“You don’t want to hear about me, do you?”
It seems strange. Phil Thorek is sitting in his offices in Thorek Hospital. He’s a widely respected surgeon. He has speaking engagements across the country. He’s working on a book about public speaking. His father, Max Thorek, passed away more than 30 years ago and, still, we’re talking about him. No matter what he accomplishes, Phil Thorek is still sitting in the massive shadow of his father Max.
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There are lots of pictures here in Phil Thorek’s office. There’s Max with Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Todd. There’s Max with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s physician. There’s Max laughing and joking with Pope Pius XII. There’s Clarence Darrow. Max isn’t in that picture; he took it. Max Thorek was an avid amateur photographer and even wrote a book on the subject, Creative Camera Art. One of the photographs on the wall of Phil Thorek’s office is a still life of rows of needles, pins, glass, and tacks. All of these items were removed from the stomach of a carnival performer known as “the human ostrich.”
Max Thorek was born in Poland and grew up in Budapest. He was something of a linguist according to Phil, who claims that Max spoke eight languages impeccably. When Max came to America from Hungary in the 1890s, he thought that if he joined the band at the University of Chicago the school would pay for his education.
If it sounds as if world-famous surgeon Max Thorek was somewhat headstrong, Phil Thorek confirms that suspicion. He was “overpowering,” according to Phil. “Don’t misunderstand me. He was a hell of a guy. But his word was law.
“Dad was terribly disappointed by what he saw coming in medicine. In Dad’s day, people trusted the doctor. If there was a death, it was God’s will. Dad used to go out in the middle of the night with a little black bag to make calls. Now the emergency room is the family physician. The medicine that my dad knew and that I know is about the relationship between doctor and patient. If I told you you needed to have something removed, you believed me. If you could pay, you paid. If you couldn’t, I’d have a cup of coffee and a bagel at your house and you’d send me a chicken or something. We all made a fine living. When Dad walked into the room, God walked into the room. Now you’re a serpent.”
