The Collyer Brothers (コリヤー兄弟, Koriyā Kyōdai), individually Homer Collyer (ホーマー・コリヤー, Hōmā Koriyā) and Langley Collyer (ラングレー・コリヤー, Rangurē Koriyā), are the main protagonists of The Brothers Nobody Knew: Collyer Brothers, the third chapter of The Lives of Eccentrics.
Following their parents' divorce, these two brothers isolate themselves within their house in Harlem, interacting with the outside world only to collect goods and supplies. As their strange way of life marks them as prime targets in the crime-ridden neighborhood, the two set up countless traps within the house to prevent burglars from reaching them.
Appearance
The Collyer brothers are commonly depicted in formal attire with matching white shirts underneath. Homer wears a light, orange suit with a black tie tucked into a white waistcoat, while Langley wears a dark, red suit with a white cravat and a pocket square in his left chest pocket. The two also wear top hats, with Homer's being white with a black stripe and Langley's being black with a white stripe. Though their faces are not clearly shown, Langley's facial hair is styled in a Balbo beard, and stubble is visible on Homer's face.
Homer's emaciated corpse is discovered with long light-colored hair and a clean-shaven face, wearing a light-colored suit with dark lapels and cuffs with no shirt underneath. What little remains of Langley's corpse can be seen wearing light trousers with black Venetian-style shoes.
Personality
The Collyer brothers value privacy and security above all else. Even before their parents' divorce, Homer is willing to break up his engagement to protect himself from emotional harm. After the divorce, the two fully devote themselves to their isolation, only opening their front door a crack when doing business with the outside world and developing lethal traps for those who dare to approach any farther. Their attachment to their privacy is so strong that, when Homer develops an eye disease, Langley insists on treating his brother himself rather than trusting a doctor to take care of him.
Nonetheless, the brothers are shown to care about each other. Langley is shown to be desperate to cure his brother of his onset blindness, going so far as to develop his own treatment in the absence of a doctor. Even after his treatment fails, Langley orders newspapers in the hopes that his brother will be able to enjoy reading them someday. Homer, in return, grows reliant upon him, which ultimately leads to his own death.
History
Background
Homer Collyer was born to a pair of unnamed parents in 1881, and received a brother named Langley four years later. The two brothers and their parents lived in a house on Fifth Avenue in the Harlem district of New York City, which was a high-class residential district at the time. However, at the turn of the 20th century, an influx of African-American tenants caused many rich white residents to move away, eventually causing the neighborhood to become overrun with crime and poverty.
Despite the state of their hometown, the Collyer brothers attempted to lead more-or-less normal lives. Homer is known to have taken up a position as a lawyer specializing in maritime law, and to have been engaged to a girl named K. Bender by the age of 27. One night, Bender invited her lover to her house while her parents were away. Homer refused to sleep with her, however, claiming that she was too cute for him to lay hands on. Homer was seen holding an erotic magazine later that night, and his relationship with Bender was dissolved soon afterward. For his part, Langley aimed to make a living for himself as a concert pianist, and had succeeded in doing so by the time Homer was 28.
In 1909, the Collyer brothers' mother caught their father, a gynecologist, engaging in improper behavior with one of his female patients. The resulting tension in their marriage caused the father to abandon the family shortly afterward, mentally scarring the Collyer brothers, who begin to withdraw from society. When their mother later passed away, the Collyers become completely isolated from the world.
At some point, Homer contracted an eye disease and began to lose his eyesight, forcing Langley to become the pair's de facto point of contact with the outside world. Langley would purchase 100 to 200 oranges a month from a shopkeeper named R. Simon, hoping to cure his brother's blindness without the aid of a doctor; at the same time, he would also order various goods such as automobiles, mannequins, and animal skeletons, using them to construct traps to keep burglars from reaching them. Langley was also responsible for sneaking out of the house at night to collect water and thrown-out food. When the oranges fail to cure his brother, Langley instead asks R. Simon to deliver newspapers and kerosene to the house, a task made incrementally more difficult as he seals the walls surrounding the house with bricks and installs barbed wire atop them.
The Brothers Nobody Knew: Collyer Brothers
At some point, Langley accidentally triggers one of his own traps while delivering food to his brother, resulting in his death. With Langley missing, Homer is unable to feed himself and starves to death a month later. Their corpses are discovered in March 1943 after an anonymous caller reports dead bodies within the house, though not before Langley's traps take the lives of a pair of burglars.[1]
Quotes
Quotes- “You're much too cute for me to lay hands on. (カワイすぎてとても君に触れない)”—Homer Collyer, The Lives of Eccentrics Episode 3: The Brothers Nobody Knew: Collyer Brothers
- “My brother has an eye disease! As long as I feed him 200 oranges a week, he won't lose his sight! That's all that can help him now! (兄は目の病気だ！ 週200のオレンジを食わせれば見えるようになるッ！それが今の医学だ！！)”—Langley Collyer, The Lives of Eccentrics Episode 3: The Brothers Nobody Knew: Collyer Brothers
- “Don't do anything rash! Just bring us 200 a week! Here's the money! (よけいな事はしないでくれッ！ 毎週200個だぞ！ ほら 金だ！)”—Langley Collyer, The Lives of Eccentrics Episode 3: The Brothers Nobody Knew: Collyer Brothers
- “Would you kindly wrap the goods in newspapers from now on? My brother would like to read them, if he ever regains his sight... (品物は新聞に包んでくれないかたくさん… 兄が見えるようになったら 読みたいだろーからね)”—Langley Collyer, The Lives of Eccentrics Episode 3: The Brothers Nobody Knew: Collyer Brothers
Gallery
Langley as glimpsed by R. Simon through the front door
Homer's corpse, along with his last meal
Hardcover cover art
Bunko back cover
Trivia
- In real life, the Collyer brothers did not seclude themselves until Homer lost his eyesight, decades after their parents' separation. Langley, fearing that doctors would move to hasten his blind brother's death, insisted upon letting no one else near his brother and singlehandedly attempted to care for him and cure his blindness.
- The romanized titles of the chapter and biographical afterword misspell the brothers' last name as "Colliar"; in addition, the latter abbreviates Langley's name as "R." rather than "L."
References
- Collyer brothers on Wikipedia