Re: A QUERY/Owen's

[Kame'a Media <media...>]

Owen Davidson wrote:

> Man, Wolf!
>
> I feel like I will have to address you from my scabby little knees, but I'm 
> not going
> to do that, quite.
>
> Todd Browning's "Freaks" is an ikon on my shelf, but nobody wants to watch it 
> with me.
> My film teacher Ken Jacobs kept a special place all dusted off for Browning's 
> work. I
> sat through "Dracula" three times in one evening, the third showing 
> telescoped by
> running both reels at the same time, one above the other on the screen.
>
> And you ran away with a carnival show, and you travelled with the Gypsies?  
> Wolf, share
> this stuff!
>
> Owen

Dear Owen:

In London, Ontario while playing the Western Fair,
our routine was to leave our hotel in the tenderloin
district early in the morning and drive to the fairgrounds.

On the way, Frenchie (Schlitzie's guardian, the Gypsy
I mentioned in a previous posting) would stop at the
liquor store, since it would be closed when we came back
late at night.

He was an alcoholic, as were many of the other
sideshow people, =nebekh=.

One morning, noticing a pawn shop,  Frenchie stopped the car
and we went in -- he, Schlitzie and I.  The shop was attended
by two frail elderly women who looked to be in their seventies
or eighties.

As if the sight of Schlitzie were not enough for the shocked and
frightened women, Frenchie asked to see some long knives in the
window and was given one.  He pulled a small bottle from his pocket,
applied its contents to a handkerchief and wiped down the knife.


He then proceeded to tilt his head back and insert the sword into his mouth,
until the hilt touched his lips.  And then deftly removed it.

The women turned pale...

He returned the knife and we left.

In the car, he said:  "I have to stay in practice; you never know when
I might have to do that to eat, again..."

Frenchie had been a lion tamer (he had the scars) and had been married
to Dainty Dora, the Fat Lady  who was also working this show.

Owen, you may be interested to know that Schlitzie, although he had the
mind of a six-month old (I was told) loved music.  He would groove and rock
with glee to the sounds emanating from the car radio.

Like any "child" Schlitzie craved tenderness and affection.
Once, while giving him a hug, Frenchie told me to cool it or he would
become too attached to me and never let me go.  I did as he asked.

I remember reading of Schlitzie's death in a Canadian tabloid in the
late 'Sixties.

There is a recent video (at Pleasant Street) about freaks
(forgot the actual title) that has some history on Schlitzie
and his predecessor, Zip, who had a long career.
Bill Griffin's cartoon character Zippy is based on the two of them.

Schlitzie, by the way, I learned from the video recently,
had been sold by the director of the institution that had
been charged with protecting him.  In the USA.

Schlitzie was also cast in an American film in the 'Thirties
made in support of Nazi eugenics and their program of murdering
the "unfit"; the title escapes me.  (You can learn it in the
aforementioned video).

Schlitzie looks drugged and terrified, surrounded by "doctors"
in white lab coats, as he lays in bed.  Schlitzie, of course, could
not distinguish between a movie set and reality.

It was heartbreaking to see this.

Count your blessings, everyone.

=git shabes=

Wolf




Wolf






>
>
> Kame'a Media wrote:
>
> > Dear Owen:
> >
> > When I was a kid  I left home with the carnival
> > (Conklin and Garret Shows) and travelled with them.
> > (Romantic, eh?)
> > This was back in the day of the sideshow that included
> > freaks, knife-throwers, fire-eaters and hoochie dancers.
> >
> > I shared close quarters with Schlitzie (b. Simon Metz),
> > billed as the "Missing Link" and the man who had the legal papers
> > to exhibit him.  (Schlitzie,   appeared in
> > Tod Brownings film "Freaks" (c.1927) and some other films).
> >  He was microcephalic; that is, a "pinhead".
> >
> > The man who had the legal right to exhibit him was a
> > Gypsy lion-tamer and sword-swallower.  My knowledge of,
> > and experience withthe Roma began with him.
> >
> > (As far a "going there",  political correctness and family values have done 
> > away
> > with the sideshow in the USA and Canada, replaced by sanitzed, corporate
> > entertainments).
> >
> > See the book - "Bury Me Standing" by Isabel Fonseca.
> > There is another one about the "Devouring" (translation of the Rom for
> > "Holocaust"),
> >  "And The Violins Stopped Playing".  Can't recall the author.
> >
> > Wolf
> >
> > Owen Davidson wrote:
> >
> > > Dear Wolf,
> > >
> > > As much as I hate the imperial call which makes us trot out our sources, 
> > > our
> > > sorcerous horses: where did you read/hear/learn this?  I would go there.
> > >
> > > Owen
> > >
> > > Kame'a Media wrote:
> > >
> > > > Dear Trudi:
> > > >
> > > > One could not be both a Jew and a Gypsy (Roma or Sinti)  in a social 
> > > > context.
> > > > They are two distinct peoples with entirely different origins, belief
> > > > systems, languages and cultures.  The Roma have no books;  theirs is 
> > > > entirely
> > > > an oral tradition.
> > > >
> > > > True, both shared marginal social status and second-class "citizenship".
> > > >
> > > > Perhaps your informant meant that some Jews lived a "Gypsy-like" 
> > > > existence;
> > > > that is,  --attempting to survive by music, horse-trading, prostitution,
> > > > smuggling contraband and other various criminal/underground activities.
> > > >
> > > > There was certainly some intermarriage;  Gypsy women with Jewish men 
> > > > being more
> > > > likely than the opposite, although both combinations would have been 
> > > > rare,
> > > > given the cultural differences,
> > > > not to mention the harsh opprobrium a mixed couple would have faced in 
> > > > their
> > > > respective
> > > > families and communities.
> > > >
> > > > In more recent history, some European Gypsies have adapted Christian 
> > > > beliefs
> > > > and practices,
> > > > but continue to maintain their traditions, especially those regarding
> > > > "uncleaness"
> > > > and contempt for =gadjos= (everybody else).
> > > >
> > > > Wolf
> > > >
> > > > Trudi Goodman wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >     6/13/2000
> > > > >
> > > > >    Hi, Trudi Goodman, here, I am doing research on Jews and Gypsies
> > > > > especially in Eastern Europe.  Does anyone know if there were in fact 
> > > > > Jewish
> > > > > Gypsies in  the Odessa Region...one person I've spoken to "thinks" 
> > > > > that he
> > > > > "remembers" that there were.
> > > > >    If no one knows...all you folklorists out there can you point me 
> > > > > in the
> > > > > right direction???
> > > > >
> > > > >     Thanks,
> > > > >
> > > > >     Trudi the G
> > > > > ________________________________________________________________________
> > > > > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at 
> > > > > http://www.hotmail.com
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Owen Davidson
> > > Amherst  Mass
> > > The Wholesale Klezmer Band
> > >
> > > The Angel that presided oer my birth
> > > Said Little creature formd of Joy & Mirth
> > > Go Love without the help of any King on Earth
> > >
> > > Wm. Blake
> > >
> >
>
> --
> Owen Davidson
> Amherst  Mass
> The Wholesale Klezmer Band
>
> The Angel that presided oer my birth
> Said Little creature formd of Joy & Mirth
> Go Love without the help of any King on Earth
>
> Wm. Blake
>

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