Man Without a Face~From Paul Harvey~ Is This True?

[sivohdarba]

I got this from a friend, and find it hard to believe....what do you think???

Here it is:

Paul Harvey often brings us interesting things, and as you
might have guessed this is one of those things. I hope you enjoy this.

Years ago a hardworking man took his family from New York State
to Australia to take advantage of a work opportunity there. Part of
this man's family was a handsome son who had aspirations of joining the
circus as a trapeze artist or an actor. This young fellow, biding his
time until a circus job or even as a stagehand came along, worked at the
local shipyards which bordered on the worse section of town.


Walking home from work one evening, this young man was attacked
by five thugs who wanted to rob him and proceeded
to beat him to a pulp.

They mashed his face with their boots, and kicked and beat his
body brutally with clubs, leaving him for dead. When the police happened
to find him lying in the road they assumed he was dead and called for
the Morgue Wagon.

On the way to the morgue, a policeman heard him gasp for air,
and they immediately took him to the emergency unit at the hospital.

When he was placed on a gurney, a nurse remarked to her horror,
that this young man no longer had a face. His eye socket was smashed,
his skull, legs and arms fractured, his nose literally hanging from his
face, all his teeth were gone, and his jaw was almost completely torn
from his skull.

Although his life was spared, he spent over a year in the
hospital. When he finally left, his body may have healed but his face
was disgusting to look at. He was no longer the handsome youth that
everyone admired. When the young man started to look for work again, he
was turned down by everyone just on account of the way he looked. One
potential employer suggested to him that he join the freak show at the
circus as "The man who had no face." And he did this for a while. He
was still rejected by everyone and no one wanted to be seen in his
company. He had thoughts of suicide. This went on for 5 years.

One day he passed a church and sought some solace there.
Entering the church he encountered a priest who had seen him sobbing
while kneeling in a pew. The priest took pity on him and took him to the
rectory where they talked at length. The priest was impressed with him
to such a degree that he said that he would do everything possible for
him that could be done to restore his dignity and life, if the young man
would promise to be the best Catholic he could be, and trust
in God's mercy to free him from his torturous life.

The young man went to Mass and Communion every day, and after
thanking God for saving his life, asked God to only give him peace of
mind and the grace to be the best man he could ever be in His eyes.

The priest, through his personal contacts was able to secure the
services of the best plastic surgeon in Australia. There would be no
cost to the young man, as the doctor was the priest's best friend. The
doctor too was so impressed by the young man, whose outlook now on life,
even though he had experienced the worst, was filled with good humor and
love.

The surgery was a miraculous success. All the best dental work
was also done for him. The young man became everything he promised God
he would be

He was also blessed with a wonderful, beautiful wife, and many
children, and success in an industry, which would have been the furthest
thing from his mind as a career, if not for the goodness of God and the
love of the people who cared for him. This he acknowledges publicly.

The young man is.......MEL GIBSON.

His life was the inspiration for his production of the movie
"The Man Without A Face." He is to be admired by all of us as a God
fearing man, a political conservative, and an example to all as a true
man of courage.

And to think I admired him before I knew any of this!! He is
quite a man!!!!

Paul Harvey

This may help us understand why Mel Gibson has been so committed
to his latest movie venture as director of, "The Passion." Gibson is
once again being attacked. This time because of his blunt honesty and
commitment to Biblical accuracy in his vivid portrayal of the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

[ShelleyG]

wow I so didnt know that , a huge wow love mel :)

[teenies*mom]

I heard about this before but never knew if it was true or not - I do know Mel Gibson was born in the NY area and did live in Australia but thats as far as I know.:)

[MistyWolf]

I've passed that around a few years back and someone I email to said according to either Snopes.com or urban legends that it isn't true.

I'd have to think it isn't either cause you NEVER hear anyone talking about it. Makes for a good story though.

[Barbara690]

it's not true according to snopes.

[MistyWolf]

The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/glurge/noface.htm

Origins: This piece, which began circulating in the latter half of the year 2000, is neither an accurate description of actor/director Mel Gibson's early life nor a transcription of a radio piece by commentator Paul Harvey. Suffice it to say that someone took the framework of Mel Gibson's biography and built upon it a touching but completely fictitious house of glurge.

Mel Gibson's father did move his family from New York to Sydney, Australia, when Mel was 12, but the similarities between this piece and Mel's real life end there. Young Mel wasn't dreaming of "joining the circus as a trapeze artist"; he was a Catholic high school student mulling over the possibilities of becoming a chef or a journalist and ended up enrolling in the University of New South Wales' National Institute of Dramatic Art. Young Mel had a role in the low-budget film Summer City while still a student and then appeared in a number of productions with the State Theatre Company of South Australia before the lucky break that catapulted him to stardom: being chosen for the lead role in George Miller's action film Mad Max.

A little bit of truth may have sneaked into the story quoted above at this point. The night before his Mad Max audition, Gibson reportedly came in a poor second in a barroom brawl, ending up with a face "like a busted grapefruit." He then had to audition for the Mad Max role with a bruised, swollen, discolored, and freshly stitched face — an appearance that, legend has it, helped win over producers who wanted someone weathered and rough-looking to take the part. The beating Gibson received did not, however, leave him with "smashed eye sockets," fracture his "skull, legs, and arms," result in the loss of "all his teeth" or a nose that was "hanging from his face" or a "jaw almost completely torn from his skull." He didn't spend "over a year in the hospital," nor did five years pass with Mel in agony before "plastic surgery restored his looks." His face got smashed up a bit, he required a few stitches to close some open cuts, and a few weeks later he was good as new. (However, some Hollywood pundits maintain that even the milder "barroom brawl" version was a bit of fiction invented by a publicist.)

Mel Gibson did direct and star in The Man Without a Face, a 1993 film about a man who became a recluse after his face was disfigured in an automobile accident, but the movie was based upon a novel by Isabelle Holland, not Mel Gibson's life.

Many of our readers have sworn to us they heard Paul Harvey recite this piece, exactly as reproduced above, on one of his broadcasts. Paul Harvey did offer a "Rest of the Story" segment about Mel Gibson on 24 June 2000, and it was a typically (for Paul Harvey) exaggerated version of the truth, but it didn't come close to the glurge reproduced here. What he reported, verbatim, was this:

In all his years as a cop, Ollie Gerrick had never seen a beating case like the one before him. The boy's face was smashed in. His partner say he wouldn't survive. The ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital and when he came to, the doctors told him the rest of the story. He was in the hospital and then he remembered that night in the bar. It was late the next night that the young man remembered he had an important appointment. He realized it was tomorrow. He struggled to get out of bed but the nurse restrained him. The next morning, he got out of bed and looked in the mirror and he didn't recognize himself. Nevertheless, he went on to the job interview. Despite the bar fight in October of 1977. He showed up for a role in a movie and the producers were looking for someone unknown who was really tough looking. He got the role they were casting for. They were looking for someone to play the rugged role of Mad Max and this Australian with the beaten up face went on to become one of our best modern-day actors. We know him as Mel Gibson, and now you know the rest of the story.
And now you know . . . the real story.

Update: The February 2004 release of the film The Passion of the Christ, financed and directed by Mel Gibson, started this legend circulating anew, often with tacked-on codas such as the following:

Note: This may well help in the understanding of why Mel Gibson's love for the Lord is why he has made such a powerful movie "The Passion" that's coming out February 25th to demonstrate Jesus love and sacrifice for us.

Last updated: 27 February 2004