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“Midwest Nice” and “Hoosier Hospitality” are reasonable descriptions of why people like this part of the world, but platitudes fail to capture what’s weird and distinctive about Indianapolis, according to retired journalist Will Higgins.
A new pop-up museum organized by Higgins, a former reporter for The Indianapolis Star and editor of alternative newsweekly Nuvo, spotlights 16 remarkable stories that depict the city as something other than tepid and tame.
Consider Max Emmerich, son of distinguished educator Charles Emmerich—who was honored in the name of Charles E. Emmerich Manual Training High School. Max Emmerich won the gold medal in the triathlon (long jump, shot put and 100-yard dash) at the 1904 Summer Olympics.
Emmerich’s post-Olympics life crashed into a hurdle when he was arrested while trying to flee to Cuba with $40,000 he embezzled from Capital National Bank. He served prison time in Leavenworth, Kansas, and eventually returned to Indianapolis to live a scandal-free life.
“The Museum of Fabulosity,” which Higgins is preparing for a June 6 opening at Guichelaar Gallery at Big Car Collaborative’s campus, 1125 Cruft St., displays photos of Emmerich as well as luggage packed for an island getaway.
The “Fabulosity” collection includes the retelling of the time Dick the Bruiser’s mother scolded John F. Kennedy for sitting on a sofa in her Indianapolis home plus the night guitarist Wes Montgomery was “discovered” in a local nightclub by established jazz star Cannonball Adderley.
“I think the best way to teach history is through the weirdness,” Higgins said.
“Weird” is a comfort zone for Higgins. In 2016, he organized a display of bottles purported to contain urine samples of U.S. presidents for Fountain Square’s bygone Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art.
In fact, the bottles were a hoax of absurdist art that succeeded as commentary on idol-making (and as a source for laughs).
The historic events of the Museum of Fabulosity actually happened. But Higgins concedes that he’s not the owner of Max Emmerich’s century-old suitcase.
Regarding the exhibition’s nod to Jerry Hostetler, the former pimp who owned the Dolphin House on Kessler, Higgins said, “I’m not making an absolute claim that this is the actual purple velour shirt worn by Jerry Hostetler. But it’s a velour shirt of the kind he might have worn.”
Higgins underscored the difference between presidential urine collecting and the Museum of Fabulosity.
“Anyone with an imagination can cook up a make-believe world,” he said. “What’s hard is looking at big old reality and seeing the story within, recognizing it, then extracting and presenting it in a memorable and entertaining way.”
Don’t miss the exhibition’s clip-on tie that may have been worn by Morris Johnson, who robbed more than 30 banks and broke out of prison three times.
“I wrote about Morris Johnson and got to know him,” Higgins said. “I asked him for his tips, and he said, ‘Always wear a clip-on tie. You look nice, and if they go to grab you they end up with a handful of tie.’”
On the topic of Emmerich enjoying a pleasant hometown existence following his incarceration, it turns out that “Hoosier Hospitality” wasn’t off-base.
When Emmerich died in 1956 at age 77, news reports made no mention of his crime. “Indianapolis forgave and forgot,” Higgins said.
‘Museum of Fabulosity: A Will Higgins Curation’
- When: June 6 to July 20
- Where: Guichelaar Gallery, Tube Factory Artspace, 1125 Cruft St.
- Admission: Free
- Info: Visit bigcar.org.
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By any chance, is he related to the Will Higgins who invented Linear Bocce, the world’s fastest growing sport?