Jake Erlich - El Paso, Texas
Jake Erlich

Jake Erlich - El Paso, Texas

Many of us know of Erlich as the “world’s tallest man,” as the Guinness Book of Records once deemed him. He was also an extraordinary artist. But his fame as a painter was overshadowed by his fame for being more than eight feet tall. Jacob Reuben Ehrlich, born in Denver in 1906, moved to El Paso with his German-Jewish immigrant parents in 1912. Born small, at less than four pounds, Erlich remained normal size until about the age of 8, when he began growing rapidly. By the time he was 10, he was over 6 feet tall. Erlich went straight from El Paso High School to Hollywood where he appeared in nearly 50 silent movies.

Area: Central / Downtown

Source: El Paso Museum of History

Reference ID: H2001-015-005

Uploaded by: El Paso Museum of History

Comments

Add a comment
Thank you for your comment

Report this entry

Choose the most important reason for this report

Your name

Your email address

Optional detail

Thank you for your report

More from the same community-collection

Cowboys - El Paso

The names of these two men were once written in pencil under the ...

Argyria Louise White, aged 5 months

There were a number of families named White living in El Paso at ...

Tigua Children In The Parade

Tigua children during a Sun Bowl Parade.

Children In The Sun Bowl Parade - 1936

Children in the Sun Bowl Parade in 1936.

Sun Bowl Parade - 1937

Sun Bowl Parade in 1937.

Pamela Ann MacGuire-1966

Pamela Ann MacGuire- Sun Bowl Queen for the year 1966.

Felix Manuel Bustillos

Felix Manuel Bustillos graduated in 1938. His picture on the ...

Carmen Sanchez

The image of the graduate Carmen Sanchez was taken in 1963.

Carmela de la Torre (Valdez)

This little girl in the beautiful white dress is called Carmela ...

Parade Downtown - 1908

Mobile car in front of City Hall.

John Neff Wedding Party

John Neff 1938 - 1939 Sun Bowl President

Henry M. Walker - Secretary of the El Paso Central Labor Union

Henry M. Walker served in 1898 in Galveston, Tex. as president ...

William Moellar

Car in parade---1908.

Mrs. W. L. Crockett

The Crocketts were originally from Las Vegas, New Mexico. Mrs. ...

Mills Building

The image shows Pioneer Plaza and some of the buildings which ...

Historical Building

The building at 100 E. San Antonio had been a landmark in the ...

Power Plant looking east.

This may be the Power Plant on Santa Fe St.

Yard between electric plant and warehouse looking east.

Possibly the power plant on Santa Fe St. You can see a wooden ...

Electric Power Plant looking southwest.

A beautiful brick building with power lines strung everywhere. ...

Sol C. Schutz

Sol Schutz, an El Paso pioneer, was born in 1845 and died in ...

Graduates

These four young people may be an early graduating class from El ...

First To Graduate From El Paso's Only High School-1887

Image caption: Kate Moore was one of two members of the first ...

Postal Official

This photograph is one in a series that is showing the El Paso ...

home.search_collection