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Massimo Dolcefino is the prosthetist who crafts Elsa Mars' prosthetics after she lost her legs due to amputation. He is a character in Freak Show portrayed by Danny Huston.
Massimo was born in Italy and made a career providing prosthetics to veterans from the first World War. He emmigrated to Germany to work as a carpenter in films. He rescued Elsa in 1932 after her legs were amputated during the filming of a snuff film, and he crafted her wooden prosthetic legs to help her recover from the amputation. Elsa and Massimo fell in love and decided to leave Germany for America together, however, he first wanted to confront those who amputated her, including Dr. Hans Grüper. He took his revenge on everyone else involved in the film, however Gruper captured Massimo and tortured him repeatedly until a high ranking SS commander freed him to craft bookshelves.
After the war, in 1947 he traveled to America and began helping the U.S. military build decoy houses to test their atomic bombs. He wrote to Elsa but she did not respond. Although he still loved Elsa, due to the tortures he endured (both mentally and physically), he cannot bring himself to go after her.
In 1953, Elsa sends for Massimo to come to Florida so he can craft Jimmy Darling a new pair of hands. Elsa admits that she would have married him, had they not been separated. Massimo comes to Elsa's side at once, without question. Jimmy is surprised at the strong feeling between the two, and inquires why they are not together. Massimo confesses that Gruper took away his "humanity" indicating that he may have been rendered impotent due to the tortures.
Seven years later Elsa, now a famous television star, arranges one last visit with him in Hollywood. He commends her accomplishments, but she says she is lonely and wants to be with him. She asks if anyone still loves her and he declares he always has. She asks him to run away with her, but he reveals that he is terminally ill due to a disease in his lungs and only has a month to live.
The loss of everyone she loved, including the impending loss of Massimo, leads Elsa to commit suicide on Halloween night.
Notes[]
- Massimo is the second character portrayed by Danny Huston. For a complete list of his characters, see Cast.
- Massimo is noticably absent from Elsa's afterlife in the finale, as he still had a month to live. The implication being that once he passes, he will join her.
- Elsa acts as a foil to Dandy. Both commit acts that make the freaks question whether they should allow her to continue being their employer, but while Elsa eventually decides she cares more about the freaks than she does the money she makes from them, Dandy Mott himself makes it clear to the freaks that he does not care about them all, and is only concerned about the money he will make from their services. And eventually, he decides them to kill them all with the exception of Bette and Dot, who he kidnaps instead.