Aztec_Midgets

Is this a young Pete Kortes?

courtesy Bob Blackmar

"Athelia, The Monkey Girl, from Yucatan born 1889 Height 42 inches, Weight 65 lbs"

Identified as "Aurora and Natali" with Max Klass; from "Freak Show" by Rob't Bogdan

courtesy Ringling Museum of the Circus, Sarasota, Florida

Aztec front. Is that Max Klass?

Robert Bogdan collection

Kobel photo; apparently says "Athelia with Pete Kortes 12-30-26"

Kobel catalog description reads: "The original Aztec midgets from Mexico and taken Dec. 30, 1926 while with the Peter Kortes Circus"

Schlitzie 1924

Schlitzie 1925

Schlitzie 1921?

ca 1914. l to r: Aztec Midgets (Aurora and Natalie?); Barney Nelson, armless wonder who would later travel with the Pete Kortes show; Lucio and Simplicio Godino, conjoined twins, age 6; Lala Coolah, hermaphrodite; Man-Fish (or Max Klass?), this fellow would swim around in a glass tank and do ordinary things underwater; Ali-Budah, the Hindoo magician; "Pygmy Savages", two black children with vitiligo

Shel_Tone Publications Freakards II

Verne believes this photo is faked. Aztec #7 was not originally in this grouping. Also, notice the shadows. The shadowing on the two Aztecs in the middle indicate the sun is shining from the right but with Aztec #7 the sun is shining from the left. It is possible the Aztec to the far left was also not originally in the photo either. These characters might have been superimposed in the picture to make it appear that this gentleman (Pete Kortes?) had a bigger show than there really was.

AZTEC MIDGETS

PRESENTED IN SEARCH OF THE ORIGINS OF THE CAREERS OF SCHLITZIE - S AND ATHELIA - A

IDENTIFICATIONS PROVIDED BY VERNE LANGDON

the seller of this card dated it 1907-1915

written on reverse "Friend Geo - These are the Aztec that Max Klass owns and they are good with ... (illegible)

ca 1920?

All we know of Schlitzie's earliest days is that he was born in New York in 1901. The names of his birth parents are lost to us and equally unknown is how he came into show business. It is certainly not uncalled for to presume his parent or parents sold him or gave him away to an itinerant showman especially if they were not financially able to care for their retarded child. Remember, this was in the days before there were any social programs.
   Schlitzie was started in the business ca 1910 and it is believed his first steady work was with showman Max Klass (see left). He was exhibited as one of a pair billed variously as "Aztec Ladies" or as Aurora and Natalia.
   It appears that the act was sold to Pete Kortes around 1917 / 1918.   When Natalie (who would later become Schlitzie) turned eighteen in 1919, Pete would have had to apply for legal guardianship. Perhaps, realizing it was too much to care for two retarded children, Pete kept Aurora and renamed her Athelia and gave Natalie /Schlitzie to fellow showman George Surtees a fellow Californian.
    George borrowed the showname Schlitzie from a well-known act, that of a pinhead girl. This child was born in New Jersey and was exhibited as Schlitzie, the Aztec Girl from 1909 to about 1921. George may have come to know of her when she was exhibited in Venice, CA. by Charles and Bernice Zerm, showmen in the 10-in-1 business.
   It is safe to assume that this first "Schlitzie" passed away or was retired from the business then and "Schlitzie, the Last of the Aztecs" was born and billed as such at the World's Museum in Philadelphia in January of 1921.