The details of the man’s early life are quite amazing and eye opening, demonstrating how horrible people can be over inconsequential differences, even to their own children. But Stover’s story also shows how talent and perseverance can triumph.
Slover was born Karl Kosiczky in what is now the Czech Republic and he was the only child in his family to be dwarf sized.
"In those uninformed days, his father tried witch doctor treatments to make him grow," Fricke said. "Knowing Karl and his triumph over his early life, you can't help but celebrate the man at a time like this."
He was buried in the backyard, immersed in heated oil until his skin blistered and then attached to a stretching machine at a hospital, all in the attempt to make him become taller. Eventually he was sold by his father at age 9 to a traveling show in Europe, Fricke said.
Slover continued to perform into his late 20s, when he moved to the United States, changed his name and appeared in circuses as part of a vaudeville group known as the Singer Midgets. The group's 30 performers became the nucleus of the Munchkins.
He was paid $50 a week for the movie and told friends that Garland's dog in the movie, "Toto," made more money. Link
I do think the third paragraph is inadvertently hilarious. When a sentence about someone who has died starts, “He was buried . . .” you think it’s about today. I sat here flabbergasted for a few seconds trying to figure out why they would immerse him in heated oil before I realized they were talking about his childhood.
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