An ad for Clarence Willard, “The Man Who Grows,” in the National Vaudeville Artists annual, 1925.
In 1913, a man walked into the U.S. Embassy in London and asked for a passport. He identified himself as Clarence Willard, of Painesville, Ohio, and offered the necessary details: his age, the color of his hair, his weight, etc. But when the clerk asked for his height, Willard responded, “Oh, anywhere from five feet nine and three-quarter inches to six feet four.”
A newspaper article recounting this story claimed the clerk, Edward Hobson, was puzzled by the response, so Willard elaborated. “I’m Willard, the man who grows. I will show you what I mean.”
Willard did just that. As the report stated, he “began slowly to grow, increasing in height until, instead of looking straight into the eyes of Hobson, who is a medium-sized man, he was gazing down at the top of the clerk’s head. Hobson called in Frank Page and Harold Fowler, the American Ambassador’s son and private secretary, and for their edification Willard gave a regular side-show in the reception-room of the embassy, telescoping up and down apparently with the greatest ease. Page and Fowler inspected the man carefully, feeling his legs in an attempt to find hidden springs or other mechanical apparatus, but they were finally convinced that he was only a freak.”
A composite photograph shows the different stages of Willard’s height in the September 1927 issue of Science and Invention.
Willard, born in 1882, shared his talents far beyond the embassy. As a young boy he began working for the Barnum and Bailey Circus, and later spent years performing his “most marvelous act” in vaudeville. He was known to increase his height by 7 ½ inches, and stretch his arms 6 ¼ inches in just minutes—like a real-life Plastic Man.
While on stage, Willard would invite a volunteer from the audience to join him. Someone taller than him. Standing next to each other, Willard would stretch himself until he stood taller. He delighted audiences with stories as well, perhaps like the one above. Ricky Jay’s Learned Pigs and Fire-Proof Women adds this tale from the telescopic fellow: “In Madrid in 1912, I was watching a parade. As King Alfonso approached, I stretched a few inches to get a better look. A woman saw me and screamed. The crowd stared and left me standing all alone.”
The September 1927 issue of Science and Invention set out to explain how Willard grew on command. Editors took him for x-rays and determined that The Man Who Grows’ spinal curvature is “perhaps greater than that of the average man. By purely muscular exertion he is able to cause the vertebrae to assume a nearly perfect straight line. In this way he can extend the length of his neck … By training, Mr. Willard has been able to increase this movement so markedly that his demonstration is daily surprising thousands.”
Outside of vaudeville he continued surprising spectators at the 1939 World’s Fair, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! odditoriums, and on the Ed Sullivan Show. Willard passed away in 1962 at the age of 80.
X-rays of Willard, taken for the September 1927 issue of Science and Invention. The images show how Willard straightened his neck to aid his growth.
