The most famous midget of the 20th century: the sad story of Schlitz Surtees (5 photos)

He acted in films, performed in the circus, was famous and constantly smiling. But at the same time, he never became happy.





There are many different legends about the first years of Schlitz's life. It is known that he was born in 1901 in the Bronx. It is often assumed that parents they just got scared of such a child and sold it a few years later touring circus performers.

And they were afraid because the child was with special needs - Serkis had microcephaly. Small skull, undeveloped brain, level development at the level of a 3-year-old baby and a height of 120 centimeters. He's bad said he could not fully take care of himself, although in the future many noted that he adequately perceived everything and perfectly imitated.



When Schlitzi got into the circus troupe, he quickly became famous. Although his numbers were still the same, he performed with a group of “special” people: bearded women, Siamese twins and midgets. Then There was no Eurovision yet, but ladies with a beard were already held in high esteem and the circus-goers enjoyed looking at them. And in spite of all this Serkis was always smiling and very friendly. So the audience responded sympathy for him.



Later, newspapers began to write about an unusual person, so about Schlitz the whole country knew. After that, he got into the movies and starred in the films “Children Tomorrow”, Island of Lost Souls” and in several other films. But the most famous work was the infamous Freaks.

The film was released in 1932 and showed a troupe of itinerant artists, and real circus performers with disabilities played in it. Among them was Schlitz. The movie turned out to be scandalous - critics smashed it to smithereens, and the audience left the cinemas. Such is the sad paradox: the circus performances they came, but to see all this on the screens refused. And the movie was put on the shelf for thirty long years, and director Tod Browning could not find work for a long time after that.

Well, in the meantime, Schlitz performed at the circus and continued the same way. smile cheerfully. In 1935 he was taken under the wing of George Surtees - he gave him his last name and under his tutelage Schlitzi appeared on the arenas of the most famous American circuses.



And in 1965, Surtees died and no one wanted to take care of strange midget. And he was sent to a psychiatric hospital.

There, Schlitzi began to quickly bend over and, most likely, would just died quietly. But luckily for him, a new guardian appeared - Bill Winks, famous illusionist. He took Schlitzie out of the hospital, put him in order and returned to the circus arena - and the baby literally came to life.

This continued until 1971: Schlitzi then caught pneumonia and, despite the best efforts of doctors, died.



And so ended the story of a tiny, eccentric and very friendly person. Who continued to smile despite the fact that his life was quite unhappy.