Posted by Diana S. on May 25, 2001 at 08:06:01:
# 15 - ...is today dedicated to poor "fallen off the fuuuuuuudddge platter" Miss Marcia!
Hendersonville, NC, where we will be watching the screening of a certain movie a couple of us like, is ALSO home to the WORLD'S LARGEST TWINS, Benny and Billy McCrary. After a bout of measles at age nine the identical twins developed a pituitary problem that sent their weight skyrocketing. They each blossomed to over 400 pounds in high school and eventually to over 800 pounds.
Unable to find jobs at their weight, they helped their father on the farm, getting around to their chores on minibikes (YES, minibikes)! They were later asked to ride in Hendersonville's Apple Festival on their minibikes. That led to other appearances and finally to the cover of Life magazine (a shot of the two from behind on their minibikes - ring a bell???) and in the Guiness Book of World Records. From that point on they were in show business. They appeared in Las Vegas playing trumpets and doing jokes with a 400 pound go-go dancer in their routine.
In the summer of 1979, Billy fell off his minibike at a Niagra Falls appearance and later died from complications of his injuries. His brother erected a 13 foot wide, three ton monument, including a space for himself, with etchings of the minibikes on each side in addition to the proclamation that they were the world's largest twins. The gravestone is now listed as the world's largest gravestone!!
So Miss Marcia, do not dispair...fame and notoriety CAN be won if you could just cram in a couple thousand more platters of that Down Home Fuuuuuuuuudddge!
There's packin' and plannin',
the likes I never seen.
'Cause we'll all be together
in just 19!
Di