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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Minnie Pearl| image = MinniePearlKBF 2.jpg| caption = Minnie Pearl performing at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California|Buena Park , California | image_size = || background = solo_singer| birth_name = Sarah Ophelia Colley| alias = Minnie Pearl| birth_date = Birth date|1912|10|25|birth_place = Centerville, Tennessee , United States | death_date = death date and age|1996|3|4|1912|10|25|death_place = Nashville, Tennessee , United States | origin =| instrument =| genre = Country music|Country Comedy music|Comedy | occupation = Country comedian| years_active = 1939& ndash;1991| label =| associated_acts =| website =| notable_instruments =Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996), known professionally as Minnie Pearl , was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (from 1940 to 1991) and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991. http://movies.nytimes.com/person/55680/Minnie-Pearl New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/26/news/review-television-a-howdy-to-minnie-pearl-price-tags-and-all.html New York Times
Biography
Early life
Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, Tennessee|Centerville , in Hickman County, Tennessee|Hickman County , Tennessee , about 50& nbsp;miles (80& nbsp;km) southwest of Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville . She was the youngest of the five daughters of a prosperous lumberman in Centerville. http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/full-list-of-inductees/view/minnie-pearl Minnie Pearl Inductee Biography, Country Music Hall of Fame website. Retrieved February 14, 2009. She graduated from Ward-Belmont College (now Belmont University ), at the time Nashville's most prestigious school for young ladies, where her major was theater studies and dance was a particular interest. After graduation she taught dance for several years.James Manheim (All Music Guide), http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/pearl_minnie/bio.jhtml Minnie Pearl Biography, retrieved from the Country Music Television website, February 14, 2009.
Professional career
Her first professional theatrical job was with the Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, a touring theater company based in Atlanta, for which she produced and directed plays and musical theatre|musical s for local organizations in small towns throughout the southeastern United States .
As part of her work with the Sewell company, she made brief appearances at civic organizations to promote the group's shows. She developed her Minnie Pearl routine during this period. While producing an amateur musical comedy in Baileyton, Alabama , she met a mountain woman whose style and talk became the basis for "Cousin Minnie Pearl". Her first stage performance as Minnie Pearl was in 1939 in Aiken, South Carolina . The following year, executives from Nashville radio station WSM (AM)|WSM-AM saw her perform at a bankers' convention in Centerville and gave her an opportunity to appear on the Grand Ole Opry on November 30, 1940. The success of her debut on the show began an association with the Grand Ole Opry that continued for more than 50 years.Kristine McCusker (2004), in http://books.google.com/books? id=WSaMu4F06AQC& pg=PA506& lpg=PA506& dq=Grinders+Switch+Foundation& source=web& ots=UG34heyiVr& sig=Jf8vzpoVFM4m0bfsN6Uih1_Rsmo& hl=en& ei=OUqXSf6QHeHAtgeyra24Cw& sa=X& oi=book_result& resnum=9& ct=result#PPA506,M1 Notable American Women , Edward T. James, Barbara Sicherman, Janet Wilson James, Paul S. Boyer, and Susan Ware, editors, Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-01488-X, ISBN 978-0-674-01488-6, pp. 505-506.
Pearl's comedy was gentle satire of rural southern United States|Southern culture, often called " hillbilly " culture. Pearl always dressed in styleless "down home" dresses and wore a hat with a price tag hanging from it, displaying the price of $1.98. Her catch phrase was "How-w-w-DEE-E-E-E& #33; I'm jes' so proud to be here!" delivered in a loud holler. After she became an established star, her audiences usually shouted "How-w-w-DEE-E-E-E!" back. Pearl's humor was often self-deprecating, and involved her unsuccessful attempts at attracting the attention of "a feller" and, particularly in later years, her age. She also told monologues involving her comical 'ne'er-do-well' relatives, notably "Uncle Nabob" and "Brother", who was simultaneously both slow-witted and wise. She usually closed her monologues with the exit line, "I love you so much it hurts!" She also sang comic novelty songs. Pearl's comic material derived heavily from her hometown of Centerville, which in her act she called Grinder's Switch . Grinder's Switch is a community just outside of Centerville that consisted of little more than a railroad switch. Those who knew her recognized that the characters were largely based on real residents of Centerville. So much traffic resulted from fans and tourists looking for Grinder's Switch that the Hickman County Highway Department eventually changed the designation on the "Grinder's Switch" road sign to "Hickman Springs Road."
Cannon portrayed Minnie Pearl for many years on television, first on American Broadcasting Company|ABC's Ozark Jubilee in the late 1950s; then on the long-running television series Hee Haw , both on CBS and the subsequent Television syndication|syndicated version. She made several appearances on NBC 's The Ford Show|The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford . Her last regular performances on national television were on Ralph Emery 's Nashville Now country-music talk show on the former SpikeTV|Nashville Network cable television|cable channel. With Emery she performed in a weekly feature, "Let Minnie Steal Your Joke," in the Minnie Pearl character and read jokes submitted by viewers, with prizes for the best jokes.
Cannon made a cameo role|cameo appearance in the film '' Coal Miner's Daughter , in which she appears at the Opry as her Minnie Pearl character.
Family life
On February 23, 1947 Sarah Colley married Henry R. Cannon, who had been an United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps fighter pilot during World War II and was then a partner in an air charter service. After the marriage, Henry Cannon set up his own air charter service for country music performers and took over management of the Minnie Pearl character. His clients in the charter service included Eddy Arnold , Colonel Tom Parker , HankWilliams , Carl Smith (country musician)|Carl Smith , Webb Pierce , and Elvis Presley . The couple had no children. In 1969 they purchased a large estate home in Nashville next door to the Governor of Tennessee|Tennessee Governor 's mansion. http://web.archive.org/web/20070929122022/ http://www.musiccitypearl.com/ MusicCityPearl.com (archived website)
Chicken restaurants
In the late 1960s Nashville entrepreneur John Jay Hooker persuaded Cannon and African-American gospel music|gospel singer Mahalia Jackson to lend their names to a Restaurant chain|chain of fried chicken restaurant s established to compete with Kentucky Fried Chicken . After initially reporting good results and enjoying a public stock worth $64 million, the venture collapsed amid allegations of accounting irregularities and stock price manipulation. The ensuing investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cleared both Cannon and Jackson of involvement in financial wrongdoings, but both were embarrassed by the negative publicity.
Cancer research
After battling breast cancer through aggressive treatments including a double mastectomy and radiation therapy , she became a spokeswoman for the medical center in Nashville where she had been treated. She took on this role as herself, Sarah Ophelia Cannon, not Minnie Pearl, although a nonprofit group, the Minnie Pearl CancerFoundation , was founded in her memory to help fund cancer research. The center where she was treated was later named the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center , and has been expanded to several other hospitals in Middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky. Her name has also been lent to the affiliated Sarah Cannon Research Institute . Citation needed|date=October 2010
Final years
Cannon suffered a serious stroke in June 1991, bringing her performing career to an end. After the stroke she resided in a Nashville nursing home where she received frequent visits from country music industry figures, including Chely Wright , Vince Gill and AmyGrant . Her death on March 4, 1996, at the age of 83, was attributed to complications from another stroke. She is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery (Franklin, Tennessee)|Mount Hope Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee .
Legacy and influence
She was an important influence on younger female country music singers and rural humorists such as Jerry Clower , Jeff Foxworthy , Bill Engvall , Carl Hurley , David L Cook , Chonda Pierce , Ron White and Larry the Cable Guy . In 1992, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts . In 2002 she was ranked as number 14 on '' CMT 's 40 Greatest Women in Country Music list.Citation needed|date=October 2010
She was friends with performers outside the country genre, including Dean Martin (she appeared on an episode of The Dean Martin Show ), and Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman). http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/questionaire.aspx? csid1=65 Paul Reubens interview In 1992 Reubens made what would be his last appearance as Pee-wee Herman for the next 15 years at a Minnie Pearl tribute show.Robert Lloyd, http://articles.latimes.com/p/2006/jul/10/entertainment/et-peewee Pee-wee’s Back in the Limelight, Los Angeles Times , July 10, 2006
Bronze statues of Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff are displayed in the lobby of the Ryman Auditorium . Chely Wright and Dean Sams (of Lonestar ) posed for the statues.
A museum dedicated to Minnie Pearl was situated just outside the Grand Ole Opry House at Opryland USA (next to another museum dedicated to Roy Acuff), but the museum closed along with the theme park in 1997. Many of its artifacts were moved to the adjacent Grand Ole Opry Museum, some of which may have been damaged in the 2010 Tennessee floods .
= a guest appearance on another star's album or an appearance on a various artists album.
Singles
Minnie Pearl released a number of single records for RCA Victor during the 1950s including a few duets with Grandpa Jones . During this period she also made guest appearances on records by Chet Atkins and Ernest Tubb . In the 1960s she moved to Starday Records. At age 54 she recorded a top ten hit for Starday, "Giddyup Go - Answer," a response to Red Sovine 's classic " Giddyup Go ". http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/pearl_minnie/bio.jhtml Minnie Pearl Biography, CMT.com, accessed June 2, 2011 She later recorded with Sovine and Buddy Starcher in other single releases.
Pearl was back on RCA in 1974 when she and Archie Campbell released a parody record of Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty 's hit "As Soon As I Hang Up The Phone" which received airplay but did not chart. In 1977, she appeared with a number of other Opry members on Dolly Parton 's New Harvest - First Gathering album, singing on the song " Applejack (Dolly Parton song)|Applejack ". In 1986 she was a featured guest vocalist, along with Jerry Clower , on the Ray Stevens comedy single entitled " Southern Air ". It charted in the Top-70 of Billboard (magazine)|Billboard
Year
Title
Hot Country Songs>US Country
1966
"Giddyup Go - Answer"
10
References
Kingsbury, Paul (1998). "Minnie Pearl". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music . Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp.& nbsp;409–10.
Pearl, Minnie with Joan Dew (1980). Minnie Pearl: An Autobiography . New York: Simon and Schuster.
http://www.sarahcannon.com/ Sarah Cannon Cancer Center
http://www.sarahcannonresearch.com/ Sarah Cannon Research Institute
http://www.minniepearl.org The Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation
http://www.nea.gov/honors/medals/medalists_year.html#92 Lifetime Honors - National Medal of Arts.
Notes
reflist
External links
http://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/full-list-of-inductees/view/minnie-pearl Minnie Pearl at the Country Music Hall of Fame
IMDb name|0669080
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi? page=gr& GRid=4498 Minnie Pearl At Find A Grave
Persondata | NAME = Pearl, Minnie | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = October 25, 1912 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Centerville, Tennessee , United States | DATE OF DEATH = March 4, 1996 | PLACE OF DEATH = Nashville, Tennessee , United States DEFAULTSORT:Pearl, Minnie Category:1912 births Category:1996 deaths Category:American comedians Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from stroke Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:People from Hickman County, Tennessee Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:Women comedians Category:King Records artists Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Starday Records artists Category:Breast cancer survivors
de:Minnie Pearl fr:Minnie Pearl lb:Minnie Pearl
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