Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Fictional Characters from Wisconsin #4 - Richard Harrow

Richard Harrow from BOARDWALK EMPIRE - Everybodies favorite physically and mentally damaged by WWI mob hit man from Wisconsin. In the show, he describes his lonely upbringing on a remote farm - just he, his sister and a lot of hunting and fishing. He's good with a rifle and, lucky for us, is still alive at the end of season 2.
Below is a WWI veteran wearing a cosmetic mask circa 1920. The photo is from this NPR link documenting the story of post-war cosmetic mask making, prosthetics and surgical reconstruction.
205,690 Americans were wounded in WWI. Of that number, about a third were - as a military doctor of the time put it, "horribly disfigured". The stigma of being seen in public added to the psychological burden that these men already carried. In their words, the prosthetic mask makers of World War I "performed miracles". Here's a link to a great Smithsonian post about these faces of war.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I periodically check here and appreciate seeing the couple recent posts.

George H. said...

Cool. And you're back in the saddle. We all benefit.

aquarium supplies said...

he was an awesome fictional character!, there's no doubt about it