Nobody's Fool

February 1, 2019

Griffith (Invisible Ink: My Mother's Love Affair with a Famous Cartoonist) presents an in-depth biography, based on research and interviews, of Schlitzie the Pinhead, a sideshow performer widely known for his appearance in Tod Browning's 1932 cult classic film Freaks. Born with microcephaly in 1901, Schlitzie (who's real name is lost to history but may have been Simon Metz) was sold by his parents to a Coney Island sideshow and soon found himself traveling the country as the star attraction of a variety of circuses. Alternately billed as male or female, sometimes promoted as the missing link between modern man and their evolutionary ancestors or a holdover from vanished civilizations, Schlitzie is here affectionately portrayed as a kind, warm-hearted performer behind the showbiz bluster. His story raises serious questions about the essence of fame, exploitation, and even the subjective nature of what it means to live a happy, fulfilling life. VERDICT Griffith is renowned for his absurdist comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, inspired by Schlitzie's iconic image, and on some level this biography seems to be an attempt at restoring some dignity to a life he's mined for his own purposes. He succeeds wonderfully.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2019
A graphic narrative illuminates the transformation of the real-life Schlitzie the Pinhead into the widely syndicated Zippy.Griffith (Invisible Ink: My Mother's Affair with a Famous Cartoonist, 2015) tells two stories here. The first is, as best as he could research, the life of a Bronx boy with an oddly shaped head and a childlike sunniness that would rarely diminish as he aged. When he was 8 or so, he was sold by his parents to a "traveling sideshow." As such sideshows became exceedingly popular within the circus industry, he went by various names and personas, generally exotic, occasionally female--e.g., "Darwin's Missing Link," "Last of the Incas" "Tik-Tak the Aztec Girl." He might have been lost to posterity if Hollywood hadn't beckoned, with director Tod Browning featuring him in the sensationally received and controversial Freaks (1932). During its preview, writes the author, "a lot of people got up and ran out. They didn't walk out. They ran out." It was decades before the film would be proclaimed a classic--and a fledgling art student saw a midnight screening and found his career changed: "I'd just been handed 'subject matter, ' " writes Griffith, who relates both Schlitzie's story and his own in the same large-paneled caricature that would mark his development of the "Zippy" strip. "Little did I know at the time," he writes, "but I'd just set myself on a lifelong career drawing my version of Schlitzie." The figure who had inspired him didn't fare so well, as circus popularity declined and freak shows faced legal challenges for exploiting the mentally impaired. Schlitzie was committed to a mental institution after being deprived of his way of making a living, but he was subsequently released to a former circus colleague. The internet belatedly aided Griffith's research, and he was able to connect with those who had known Schlitzie in his prime: "He could be a delight...like a happy child," remembered one. He died in 1971.A tender biographical tribute to an artist's inspiration.

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Starred review from February 15, 2019
Griffith's graphic biography of sideshow freak Schlitzie the pinhead is a captivating labor of love that integrates American sideshow history and segments of Griffith's life and research process. His fascination with Schlitzie, born Simon Metz (most likely) in 1901, began after seeing Tod Browning's banned and panned film, Freaks, when an art student. That interest spawned his Zippy comic strip?its hero an amalgam of two pinheads, Schlitzie and Zip the What-Is-It??and ultimately this biography that could almost be considered an oral history. With a paucity of written material and many origin stories for Schlitzie in play, Griffith's account leans heavily on those who knew, worked with, or cared for Schlitzie. As a result, Schlitzie's sweetly childlike character and quirks radiate from the pages, especially in his?yes, Schlitzie was a man, despite often being billed as a girl?random outbursts and favorite phrases. He loved movie stars, hats, doing dishes, and fried chicken; and if he saw someone he liked, Schlitzie would ask, Is he married? These are the details that elevate Griffith's book to become something truly special. His black pen illustrations hold a wealth of detail, too. Representations of sideshow banners, handbills, and posters occupy many pages; wavy framed fantasy sequences are starkly contrasted with angular presentations of harsher moments in Schlitzie's life. It is an astonishing life, beautifully told. Or, as Schlitzie would say, it's boffo!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)