Schlitzie_Origins

SCHLITZIE'S ORIGINS

In 2006, encouraged by two other Schlitzaphiles, this author found a 1909 record of a Mills family consisting of father Esteven and his wife Augusta and their two children Helen and Schlitzie. They had arrived from Havana, Cuba but their original port of departure could have been anywhere in South America.
At first I was excited to have discovered (I thought) the family of the person we have come to know as "Schlitzie" since this is such an unusual name. But was it really that simple?

manifest found at ancestry.com / Schlitzie's on line 6

Especially promising was the fact that travelling with the Mills family was Walter K. Sibley and his wife Mary. Walter Sibley is the showman generally credited with originating the 10-in-1 show five years earlier in 1904. Till that time showman would each exhibit their acts separately and the patrons had to pay a separate price to see each exhibit. Walter got the grand idea of putting four of his acts together under one canvas top and charging only the one admission. The idea was an instant success and the single exhibition (later known as a single-0) thereafter became the exception.
Steven Mills was also listed as a showman and under the heading "condition of health, mental and physical" for Schlitzie is filled in "weakness". This would agree with the fact that Schlitzie was microcephalic.
But what threw a kink in the whole discovery was this Schlitzie was two years old and female!

It's hard to read at this resolution but line 6, column 23 says "weakness"

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Up to this time it was thought that Schlitzie was born in 1892. Since then we have discovered, of course, that he was actually born in 1901 which would make him eight years old in 1909. But maybe the parents were covering something up. Maybe this wasn't their child. Maybe they were just his managers. Perhaps. Still, why lie about his age and gender? To further complicate things, cultural historian Robert Bogdan published the following photo (right) in his book "Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit" (1988). Mr. Bogdan identifes the gentleman as Max Klass and the two pin-headed children as Aurora and Natalie.
   Some have postulated that this is in fact a very young Athelia and Schlitzie before the act was broken up and went their separate ways. This ID is further backed up in a line from a mock interview with Schlitzie published in the Daily Herald Middletown (NY) Times-Press, 1927:
   (Schlitzie speaking) "Did you ever hear of Aurora?"
   "Oh yes," this interviewer replied. "Aurora Borealis, Beautiful thing."
   "Get me right," Schlitzie corrected. "I don’t know who this Borealis woman is, but I don’t mean her. It’s my sister and she’s no queen for looks either. She’s a show all by herself in California. Therefore how can I be the last of the Aztecs?"
Of course Schlitzie could not talk but whoever the newsman interviewed in his stead knew of Schlitzie's past and referenced Aurora.
   So, what of it? - you wonder. Well, in mid-1914 "Schlitzie the Aztec child" was being exhibited with the Rice & Dore show while at the same time the Aztec women "Aurora and Natalia" were being exhibited by the Con.T. Kennedy show.
   They both can't be the same Schlitzie so it would appear that there was an original "Schlitzie" and that when this person left the business "Natalie" took his name and became the new "Schlitzie", the one we've all come to know and love by that name.

Aurora (Athelia), Max Klass & Natalie (Schlitzie)

W.H. (Bill) Rice and Harry Dore owners of the Rice and Dore Water Carnival. Schlitzie Mills was exhibited on their show grounds in 1914. Photo courtesy Bill Rice, Jr.; originally pub. in McKennon's "Pictorial History of the American Carnival" (1971)

(left and below) Another real photo postcard of the act known as "Aurora and Natalie". The postcard back may give a clue as to when it was taken or distributed.
According to Robert Bogdan and Todd Weseloh's definitive and authoritative work "Real Photo Postcard Guide: The People's Photography" the EKD (earliest known date) of this KRUXO postcard back is October 23, 1911.

1910