Hubert's Freaks

by Gibson, Gregory

• ISBN13: 9780151012336
• ISBN10: 0151012334
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-04-01
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

Bob Langmuir is an obsessive dealer with a remarkable eye for treasure who makes the discovery of a lifetime when he chances upon a trove of never-before-seen prints by the legendary Diane Arbus. From the moment he purchases a trunk containing the archive of Hubert's Dime Museum and Flea Circus-a midcentury Times Square freak show frequented by Arbus-and discovers some intriguing photographs, he knows he's on to something. Furthermore, he begins to suspect that what he's found may add a pivotal chapter to what is now known about Arbus and the "old weird America," in Greil Marcus's phrase, that Hubert's inhabited. Langmuir's ensuing adventure, filled with bizarre coincidences, turns into a roller-coaster ride that takes him from memorabilia shows to the curator's office at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Will the photos be authenticated? How will the Arbus estate react? most important, can Bob, who has seen more than a few promising deals head south, finally make his one big score?

Author Biography

GREG GIBSON is the author of the critically acclaimed Gone Boy: A Walkabout and Demon of the Waters: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Whaleship Globe. An antiquarian-book dealer, he lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Preface: The Man in Blue	p. 1
An American Palindrome
Sunday, Monday, and Charlie	p. 7
The Old Roman Gardens	p. 12
Deeyan and Allan	p. 17
What More can You ask for?	p. 22
Early Bob	p. 32
Life in the Colonies	p. 40
Bob: The Middle Years	p. 43
Simoom in the Sahara	p. 47
Diane and John	p. 53
Jan, Meg, Ernie, and Mom	p. 59
Miss McRae	p. 64
The Final Act	p. 67
Black History	p. 71
The Collectors	p. 75
Out of Africa	p. 81
Feeding the Rat	p. 87
The Buy	p. 92
The Finer Sort	p. 98
Flying Fur	p. 104
Down the Rabbit Hole	p. 110
The Grind	p. 118
A Crack in the Mystical Vessel	p. 129
Bob and Woogie	p. 134
Deconstructing the Palindrome	p. 138
New Bob
The Kiss and the Curse	p. 145
Paper Pajamas	p. 151
Off the Couch and into the Frying Pan	p. 156
Yes!!! Fantastic!!! and Fascinating!!!	p. 162
Robert Miller	p. 168
A Shark's Lunch	p. 174
Consummatum Est	p. 185
The Magic Cloud	p. 191
Bob and Steve	p. 196
Other Faces	p. 202
Woogie's Boxes	p. 207
The Old, Weird Bob	p. 222
The Bostocks of West Philadelphia	p. 231
Deep Leo	p. 233
In Which Bob Proves to Have Been More Stubborn than Jan was Angry	p. 236
Heisenberg Jr	p. 241
Untitled	p. 246
Healing Waters	p. 254
The Sunset Kid	p. 257
And That's not all	p. 262
Acknowledgments	p. 265
Selected Bibliography	p. 267
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Sunday, Monday, and CharlieIn 1831 a Yankee sea captain named Benjamin Morrell captured two cannibals in the South Pacific and brought them back to America. For the next few years he displayed them throughout the northeastern United States at places like New York City's American Museum. He wrote a book about his adventures, and his wife, who accompanied him on the voyage, wrote her own account, which verified his. A third narrative, written by a crewman named Keeler, substantiated both the Morrells books. The two savages, named Sunday and Monday in honor of the days on which they were captured, astonished American audiences. Captain Morrell wrote, In the year 1830 they were . . . cannibals! In the year 1832 they are civilized intelligent men. Morrell assured his readers that the two former cannibals would prove to be ideal ambassadors to their home islands, overflowing with breadfruit, coconut, and many other valuables, when a trading expedition returned there. Stockholders of the proposed commercial venture, he said, would have a monopoly on the abundant profits because, I alone know where these islands are situated. As it turned out, Morrells book was ghostwritten by a hack friend of Edgar Allan Poes named Samuel Woodworth; Mrs. Morrells account was ghostwritten by another friend of Poes; and most of Keelers narrative was lifted verbatim from his captains book. All three of these texts, though based loosely on fact, were rife with exaggeration. Captain Morrell was simply trying to drum up interest in the remote Pacific and to promote himself as an expert navigator of those waters. He hoped to attract backers for a grand trading venture, or even for a government-sponsored expedition (to be led, of course, by himself). But the only person to make any real use of his ghostwritten saga was Edgar Allan Poe, who based The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym on it. Morrells extravagant claims didn't fool his fellow mariners. He became known as the biggest liar in the Pacific, and he died at sea without ever realizing his grandiose schemes. Sunday and Monday, his faux cannibals, were probably just domesticated Pacific Islanders or African American impersonators, posing as savages to astonish white American rubes. They were among the earliest examples of such, and although they are long forgotten, they bear on the story of Bob Langmuir and Diane Arbus. Arbus started photographing at Huberts Museum, a freak show on West Forty-second Street, in the 1950s. At first she was more interested in the interiors of the nearby movie houses her photos show half-lit faces and blurred bodies rising like dreams out of those huge, dimmed bowls but Huberts bizarre shabbiness ultimately proved a more fertile environment in which to pursue the images she was seeking. She recalled descending, somewhat like Orpheus or Alice or Virgil, into the cellar, which was where Huberts Museum was. That it occupied its own underworld only enhanced it. Charlie Lucas, a black ma

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Excerpted from Hubert's Freaks: The Rare-Book Dealer, the Times Square Talker, and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbus by Gregory Gibson
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.