The most famous midget of the 20th century: the sad story of Schlitz Surtees

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. Most often, it is believed that the parents were simply frightened of such a child and a few years later they sold it to touring circus performers.

And they were afraid because the child was with special needs – Serkis had microcephaly. A small skull, an undeveloped brain, a level of development at the level of a 3-year-old baby and a height of 120 centimeters. He spoke poorly, 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 circus visitors liked to look at them. And despite all this, Serkis was always smiling and very friendly. Therefore, the audience responded to him with sympathy.

Later, newspapers began to write about an unusual person, so the whole country learned about Schlitz. After that, he got into the movies and starred in the films “Children of 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 a sad paradox: they came to circus performances, but they refused to see all this on the screens. And the movie was put on the shelf for a long thirty years, and director Tod Browning could not find a job for a long time after that.

Well, in the meantime, Schlitzi performed at the circus and continued to smile just as 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 the strange midget. And he was sent to a psychiatric hospital.

There, Schlitzi began to quickly bend over and, most likely, would just die quietly. But fortunately for him, a new guardian appeared – Bill Winks, a famous illusionist. He took Schlitz from 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 man. Who continued to smile despite the fact that his life was completely unhappy.