Jack Earle

Jacob Rheuben Erlich (July 3, 1906 – July 18, 1952), professionally credited as Jack Earle, was an American silent film actor and sideshow performer. Due to acromegalic gigantism, Earle was one of the world’s tallest humans at the time of his death, he was 8’6.5” For 14 years, he traveled with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, then became a salesman. He is referenced in Tom Waits’s song “Get Behind The Mule”.