Koo-Koo the Bird Girl: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
Citation bot (talk | contribs) Alter: url. URLs might have been internationalized/anonymized. | You can use this bot yourself. Report bugs here. | Suggested by AManWithNoPlan | All pages linked from cached copy of User:AManWithNoPlan/sandbox2 | via #UCB_webform_linked |
m Task 6: +{{Authority control}}, WP:GenFixes on |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{ |
{{more citations needed|date=January 2015}} |
||
{{Infobox person |
{{Infobox person |
||
| Line 19: | Line 19: | ||
==Biography == |
==Biography == |
||
Woolsey was born in 1880<ref>Hartzman, Marc (2005). ''American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers''. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. p. 178. {{ISBN|1585424412}}.</ref> in [[Rabun County]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. Little is known about her early life, only that she was "rescued" from a mental asylum in Georgia by a travelling showman and was commonly billed as '''Minnie Ha Ha''' (a play on [[Minnehaha]]) in her sideshow entertainment career. She had a rare congenital growth skeletal disorder called [[Virchow-Seckel syndrome]], which caused her to have a very short stature, a small head, a narrow bird-like face with a beak-like nose, large eyes, a receding jaw, large ears and mild [[intellectual disability]].<ref name="humanmarvels"/><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Harsha Vardhan BG, Muthu MS, Saraswathi K, Koteeswaran D |title=Bird-headed Dwarf of Seckel |journal=Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry |volume=25 Suppl |issue= |pages=S8–9 |year=2007 |pmid=17921644 |doi= |url=http://www.jisppd.com/article.asp?issn=0970-4388;year=2007;volume=25;issue=5;spage=8;epage=9;aulast=Harsha}}</ref> In addition, Woolsey was bald, toothless, and either completely blind or very [[Myopia|short-sighted]]. She would appear in an American-Indian style bodysuit made of feathers with a single feather on top of her head as her costume and would dance and speak gibberish. |
Woolsey was born in 1880<ref>Hartzman, Marc (2005). ''American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers''. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. p. 178. {{ISBN|1585424412}}.</ref> in [[Rabun County]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. Little is known about her early life, only that she was "rescued" from a mental asylum in Georgia by a travelling showman and was commonly billed as '''Minnie Ha Ha''' (a play on [[Minnehaha]]) in her sideshow entertainment career. She had a rare congenital growth skeletal disorder called [[Virchow-Seckel syndrome]], which caused her to have a very short stature, a small head, a narrow bird-like face with a beak-like nose, large eyes, a receding jaw, large ears and mild [[intellectual disability]].<ref name="humanmarvels"/><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Harsha Vardhan BG, Muthu MS, Saraswathi K, Koteeswaran D |title=Bird-headed Dwarf of Seckel |journal=Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry |volume=25 Suppl |issue= |pages=S8–9 |year=2007 |pmid=17921644 |doi= |url=http://www.jisppd.com/article.asp?issn=0970-4388;year=2007;volume=25;issue=5;spage=8;epage=9;aulast=Harsha}}</ref> In addition, Woolsey was bald, toothless, and either completely blind or very [[Myopia|short-sighted]]. She would appear in an American-Indian style bodysuit made of feathers with a single feather on top of her head as her costume and would dance and speak gibberish. |
||
She appeared in the 1932 film ''[[Freaks (1932 film)|Freaks]]'', alongside a cast of other sideshow performers from the time, billed as Koo Koo, the Bird Girl. She was not the original Koo Koo however; the billing was previously used by another performer in the film, a "Stork" or "Bird" woman named [[Elizabeth Green the Stork Woman|Elizabeth Green]]. Woolsey is seen in many scenes, particularly at the wedding ceremony, where she is seen dancing on the dining table in a feathery costume. In 1942, a news brief in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' reported that Woolsey was recovering in Coney Island Hospital after breaking her arm while descending stairs.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DQwEAAAAMBAJ&q=Minnie+Woolsey&pg=PT24|title=Coney Island, N.Y.|magazine=Billboard|pages=44, 54|date=August 29, 1942|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|language=en|accessdate=November 23, 2018}}.</ref> She was hit by a car in the 1960s. When and how she died is unknown, but accounts show that she was still alive and performing in 1960, working at [[Coney Island]] in sideshow/circus, in her 80s.{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}} |
She appeared in the 1932 film ''[[Freaks (1932 film)|Freaks]]'', alongside a cast of other sideshow performers from the time, billed as Koo Koo, the Bird Girl. She was not the original Koo Koo however; the billing was previously used by another performer in the film, a "Stork" or "Bird" woman named [[Elizabeth Green the Stork Woman|Elizabeth Green]]. Woolsey is seen in many scenes, particularly at the wedding ceremony, where she is seen dancing on the dining table in a feathery costume. In 1942, a news brief in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' reported that Woolsey was recovering in Coney Island Hospital after breaking her arm while descending stairs.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DQwEAAAAMBAJ&q=Minnie+Woolsey&pg=PT24|title=Coney Island, N.Y.|magazine=Billboard|pages=44, 54|date=August 29, 1942|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|language=en|accessdate=November 23, 2018}}.</ref> She was hit by a car in the 1960s. When and how she died is unknown, but accounts show that she was still alive and performing in 1960, working at [[Coney Island]] in sideshow/circus, in her 80s.{{Citation needed|date=January 2015}} |
||
| Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
==In popular culture== |
==In popular culture== |
||
* The Manchester-based Gypsy folk band Naymedici released a single titled "Koo Koo the Bird Girl" in memory of the entertainer, with a video featuring scenes from ''Freaks''.<ref name="youtube">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG2_4CH26J8|title=Naymedici - Koo Koo The Bird Girl}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=August 2016}} |
* The Manchester-based Gypsy folk band Naymedici released a single titled "Koo Koo the Bird Girl" in memory of the entertainer, with a video featuring scenes from ''Freaks''.<ref name="youtube">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG2_4CH26J8|title=Naymedici - Koo Koo The Bird Girl}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=August 2016}} |
||
* Australian performer [[Sarah Houbolt]] created a performance called ''Kookoo The Bird Girl''. Speaking to Disability Arts Online, Houbolt said, “My full length show, KooKoo the Birdgirl, is about Minnie Woolsley, a historical performer with disability, who starred in Freaks (1932). This is an art history piece, and a female perspective on the side show. My passion to uncover her story is as a result of the importance of telling our history from a disability perspective. Minnie lived in a time of compulsory sterilisation and anti-marriage laws for disabled women, which not many people know about.”<ref>http://disabilityarts.online/magazine/opinion/accomplished-australian-circus-physical-theatre-performer-sarah-houbolt-takes-flight/</ref> |
* Australian performer [[Sarah Houbolt]] created a performance called ''Kookoo The Bird Girl''. Speaking to Disability Arts Online, Houbolt said, “My full length show, KooKoo the Birdgirl, is about Minnie Woolsley, a historical performer with disability, who starred in Freaks (1932). This is an art history piece, and a female perspective on the side show. My passion to uncover her story is as a result of the importance of telling our history from a disability perspective. Minnie lived in a time of compulsory sterilisation and anti-marriage laws for disabled women, which not many people know about.”<ref>http://disabilityarts.online/magazine/opinion/accomplished-australian-circus-physical-theatre-performer-sarah-houbolt-takes-flight/</ref> |
||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
==See also== |
==See also== |
||
| Line 40: | Line 38: | ||
==External links== |
==External links== |
||
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080412220407/http://www.phreeque.com/koo-koo.html Biography at Phreeque.com] |
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080412220407/http://www.phreeque.com/koo-koo.html Biography at Phreeque.com] |
||
{{Authority control}} |
|||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koo Koo, the Bird Girl}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koo Koo, the Bird Girl}} |
||
| Line 47: | Line 47: | ||
[[Category:20th-century deaths]] |
[[Category:20th-century deaths]] |
||
[[Category:Date of death unknown]] |
[[Category:Date of death unknown]] |
||
{{US-entertainer-stub}} |
{{US-entertainer-stub}} |
||
Revision as of 21:39, 14 December 2020
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2015) |
Koo Koo, the Bird Girl | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Minnie Woolsey 1880 |
| Died | after 1960[1] |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Minnie Ha Ha; Koo Koo the Bird Girl; Cuckoo Girl; Koo Koo, the Blind Girl from Mars |
| Occupation(s) | Entertainer as sideshow entertainer, film performer |
| Known for | Freaks film |
Minnie Woolsey (1880 – after 1960), billed as Koo-Koo the Bird Girl, was an American side show entertainer, best known for her only film appearance in Tod Browning's film Freaks in 1932.[2]
Biography
Woolsey was born in 1880[3] in Rabun County, Georgia. Little is known about her early life, only that she was "rescued" from a mental asylum in Georgia by a travelling showman and was commonly billed as Minnie Ha Ha (a play on Minnehaha) in her sideshow entertainment career. She had a rare congenital growth skeletal disorder called Virchow-Seckel syndrome, which caused her to have a very short stature, a small head, a narrow bird-like face with a beak-like nose, large eyes, a receding jaw, large ears and mild intellectual disability.[2][4] In addition, Woolsey was bald, toothless, and either completely blind or very short-sighted. She would appear in an American-Indian style bodysuit made of feathers with a single feather on top of her head as her costume and would dance and speak gibberish.
She appeared in the 1932 film Freaks, alongside a cast of other sideshow performers from the time, billed as Koo Koo, the Bird Girl. She was not the original Koo Koo however; the billing was previously used by another performer in the film, a "Stork" or "Bird" woman named Elizabeth Green. Woolsey is seen in many scenes, particularly at the wedding ceremony, where she is seen dancing on the dining table in a feathery costume. In 1942, a news brief in Billboard reported that Woolsey was recovering in Coney Island Hospital after breaking her arm while descending stairs.[5] She was hit by a car in the 1960s. When and how she died is unknown, but accounts show that she was still alive and performing in 1960, working at Coney Island in sideshow/circus, in her 80s.[citation needed]
In popular culture
- The Manchester-based Gypsy folk band Naymedici released a single titled "Koo Koo the Bird Girl" in memory of the entertainer, with a video featuring scenes from Freaks.[6][non-primary source needed]
- Australian performer Sarah Houbolt created a performance called Kookoo The Bird Girl. Speaking to Disability Arts Online, Houbolt said, “My full length show, KooKoo the Birdgirl, is about Minnie Woolsley, a historical performer with disability, who starred in Freaks (1932). This is an art history piece, and a female perspective on the side show. My passion to uncover her story is as a result of the importance of telling our history from a disability perspective. Minnie lived in a time of compulsory sterilisation and anti-marriage laws for disabled women, which not many people know about.”[7]
- She is mentioned in Tom Waits' song Lucky Day (Overture) from his album The Black Rider, about sideshow performers.[8]
See also
References
- ^ http://altereddimensions.net/2012/minnie-woolsey-koo-koo-the-bird-girl
- ^ a b "Koo Koo – The Bird Girl", thehumanmarvels.com, retrieved January 8, 2015.
- ^ Hartzman, Marc (2005). American Sideshow: An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. p. 178. ISBN 1585424412.
- ^ Harsha Vardhan BG, Muthu MS, Saraswathi K, Koteeswaran D (2007). "Bird-headed Dwarf of Seckel". Journal of Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry. 25 Suppl: S8–9. PMID 17921644.
- ^ "Coney Island, N.Y.", Billboard, Nielsen Business Media, Inc., pp. 44, 54, August 29, 1942, retrieved November 23, 2018.
- ^ "Naymedici - Koo Koo The Bird Girl".
- ^ http://disabilityarts.online/magazine/opinion/accomplished-australian-circus-physical-theatre-performer-sarah-houbolt-takes-flight/
- ^ http://www.tomwaitsfan.com/tom%20waits%20library/www.tomwaitslibrary.com/lyrics/theblackrider/luckydayoverture.html
External links
  | This article about an American entertainer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  | This biographical article related to medicine in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |