Episode 63- Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man

[jmenges]

Episode 63 welcomes Friends of Joseph Carey Merrick Chairperson and founder Jeanette Sitton to the show, along with historical researchers Philip Hutchinson and Neil Bell, to discuss the life and times of an individual that was perhaps the most famous resident of the East End of London during the time frame of the Whitechapel Murders: Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man.

Jeanette Sitton is also the co-author with Mae Stroshane of the essential Merrick biography 'Measured By The Soul'.

Philip Hutchinson is the playwright and co-star of the Lucky Dog Theatre Production's play 'Mr. Merrick, The Elephant Man'.

Neil R. A. Bell is the author of 'Capturing Jack the Ripper: In the Boots of a Bobby in Victorian London' as well as being responsible, along with Adam Wood, for the reissue of 'Howard Vincent's Police Code 1889'.

This interview was conducted by Jonathan Menges.

Listen to a stream or download here:

http://www.casebook.org/podcast/listen.html?id=108

Also available on iTunes under the podcast section.



JM

[Ozzy]

Just started listening. For the first 5 minutes the left channel seems to be cutting out. I don't know if it cuts out further in. No problem as the right channel is OK.
Great day to have Rippercast back. The middle of the English summer and it's raining outside and there's nothing of interest on the box.
Thanks Jonathan and everybody else involved.
Also looking forward to hearing Jonathan iin the spotlight.

[jmenges]

Just started listening. For the first 5 minutes the left channel seems to be cutting out. I don't know if it cuts out further in. No problem as the right channel is OK.
Great day to have Rippercast back. The middle of the English summer and it's raining outside and there's nothing of interest on the box.
Thanks Jonathan and everybody else involved.
Also looking forward to hearing Jonathan iin the spotlight.

Is anyone else having this same issue with a channel cutting out? I'm glad to hear its still listenable, I did have problems with channel bleed that I did my best to eliminate.

I'm happy to bring out this one, Ozzy, and thanks for your comments.

JM

[jmenges]

This episode is already well on its way to being one of the most popular episodes we've done, and the feedback has been great. So it looks like any technical/sound glitches are minor (admittedly a rare occurrence with the show, usually they are major).

Thanks to all for listening, and stay tuned for more episodes.



JM

[Jon Wilkes]

Thank you

I enjoyed the episode very much, thank you.

[Semper_Eadem]

jmenges,

I tried to listen to this episode of Rippercast, but I was unable to hear your voice at all throughout the entire episode. However, I was able to hear answers to your questions from the guests but I was unable to hear your questions. Which is a pity as I was really excited to see that you were doing an episode on Joseph Merrick, as I had seen Lynch's The Elephant Man as a kid and remember it fondly. In fact I always viewed him as the exact opposite of Jack The Ripper in that Mr Merrick was horribly twisted and deformed on the outside and Jack The Ripper was probably twisted and deformed on the inside.

Anyways, I went back and listened to other Rippercast episodes and had no problems listening to them including the one on Neil Bell's new book which is the one right before The Joseph Merrick Episode. I sincerely hope any problems can be repaired as I am looking forward to hearing the full episode on Mr. Merricks interesting life.

[Never mind, the problem was on my end and I just corrected it.]

Cordially,
SE

[jmenges]

The problem wasn't just on your end...and I apologize. This episode recorded in right and left channels, my voice in one & the guests in the other. So if you're listening to it in a single ear piece, through one speaker, or with the balance on your stereo adjusted too far to the right or left, there will be problems hearing both sides of the conversation. I'll try my best to correct this issue for future episodes.

Thanks for listening and I hope that you give it another go.

JM

[Hunter]

Well I enjoyed it. Great guests. Good sequence on the the myth vs reality relating to Joseph Merrick.

[Steadmund Brand]

Fantastic podcast!!! thank you

I became interested in Mr. Merrick at a very young age, I'm in my early 40's so I was a child when David Lynch's film came out, and a early HBO documentary call ' Some Call Them Freaks" that featured " The Elephant Man" (as well as several other famous "Freaks").. and I remember being quite frightened but yet fascinated by Merrick.. and over the years tried to learn all I could about him..this podcast was wonderful as is Jeanette Sittons’ Joseph Carey Merrick tribute site....plus always great to hear Philip and Neil

Keep up the great work and look forward to the next podcast

Steadmund Brand

[Steadmund Brand]

By the way... the Documentary I mentioned " Some Call Them Freaks" is on available on Youtube.. the last section is the one that has Merrick.. interesting that they show the actual photos taken at the London Hospital, this is probably the first time they were shown on television ( I know one of the Discovery channel documentaries claimed they were showing them for the first time ever on TV..guess this proves that wrong)

Steadmund Brand

[jmenges]

Thanks a lot for your feedback, Steadmund. As I mentioned on the podcast, I became interested in Merrick when I was a grade school boy as well and it was a pleasure to be able to talk to the experts about him. Double thanks should go to Philip Hutchinson for putting me in contact with Jeanette Sitton to arrange her participation. This one took well over a month to schedule as everyone is so busy but from the start I refused to record the episode without both Neil and Philip being able to join in. It turned out to be well worth the wait.

I'm recording another show this weekend so look for that soon, and more episodes are in the pipeline.

Stay tuned,



JM

[Hunter]

Jeanette Sitton was really fantastic and always love to hear Phil and Neil. Gonna listen to this again.