Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Proske #12


Proske-12, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

While appearing in the Orpheum Theater in Los Angles, Proske was attacked by Judith and badly mauled. While in the hospital and in danger of losing one of his legs to gangrene, one of his frequent visitors was Mabel Stark, to whom Proske later gave credit for giving him the “encouragement that sparked my will to live.”

1 comments:

Roger Smith said...

Mabel told me graphic details of Proske's injuries from Judith. She tore off most of that hip, and as Eric noted, the infection quickly degenerated into gangrene. In that era, as in Mabel's early years, reconstructive surgery for massive injuries had not developed. She told me Proske had to sit on a hip bone barely covered by skin. Mabel's encouraging visits came from concern for her colleague and friend, and from the cap she earned in nursing school. Proske, in return, paid Mabel many visits in Thousand Oaks.