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4 comments:
Schlitzie was born Simon Metz in 1901 in the Bronx
Previous to Schlitzie the exhibiting of "Pinheads"
was fairly common in the 1800’s as if a different
species apart from humans
In the Broadway play "The Elephant Man"
set in Victorian England & based on the
life of John Merrick who was afflicted
with Neurofibromatosis that caused his
great deformaties there were 2 "Pinheads"
as other members of exhibited "Freaks"
The script had them seem to be imbeciles
Schlitzie performed in many
of the major circus side shows
He died in 1971 at age 70
Old stories tell of Barnum exhibiting a pinhead--a term, incidentally, that I don't like. Someone asked him, "What is it?", to which old P.T. quickly replied, "That's what it is, a What Is It?!"
We find a number of our top Side Show actors in the 1932 film, TODD BROWNING'S FREAKS. Schlitzie turns in a prominent role, along with a full cast which we can find on IMDb. My historian friend, Leonard Farley, told me of knowing Schlitzie, and found him a most affable and congenial man, tragically inarticulate, but seemingly quite adjusted to his performer's life. I believe that like Violet and Daisy Hilton, Schlitzie suffered from unscrupulous management at times.
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