[Opinion. I had the good fortune to meet Eddie the Giant as a kid. He was a lovely man. Maybe he did this for all the kids but he bent over, took a ring from his finger and gave it to me. It fir over my closed fist!]

Eddie Carmel, The Jewish Giant

Famous 1970 Diane

Famous 1970 Diane Arbus portrait

Eddie Carmel, The Jewish Giant (1936-1972) was born on this day. Born in Tel Aviv, not far from the stomping grounds of the Biblical Philistine Goliath, Carmel was raised in the Bronx and did most of his performing at the legendary Hubert’s Museum in Times Square. Advertised as 8’9″, he may have been as much as a foot and a half shorter, although he sure looks to be the hyped height in photos:

Carmel was normal-sized until he was around 15 or 16, when acromegaly set in. In addition to his work in circuses and sideshows, he was in demand for advertisements and appeared as monsters in two films, The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962), and 50,000 B.C. (Before Clothing!) (1963). He also worked as a professional wrestler. He retired in 1969 for health reasons.

Said to have the deepest voice in show business, Carmel was also in demand for voice overs. Thus, this fairly inexplicable 45. Jeez, he must have been a good sport.

He's not that tall.

Rocky Road is taller than this guy.

His circumcison off cuts fed the local cats for several weeks I heard. Kosher cuts as well.

Edited May 13May 13 by beautifulthailand99

Why are there so many Jewish posts here, recently????

Seems to me that things are getting a bit out of hand, these days.

If you are just so interested in all things Jewish, as I have stated recently, then.....

Just read more of Philip Roth.

Roth created some of the most perfectly written and extremely long paragraphs.

If you want to talk about Jews, and Jewish writers, then I am OK with that....if you mean discussing Roth.

Edited May 13May 13 by GammaGlobulin

10 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

His circumcison off cuts fed the local cats for several weeks I heard. Kosher cuts as well.

You do not know much about the procedure do you? The subject did not manifest symptoms of his endocrine disorder until adolescence. If he was circumcised prior to 3 months as per his culture, the amount of skin removed would have been 2-3 mm. That's 0.2 - 0.3 cm. Nor is the skin fed to cats. The Israelites typically buried the skin beneath a tree, a symbolic union with the creation. That practice most likely would have been followed at the time of the subject's birth in Israel. Africans and Polynesians have similar traditions of burial too. It is therefore unlikely to have been used as cat food.

It is both remarkable and unsettling that white European males have an obsession about the practice and the foreskin. It seems to be an ingrained homosexual fetish. The Catholic Church once celebrated the circumcision of Christ with the Feast of the Circumcision on January 1. The Church of Rome had multiple church's claiming that they possessed Jesus' foreskin. No other culture had a commemorative feast or saved a piece of dead skin like the Europeans.

Hasbara slop

This guy died in 1972 so this story is that old at the very least.

Propaganda

Edited May 14May 14 by StarOfLight

1 hour ago, Patong2021 said:

You do not know much about the procedure do you? The subject did not manifest symptoms of his endocrine disorder until adolescence. If he was circumcised prior to 3 months as per his culture, the amount of skin removed would have been 2-3 mm. That's 0.2 - 0.3 cm. Nor is the skin fed to cats. The Israelites typically buried the skin beneath a tree, a symbolic union with the creation. That practice most likely would have been followed at the time of the subject's birth in Israel. Africans and Polynesians have similar traditions of burial too. It is therefore unlikely to have been used as cat food.

It is both remarkable and unsettling that white European males have an obsession about the practice and the foreskin. It seems to be an ingrained homosexual fetish. The Catholic Church once celebrated the circumcision of Christ with the Feast of the Circumcision on January 1. The Church of Rome had multiple church's claiming that they possessed Jesus' foreskin. No other culture had a commemorative feast or saved a piece of dead skin like the Europeans.

Ha! The Feast of the Circumcision! I knew it was about cats!

It was a joke, Son.

12 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Why are there so many Jewish posts here, recently????

Seems to me that things are getting a bit out of hand, these days.

If you are just so interested in all things Jewish, as I have stated recently, then.....

Just read more of Philip Roth.

Roth created some of the most perfectly written and extremely long paragraphs.

If you want to talk about Jews, and Jewish writers, then I am OK with that....if you mean discussing Roth.

Thanks, G. I have read almost all of Roth though my favourite author (most people don't have a favourite author) is IB Singer. Roth's alternate history, The Plot Against America is outstanding.

Why I posted this piece, to which I found a pointer on Yiddish Radio is because I met the guy.

39 minutes ago, StarOfLight said:

Hasbara slop

This guy died in 1972 so this story is that old at the very least.

Propaganda

You think I'm trying to justify Israel with a story about Eddie?!? Eddie lived in the Bronx. I fail to see his propaganda value.

46 minutes ago, StarOfLight said:

Hasbara slop

This guy died in 1972 so this story is that old at the very least.

Propaganda

Maybe seek counseling.

12 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Why are there so many Jewish posts here, recently????

Seems to me that things are getting a bit out of hand, these days.

If you are just so interested in all things Jewish, as I have stated recently, then.....

Just read more of Philip Roth.

Roth created some of the most perfectly written and extremely long paragraphs.

If you want to talk about Jews, and Jewish writers, then I am OK with that....if you mean discussing Roth.

Why ask why?

Everyone can use a hobby.

For some white guys its Ebonics.

More rarely its Hebronics.

Edited May 14May 14 by Jingthing

1 hour ago, Patong2021 said:

You do not know much about the procedure do you? The subject did not manifest symptoms of his endocrine disorder until adolescence. If he was circumcised prior to 3 months as per his culture, the amount of skin removed would have been 2-3 mm. That's 0.2 - 0.3 cm. Nor is the skin fed to cats. The Israelites typically buried the skin beneath a tree, a symbolic union with the creation. That practice most likely would have been followed at the time of the subject's birth in Israel. Africans and Polynesians have similar traditions of burial too. It is therefore unlikely to have been used as cat food.

It is both remarkable and unsettling that white European males have an obsession about the practice and the foreskin. It seems to be an ingrained homosexual fetish. The Catholic Church once celebrated the circumcision of Christ with the Feast of the Circumcision on January 1. The Church of Rome had multiple church's claiming that they possessed Jesus' foreskin. No other culture had a commemorative feast or saved a piece of dead skin like the Europeans.

It was a joke !! Or maybe your reply was a sophisticated joke back if so nicely played !

10 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Maybe seek counseling.

I do like his name, though. Spent many happy times in the Star of Light.

14 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

His circumcison off cuts fed the local cats for several weeks I heard. Kosher cuts as well.

I wonder how many of your few braincells you have got let you had to use for such an insult on a man's circumcison,

Not funny.

1 minute ago, ezzra said:

I wonder how many of your few braincells you have got let you had to use for such an insult on a man's circumcison,

Not funny.

Another joke I like it echoes of Bill Hicks ! Probably would have fed the lions at the Bronx Zoo - for a week ......

That's a week joke though I'll give you that.

Edited May 14May 14 by beautifulthailand99

1 hour ago, unblocktheplanet said:

I do like his name, though. Spent many happy times in the Star of Light.

So Roth was a w%nker and you're a sucker - got it !

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Why ask why?

Everyone can use a hobby.

For some white guys its Ebonics.

More rarely its Hebronics.

Yes' I'm told that the nazis burned 6 million jews as a hobby too, what is wrong with this world and jews hating? it's bordering on a pathological, deprived sickness, where by many of the haters just joining the hate club, kinda like a friend brings a friend.

14 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

His circumcison off cuts fed the local cats for several weeks I heard.

I heard it was dried and used as a teepee.

21 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Yes' I'm told that the nazis burned 6 million jews as a hobby too, what is wrong with this world and jews hating? it's bordering on a pathological, deprived sickness, where by many of the haters just joining the hate club, kinda like a friend brings a friend.

err Jingthing is Jew and think he was being ironic but you probably didn't get that.

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Yes' I'm told that the nazis burned 6 million jews as a hobby too, what is wrong with this world and jews hating? it's bordering on a pathological, deprived sickness, where by many of the haters just joining the hate club, kinda like a friend brings a friend.

This site in particualr and I don't seem to know why is infected with it - I guess aging bored western expats with too much time on their hands often make online mischief because they can and it's something to do. Combine that with seeing tens of thusands of hapless Palestinains being blown to pieces and their city ruthlessly raised to rubble in the social media age craetes a perfect storm. And here we are.

7 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

This site in particualr and I don't seem to know why is infected with it - I guess aging bored western expats with too much time on their hands often make online mischief because they can and it's something to do. Combine that with seeing tens of thusands of hapless Palestinains being blown to pieces and their city ruthlessly raised to rubble in the social media age craetes a perfect storm. And here we are.

I doubt very much the westerners give a toss about the "Plantainians" or the plight of any one not from their socio economic demographic strata. It is an excuse to engage in their historic passion of hate and publicly acceptable bullying. Like HIV, and herpes, it never goes away, hiding often undetectable, ready to erupt as soon as there is stress or a lifting of the defences that kept it in a state of clinical latency. In the west, a reservoir of the disease are the leftist movements, a core principle of the extremists who control many of the labour unions, and the clique of "intellectual" academics who promote their bias within their protected cocoons of publicly funded universities and colleges. It is spread by the influx of foreigner who have brought their sectarian hatreds with them from as they invaded their host. And it is facilitated by foreign entities like Iran who pay for its promotion and violence, and through the intentionally false social media activities of saboteurs from China and Russia. The sowing of social unrest, the planting of false information and of conspiracy claims acts to weaken and undermine social cohesion in the target countries. Look at this topic. It is the result of one person's pathological obsession with jews.

33 minutes ago, Patong2021 said:

I doubt very much the westerners give a toss about the "Plantainians" or the plight of any one not from their socio economic demographic strata. It is an excuse to engage in their historic passion of hate and publicly acceptable bullying. Like HIV, and herpes, it never goes away, hiding often undetectable, ready to erupt as soon as there is stress or a lifting of the defences that kept it in a state of clinical latency. In the west, a reservoir of the disease are the leftist movements, a core principle of the extremists who control many of the labour unions, and the clique of "intellectual" academics who promote their bias within their protected cocoons of publicly funded universities and colleges. It is spread by the influx of foreigner who have brought their sectarian hatreds with them from as they invaded their host. And it is facilitated by foreign entities like Iran who pay for its promotion and violence, and through the intentionally false social media activities of saboteurs from China and Russia. The sowing of social unrest, the planting of false information and of conspiracy claims acts to weaken and undermine social cohesion in the target countries. Look at this topic. It is the result of one person's pathological obsession with jews.

My preoccupation is peace, to oppose wars wherever they are. There are many different kinds of extremists. That might be you.

On 5/14/2026 at 5:49 PM, beautifulthailand99 said:

This site in particualr and I don't seem to know why is infected with it - I guess aging bored western expats with too much time on their hands often make online mischief because they can and it's something to do. Combine that with seeing tens of thusands of hapless Palestinains being blown to pieces and their city ruthlessly raised to rubble in the social media age craetes a perfect storm. And here we are.

''Combine that with seeing tens of thousands of hapless Palestinians being blown to pieces and their city ruthlessly raised to rubble'' strange, never seen you talking like this about jewish/israelis people blown to bits by terrorist, or jewish blood don't matter, please direct me to any of your comments where you're NOT one sided, bias, bleeding heart terrorists sympathizer. Please, I'd love to proven wrong.

51 minutes ago, ezzra said:

''Combine that with seeing tens of thousands of hapless Palestinians being blown to pieces and their city ruthlessly raised to rubble'' strange, never seen you talking like this about jewish/israelis people blown to bits by terrorist, or jewish blood don't matter, please direct me to any of your comments where you're NOT one sided, bias, bleeding heart terrorists sympathizer. Please, I'd love to proven wrong.

Israelis are not being subjected to relentless high-tech bombardment of civilian districts and medical infrastructure by people who arrived comparatively recently, often on land taken from others, while those displaced are condemned simply for resisting when and how they can. Happy to help.

On 5/14/2026 at 11:20 AM, StarOfLight said:

Hasbara slop

This guy died in 1972 so this story is that old at the very least.

Propaganda

They call it 'hasbara'

like this

Netanyahu blames foreign bots on social media for decline of U.S. support for Israel

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/netanyahu-blames-foreign-bots-social-media-decline-us-support-israel/

Edited May 16May 16 by johng

Part 1 of what will probably be a 2-3 part Ed Carmel story.

One of the more bizarre experiences in my life occurred just before Xmas, 1971. My buddy worked the graveyard shift at a local bowling alley out on Long Island, mostly post-closing cleanup. I frequently hung out with him, playing pinball, drinking beer, and farting around.

One night, around 0300, we dropped some acid. At 0730, his father calls: "I've got a photography gig and need you boys to help. I'll pick you up at 0800". He arrived in his giant station wagon right on time.

We were flying!!

"We're headed to Brooklyn," he says. He went on to describe the gig: pick this guy up in Brooklyn, get him changed into a Santa suit, and drive around to malls and shops and get parents to pay for Polaroids of their kid sitting on Santa's lap. The draw: First, nobody in the area was doing the Santa photo thing and second - and this was the kicker - Yup! Our Santa would be played by Ed Carmel! "Have Your Kid's Photo Taken with GIANT SANTA".

About an hour later, we rolled up to his apartment, got out, and locked the doors (Foreshadowing...dodgy neighborhood). We got to his apartment, knocked, and his parents let us in.

To say he was HUGE would be a vast understatement. When I shook his hand, his fingers came up to the crook of my elbow. His fingers looked like Nathan's Franks. He could fit a US half-dollar coin through his rings. More on his size later. I'm sure the total bizarro-world feelings of mine had nothing to do with the LSD consumed about 6 hours earlier.

To be continued. There is soooo much more to this story. Hints: children beating giant man; naked 9-foot man in mall parking lot; screaming, crying, terror-stricken children; police; Giant Santa in wheelchair... :)

I love the story! More, more, I'm still not satisfied!

13 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Israelis are not being subjected to relentless high-tech bombardment of civilian districts and medical infrastructure by people who arrived comparatively recently, often on land taken from others, while those displaced are condemned simply for resisting when and how they can. Happy to help.

Oh and I forgot they are an ethno-fascist state who hate the Arabs in the same way that Nazis hated the Jews - ie pathological and inhumane and genocidal.

Edited May 16May 16 by beautifulthailand99

15 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Israelis are not being subjected to relentless high-tech bombardment of civilian districts and medical infrastructure by people who arrived comparatively recently, often on land taken from others, while those displaced are condemned simply for resisting when and how they can. Happy to help.

''by people who arrived comparatively recently'' really? here are the terms it was used to describe the land of israel which the common denomination is only one fact, throughout all periods listed below is that Jewish people

ahs occupied that land, and NOT ''PALESTINIANS''

EDUCATE YOURSELF:

THE LAND OF Canaan (circa 3000 BCE – 1200 BCE)

Kingdom of Israel & Kingdom of Judah (1000 BCE – 586 BCE)

Judea (586 BCE – 135 CE)

Syria Palaestina / Palestine (135 CE – 1948 CE): Following the failed Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt, the Roman Emperor Hadrian sought to sever Jewish ties to the land. He renamed the province "Syria Palaestina", derived from the Philistines. This name persisted through various ruling empires, including the Byzantine, Islamic, Crusader, and Ottoman empires. It was also used during the British administration era, known

1. Yehud Medinata: (translation, the land of the jewish people) The official Aramaic name of the self-governing Jewish province under the Persian Empire.

2. Judea: The Greco-Roman adaptation of Judah, used during the Hasmonean dynasty

3. Roman Emperor Roman Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the land of Israel. Following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, he renamed the Roman province of Judaea to Syria Palaestina as a punitive measure to sever the Jewish people's historical and ethnic connection to the region

NOW, DO YOU SEE ANY MENTION OF ''PALESTINIAN PEOPLE HERE?

7 hours ago, ezzra said:

''by people who arrived comparatively recently'' really? here are the terms it was used to describe the land of israel which the common denomination is only one fact, throughout all periods listed below is that Jewish people

ahs occupied that land, and NOT ''PALESTINIANS''

EDUCATE YOURSELF:

THE LAND OF Canaan (circa 3000 BCE – 1200 BCE)

Kingdom of Israel & Kingdom of Judah (1000 BCE – 586 BCE)

Judea (586 BCE – 135 CE)

Syria Palaestina / Palestine (135 CE – 1948 CE): Following the failed Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt, the Roman Emperor Hadrian sought to sever Jewish ties to the land. He renamed the province "Syria Palaestina", derived from the Philistines. This name persisted through various ruling empires, including the Byzantine, Islamic, Crusader, and Ottoman empires. It was also used during the British administration era, known

1. Yehud Medinata: (translation, the land of the jewish people) The official Aramaic name of the self-governing Jewish province under the Persian Empire.

2. Judea: The Greco-Roman adaptation of Judah, used during the Hasmonean dynasty

3. Roman Emperor Roman Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the land of Israel. Following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, he renamed the Roman province of Judaea to Syria Palaestina as a punitive measure to sever the Jewish people's historical and ethnic connection to the region

NOW, DO YOU SEE ANY MENTION OF ''PALESTINIAN PEOPLE HERE?

The Bible, particuarly the Old Testament is hardly a source for anything - certainly not title deeds for land. But let's say for argument sake it is and God intervenes on behalf of the Jews from time and smote his enemies of the Jews from time to time - what are we then to make of the Holocaust - has God's contract ended ?

The nation-state is a modern construct. Even if one were to argue that Palestine did not exist as a nation-state in the modern sense, it has been consistently inhabited by a native population identifying as Palestinian Arab, inclusive of Christians, Muslims, and Jews, throughout recorded history. Before the establishment of Israel in 1948, the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea was recognized as Palestine, or Historic Palestine as it is known today, by historians spanning countless centuries and 700,000 were driven out by the invading Zionist army consisting mostly of European refugees from a German crime of history. No amount of re-telling of history will alter that inconvenient truth. Indeed the modern dominant Israeli position is we don't give a fig for the Arabs and will kill them like dogs is at least an honest position of current Zionist orthodoxy and one that repeated opinion polls seems to confirm.

And I stand by my assertion that when Eddie got circumsiseded it fed the local cats for a week !

Edited May 17May 17 by beautifulthailand99