Schlitzie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Schlitzie was an American sideshow performer, probably born Simon Metz, (September 10, 1881 - September 24, 1971 in Los Angeles, California) in New York (possibly the Bronx, according to his Official California Certificate Of Death), who suffered from microcephaly. He was best known for his role in the 1932 movie Freaks, and appeared for many years on the outdoor entertainment circuit as a major sideshow attraction.

Schlitzie's reasoning power was about equal to that of a child three years of age and he required constant care in the simplest tasks of daily life. Audiences thought of him as female, because he was usually clothed in a dress for convenience (he was incontinent). Those who worked with him alternately refer to Schlitzie as "he" and "she," sometimes in the same sentence. His scenes in Freaks show many of the behavioral characteristics of individuals with microcephaly.

Given the nature of the carnival business of the day, it is very probable Schlitzie was either given to or purchased by a showman from his (thus far unknown or unidentified) birth parents. His employers were also his guardians, sometimes by law and sometimes simply de facto. Responsibility for him tended to change hands as shows traded attractions to keep audiences interested. He was variously billed as "What Is It?," "Pinhead," and "The Last of the Aztecs."

While appearing with the 1935-1936 editions of the Tom Mix Circus sideshow (a sideshow incidentally operated by one Ted Metz), George Surtees, a chimpanzee trainer also appearing on the show, became Schlitzie's legal guardian. The name on his California Certificate Of Death appears as "Shlitze Surtees", though at least one contemporary photograph identifies him as "Schlitzie Metz." After Surtees' death in the early 1960s, his daughter, who was not in show business, had no way to care for Schlitzie and committed him to Los Angeles County Hospital. It was winter, and Schlitzie was recognized by sword swallower Bill Unks who was working at the hospital in the off season. Hospital authorities determined that the best care for Schlitzie would be to make him a ward of Unks' employer, showman Sam Kortes, who provided a male nurse to care for his basic needs.

In the course of his career he was employed by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Clyde Beatty Circus, Tom Mix Circus, Crafts 20 Big Shows, Foley & Burke Carnival, West Coast Shows, Vanteen & Lee Circus Sideshow, and the Dobritsch International Circus. He passed away at Fountain View Convalescent Home in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 81 of bronchial pneumonia, and was interred at Queen Of Heaven Cemetery, Rowland Heights, California, Plot: Grave 69 - Tier 21 - Section E (grave unmarked).

During his lifetime, Schlitze entertained millions of carnival visitors and moviegoers. He is widely known and fondly remembered by those in the sideshow industry, and his image has become an icon in American culture, often used to this day to signify pleasant but blithely oblivious fools. Comic artist Bill Griffith cites Schlitzie as the inspiration for his character "Zippy the Pinhead", a pointy-headed fellow who sports a dress and a constant three-day growth of beard, and whose stupefied puzzlement at the overload of trivial information in our world somehow works out into a way of getting through life. His image and name adorn websites, and such novelty items as a clock, a snow globe, and a hobby model kit.