If "Grace McDaniels" was a stage name then so probably is "Elmer". His name is suspiciously similar to "Elmer McCurdy", an outlaw who died in 1911 and whose body was stuffed and exhibited in the sideshow circuit well into the 1970's.
Elmer could have been a son but he also could have been a nephew or step-son. At any rate my best guess is that he was born ca. 1918 and began exhibiting alongside his Mom in the late 1940's, early '50s. Like the wearing of her wedding ring, Grace was shown with her son as part of her act to help her audience to feel more at ease and to continue to ensure sales of her miniature bibles, after all as you can plainly see, she has a son to support.
Somewhere the story was spread that Elmer became a drug addict and used his Mother for personal gain. But this story, too, has the earmarks of a sympathy pitch. "Please help put poor Grace," the inside talker would plead, "her son was given over to vicious habits and has squandered all her money...." Perhaps somebody heard the pitch and took it for fact, I don't know. But unless concrete evidence is forthcoming I prefer to give Elmer the benefit of a doubt.
Roberta Rylander, who has written up the history of Katy, Texas, has told this author that in the early 1930's "Grace and son Elmer came to Katy each winter. He would enter school until March or April. I remember he would enter the County Meet and part of the races. He fought many a school ground battle in the name of his Mother."
The photo below and it's close-up are from Al Stencell's book "Seeing is Believing." It's the Pete Kortes show in Hawaii. Grace is seated second from the right. Behind her is a young man Mr. Stencell identifies as "Don McDaniels". He's too young to be Elmer. Was this Grace's grand-son? |
