THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE - "This One's For Eddie" (1962)

 

We've written about "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" on three other occasions, and the post that included Adele LaMont's 'foreign insert' nude scenes is probably the most popular one on this blog with a little over eleven thousand views, but we never have explored the life of the guy who played the monster, Mr. Eddie Carmel in much detail, so that's what I'm here to fix on this Wild Wednesday down in The Dungeon.

 

Lucky for all of us, a fine gentleman named Edward left a comment that included the links to the two sides of this 45 Eddie Carmel made in 1962 that was released on the Radar label.

There are no sides one or two, and this side was "The Good Monster." 

Eddie's biographical information is printed on the bottom of this side, and states 

(World's tallest man: 8'9", 545 lbs, 25 yrs old. With the world's deepest recording voices?)

Known as "The Jewish Giant," Eddie was born in Israel as Oded Ha-Carmeili in 1936, and his parents were both only 5'6" tall. He weighed an unbelievable 16 pounds at birth!

Eddie's height was greatly exaggerated at times like on this record, because he was really more like 7'3" tall. 

As previously stated in one of the other posts, Eddie only ever had two acting gigs, but it seems he tried everything a seven foot guy in the 1960's could try at one time or another. From salesman to carnival side show act, to stand up comedy, Eddie knew somewhere there was a place for him. I even read somewhere but have not been able to substantiate it, that he was a wrestler for a while! At his size, it only makes sense.

 

The flip side was titled "The Happy Giant," and instead of Eddie's stats, it stated the song was by Eddie Carmel with The Demons.This is a rockin'/swingin' number with Eddie laughing with that big booming voice of his.

As far as I can tell, this record is virtually impossible to find, so if you come across one, hang on to it!

According to Wikipedia, he was also in a band called Frankenstein and the Brain Surgeons.

 

 

These shots of a big man and a small car crack me up!

 

 Eddie Carmel was 16 pounds when he was born. When he was ten he was 6'1" and by the age of fifteen, he was 6'6".

Because of the various medical conditions that caused him to be so large, they also shortened his lifespan, and unfortunately, Eddie only lived to be 36 years old. 

 

Eddie probably really was nine feet tall with that extension on his noggin!

 

 

How strange that a gentle giant is mostly only remembered for being a gruesome monster!

The bonus of this musical trifecta provided by Edward is the super sleazy 45 single of the theme song from "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

Abie "Available" Baker was born on the same day as me, only thirty-five years earlier. You gotta love anybody with the middle name "Available." Abie was an arranger, a bass player, and a session musician who played with countless musicians such as Snub Mosley, Jimmy "Baby Face" Lewis, The Du-Droppers, Cootie Williams, Little Willie John, Big Joe Williams, King Curtis, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, just to name a few.

There are four copies of this record available on Discogs, starting with a worn out copy for $28.99, and going up all the way to $300.00 + shipping!

The flip side was a song called "Moccasin Rock."

Here's "THE WEB!"