Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-11-30


MR. riCkERiNG hdlL
/ had read about Edwards
work. but never had seen H. lie
invited us 10 see ms studio and
we didn't have to be asked
twice. because his work m re-
constructing muulated bodies is
nationally famous.
Take the case of tcenrage
girl working i'm butcher shop.
She caught her hand in "A meat
grinder and Al Was sheared
away.
Beaver Edwards il not a plas-
&c surgeon. He's "A sculptor.
Sometimes, ~ in the case of
this girl, there II nothing that
the plastic surgeon can do, but
Edwards can. He models n new
hand hut instead OF casting II
in bronze or cutting IL from
granite, he molds il from rub
Der material.
He had several hands on his
desk, painted 10 the exact shade
of human flesh, and 80 minutely
perfect that even the wrinkles
Of the skin are there, and the
fingernails.
In some eases ne makes these
hands from patterns taken
from living hands, and i'm such
eases the artificial hands are
complete even TO fingerprints--
Edwards has specuiated at
times on the fiction possible
ties of that:
A man with one OF these arti-
fetal hands, leaving some other
persons fingerprints. A notion
for some deteciiye-story writer,
perhaps. It's entirely possible.
a singer. born with n badly
deformed hand, was seriously
handicapped on the stage be-
cause he couldn't gesture
properly. having To keep his
wifhered hand behind him. Now
he wears one of Edwards hands
over his withered one, and no
body knows il from real one.
A young soldier, tail gunner
I'm a bomber. had all but the
thumb OF one hand blown off by
machinegun fire. From the time
the hand was healed the soldier
kept the mutilated stump in his
pocket. He might a. well have
lost the entire arm. for all the
good IL was to him.
Fitted with a new palm and
fingers, he now goes around
shaking hands with every one
he meets. And It's an observing
person who realizes that he isn't
shaking n real hand. The fabri-
Gated one takes on the normal
temperature, and Edwards car
ries the stimulation even TO the
point OF matching the downy
hair on the back Of the hand.
Edwards is acquiring a con-
siderable library of moldS. In
some cases he can match
hand quickly without going
through The tedious work OF
creating a new one. It's a bless
ing for wounded soldiers but,
says Edwards:
I'VE are getting great
many more wounded men
from the factories and civil
ian life than from the battle
fields"
He makes a lot or ears. too.
One was for A woman who,
Squeaking q rubber toy for her
pet dog, tantalized the dog
too long. He leaped and
snapped AZ the tosr The s,s-A>-.--.-
hooked GOWN ana saw he' can
on the foor.
Quite a bit of Edwards work
n for women. One WAS a rush
Job for a girl who was going
10 meet her fiance---and had 90
have a finger for the engage
menf ring. she was ia receive.
Edwards had the hand ready in
time.
It's not lust ears and hands.
though. Women with one leg
withered by infanulc paraly-
sis can get a. new one that is
undetectabie, held up with gar
tiers.
lie built an entire lower jaw
and throat for man in a hos
pit8l whose appearance was 80
terrible--simply a hole where
his Jaw had been-that the pa
fient never had been allowed
10 see himself IN a mirror for
fear Of the shock. He's we'll
pleased with his appearance
now.