JIM: I'M JIM KIRCHHERR.

AND THIS OF COURSE IS A STATUE OF ROBERT WADLOW.

THE WORLD'S TALLEST MAN, BORN HERE IN ALTON 100 YEARS AGO.

IN FEBRUARY OF 1918.

HE WAS SO AMAZINGLY TALL.

IT'S EASY TO FORGET THAT THIS WAS A STATUE OF A REGULAR PERSON.

IN SO MANY WAYS ROBERT WADLOW WAS A REGULAR GUY, OR AT LEAST SOMEBODY WHO WAS TRYING TO BE A REGULAR GUY.

ONE OF THE PLACES HE COULD REALLY DO THAT WAS HERE IN HIS HOMETOWN.

* JIM: HE WAS KNOWN AS THE ALTON GIANT BECAUSE OF A PITUITARY GLAND CONDITION HE GREW TO NEARLY 9 FEET TALL.

AND ROBERT WADLOW WENT INTO THE RECORD BOOKS AS THE WORLD'S TALLEST MAN.

BUT HE DIED AT THE AGE OF 22, SO FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, HE WAS A GROWING BOY.

WHEREVER HE WENT, HERE HE IS AT AGE 15 WITH THE YMCA GROUP AT THE CHICAGO WORLD'S FAIR.

HE COULDN'T HELP BUT ATTRACT CAMERAS AND CROWDS.

WHICH THEN BECAME HIS JOB WITH ST.

LOUIS'S INTERNATIONAL SHOE COMPANY.

HE TRAVELED FROM TOWN TO TOWN, SHOE STORE TO SHOE STORE.

BUT HE DID CONSIDER IT A JOB.

TIM: HE CONSIDERED IT A FULL-TIME JOB.

HIS TITLE WAS FIELD REPRESENTATIVE FOR INTERNATIONAL SHOE.

JIM: TIM LEONE PRODUCED A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ROBERT'S LIFE IN 1991.

HE TRACKED DOWN THEE PHOTOS AND THE FILMS, HE INTERVIEWED THOSE WHO HAD KNOWN HIM.

AND HE TALKED TO US ABOUT WHAT HE HAD FOUND.

HERE IN ALTON IS THE PLACE WHERE ROBERT WAS BEST KNOWN, AND REALLY WAS THE PLACE THAT HE, THE ONLY PLACE THAT HE COULD BE ROBERT WADLOW AND NOT THE WORLD'S TALLEST MAN.

TIM: TRUE.

TO THE PEOPLE OF ALTON'S CREDIT, ROBERT WAS VIEWED AND THOUGHT OF AS JUST ONE OF THE GUYS.

HE HAS BEEN BIGGER THAN EVERYBODY.

HE HAD BEEN BIGGER THAN THE TEACHERS IN GRADE SCHOOL.

HE WAS BIGGER THAN ALL THE STUDENTS, HE WAS BIGGER THAN THE ADULT.

HE WAS BIGGER THAN EVERY CAR.

HE WAS THE BIGGEST THING.

AND HE ALWAYS HAD BEEN THAT WAY.

SO THE PEOPLE HERE, HIS CLASSMATES, THE PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH, EVERY CIVIC GROUP THAT HE BELONGED TO DIDN'T RELAY ACT ADVERSELY TO HIM.

ROBERT HAD ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY, SO THEY DIDN'T REALLY THINK OF IT AS ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

JIM: TIM, WHERE WAS ALL OF THIS STUFF?

WAS IT ALL IN ONE PLACE OR DID YOU HAVE TO GO AROUND DIGGING FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHS AND THE FILMS THAT YOU DID FIND?

TIM: I HAD TO DIG RATHER DEEPLY THROUGH ATTICS, BASEMENTS, PERSONAL COLLECTIONS, NEWSPAPERS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY, INTERNATIONAL SHOE ARCHIVES, LOCAL NEWSPAPERS, WHAT HAVE YOU.

THE FILM CLIPS WE FOUND WERE FROM EUROPE, THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, AND AGAIN PEOPLE'S BASEMENTS AND ATTICS.

JIM: A LOT OF THE THINGS WERE OFFICIAL FILMS.

THEY WERE NEWS REEL PHOTOS, NEWSPAPER PHOTOS.

HERE IN TOWN, THOUGH, WERE THERE LOTS OF PICTURES THAT PEOPLE HAD JUST SNAPPED OF ROBERT WADLOW.

TIM: THERE WERE MORE PICTURES THAN WHAT MOST PEOPLE THOUGHT.

THERE WERE A LOT OF CANDID SHOTS TAKEN AT THE HIGH SCHOOL OF ROBERT BY HIS CLASSMATES, BUT NOT VERY MANY PHOTOGRAPHS, CANDID PHOTOGRAPHS OF ROBERT TAKEN AT HOME, OR WHAT HAVE YOU.

THE FATHER WOULD ALWAYS EXPECT TO BE PAID IF ANYBODY HAD A CAMERA.

THE FATHER SAID, HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU HAVE IN YOUR POCKET, PENNY, DIME, QUARTER?

AND WOULD BE EXPECTED TO BE PAID, EVEN THIS LITTLE KID WITH A BOXED CAMERA.

SO THESE LITTLE KIDS WOULD GO TO THE SCHOOL WITH THEIR BOXED CAMERAS AND TAKE PICTURES OF ROBERT OR TAKE PICTURES WITH ROBERT AT THE SCHOOL.

THAT'S WHY THERE'S SO MANY PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN THERE.

JIM: YEAH, YOU HAVE A COUPLE OF THE CANDID PHOTOS, BUT IN THE COLLECTION THAT YOU'VE SHOWN ME, MOST OF THOSE ARE THE POSED PHOTOGRAPH.

ROBERT MUST HAVE POSED FOR THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF PHOTOGRAPHS.

SOME OF THEM REALLY QUITE SILLY.

YOU HAVE ONE WHERE THERE'S A MIDGET, I GUESS, FROM THE CIRCUS SHOUTING UP TO ROBERT IN THAT HOWS-THE-WEATHER POSE.

DID ROBERT EVER DRAW THE LINE AND SAY, THIS IS SILLY, I'M NOT GOING TO DO THIS.

TIM: REALISTICALLY ONLY ONCE.

HE - THE FAMILY SIGNED A DEAL WITH RINGLING BROTHERS AND BARNUM AND BAILEY CIRCUS.

AND ROBERT APPEARED AT RINGLING BROTHERS FOR A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME.

BUT ROBERT ALWAYS APPEARED IN A COAT A TIE, THREE PIECE SUIT, WHAT HAVE YOU.

AND HE NEVER HAD TO "PERFORM".

RINGLING BROTHERS PEOPLE OUT OF TOWN WOULD PUT HIM WITH THE OTHER INDIVIDUALS WHO HAD PHYSICAL DISABILITIES OR PHYSICAL ODDITIES.

AND ROBERT NEVER THOUGHT OF HIMSELF THAT WAY.

AND THAT'S THE ONLY TIME THAT WE HAVE BEEN COGNIZANT THAT HE SAID, I DON'T WANT TO HAVE ANY PART OF THIS, GET ME OUT OF THE CIRCUS.

JIM: IF SOMEBODY WERE TO DO A MINISERIES OF ROBERT WADLOW'S LIFE TODAY FOR TELEVISION.

THE THEME WOULD BE HIS FATHER CONTROLLING HIS LIFE, THE EXPLOITATION OF ROBERT WADLOW.

WAS HE EXPLOITED AS A HUMAN BEING?

TIM: BOTH YES AND NO.

AGAIN WE'RE TALKING THE 1930'S.

THE COUNTRY WAS COMING OUT OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND IT WAS CONSIDERED TO BE STANDARD PRACTICE FOR FAMILY MEMBERS TO WORK TOGETHER TO HELP SUPPORT THE FAMILY.

AND ROBERT DID THIS WILLINGLY AND DID IT HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

AND SO IN THAT CONTEXT IT WAS NOT EXPLOITATION.

BY TODAY'S STANDARDS, YES, IT WOULD BE CONSIDERED EXPLOITATION.

* JIM: HAD HE LIVED ON AT AGE 22, AND HE WAS BEGINNING TO SHOW SOME SIGNS OF INDEPENDENCE.

DO YOU HAVE AN IDEA WHAT SORT OF LIFE HE WOULD HAVE LED BEYOND THAT?

TIM: HE BEGAN THINKING ABOUT MAYBE HAVING A BUSINESS HERE IN ALTON.

A SHOE STORE IS WHAT HE WAS THINKING ABOUT.

HE EXPRESSED AN INTEREST OF MAYBE HAVING A FAMILY, SETTLING DOWN, MAYBE BEING A "BUSINESSMAN", A SELF SUSTAINING BUSINESSMAN.

AND I THINK IF HE HAD BEEN ABLE TO LIVE HIS LIFE TO FRUITION HE WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACHIEVE HIS GOALS.

BUT NEVER GOT AWAY FROM THE FAMILY.

MORE THAN LIKELY HE AND HIS FATHER WOULD HAVE RUN THE BUSINESS TOGETHER.

AND POSSIBLY HIS YOUNGER BROTHER WOULD HAVE JOINED THE BUSINESS.

IF, AGAIN, IF ROBERT HAD LIVED.

JIM: THE THING ABOUT HIM IS THAT FOR SOMEONE WHO WAS THE WORLD'S LARGEST MAN, THE MAN WHO STOOD OUT NO MATTER WHERE HE WENT, HE SEEMS REMARKABLY TO HAVE BEEN WELL ADJUSTED.

TIM: VERY TRUE.

ROBERT WAS VERY COMFORTABLE WITH WHO HE WAS.

YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER HE WAS ALWAYS IN THE PUBIC EYE SINCE HE WAS A VERY YOUNG PERSON, STARTING FROM ABOUT AGE 9.

AND SO, HE DEVELOPED A CERTAIN SENSE OF SOPHISTICATION FAR BEYOND THE EXPERIENCE OF ANY OF HIS PEERS.

AND SO, HE WAS PRETTY COMFORTABLE WITH WHO HE WAS.

LIKE HE SAID ONE TIME, PEOPLE SHOULD UTILIZE THEIR HANDICAPS INSTEAD OF FUSSING ABOUT HIM.

HE SAID, LOOK AT ME, I'M GETTING ALONG ALL RIGHT.

SO IT KIND OF SAYS IT ALL.

JIM: IT WAS ON ONE OF HIS OUT OF TOWN TRIPS THAT ROBERT CAME DOWN WITH AN INFECTION CAUSED BY THE RUBBING OF A BRACE ON HIS ANKLE, BUT REALLY CAUSE BY THE FACT THAT HE WAS NEARLY NINE FEET TALL AND STILL GROWING.

HE'D OUTGROWN HIS NERVOUS SYSTEM AND HADN'T FELT THE PAIN UNTIL IT GOT SERIOUS.

IT CAUSED HIS DEATH IN 1940 AT THE AGE OF 22.

HE WAS BURIED IN ALTON, WHICH LATER ERECTED IN HIS MEMORY AND HONOR AN AMAZINGLY LIFE-SIZED STATUE.