the gaze is a work in terror." Production Development Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) had purchased the rights to Tod Robbins's short story "Spurs" in the mid-1920s at Tod Browning's urging for a reported $8,000. Harry Earles, a dwarf who had appeared in Browning's The Unholy Three (1925)—and who would ultimately star as Hans in Freaks—had originally proposed the idea of making a film version of "Spurs" to Browning. The studio agreed to hire Browning to direct the project based on his past success at Universal Pictures with Dracula (1931) and for his collaborations with Lon Chaney. In June 1931, MGM production supervisor Irving Thalberg offered Browning the opportunity to direct Arsène Lupin with John Barrymore. Browning declined, preferring to develop Freaks, a project he had started as early as 1927; Browning had worked with a traveling carnival prior to becoming a filmmaker. Screenwriters Willis Goldbeck and Elliott Clawson were assigned to the project at Browning's request. Leon Gordon, Edgar Allan Woolf, Al Boasberg and an uncredited Charles MacArthur would also contribute to the script. The script was shaped over five months. Little of the original story was retained beyond the marriage between a dwarf and an average-sized woman and their wedding feast, and the setting—originally France—was relocated to the United States. Both Thalberg and Harry Rapf served as uncredited co-producers on the film. Casting Victor McLaglen was considered for the role of Hercules, while Myrna Loy was initially slated to star as Cleopatra, with Jean Harlow as Venus. Ultimately, Thalberg decided not to cast any major stars in the picture. Instead, Russian actress Olga Baclanova was cast as Cleopatra, based on her success in a Los Angeles-produced stage production of The Silent Witness. Harry Earles was cast as Hans, the carnival sideshow performer whom Cleopatra attempts to murder for his estate. Earles' real-life sister, Daisy, portrayed his dwarf love interest, Frieda. Among the supporting characters featured as "freaks" were Peter Robinson ("The Human Skeleton"); Olga Roderick ("The Bearded Lady"); Frances O'Connor and Martha Morris ("armless wonders"); and the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton. Among the microcephalic characters who appear in the film (and are referred to as "pinheads" throughout) were Zip and Pip (Elvira and Jenny Lee Snow) and Schlitzie, a male named Simon Metz who wore a dress. Also featured were the intersex Josephine Joseph, with her left-right divided gender; Johnny Eck, the legless man, who was scouted for the