Monk was a three foot tall dwarf who turned up one night unexpectedly at his brothers house. His brother Hubert had been in a wheel chair for four years and lived with his bitter wife, Virginia. Hubert was a ventriloquist he had a racket going extorting money from vulnerable widows making them believe they speaking to their husband's spirits. Virginia was hostile towards Monk but Hubert put him to work creating dummies and paid him $20 a week. Monk was also a ventriloquist and when he saw the amount of money his brother was stashing away in a safe he decided he would get rid of his brother and create a dummy to take his place.