Alfred Stahlbaum
Alfred Stahlbaum was the owner of the Silver Turk exhibit at the 1873 Vienna Exposition. He lived in a tiny garret on Kartoffelstrasse in Vienna. Later, Stahlbaum toured Europe with the Silver Doctor exhibit.
Creator of mechanical wonders[[edit] | [edit source]]
While Stahlbaum claimed to have created the Silver Turk by himself, this was a double lie. Firstly, Stahlbaum knew that the Silver Turk had arrived in a "sky rocket". Secondly, Stahlbaum initially worked together with Johan Drossel on two mechanical people, until stealing one of them for himself.
Still Stahlbaum was a talented mechanic with his garret full of mechanical toys. He taught the Silver Turk to play board games and musical instruments and managed to keep it alive though sedated.
After the Silver Turk perished, Stahlbaum created a replacement, which he called the Silver Doctor. This new act was so successful that he managed to obtain the title "by appointment to the crown heads of Europe".
Passions[[edit] | [edit source]]
Stahlbaum was seemingly drawn to the inaccessible. First, his beloved Mitzi married another man. Then, he became obsessed with Empress Elisabeth, hoping that she would notice his Silver Turk. His dreams were, however, not entirely unfulfilled. Although he never got to perform in front of the Empress, he did get an invitation to Hofburg Palace. And Mitzi did marry him in the end, albeit after her husband had been murdered.
Stahlbaum's obsession with Sisi was used against him by Johan Drossel, who created her puppet to persuade Stahlbaum to work with him again.
The dark side[[edit] | [edit source]]
Stahlbaum could hardly be described as a criminal. However, his selfishness often led, directly or indirectly, to tragic results. Johan Drossel never forgave him the theft of the Silver Turk, and it cost two of Stahlbaum's patrons their lives. When Mitzi's husband, Count Wittenmeier demanded to return his investment, Stahlbaum managed to deny this request by tricking the Count into a public chequers match with the Silver Turk, which the Count lost. When Stahlbaum's cab was pursued by Drossel's driverless cab, it was Stahlbaum's stubborn insistence to turn into Hofburg that caused the cabs to crash and killed the cabman and his horses.
Stahlbaum did not shy away from using guns. He threatened the Eighth Doctor and the cabman with a revolver to force them to do his bidding. And when confronted by Johan Drossel, Stahlbaum shot him several times. Were it not for Drossel's partial Cyber-conversion, Stahlbaum would have certainly become a murderer.
Mental health[[edit] | [edit source]]
Similar to Drossel, Stahlbaum was affected by the seeds of Cyber-ethics implanted into his mind by his Cyberman. After the Silver Turk perished and Drossel tried to mesmerise him into building a new race of wooden puppets, Stahlbaum started talking about turning humans into mechanical people instead. The charade with the fake Empress did not improve matters either.
Outcome[[edit] | [edit source]]
Despite all this, Alfred Stahlbaum was one of those few who survived a close contact with Cybermen in 19th century Vienna relatively unscathed. (AUDIO: The Silver Turk)
