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Summary:
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Al (Aurelio) Tomaini (1912 - 1962) claimed a height of 8’4” and billed himself as ‘The Tallest Man in the World’. (His actual height was much shorter, at 7'4".) In 1936, at the Great Lakes Exposition, he met the woman who was to share his unique life, Berniece Evelyn Smith (1916 - 1999) who went by the stage name, Jeanie with twisted arms and without legs and billed as "The Living Half Girl." She ‘stood’ just over two feet in height and had been performing in exhibitions since the age of three and was known for her acrobatic dexterity and the nimble way she ran about on her mildly deformed hands. The couple eloped during a fair in Cleveland in 1936 and went to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. Often billed as the "World's Strangest Married Couple", they settled in Gibsonton where they established a lodge and fishing camp known as ‘The Giant’s Camp’. Al served as the fire chef and president of the Chamber of Commerce. After Al's death, Jeanie continued to run Giant's Fish Camp and Restaurant until her death in 1999. |
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