Schlitzie
Schlitzie was born in The Bronx, New York, United States on September 10th, 1901 and is the American Sideshow Performer. At the age of 70, Schlitzie biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
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On the sideshow circuit, microcephalic people were usually promoted as "pinheads" or "missing links", and Schlitzie was billed under such titles as "The Last of the Aztecs", "The Monkey Girl", and "What Is It?". In some sideshows, he was paired with another microcephalic performer.
Schlitzie was often dressed in a muumuu and presented as either female or androgynous to add to the mystique of his unusual appearance. Those who knew him alternately used masculine and feminine pronouns. His urinary incontinence, which obliged him to wear diapers, made dresses practical for his care needs, although it is possible that the incontinence did not develop until later in life and was simply a side-effect of age.
The sideshow circuit was a tremendous success for Schlitzie; throughout the 1920s and 1930s he was employed by many upscale circuses, including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Clyde Beatty Circus, Tom Mix Circus, Crafts 20 Big Shows, and Foley & Burke Carnival. In 1928, Schlitzie made his film debut in The Sideshow, a drama set in a circus, which featured a variety of actual sideshow performers.
Schlitzie landed his best-known role as an actor in Tod Browning's 1932 horror film Freaks. Like The Sideshow, Freaks takes place at a carnival and features a number of genuine sideshow performers, including conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, "The Living Torso" Prince Randian, and dwarf siblings Harry and Daisy Earles. Schlitzie has a scene of (unintelligible) dialogue with actor Wallace Ford. Two other "pinheads" also appear in the film. When referring to Schlitzie, other actors use feminine pronouns.
When Freaks premiered in 1932, cinema audiences were scandalized by the appearance of sideshow performers. The United Kingdom banned the film for thirty years. The film was a financial failure, and Browning, although he went on to make several more films for MGM, retired in 1940.
Schlitzie appeared in bit roles in various movies and is credited with a role in the 1934 exploitation film Tomorrow's Children as a mentally defective criminal who undergoes forced sterilization.
While Schlitzie was performing with the Tom Mix Circus in 1935, George Surtees, a chimpanzee trainer with a trained-chimpanzee act in the show, adopted him, becoming his legal guardian. In 1941, Schlitzie appeared in his final film role as "Princess Bibi", a sideshow attraction, in Meet Boston Blackie.