Minnie Pearl

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Minnie Pearl
Minnie Pearl Bronze statue in Nashville
Background information
Birth name	Sarah Ophelia Colley
Also known as	Minnie Pearl
Born	October 25, 1912(1912-10-25) Centerville, Tennessee, United States
Died	March 4, 1996 (aged 83) Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Genres	Country Comedy
Occupations	Country comedian
Years active	1939–1996

Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996), known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was a 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.

Biography

Early life

Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Nashville. She was the youngest of the five daughters of a prosperous lumberman in Centerville.^[1] She graduated from Ward-Belmont College, 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.^[2]

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 musicals for local organizations in small towns throughout the southeastern United States.^[1][2]

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.^[2] 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".^[1] Her first stage performance as Minnie Pearl was in 1939 in Aiken, South Carolina.^[1] The following year, executives from Nashville radio station 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.^[1][2] The success of her debut on the show began an association with the Grand Ole Opry that continued for more than 50 years.^[3]

hat on display at the National Museum of American History

Pearl's comedy was gentle satire of rural 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! 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 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 ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee in the late 1950s; then on the long-running television series Hee Haw, both on CBS-TV and the subsequent syndicated version. Her last regular performances on national television were on Ralph Emery's Nashville Now country-music talk show on the former Nashville Network cable channel. With Emery she performed in a weekly feature, "Let Minnie Steal Your Joke," in the Minnie Pearl character would read jokes submitted by viewers, with prizes for the best joke of the week.^[1]

Cannon made a 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 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.^[1][3] He later also provided management to clients including Eddy Arnold, Colonel Tom Parker, Hank Williams, Carl Smith, Webb Pierce, and Elvis Presley.^[1] The couple had no children.^[3] In 1969 they purchased a large estate home in Nashville that is next door to the current governor's mansion.^[4]

Chicken restaurants

In the late 1960s Nashville entrepreneur John Jay Hooker persuaded Cannon and African-American gospel singer Mahalia Jackson to lend their names to a chain of fried chicken restaurants 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 desiring her Minnie Pearl character to be associated with such misfortune, although a nonprofit group, the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation, 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.

Final years

Cannon suffered a serious stroke in June 1991,^[1] 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 Amy Grant. Her death on March 4, 1996, at the age of 83, was attributed to complications from another stroke. She is buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee.

Legacy and influence

This statue honoring Country Music and Grand Old Opry legend Minnie Pearl is in the Town Square of Centerville, Tennessee

Cannon 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 2002 she was ranked as number 14 on CMT's 40 Greatest Women in Country Music list.^{[citation needed]}

She was also a close friend of performers outside the country genre, including Dean Martin and Paul Reubens.^[5] In 1992 Reubens made what would be his last appearance as Pee-Wee Herman for 15 years at a Minnie Pearl tribute show.^[6]

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.

Popular culture references to Minnie Pearl

The popularity and lasting influence of the Minnie Pearl character are indicated by numerous references in popular culture.

• In the film Selena while Selena (Jennifer Lopez) is shopping for a gown in one scene, she dons a garish hat while her friend looks on disapprovingly. In her defense Selena then says "It's very Minnie Pearl!"

• Singer Pam Tillis had a tribute song in honor of Minnie Pearl called "Two Dollar Hat" with the chorus:

Year after year. Every week at the Ryman

She had 'em laughin' 'til she had 'em cryin',

Fate had a star; the world had a diamond

In a two dollar hat."

• She is mentioned in the song "Punk Rock Girl" by The Dead Milkmen

"We'll dress like Minnie Pearl

Just you and me, punk rock girl

(...)

Let's have a child

We'll name her Minnie Pearl

Just you and me"

• She is mentioned in the song "Likes of You" by Flogging Molly "... met a girl named Minnie Pearl, swore she'd always be his girl ..."

• She is mentioned in the song "El Dorado" by 50 Foot Wave

• She is mentioned in the song "A Lap Dance Is So Much Better When The Stripper Is Crying" by Bloodhound Gang, "It's hard to hide a hard on When you're dressed like Minnie Pearl"

• She is mentioned in Kenny Rogers' song "The Last Ten Years (Superman):"

We lost Minnie Pearl, Ron Reagan and Sam-I-am, We even lost Superman!

• In the comic strip Get Fuzzy, Minnie Pearl served as the punchline:

Satchel - You know, Buck. Without your fang, you look like a different cat! You're like Inspector Clouseau without the mustache!

Bucky - Correction: I'm like Tom Selleck without the mustache.

Rob - Correction: You're like Minnie Pearl without the tag.

• She is referred to in the PC game Deer Avenger 4 in one of the calls Bambo uses - "Oh Boy! A picture of Minnie Pearl, back in the days when she was hot!"

• She is included as a lyric in the Victor Wooten song "When I want to Get Funky":

"When I want to get funky / I might just date your girl / I might just rock her world / I might not comb my curls / kissin' Minnie Pearl"

• The song "Ophelia" by The Band is named for her. (This song was also be covered by the Oak Ridge Boys in their 1985 album Step on Out.).

But I'm still waitin' for the second comin' Of Ophelia

Come back home

• She is referred to in the song Old Fashioned Girl by Jaydee Bixby:

"She's an old-fashioned girl,

A little bit like Mama,

A little bit like Minnie Pearl."

• She is mentioned in the song "All American Country Girl" by Aaron Watson:

"But when it comes down to the heart of the situation,

She's a little rockin' honky tonkin' modern day Minnie Pearl,

I should know, I've been all across this great nation,

Oh there ain't no doubt, she's an All American country girl."

• Reba Mcentire - Pink Guitar

"Some day she's gonna play at the Grand Ole Opry stage Soon you'll see her hangin' there next to Minnie Pearl's hat, in the Country Music Hall of Fame "

• She is mentioned by Lorelei Gilmore in Gilmore Girls:

When Lorelei's grandmother asks her if she is single by choice or by intimidation by her independence, Lorelei replies that she intimidates men with her Minnie Pearl impression.

Writings and recordings

Singles

Some of Pearl's comic songs, including "How To Catch A Man," were released as single records.

References

• Kingsbury, Paul (1998). "Minnie Pearl". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 409–10.
• Pearl, Minnie with Joan Dew (1980). Minnie Pearl: An Autobiography. New York: Simon and Schuster.
• Sarah Cannon Cancer Center
• Sarah Cannon Research Institute
• Minnie Pearl's gravesite
• The Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation

Notes

External links

• Minnie Pearl at the Internet Movie Database