Editing Zip the Pinhead (section)

==Career==
[[Image:Brady Zip.jpg|thumb|right|x300px|A photo by Matthew Brady, taken c. 1860-1870.]]
Johnson was first exhibited by Barnum when he was 18, and his career lasted longer than 60 years.<ref name="nickell">{{Cite book |last=Nickell |first=Joe |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/65377460 |title=Secrets of the sideshows |date=2005 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=0-8131-7179-2 |location=Lexington, Ky. |oclc=65377460|author-link=Joe Nickell}}</ref>{{rp|158}} He was eventually renamed "Zip" after "Zip Coon", an archetypal character in [[Minstrel show|minstrel shows]].<ref name="nickell" />{{rp|158}} Johnson was "[l]aughed at, pelted with coins, called a 'cross between a nigger and a baboon{{'"}}.<ref name="nickell" />{{rp|158}}

Zip's early performances were set against a background story. It was told to the audience that a tribe of "missing links" had been discovered in Africa, and that Zip was one of these. It was further explained that the "wild man", the "What-Is-It", subsisted on raw meat, nuts, and fruit, but was learning to eat more civilized fare such as bread and cake.<ref name=Drimmer/>

Zip would then be revealed in a cage where he could rattle the bars and screech. This act was tremendously successful for Barnum, and Zip was as big an attraction to [[Barnum's American Museum]] as the famous [[Conjoined twins|Siamese twins]], [[Chang and Eng Bunker]].{{refn|group=nb|The cited reference says, "Zip didn't upset sideshow visitors the way [some other performers] do... that's why he was more successfully exhibited than any other freak outside [[General Tom Thumb|Tom Thumb]]" (p. 295).<ref name=Drimmer/>}}

In later years, Zip became more "civilized" in his act. He shared the stage with other anomalies, including his friends "Texas Giant" [[Jim Tarver]], "Tallest Man in the World" [[Jack Earle]] and [[Koo-Koo the Bird Girl]]. He traveled extensively with the [[Ringling Brothers]] [[Circus (performing art)|circus]].

In 1860, he was visited at the museum by [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Albert Edward]], the [[Prince of Wales]]; his photo was taken by [[American Civil War|Civil War]] photographer [[Mathew Brady]].<ref>{{Cite journal | url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051016/news_1a16skin.html | date=October 16, 2005 | title=Racial profiling | journal=The San Diego Union-Tribune | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216091955/http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051016/news_1a16skin.html | archive-date=February 16, 2007}}</ref>

Throughout this period, Zip's best friend and manager was Captain O.K. White. White conscientiously looked after Zip's interests. He also gave Zip one of his prized possessions, a [[tuxedo]].

In his later years, Zip eschewed traveling in favor of performing at [[Coney Island]]. One Sunday afternoon in 1925, Zip heard a little girl cry for help. He noticed the girl waving her arms in the ocean and swam out to rescue her.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17123705/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/ Zip Rescues Drowning Girl | Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 29, 1925]</ref>

Zip caught [[bronchitis]] in early 1926, and despite the wishes of his doctor and Captain White, he continued to perform his part in the stage play ''Sunny'' at the [[New Amsterdam Theater]]. Upon the closing of the play, he returned to his home in [[Bound Brook, New Jersey]], where he was cared for by his doctor, Captain White, and his sister. When his condition worsened, he was moved to [[Bellevue Hospital]] in [[New York City]], where he died.<ref name=Drimmer/>

It is estimated that during his 67 years in show business, Zip entertained more than one hundred million people.<ref name="WWT">{{cite video|title="Wild West Tech" Freak Show Tech|people=Colin Campbell (director), David Carradine (host)|date=21 December 2004|publisher=History Channel productions}}</ref>

Zip the Pinhead was buried in Plot 399 of the Bound Brook Cemetery on April 28, 1926. A small gravestone bearing the inscription "William H. Johnson, 1857–1926" marks his resting place.<ref name="grave">{{Cite web | url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7635469/william-henry-johnson | title=William Henry "Zip" Johnson (1857-1926) - Find a Grave Memorial | website=Find a Grave | access-date=June 4, 2022}}</ref>