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.
Text Elizabeth Anderson -
The Phreeque Show
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