Sterling Public Library was filled with laughs Friday afternoon. Comedian Minnie Pearl, portrayed by Elsa Wolff, visited the library for its annual Valentine’s Tea.
As guests enjoy a cup of warm tea and some sweet treats, they watched and listened to Sarah Ophelia Colley, portrayed by Wolff, tell the story of how her famous character, Minnie Pearl, who performed at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years, from 1940 to 1990, came to be.
Growing up, Colley never listened to country music, she preferred classical, and she didn’t think she would ever like it until she heard Roy Acuff perform Great Speckled Bird. Described as plain by those who knew her, she studied classical education at Ward-Belmont College, in Nashville, and then worked for the Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, an itinerant community theater company that traveled to rural southern cities staging plays owned by the firm.
While on the road, she stayed with a 60-75 year old rural Alabama woman and her family. Colley was so impressed with the woman’s humor and homely charm, she began imitating her, and Minnie Pearl was born. She chose that name for her character because “everyone has a Cousin Minnie or an Aunt Pearl.”
One day she did her imitation for her daddy and he told her, “Ophe, you can make some money off of that, if you keep her kind.”
A chance opportunity a banker’s convention brought her to the attention of executives at radio station WSM in Nashville and on Nov. 30. 1940, she made her debut on WSM’s Grand Ole Opry. Less than a week later, she receive more than 300 letters, all of which she read, and on Dec. 7, 1940, the name Minnie Pearl among the Opry cast listing for the first time in the weekly radio guide of the Nashville Tennessean newspaper, in the 8:45 p.m. segment.
Minnie Pearl was known for her hopelessly styles knee-length country dresses, her straw hat decorated with colorful plastic flowers and $1.98 price tag. The familiar price tag came about when she accidently left the tag on one of her hats, it fell off and the crowd roared with laughter, so she kept it as part of her act.
One of her favorite memories from the Grand Ole Opry was working with veteran comedian Rod Brasfield, doing what was called “double comedy.”
After sharing some of Minnie’s story, Colley transformed into her character, with Wolff imitating Minnie’s over-the-top “country” mannerisms and jokes and her cheerful shout of “How-dee! I’m just so proud to be here!”
Following her comedy show, Wolff as Minnie transformed back into Colley and spoke about meeting her future husband, Henry Cannon, a former Army Air Corps pilot, at a party when he turned her around and kissed her. They married on Feb. 23, 1947.
“Everyone thought I was crazy,” Cannon said.
She reminisced about her trip to Hawaii with Elvis Presley to perform at the USS Arizona Memorial Benefit in 1961, and her favorite time with the Grand Old Opry, when she visited the troops overseas during World War II.
“A lot of them were missing their families back at home, so we brought home to them,” Colley said.
In closing Colley told the audience, “I always liked the thought of doing whatever we can to make the world a better place and that’s what I live by.”
For the final portion of the event, Wolff appeared as herself and shared some final details about Minnie Pearl. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1975 and in 1992 she received the National Medal of the Arts.
Colley was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 73 and had a double mastectomy. After successfully battling the cancer, she founded the Sarah Colley Cannon Cancer Foundation for cancer research.
Minnie Pearl died on March 4, 1996, at the age of 83. Her husband died the following year.
“They were so happy together,” Wolff said.
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Minnie Pearl brings laughs at Valentine’s Tea - Journal Advocate
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