Minnie Woolsey, born in Georgia in 1880...
was afflicted with a unique form of "bird-headed" dwarfism
or nanocephaly.
In addition to her unusual facial features, she was blind,
mentally handicapped, toothless, and had only fine wisps
of hair on her odd-shaped head.
The story goes that she was rescued from a dismal life
in a Georgia insane asylum by an enterprising showman,
and began her showbiz career as "Minnie Ha-Ha", a play
on North Carolina's Minnihaha Falls.
"Minnie Ha-Ha" dressed in a phony American Indian
costume and spoke jibberish to sideshow audiences.
By the time Minnie landed a role in Freaks in 1932,
the sideshow world already had a "Koo Koo, the Bird Girl"
- Betty Green - but this didn't stop Minnie's managers
from dressing her in a feathery costume, too.
Though she has no lines in Freaks, she made a lasting
impression on moviegoers when she shimmied on the table
during the wedding feast of Cleopatra the aerialist
and Hans the dwarf.
Thus it was Minnie who was best remembered as "Koo Koo",
not Betty Green, although the two are frequently confused.
Later, Minnie worked at Coney Island as "Koo Koo,
the Blind Girl from Mars", where she confounded spectators
by failing to respond to visual stimuli.
Her blindness is just one of a host of symptoms that
characterize some types of primordial dwarfism.
It's unknown exactly how long Minnie was with the circus
or when she died, but some accounts claim she was
still living (and was nearly run over by a car) in 1960,
making her at least 80 years old.
σαν Minnie Woolsey το 1880.
Υπέφερε από μία σπάνια σκελετική διαταραχή
που ονομάζεται σύνδρομο Virchow-Seckel,
το οποίο την ανάγκασε να έχει
ένα πολύ κοντό ανάστημα, μικρό κεφάλι,
στενό πτηνόμορφο πρόσωπο
με μύτη σαν ράμφος, μεγάλα λοξά μάτια,
τραβηγμένο σαγόνι, μεγάλα αυτιά,
και ήπια νοητική υστέρηση.
Ήταν, επίσης, φαλακρή, χωρίς δόντια,
και είτε εντελώς τυφλή
ή πολύ κοντόφθαλμη.
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου