Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a fool, esp. an unfortunate, an incompetent.

1881		Jewish Chronicle (London) 12 Aug. 10/2: This dialect generally known by the name of Judisch-Deutsch [...] furnishes a clue to several entirely non-German expressions and phrases that are currently used in South Germany, such as uzen (to banter), meschugge (crazy), schote (fool), schlimmassel (ill-luck), schlemihl (an awkward person), &c.
1919		Jewish Guardian (London) ‘Leaves from a Yiddish Lexicon’ 24 Oct. 9/1: Schlemazel.
1928		B’nai B’rith Mag. Feb. 130/2: And look at me, all covered with flour – what don’t I look like – I’ve been such a shlemazzle.
1951		S. Levenson Meet the Folks 111: a shlimozzel A woman who is allergic to fur.
1956		‘Toney Betts’ Across the Board 306: The most intense schlimazel is Itchy the Pastry Baker [...] taking his salary and betting it all on one horse.
1986		N.Y. Times 6 Feb. n.p.: A shlemiel is the fellow who climbs to the top of a ladder with a bucket of paint and then drops it. A shlimazl is the fellow on whose head the bucket falls [R].
1991		M. Myers et al. Wayne’s World [film script] Five, six, seven, eight Schlamile Schlamazzle Hassenpheffer Incorporated.
1994		J. Wambaugh Finnegan’s Week 15: Fin definitely considered himself a schlemazel.
2004		J. Ellroy ‘Hot-Prowl Rape-O’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 275: Danny G. was a marvellous mensch [...] He wasnt a schmendrick, a schlemiel, or a schlimazel.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 203: He’s a schmuck, a schlemiel [...] and a shlimazel.