Hadji Ali
Encyclopedia
Hadji Ali sometimes billed as "The Great Egyptian Miracle Man", "The Great Regurgitator", "The Egyptian Enigma", "The Human Aquarium", "The Human Volcano" and "The 9th Wonder of the Scientific World", was a vaudeville
performance artist thought to be of Egyptian extraction, best known for a variety of feats of controlled regurgitation
such as water spouting, nut and handkerchief swallowing followed by disgorgement in an order chosen by the audience and smoke swallowing. Ali's most famous stunt, however, the highlight of his act, was drinking copious amounts of water followed by kerosene
, and then acting by turns as a human flamethrower
and extinguisher as the two liquids were expelled by him over a prop structure. While these stunts were performed, audience members were invited to watch the show up close to verify that no trickery was employed.
Although never a true headliner, Ali performed for heads of state including the Tsar of Russia and gained a dedicated following on the Vaudeville circuit in the United States, worked regularly and for good pay. His vaudeville act was captured in two films of the day: Politiquerias, the Spanish language version of Laurel and Hardy
's Chickens Come Home
, and the 1930 short, Strange as It Seems. Two contemporary documentaries contain footage of Ali taken from Politiquerias: 1977's Gizmo!, and 1999's Vaudeville. Because of his unusual gastric abilities, during his lifetime rumor had it that a large sum was offered for his stomach upon his death. After Ali died in England his body was donated to Johns Hopkins
for study.
river. Instead of dying, as those present thought he might, he simply regurgitated the liquid and fish without ill effect. A less dramatic version of these events, though sharing surface details, was attributed to answers Ali gave to audience questions at a performance held at St. Mary's Hospital
in Niagara Falls
, New York in May 1926. Ali reportedly explained that he did not himself understand his unusual duodenal facility; that he had naturally discovered as a young boy that he could swallow a large amount of water while swimming in the Nile and blow it out like a whale spouting, and that he continued to develop the ability as he grew older.
Ali first learned that his gastronomic abilities had the potential to earn money through performance at the age of fifteen. "I tried out my tricks first of all in the street, swallowing many glasses of water and then pouring forth a great fountain from one side of the road to the other ... A cafe proprietor saw me doing this one day, and chased me down the street. I thought he wanted to beat me up, but no—all he did was to put a coin in my hand and ask me to repeat the trick. Finally, he was so delighted that he asked me to come to his cafe and entertain the customers." Taking his abilities on the road, while in Cairo Ali met an Italian man who signed him to a contract for music hall
performances. Ali performed under contract throughout Europe and at times for heads of state. In or about 1914, Ali was summoned by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
to perform at the Winter Palace
in Saint Petersburg, Russia. According to Ali, the Tsar "must have liked my performance because he awarded me a special decoration, which is now one of my most treasured possessions." Following World War I, Ali began managing his own affairs and toured the world, learning more tricks as he went.
Ali came to the United States with Almina in the mid-1920s where they performed at fairs, carnivals and in vaudeville, sometimes under the collective name, "Hadji Ali & Co." He has been described as a "large, barrel-chested and bearded man... [that cut] an imposing figure in his Arab costume." Almina played the part of assistant in her father's act, billed as "The Princess". Although Ali spoke a number of languages, it was reported that Almina also acted as his interpreter in the United States and other places, as he did not speak English and was illiterate. Once gaining some notoriety, he took on a manager, one Hubert Julian
, a former colonel in the Abyssinian
Air Force.
Although he developed a significant following, even having Judy Garland
proclaim him her favorite vaudevillian, Ali "remained more a sideshow curiosity than a true vaudeville headliner." Nevertheless, at the time of his death in 1937, Julian commented that Ali had "earned big money in America—$1,000 a week sometimes. I was building him up here [in Europe] and had a Continental tour arranged." Ali's entry in Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America speculates that "Hadji Ali" may have been an alias or a simplification of an unknown birth name, and that there was little proof he was actually from Egypt, although as noted, both Ali and his daughter spoke of his childhood experience at the Nile, a river that runs only through Egypt
, Sudan
and Ethiopia
.
Water spouting was followed by Ali downing a quantity of one kind of unshelled nut, approximately 30 to 50 hazelnut
s was typical (though one of Ali's posters advertised 40 pecan
s), and then one solo nut of another variety was taken in, such as an almond. Ali would bring them up one by one with the odd-nut-out produced at a mark called out by the audience.
Similarly, Ali would swallow three to six handkerchief
s of different hues and then produce them in a color order requested by audience members. It is thought that for the nut feat, the one nut of a different variety was held in the mouth rather than swallowed, thus allowing Ali to produce it on cue. For the handkerchief stunt, it was speculated that Ali flavored the handkerchiefs, which allowed him to taste for the correct one as he brought them up, to produce them in the sequence stipulated by the audience. Ali would also partake of such delicacies as live goldfish
, watches, coins, costume jewelry
, paper money, peach
pits, stones, live mice
, buttons, pool balls
and other oddments. Another standard performance segment was swallowing the smoke of multiple cigarettes—eight or more at a time—then to issue forth the smoke like an erupting volcano.
Ali's longstanding finale was the swallowing of copious amounts of water again, but this time followed by a kerosene
pint chaser. A prop structure would then be produced, normally a model castle or house made of metal set on a table, with a small flame burning in proximity. Because kerosene is lighter than water, and the two liquids are immiscible
, they were kept separate in Ali's gut, with the kerosene suspended above the water, thus affording Ali the ability to disgorge it first. The stage thus set, to a drum roll, Ali becoming a human flamethrower
, eructating the accelerant in a long stream over the sacrificial structure, setting it spectacularly ablaze. Once the volatile was exhausted, the previously imbibed water soon followed, streaming from Ali's gut and out his mouth in a long flow, quenching the bilious flames.
While all such feats were performed, a panel selected from the audience was allowed to stay in close proximity to Ali, to verify as best they could that no trick
mechanism was being employed; that he was actually swallowing the items in question and delivering them back through an act of regurgitation. Despite the nature of his feats, essentially controlled vomiting
, one newspaper reported that they were performed in "a manner without the least bit of unpleasantness or anything bordering on repulsiveness." Not all were so sanguine. Houdini
remarked in his 1920 work Miracle Mongers and Their Methods, that water spouting was a "performance that could not fail to disgust a modern audience." At least one of Ali's engagements was cut short once the proprietor realized that the nature of the act "was killing their supper shows".
The abilities of Ali, who was said to have "two stomachs", fascinated the public and medical authorities. At one of his acts a number of doctors attended and rigorously examined him during the performance. They came away satisfied that their doubts that he was actually imbibing the material reported were unfounded, but remained "mystified over his extraordinary performance." According to an article appearing in the Naugatuck Daily News, "Physicians of three continents have puzzled over the gastronomical mechanism of this human ostrich without success. X-ray experiments have been made during his exhibition without a plausible explanation forthcoming that satisfies the critical, in fact, the profession of surgery has thrown up its hands in amazement over this human ostrich."
's Chickens Come Home
, and the 1930 short, Strange as It Seems. Two contemporary documentaries contain footage of Ali taken from Politiquerias: 1977's Gizmo!, and 1999's Vaudeville, a documentary produced by KCTS-TV
that exhibits 90 vaudeville acts over a two hour running time. The documentary has since aired on PBS' American Masters series numerous times.
Speaking about the democratic nature of vaudeville, Vaudeville's writer and executive producer, Greg Palmer said, referring to Ali, that the film "embraced everything from Caruso to a guy who threw up." By contrast with Palmer's negative description, in episode 30 of the Sundance Channel television program Iconoclasts, featuring renowned magician David Blaine
and artist Chuck Close
, Blaine enthusiastically spoke of Ali. While together in a car, Blaine shows Close part of Ali's footage from Politiquerias on his phone (allowing the television audience to see the clip as well) and says while they watch Ali do his kerosene and water finale, that Ali is his "favorite magician ... it's real but nobody's been able to do it since ... his name was Hadji Ali ... he's my favorite of all time."
, England, from heart failure during a bout of bronchitis
. It was rumored that the Rockefeller Institute offered $10,000 to obtain Ali's stomach
. Even before his death the ghoulish rumor had circulated that the Rockefeller Institute sought to procure Ali's stomach upon his death, and would pay as much as $50,000 for it. This claim appeared in a poster advertising Ali's impending appearance at a theater during his lifetime. Postmortem, a Rockefeller Institute manager said the offer had never been made but that nevertheless, "we should very much like to see the body." Almina took her father's body back to the United States on board the Queen Mary
. Upon her arrival in the U.S. Ali's daughter donated her father's remains to Johns Hopkins
for study.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performance artist thought to be of Egyptian extraction, best known for a variety of feats of controlled regurgitation
Regurgitation (digestion)
Regurgitation is the expulsion of material from the mouth, pharynx, or esophagus, usually characterized by the presence of undigested food or blood.Regurgitation is used by a number of species to feed their young...
such as water spouting, nut and handkerchief swallowing followed by disgorgement in an order chosen by the audience and smoke swallowing. Ali's most famous stunt, however, the highlight of his act, was drinking copious amounts of water followed by kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
, and then acting by turns as a human flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
and extinguisher as the two liquids were expelled by him over a prop structure. While these stunts were performed, audience members were invited to watch the show up close to verify that no trickery was employed.
Although never a true headliner, Ali performed for heads of state including the Tsar of Russia and gained a dedicated following on the Vaudeville circuit in the United States, worked regularly and for good pay. His vaudeville act was captured in two films of the day: Politiquerias, the Spanish language version of Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
's Chickens Come Home
Chickens Come Home
Chickens Come Home is a 1931 short film starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by James W. Horne and produced by Hal Roach. It was shot in January, 1931 and released on February 21, 1931...
, and the 1930 short, Strange as It Seems. Two contemporary documentaries contain footage of Ali taken from Politiquerias: 1977's Gizmo!, and 1999's Vaudeville. Because of his unusual gastric abilities, during his lifetime rumor had it that a large sum was offered for his stomach upon his death. After Ali died in England his body was donated to Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
for study.
Background
Born in approximately 1888, according to his daughter, Almina Ali, her father became aware he had an unusual gastric ability at seven years of age, when he inadvertently swallowed a fish and an ample volume of water while bathing in the NileNile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
river. Instead of dying, as those present thought he might, he simply regurgitated the liquid and fish without ill effect. A less dramatic version of these events, though sharing surface details, was attributed to answers Ali gave to audience questions at a performance held at St. Mary's Hospital
Mount Saint Mary's Hospital
Mount St. Mary's Hospital and Health Center is a privately-sponsored Catholic hospital in Lewiston, New York, just north of Niagara Falls, New York, where approximately 60% of the hospital's patients reside....
in Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls
The Niagara Falls, located on the Niagara River draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, is the collective name for the Horseshoe Falls and the adjacent American Falls along with the comparatively small Bridal Veil Falls, which combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfalls in the world and has...
, New York in May 1926. Ali reportedly explained that he did not himself understand his unusual duodenal facility; that he had naturally discovered as a young boy that he could swallow a large amount of water while swimming in the Nile and blow it out like a whale spouting, and that he continued to develop the ability as he grew older.
Ali first learned that his gastronomic abilities had the potential to earn money through performance at the age of fifteen. "I tried out my tricks first of all in the street, swallowing many glasses of water and then pouring forth a great fountain from one side of the road to the other ... A cafe proprietor saw me doing this one day, and chased me down the street. I thought he wanted to beat me up, but no—all he did was to put a coin in my hand and ask me to repeat the trick. Finally, he was so delighted that he asked me to come to his cafe and entertain the customers." Taking his abilities on the road, while in Cairo Ali met an Italian man who signed him to a contract for music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
performances. Ali performed under contract throughout Europe and at times for heads of state. In or about 1914, Ali was summoned by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
to perform at the Winter Palace
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...
in Saint Petersburg, Russia. According to Ali, the Tsar "must have liked my performance because he awarded me a special decoration, which is now one of my most treasured possessions." Following World War I, Ali began managing his own affairs and toured the world, learning more tricks as he went.
Ali came to the United States with Almina in the mid-1920s where they performed at fairs, carnivals and in vaudeville, sometimes under the collective name, "Hadji Ali & Co." He has been described as a "large, barrel-chested and bearded man... [that cut] an imposing figure in his Arab costume." Almina played the part of assistant in her father's act, billed as "The Princess". Although Ali spoke a number of languages, it was reported that Almina also acted as his interpreter in the United States and other places, as he did not speak English and was illiterate. Once gaining some notoriety, he took on a manager, one Hubert Julian
Hubert Julian
Hubert Fauntleroy Julian was a Trinidad-born African American aviation pioneer. He was nicknamed "The Black Eagle".-Biography:...
, a former colonel in the Abyssinian
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire also known as Abyssinia, covered a geographical area that the present-day northern half of Ethiopia and Eritrea covers, and included in its peripheries Zeila, Djibouti, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia...
Air Force.
Although he developed a significant following, even having Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
proclaim him her favorite vaudevillian, Ali "remained more a sideshow curiosity than a true vaudeville headliner." Nevertheless, at the time of his death in 1937, Julian commented that Ali had "earned big money in America—$1,000 a week sometimes. I was building him up here [in Europe] and had a Continental tour arranged." Ali's entry in Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America speculates that "Hadji Ali" may have been an alias or a simplification of an unknown birth name, and that there was little proof he was actually from Egypt, although as noted, both Ali and his daughter spoke of his childhood experience at the Nile, a river that runs only through Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
.
Performance
The mainstay of Ali's act was "water spouting." After swallowing large amounts of water, reportedly 60 to 100 glasses at a time, he would spurt forth the water in a steady stream for a sustained period of time sometimes approaching one minute.Water spouting was followed by Ali downing a quantity of one kind of unshelled nut, approximately 30 to 50 hazelnut
Hazelnut
A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice...
s was typical (though one of Ali's posters advertised 40 pecan
Pecan
The pecan , Carya illinoinensis, is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana east to western Kentucky, southwestern Ohio, North Carolina, South...
s), and then one solo nut of another variety was taken in, such as an almond. Ali would bring them up one by one with the odd-nut-out produced at a mark called out by the audience.
Similarly, Ali would swallow three to six handkerchief
Handkerchief
A handkerchief , also called a handkercher or hanky, is a form of a kerchief, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric that can be carried in the pocket or purse, and which is intended for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or face, or blowing one's nose...
s of different hues and then produce them in a color order requested by audience members. It is thought that for the nut feat, the one nut of a different variety was held in the mouth rather than swallowed, thus allowing Ali to produce it on cue. For the handkerchief stunt, it was speculated that Ali flavored the handkerchiefs, which allowed him to taste for the correct one as he brought them up, to produce them in the sequence stipulated by the audience. Ali would also partake of such delicacies as live goldfish
Goldfish
The goldfish is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It was one of the earliest fish to be domesticated, and is one of the most commonly kept aquarium fish....
, watches, coins, costume jewelry
Costume jewelry
Costume jewelry is jewelry manufactured as ornamentation to complement a particular fashionable costume or garment. Costume jewelry came into being in the 1930s as a cheap, disposable accessory meant to be worn with a specific outfit...
, paper money, peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
pits, stones, live mice
Mouse
A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
, buttons, pool balls
Billiard ball
A billiard ball is a small, hard ball used in cue sports, such as carom billiards, pool, and snooker. The number, type, diameter, color, and pattern of the balls differ depending upon the specific game being played...
and other oddments. Another standard performance segment was swallowing the smoke of multiple cigarettes—eight or more at a time—then to issue forth the smoke like an erupting volcano.
Ali's longstanding finale was the swallowing of copious amounts of water again, but this time followed by a kerosene
Kerosene
Kerosene, sometimes spelled kerosine in scientific and industrial usage, also known as paraffin or paraffin oil in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Ireland and South Africa, is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid. The name is derived from Greek keros...
pint chaser. A prop structure would then be produced, normally a model castle or house made of metal set on a table, with a small flame burning in proximity. Because kerosene is lighter than water, and the two liquids are immiscible
Miscibility
Miscibility is the property of liquids to mix in all proportions, forming a homogeneous solution. In principle, the term applies also to other phases , but the main focus is usually on the solubility of one liquid in another...
, they were kept separate in Ali's gut, with the kerosene suspended above the water, thus affording Ali the ability to disgorge it first. The stage thus set, to a drum roll, Ali becoming a human flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
, eructating the accelerant in a long stream over the sacrificial structure, setting it spectacularly ablaze. Once the volatile was exhausted, the previously imbibed water soon followed, streaming from Ali's gut and out his mouth in a long flow, quenching the bilious flames.
While all such feats were performed, a panel selected from the audience was allowed to stay in close proximity to Ali, to verify as best they could that no trick
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
mechanism was being employed; that he was actually swallowing the items in question and delivering them back through an act of regurgitation. Despite the nature of his feats, essentially controlled vomiting
Vomiting
Vomiting is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose...
, one newspaper reported that they were performed in "a manner without the least bit of unpleasantness or anything bordering on repulsiveness." Not all were so sanguine. Houdini
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
remarked in his 1920 work Miracle Mongers and Their Methods, that water spouting was a "performance that could not fail to disgust a modern audience." At least one of Ali's engagements was cut short once the proprietor realized that the nature of the act "was killing their supper shows".
The abilities of Ali, who was said to have "two stomachs", fascinated the public and medical authorities. At one of his acts a number of doctors attended and rigorously examined him during the performance. They came away satisfied that their doubts that he was actually imbibing the material reported were unfounded, but remained "mystified over his extraordinary performance." According to an article appearing in the Naugatuck Daily News, "Physicians of three continents have puzzled over the gastronomical mechanism of this human ostrich without success. X-ray experiments have been made during his exhibition without a plausible explanation forthcoming that satisfies the critical, in fact, the profession of surgery has thrown up its hands in amazement over this human ostrich."
Film appearances
Ali's act was captured in two films of the day: Politiquerias, the expanded Spanish language version of Laurel and HardyLaurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...
's Chickens Come Home
Chickens Come Home
Chickens Come Home is a 1931 short film starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by James W. Horne and produced by Hal Roach. It was shot in January, 1931 and released on February 21, 1931...
, and the 1930 short, Strange as It Seems. Two contemporary documentaries contain footage of Ali taken from Politiquerias: 1977's Gizmo!, and 1999's Vaudeville, a documentary produced by KCTS-TV
KCTS-TV
KCTS-TV is a public television station in Seattle, Washington, that is a member of the Public Broadcasting Service , that broadcasts on digital channel 9. Its offices and broadcasting center are located at the northeast corner of Seattle Center...
that exhibits 90 vaudeville acts over a two hour running time. The documentary has since aired on PBS' American Masters series numerous times.
Speaking about the democratic nature of vaudeville, Vaudeville's writer and executive producer, Greg Palmer said, referring to Ali, that the film "embraced everything from Caruso to a guy who threw up." By contrast with Palmer's negative description, in episode 30 of the Sundance Channel television program Iconoclasts, featuring renowned magician David Blaine
David Blaine
David Blaine is an American illusionist and endurance artist. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance, and has made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. He has set and broken several world records...
and artist Chuck Close
Chuck Close
Charles Thomas "Chuck" Close is an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits...
, Blaine enthusiastically spoke of Ali. While together in a car, Blaine shows Close part of Ali's footage from Politiquerias on his phone (allowing the television audience to see the clip as well) and says while they watch Ali do his kerosene and water finale, that Ali is his "favorite magician ... it's real but nobody's been able to do it since ... his name was Hadji Ali ... he's my favorite of all time."
Death
Ali died on November 5, 1937 in WolverhamptonWolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
, England, from heart failure during a bout of bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
. It was rumored that the Rockefeller Institute offered $10,000 to obtain Ali's stomach
Stomach
The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...
. Even before his death the ghoulish rumor had circulated that the Rockefeller Institute sought to procure Ali's stomach upon his death, and would pay as much as $50,000 for it. This claim appeared in a poster advertising Ali's impending appearance at a theater during his lifetime. Postmortem, a Rockefeller Institute manager said the offer had never been made but that nevertheless, "we should very much like to see the body." Almina took her father's body back to the United States on board the Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...
. Upon her arrival in the U.S. Ali's daughter donated her father's remains to Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
for study.
External links
- Film clip of Ali performance in Laurel and Hardy's Politiquerias, featuring water spouting, nut swallowing and the setting of a prop structure ablaze with imbibed kerosene and extinguishment of the flames with disgorged water.