning acclaim in all the great cities of Europe. Encounter with the Police In Saint Petersburg Unthan was given an ovation. But after the performance he almost ran into trouble. Walking off the stage, he found the chief of police waiting for him. "You didn't actually play that violin with your feet," the chief charged. "You're a fraud. A real violinist with hands was playing for you backstage." "Well, sir, come and see for yourself." Unthan led the chief of police to his dressing room. He fastened a violin to a stool and sat down before it. The bow was poised in the toes of his left foot, over the strings. The skeptical frown on the chief's face had not lightened. Music began to come from the violin. The police chief's dark look dissolved in a glow of wonder. Then his body stiffened. He snapped to attention. Unthan was playing the Russian national anthem. Unthan on Horseback The violinist's career took him to England. From there he went to the United States, where he appeared in vaudeville. He toured Cuba. In Mexico the distances between cities were vast and there were no trains or coaches available. Unthan and his companions were told they had to travel on horseback. The musician had never ridden a horse by himself, but he was ready for the challenge. "I buckled a soft leather strap around my neck," he said later. "Taking the reins, I made a slip knot with a thin string and tied the reins to the strap. All I had to do was lean my head forward and I was able to grasp the reins with my teeth. In this way I could control the horse if he started to get frisky. Most of the time I could guide the animal by pressing against his flanks with my thighs or by talking to him. "What if I should get knocked off or fall off? I didn't have to worry about being dragged along, because the string would break." An Extraordinary Performance Unthan toured South America and then returned to Europe. By now he had developed a highly unusual and entertaining act. Here's what it looked like to one spectator. "At the start of his performance, Unthan slipped into his morning coat. Then with a skill and speed astonishing for a man without arms, he showed how he performed the duties of the perfect host. He lit cigars. He pulled a cork out of a bottle. He filled glasses with wine. He cut a cake. He shuffled cards and dealt them out. He did fantastic card tricks. "Next he gave one of his fine performances on the violin. He had learned to play the cornet with considerable virtuosity, and now he performed a piece on this instrument. Picking up a rifle with his feet, he began to shoot at some very small targets on the stage. He never missed. "It was an extraordinary performance. And he did it all with his toes." Typing with His Toes The entertainer's other accomplishments were innumerable. He wrote a "hand" so elegant that it never ceased to surprise people who received letters from him. He taught himself to type. His technique was his own-it was the two-pencil rather than the two-finger method. Sitting down on a chair in front of the stool on which his Woodstock typewriter rested, he picked up a pencil in each foot. Then he would strike the keys with the pencils' rubber ends. Unthan sharpened pencils by holding a knife between the big toe and its neighbor on one foot, the pencil with the other. It was remarkable to see him adjust his watch with his toes or insert a collar stud in his shirt. And visitors often gasped when the armless man opened a door for them. His shoe was loose; he simply slipped his foot out of it (the toes were bare) and seized and turned the doorknob with his toes. The Armless Man Marries During a long appearance in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Unthan met a young lady named Antonie Beschta, who sang in the Court Theater. The armless young man was immediately taken with Frdulein Beschta. Her sister was also a singer, and Unthan proposed that the three should team up. The girls accepted, and they went on a concert tour that proved successful. Then Unthan proposed to Antonie that she should team up with him for life. She agreed. A Demonstration for the Scientists In Berlin, Rudolf Virchow, one of the most celebrated scientists of the age-we'll encounter his name again and again in these pages-invited five hundred physicians and scholars to a demonstration of Unthan's skill at a meeting of the Anthropological Society. To this distinguished audience Virchow pointed out the extraordinary development of the violinist's toes and the unusual degree to which he could spread them out and bend them. In addition, Unthan had developed an exceptional capacity to turn his upper thighs in the hip joints�even more than a professional contortionist could. Rescuing a Drowning Woman Unthan by now was a worldwide celebrity. Gerhart Hauptmann, the famous German novelist, had met him and introduced him as a character in a novel. He was invited to come to Sweden and act in a film. In Germany the violinist was featured in another film called The Armless Man. In the climax, he saved the heroine from drowning. It was an unusual scene. The young woman sank beneath the water. With his knee Unthan pushed her back to the surface. Then he fastened his teeth on the back of her blouse. Turning on his back, he propelled himself to the shore with her by kicking his legs. Of course it was only a film script�but few who knew him doubted that the armless prodigy could do as much in real life. He Serves His Country When World War I broke out in 1914, Unthan was in his sixties. He was eager to serve his country. As the casualties mounted, the German Army found a place for him. He was sent to hospitals, where he lectured soldiers who had lost their arms or hands about how they could train their legs and feet to take over. Artificial limbs were coming increasingly into use. It isn't surprising that Unthan opposed them. Fe thought they were difficult to use, if not downright painful. The armless man gave performances of dexterity with his feet much like those he'd given on the stage. The soldiers were as delighted as his civilian audiences had been. Probably his demonstrations had little educational value; not many amputees could have emulated him, for he had been developing his skill since infancy. Still, his cheerful, constructive attitude toward his situation made many an embittered amputee realize that life could be worth living even without arms. Kaiser Wilhelm, who had a withered arm, was present at a shooting demonstration Unthan gave at the Royal Hospital in Dresden. Wilhelm was so impressed that he took home as souvenirs two bullets that the old performer had fired. For his services in the war Unthan was decorated. In his later years Unthan told the story of his life in a book. With his inextinguishable sense of humor, he called it Das Pediskript�"the pediscript," since it was written by foot rather than by hand, as a manuscript is. In the front of his book Unthan placed a motto. It sums up his life-and his message to all who have to bear the same kind of burden he did: "Where there's a will there's a way." pps 89-101 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! 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