Many people are unsure of what to do with their future when they graduate from high school. That was not the case with Sarah Ophelia Colley. As a youngster growing up in Centerville, Tennessee, she decided she would become a dramatic actress. She taught herself how to mimic those around her, but that was about as far as it got in high school. She knew she needed formal training. Once she graduated from Centerville High School, Sarah auditioned to join the theater department of Ward-Belmont College, which is now Belmont University. She was well spoken with a southern drawl which she struggled to mask. Despite her southern drawl, Sarah was accepted into the program. She majored in theater studies and dance.
For the first few years after graduating from Ward-Belmont, Sarah taught dance. Sarah realized that unless she changed course, she could never realize her dream of performing on the stage. In the late 1930s, Sarah began working as a play director for the Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, a touring theater company based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She performed her parts perfectly, but Sarah was forgotten almost as soon as she walked off stage. In 1947, Sarah married Henry Cannon. Despite her best efforts, few people knew Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon as an actress. In the 1980s, after being successfully treated for breast cancer, Sarah became an outspoken advocate for cancer research. In 1987, she helped create the Sarah Cannon cancer foundation to raise money for cancer research. This led to the creation of the Sarah Cannon Research Institute which specializes in cancer treatment. On March 4, 1996, 83-year-old Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon died from complications from a stroke.
As I said earlier, few people recognize Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon as an actress, but there is more to Sarah’s story. While working for the Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, Sarah made brief appearances at civic organizations. While directing a ten-day musical comedy in Baileyton, Alabama, Sarah met a woman that changed the course of her life. Sarah needed a place to stay for the ten days, so she boarded with the Baileyton woman and her husband. Something stood out about the Baileyton woman. Sarah watched as the woman spoke. She paid careful attention to her mannerisms, her attire, and her accent which was very similar to her own. Remember, Sarah had struggled for years to hide her southern drawl. When it was time for Sarah to move on to another town, the Baileyton woman said, “I hate to see you go. You’re just like one of us.”
Shortly thereafter, Sarah bought a dress and shoes similar to those worn by the Baileyton woman. Rather than hiding her southern drawl, she began to embrace it for comedic affect, but something was missing. In 1939, Sarah was set to perform her imitation of the Baileyton woman in Aiken, South Carolina. Before the show, Sarah went to Surasky Bros. Department store in downtown Aiken. While shopping for nothing in particular, Sarah put on a straw hat and did her best imitation of the Baileyton woman. The hat completed the character. Sarah bought the hat for $1.98 and headed to the theater.
As an imitation of the Baileyton woman, Sarah poked fun at rural Southern culture. Rather than target other people, her jokes were aimed at herself, her fictional family, and her fictional hometown of Grinder’s Switch. She was always trying and failing to gain the attention of “a feller.” She told fictional joke-laden stories about her Uncle Nabob and Aunt Ambrosia, Lucifer Huckelhead, Miss Lizzie Tinkum, Doc Payne (pun intended), and her brother who remained nameless. In character, she once quipped about her Uncle Nabob, “He ain’t a failure. He just started at the bottom, and he liked it there.”
Sarah’s imitation of the Baileyton woman was a hit, and it led to her becoming the first solo female member of the Grand Ole Opry. In 1975, she became the first female comedian inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She performed the character on the stage and screen for over fifty years. Still, no one knew Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon, and she never seemed to mind that she was overshadowed by the character she had created by imitating the Baileyton woman. Her family, friends, and even her husband called her, not Sarah, but Minnie Pearl. Her greeting to the audience became famous. “How-DEEEEE! I’m just s’proud to be hyere!”
Sources:
1. “Minnie Pearl,” Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/minnie-pearl.
2. “MINNIE PEARL Interview Entertainment Tonight October 26 1985,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/h_8ZEjU1Qd0?si=MD5safekJKzx8UbZ.
3. “Minnie Pearl: Grand Ole Opry Comedian and Hee Haw,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/7d1TRxVRzU4?si=3nT9IwNr0kwC5waN.
