Minnie Pearl's birthday (25 Oct 1912)

Subject: Minnie Pearl's birthday
From: The Shambles
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 07:22 AM

Minnie Pearl [Sarah Ophelia Colley] was born this day 25 October) in Tennessee in 1912.

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 10:06 AM

Ah Minnie with the price tag on her silly hat. I will be celebrating Minnie at the Getaway with just such a hat. Great lady!

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday
From: Gern
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 11:42 AM

I'll always be proud that she was our speaker on graduation day. The movers and shakers of the world don't schedule western Kentucky for their lecture circuit, so we got Minnie. She came out in cap and gown, replaced cap with said straw bonnet, and twirled back the price tag as if it were a tassel. I felt so proud...

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 11:54 AM

There was great wisdom in the "naive country bumpkin" gal from the hills. She used humor to entertain, but if you listened carefully you could learn quite a bit from her now uncommon common sense.
She also stood her ground when other entertainers respected the dollar more than what is right.

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday
From: Rapparee
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 11:56 AM

Happy Birthday, Minnie. You set the standards in a lot of ways.

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday
From: Peace
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 01:02 PM

Whgo was it that said, "And 'outlaw' in Nashville is someone who won't kiss Minnie Pearl's ass" ?

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday
From: Cool Beans
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 03:22 PM

I had a delightful telephone interview with her almost 25 years ago. Among other things, she told me that she played Bottom in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Ward Belmont College (all-girls college at the time). I love the idea of the future Minnie Pearl doing shakespeare. She sent me a postcard a couple days later that I keep among my treasures.

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday (25 Oct 1912)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 05:26 PM

All-Music Guide says she died in 1996, but doesn't give an exact date. She certainly was an interesting character.

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday (25 Oct 1912)
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 10:40 PM

Trivia question: what was the price on the tag on her hat?

Seamus

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday (25 Oct 1912)
From: pdq
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 10:43 PM

$1.95?

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday (25 Oct 1912)
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Oct 06 - 11:43 PM

I kinda' waited to see how many would post to this one. Sarah Ophelia Colley-Cannon was anything but the country bumpkin from Grinder's Switch. She was born to a wealthy family, well eduacated including the fashionable Nashville Belmont College. But her passion and her job took her into the rural areas where she sort of "met" Minnie Pearl. What she did for Country Music and for the women of Country cannot be emphasized enough.

There are plenty of great bios around on Cousin Minnie but I bet that you find in all of them a respect given to very few performers of any stripe. Her death was held in an atmosphere approaching the most somber of state funerals. She had lent her name and many dollars to cancer research and the research center in Nashville bears the name, Sarah Cannon Cancer Research Center.

Man, I loved her. The more I learned of her, the more I enjoyed learning more. She and Henry were married for many years and they lived next to the Governor's mansion in Nashville. When I lived in Nashville she was one star who was always there for charity events or community based fund raisers. A true class act.....A woman of another time when culture and breeding created individuals of character not often found today.

And Seamus.......That price tag read $1.98.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Minnie Pearl's birthday (25 Oct 1912)
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 26 Oct 06 - 03:56 AM

Spaw - correct.
Everything you said.
Thanks Shambles; nice one!

Seamus