slit see the pinhead was one of the most
famous circus sideshow acts ever his
unusual appearance attracted swarms of
audiences but his life was incredibly
hard behind the scenes slit sees most
recognizable feature was his small head
the result of a disorder called
microcephaly people with this condition
have skulls that are far smaller than a
typical skull
they're often conical toward the crown
of the head how much is clear truth is
that microcephaly can be a symptom of
several other issues it can be due to
genetics it'll alcohol syndrome Zika
virus were a number of other problems
while sources say that Schlitz II was
born with microcephaly others say that
he developed a condition later on body
grew but his head didn't each of these
possibilities can indicate different
causes so it's unclear exactly how slit
C came to be microcephalic it doesn't
seem that he was ever seriously examined
by any doctor and medicine in the early
20th century was far more rudimentary
than it is now so it's likely that
doctors wouldn't have been able to find
out anything anyway especially without a
family or medical history or any other
information to go on since we know next
to nothing about Schlitz E's birth we
also don't know much about his childhood
other than his last name was probably
surtees some sources say that his
parents kept him either in an attic or
basement but one thing we can be pretty
sure of is that Schlitz C's parents
probably sold him to the circus decades
after slavery was outlawed selling a
child with a disability was not exactly
legal
but people certainly looked the other
way slits II went on to work for just
about every popular circus that existed
during his lifetime including big names
like Barnum and Bailey and Ringling
Brothers as he was traded sold and lent
to various circus owners this was
actually common practice at the time
despite how horrifying it sounds because
circuses typically followed a specific
route of cities each year the owners
wanted to keep things fresh and so they
would frequently swap out attractions in
hopes of bringing new customers to
cities they had been to before
this meant that sideshow performers
often move between circuses and
constantly visited new cities while
performers who were more able minded
might have had some say in this those
with intellectual disabilities like
Schlitz II likely had no
choice whatsoever because of Schlitz
ease cognitive difficulties it's said
that he behaved a lot like an excitable
child he had a sense of wonder and joy
that audiences loved and kept them
coming back to see him he could sing
dance and even parrot people and
audiences ate it all up one of his most
popular acts was quite simple he would
count from one to ten though it's said
that he would often skip the number
seven it's not certain if Schlitz E had
trouble remembering it or if it was part
of the act and he skipped it on purpose
for laughs but audiences weren't the
only ones upon whom Schlitz II left a
mark his nurses and caregivers are said
to have loved him and fellow performers
were also very fond of him and made sure
he was taken care of while I never had a
family per se the circus says he worked
for made sure to treat him his family on
the occasions that audiences were cruel
to Schlitz see the other circus workers
would quickly stop the abuse of audience
members and make them leave slit seas
most famous acting appearance was in the
1932 horror film freaks in which he
effectively played himself however the
movie Schlitz II was female both on
stage and off he gets a good amount of
screen time as performance is a great
way for modern audiences to experience
his personality and see his charm in
action and this wasn't Schlitz he's only
film role he played a sideshow performer
in 1928 to the sideshow and 1941 s meet
Boston Blackie and he appeared in 1932 s
the island of lost souls early
adaptation of HG Wells novel the island
of dr. Moreau
as one of the animals but his most
unusual role came in the exploitation
film tomorrow's children which was meant
to showcase the evils of forced
sterilization common practice at the
time for criminals are those with
disabilities slit see has a brief role
as a criminal sentence to sterilization
and unusually for him he appears with a
full head of hair and a beard one sad
truth about sideshow performers is that
many of them had shorter than average
lives slit see was actually one of the
exceptions to this he died on September
24th 1971 and according to his own death
certificate lived to the age of seventy
however that birth date is unconformity
so it's possible that Schlitz II was
older possibly even in his 80s when he
passed away his cause of death was
listed as bronchial pneumonia brought on
by meddler II depression slits II was
quite poor at the end of his life and
thus he wasn't able to afford a grave
marker in 2007 a Schlitz II fan named
Scott Michaels visited Schlitz sees
grave in California IRRI marked upon the
lack of a gravestone on his website so
members of the site's message board
decided to see what they could do about
the situation one of them called up
Queen of Heaven Cemetery and found out
there was a balance that needed to be
paid off and then a new marker could be
placed there so the site's members held
a little fundraiser and after raising a
few hundred dollars she lit sees balance
was paid and a small ground-level marker
was added to the plot check out one of
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