The Doll Family
The Doll Family | |
|---|---|
The Wizard of Oz |
The Doll Family
Harry and Daisy, billed as Harry Earles and Daisy Earles respectively, both starred in the cult classic film Freaks; Tiny also made a brief appearance in the film.
Members
| Name | Also known as | Birth name | Birth date | Death date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Earles | Harry Doll | Kurt Fritz Schneider | April 3, 1902 | May 4, 1985 (aged 83) |
| Daisy Earles | Daisy Doll | Hilda Emma Schneider | April 29, 1907 | March 15, 1980 (aged 72) |
| Midget Mae West | ||||
| Gracie Doll | Gracie Earles | Frieda A. Schneider | March 12, 1899 | November 8, 1970 (aged 71) |
| Tiny Doll | Tiny Earles | Elly Annie Schneider | July 23, 1914 | September 6, 2004 (aged 90) |
History
Early years
The Doll family were four of seven children born to Amelia Emma Preusche and Gustav Schneider in Stolpen, Germany.[1][2] They were encouraged by their father to work in the entertainment field, taking advantage of their "hypopituitary" status.[1][3][4]
Kurt and Frieda were the first to migrate to California in 1916, after they met Bert W. Earles and his wife, who became their agents. The Earles had toured with the Dancing Dolls family prior to becoming actors under new names. Kurt and Frieda changed their names to Harry and Grace to act in films, and they adopted the surname Earles of their manager. Their first dance appearance was for the Buffalo Bill Show in the roles as "Hansel and Gretel", for which they were hailed as the "Smallest Dancing Couple in the World". Hilda, who later came to be known as Daisy Earles, joined her brother and sister in California in the early 1920s. Another sister, Elly, joined them in 1926; she was called "Tiny" because of her appearance. All four siblings, who had earlier taken the surname Earles, changed it to "Doll" after the death of their manager, Earles.[4][5][1][6]
At this time, the Dolls began touring with
Franz Taibosh, an Afrikaner with the circus, had a crush on Daisy Earles, but she was not interested. She was already married to the family's chauffeur and bodyguard.[7]
Film roles
The Doll family had a brief tenure in film, Harry was the first to begin a film career, and also had the most prolific career in the genre. His first film was
However, the 1932 film was considered horrifying, and was shown in the U.S. with many cuts, banned in England, and in Canada was called "brutal and grotesque".[8][9][4][10] In fact, Harry himself brought to Browning's attention the Tod Robbins story "Spurs" on which elements of the film were based.[citation needed]
In 1928, Daisy Earles had appeared in the 1928 film Three-Ring Marriage.
The family's opportunities as film actors had always been limited, by both their size and their German accents, and they stopped appearing in films, although Daisy played a small part in The Greatest Show on Earth in 1952.[8] They returned to the traveling sideshows. The Dolls toured with the Christiani Circus after the Ringling Circus was sold in 1956. They retired two years later.[1][4][12]
Personal lives and later years
The Doll family were close-knit, and always lived, ate and worked alongside one another, with the exception of Daisy's brief marriage in 1942, to an average-sized man, which ended in divorce less than a year later.
Their decades with the circus had provided the siblings with a good living, and they bought a house in Sarasota, Florida, in which all four lived.[4] The house, which was often featured in magazines, was furnished with custom-built reduced-size furniture. On the grounds of the house was a "Doll's House", which the family opened to the public. Each of the four remained living in the house until their deaths. Tiny was the last survivor; she died in 2004 after a long illness and many years living alone, after Harry's death in 1985.[citation needed]
Notes
- ^ Also billed as The Dancing Dolls and the Earles Family
References
- ^ a b c d e Senn 2006, p. 65.
- ^ "Prodigies by James G. Mundie – The Doll Family". Missioncreep.com. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
- ^ Kérchy & Zittlau 2013, p. 272
- ^ a b c d e "Tiny Doll". The Daily Telegraph. 15 September 2004. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
- ^ Parsons & Smith 2010, p. 112.
- ^ Eagan 2010, p. 190.
- ^ Parsons & Smith 2010, p. 128.
- ^ a b Paszylk 2009, p. 28.
- ^ a b "Daisy Earles (1907–1980)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ "Daisy Earles". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- ^ Kérchy & Zittlau 2013, p. 272.
- ^ "Daisy Earles Biography". setcelebs.com. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
Bibliography
- Eagan, Daniel (2010). America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. A&C Black. ISBN 978-0-8264-2977-3.
- Kérchy, Anna; Zittlau, Andrea (2013). Exploring the Cultural History of Continental European Freak Shows and 'Enfreakment'. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-4642-4.
- Parsons, Neil; Smith, Alexander McCall (2010). Clicko: The Wild Dancing Bushman. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-64742-5.
- Paszylk, Barthomiej (2009). The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films: An Historical Survey. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5327-6.
- Senn, Bryan (2006). Golden Horrors: An Illustrated Critical Filmography of Terror Cinema, 1931–1939. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2724-6.
External links
- Harry Earles at IMDb
- Daisy Earles at IMDb
- Gracie Doll at IMDb
- Tiny Doll at IMDb