Ed Paschke 1939 - 2004 and the stolen twin foetuses.
onthecanvas.com
Ed Paschke died on Thanksgiving eve, in his sleep. Ed has been a friend of mine my entire teen & adult life. In fact, it was Ed's letter of recommendation that got me into the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There is so much folks already know about Ed. Ed was a famous, influential and important American artist. But I have memories of Ed that are mine, and mine alone. Ed spent a lot of time at the Green Mill Lounge on Broadway, next to the Uptown Theatre. He ran the art dept. at Northwestern University and after work he'd head north up Sheridan Ave. to Broadway and stop in The Green Mill for a tall cool one. I trained at the old Northside Boxing Gym right above the lounge. Ed would come upstairs and we'd talk boxing. He loved boxing. He knew boxing. I loved painting. We'd talk painting. He knew painting. We'd talk art and painting. And freaks. We both loved sideshow freaks. One Christmas, while I was still in Medicine, I sent him a pair of Siamese Twins fetuses I had planned to dissect. Ed collected duck decoys. His father crafted them. One of the biggest honors Ed bestowed upon me was finding a place for the twins (in a glass jar of formalin) on the same mantle with his old man's duck decoys.
And the rest of the facts according to the thief GARY DOBRY -
Also, in this particular teaching institution’s archives, there was a very special pair of Siamese twins, stillborn, that were joined at the torso. I always thought these Siamese twins would make a very interesting dissection, but I knew the director of autopsy services would never agree to allow the specimen to be dissected.
My plan was to hide the formalin container, with the Siamese twins, in the autopsy suite with the other specimens stored there until I felt it safe enough to perform the dissection. Unfortunately I never reached a comfort level for such a risky venture. As luck would have it though, an addition of a new wing to the hospital resulted in the archives being moved to a new location. Many specimens were lost or misplaced in the shuffle. They’d never miss it.
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful heist? Imagine, Siamese twins! By this time I also decided that the specimen was too precious to debase by cutting it to shreds. I knew I wanted to steal the twins now, but I didn’t have a ####### clue what I would do with them once I got them! If you don’t dissect them, what the #### do you do with them, put ‘em on the coffee table? Almost….
I put the formalin container, with the Siamese twins, in a box and sealed it meticulously. I wrapped it real nice. It was Christmas time and the twins were going to make an excellent Christmas gift for that special someone. I sent it off with a nice card and best Christmas wishes.
About a week later, I received a thank-you from the recipient of my gift, it read;
Gary,
Thank-you for the really wonderful and rather bizarre gift. I gave it a special place on my mantel alongside my father’s hand-carved duck decoys.
Merry Christmas,
Ed (Paschke)
The Final Fantasy...from Dobry's self-published "In Good Faith". |
