| SCREEN BOOK |
| April 1932 |
| "Then there was Schlitze, the belle of the ball, the prima donna of the troupe, the favorite of the gang, the leading spirit of the day's fun; Schlitze, who is forty years old and has the mentality of a happy child of three. They call Schlitze a pinhead, because she has a tiny head on an average-sized body. But she isn't a pinhead at heart. She is just a little girl who has never grown up and who laughs and plays and is affectionately eager for attention like any other small child. Schlitze came originally from Yucatan, Mexico, and she was given her name by a well-known beer company during a carnival in St. Louis. Before that time she had been billed in side-shows and exhibits as "Maggie, The Last of The Aztecs." Schlitze is really quite an accomplished person. She can do magic tricks, having always watched the magicians in the circuses with which she has traveled. She can dance a few steps, sing a few notes and count to ten, leaving out an occasional number on the way. She worshipped Tod Browning with a dumb devotion which was almost pitiful. She imitated everything that he did, even the tones of his voice. She was crazy about pieces of string, new dresses, bright colored hats, games of tag and Tod Browning. Never has a star come into the studio who was so immediately and so universally loved. The other pinheads, sisters named Elvira and Jenny Lee Snow, hail from Georgia and are quiet, smiling girls, who can talk a little, sing a little, dance a little. Everyone liked them and they liked everyone. But they haven't the personality, the charm of Schlitze, whom they met for the first time at the studio." |
 |
| "FURTHER along is Schlitze, the "Pin-Head," who was the pet and favorite of the M-G-M lot during the entire filming of"Freaks." It was positively amazing the way people, from Norma Shearer down to the smallest prop-boy, made up to Schlitze. Here was a triumph of personality, if I ever saw one. For Schiltze is said to be a woman and dresses like one, but is also said to be a man—and is further said to be neither one nor the other (though you don't have to believe this). Nothing is really known of Schlitze's parentage or background. A dreadful tale is whispered about the parentage—too dreadful to print, and too uncertain. She is believed to be about forty years old. She was found in Yucatan, Mexico, probably her birthplace—and was originally billed in the circus as "Maggie, the Last of the Aztecs." She cannot speak, save to make guttural and meaningless sounds. She is affectionate and demonstrative. She makes a great to-do over new dresses, tricks of magic, gay hats, bits of string, the Sword-Swallower, games of tag and Tod Browning. She takes violent likes and violent dislikes. One of her special likes was for Jackie Cooper, much to that small trouper's terror. He did not reciprocate the affection. One of Schlitze's most ardent admirers said of her, defensively, "She is not a 'pin-head.' She is just a little girl who has never grown up, a little girl who laughs and plays and is eager for affection like any other small child." Well—maybe. But when you see her in "Freaks" and remember that remark, you will know that love is blind." |
| MOTION PICTURE |
| April 1932 |
| "WITHOUT ROOM FOR A BRAIN" |
|
| SCHLITZIE BIOGRAPHY |
| BY CHRIS FELLNER |
| ORIG PUB IN FREAKS! no 12, Feb 1998 |
| Schlitzie, the affectionate pinhead, always wore a dress and was referred to as a "she" but was really a "he." The dress was necessary because he wasn't toilet-trained. Schlitzie was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico around 1882. His last name reportedly was Metz. He had a sister, Athelia, who was also a pinhead, and the two of them worked sideshows together under the auspices of showman Pete Kortes. Then Schlitzie appeared on his own, billed as "Maggie, the Last of the Aztecs." After his sister died, Schlitzie was given to showman George Surtees and his wife. The Schlitz was in his 70's when Surtees passed away, in the late 1950s. Surtees' daughter had no connection to show business and took Schlitzie to a hospital in the Los Angeles area. By chance, a sword swallower named Bill Unks was working there in the off season, and he recognized Schlitzie. He contacted showman Sam Alexander, with whom George Surtees had been touring before he died. Alexander became Schlitzie's legal guardian, rescuing him from confinement in a mental institution. In 1967, Alexander loaned Schlitzie to Ward Hall. Ward recalled that the famous pinhead "was a sweet old thing, loved by all who worked with her." Schlitzie was in his 80s when he died in California. I read somewhere that he was christened with his distinctive show name when he played a beer festival in Milwaukee, where they were promoting Schlitz beer. In addition to Freaks, Schlitzie had a small part in the crime melodrama Meet Boston Blackie (1941), starring Chester Morris and Rochelle Hudson, which takes place at a carnival. Cartoonist Bill Griffith has claimed that he based his "Zippy, the Pinhead" character on P.T. Barnum's original Zip ( Willie Johnson, 1842-1926), but to me Zippy looks more like Schlitzie. Zip, after all, was black. Do you have the plastic model kit of Schlitzie by Barker Brothers? It originally sold for a mere $125. |
| Probably, Schlitzie ran into Norma Shearer and Jackie Cooper during the filming of the MGM short "Jackie Cooper's Christmas Party". Leila Hyams also made an appearance in this 9 min short and perhaps it was she who, taking a liking to Schlitzie, escorted him to the sound stage. |
 |
 |
| Resin kit by Barker Brothers of SCHLITZIE. This company was later renamed SIDESHOW TOYS. Reportedly this kit is extremely RARE as only 300 were cast! |
 |
 |
| An unfinished kit sold on Ebay for $167.50 on 9/27/07 |
 |