"I felt like I'd been dropped into a funeral home," she wrote. Pearl knew she was out of her element within the first 24 hours. But Ward-Belmont, untouched by the Depression, was also an elite finishing school, where Southern girls from prestigious backgrounds and old money matriculated. She chose Ward-Belmont for its drama department and its director Pauline Sherwood Thompson, who was highly respected throughout the South. Pearl was offered two years at Ward-Belmont in Tennessee, or four years at the University of Tennessee. The stock-market crash of 1929 changed all that. Following high school, she planned to attend a first-rate college, as her sisters had done, then move on to the American Academy of Dramatic Art or the Pasadena Playhouse. Stagestruck, Pearl would appear in front of anything that smacked of an audience, convinced she was going to be the most celebrated actress of all time, despite advance reports, overhead in passing, that she was a trifle plain. By age six, she was playing the piano at World War I bond rallies and belting out such songs as "If He Can Fight Like He Can Love, It's Good-bye Germany." In exchange for free admission, she began to supply background music for the silent movies at the local cinema, until her mother found out. Thomas also taught her to "never let the truth interfere with a good story."īy age four, she was plunking out tunes on the piano. To her mother's chagrin, Pearl was turning into a rough-and-tumble type. Thomas, who had given up waiting for a son, took her with him when he was surveying lumber camps. The soft-spoken and dignified Thomas Colley owned a lumberyard and sawmill that was located near Grinder's Switch, which was hardly a town, more of a spur track for loading freight trains that Pearl would later claim as her home. Pearl claims she was so spoiled by all the love and attention that her father called her G.M. The epitome of genteel Southern womanhood, Fannie House Colley was an accomplished pianist who supplied the background music for recitals, plays, and musicals at the local opera house.Īs baby Sarah, Pearl served as a doll-in-residence her older sisters dressed and undressed her and paraded her up the street in a layette. She was also one of the social leaders of Centerville, population 500. Her mother, a finishing school graduate, was 37 and had four girls in school when she learned she was pregnant once more. "I was a mistake from the start," she wrote in her autobiography. Minnie Pearl was born Sarah Ophelia Colley in Centerville, Tennessee, in 1912. Pearl was the first country music humorist to gain worldwide recognition. She had arrived at a time of transition, when hillbilly music crossed over to the more respectable country and western. With her trademark price tag dangling from a dime-store hat and her greeting of "Howdyyyyy! I'm just so proud to be here," Minnie Pearl worked at the Grand Ole Opry for 56 years. Joined the Grand Ole Opry (1940) inducted into the Country Music Association's Hall of Fame (October 13, 1975) received Brotherhood Award from National Conference of Christians and Jews (1975). Colley (a lumber merchant) and Fannie Tate (House) Colley attended Ward-Belmont College married Henry Cannon (her manager), in 1947. Born Sarah Ophelia Colley in Centerville, Tennessee, in 1912 died in Nashville on Mayoungest of five daughters of Thomas K. Name variations: Ophelia Colley Cannon Sarah Ophelia Colley. American entertainer who was the first humorist in country music to achieve worldwide recognition.
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