Read Online The Grand Ole Opry by Colin Escott - Free Book Online Page B

character at a convention. “He says, you ought to be on the Opry. Would you like to audition for us?” I won’t
     pretend that I always wanted to be on the Opry. I’d never thought about it one way or another, except I didn’t particularly
     like the music. I auditioned in my street clothes. I still wanted to be Ophelia Colley, dramatic actress, doing a comedy part.
     I wasn’t yet ready to be Minnie Pearl. The first night I was so scared. Judge Hay gave me the very best advice any performer
     can get. “Just love them, honey, and they’ll love you right back.”
    Minnie Pearl became the small-town gossip and chatterbox that most of her listeners knew only too well. Her routine included
     regular updates on her brother, her Uncle Nabob, and her boyfriend Hezzy. Minnie’s imagi- nary family became p1ended family
     for many listeners

    left: Sarah Ophelia Colley aspired to be Ophelia Colley on Broadway, not Minnie Pearl on the Grand Ole Opry.
    right: “How-dee!”
    MINNIE PEARL
    Minnie started out as a gentle, very authentic girl from the mountains, but she’s more brassy than when she started. I created
     the character in 1938. I had a job producing amateur plays around the Southeast, and I began to collect country stories and
     I created this character. I thought “Minnie” and “Pearl” were the two nicest country names I could think of. I’m from Centerville,
     Tennessee, and my father had a lumber business. There was a railroad that had a loading switch three miles from Centerville.
     It was called Grinder’s Switch because the largest family that lived there were the Grinders. When WSM let me come on the
     Opry, they said, “We think you ought to have a locale,” so I picked Grinder’s Switch because I didn’t think anybody would
     be offended because so few people lived there. I’ve peopled it with my own people. I’m the only person who can see and hear
     the sound of the people who live there whom I’ve created. Minnie’s a mountain girl and she has never worried about her education,
     and she has never been intimidated by educated people. I just love to put on her white cotton stockings and one-strap Mary
     Jane shoes.
    When I first brought Minnie Pearl to the public on the radio, I used a very different type of salutation. It was “How-dee,
     I’m just so proud to be here,” but the decibels were different.

    Minnie Pearl held her own with the predominantly male Opry cast.

    From 1948 until 1958, Minnie Pearl had a successful comedy partnership on the Opry with Rod Brasfield. They referred to their
     style of comedy as “double comedy” because there was no straight man.
    PEE WEE KING:
    Early on, she was working for Roy Acuff [on the road], and she hadn’t perfected her introduction. She said, “How-dee. I’m
     just so proud I could come.” And Acuff told her she’d have to change the last bit.
    MINNIE PEARL:
    Now I scream it out loud. When I went on the Prince Albert network portion of the Opry in 1942, the agency in New York suggested
     that I scream it as a promotional stunt. The announcer said, “When Minnie Pearl says ‘How-dee,’ say ‘How-dee’ right back.”
     Over the years, I got louder and louder, and the audience got louder and louder.
    MINNIE PEARL
and
ROD BRASFIELD
routine:
    MINNIE : How-dee! I’m jes so proud t’be here!
    Hezzy was over to see me on Wednesday and he brought a s’prize! (When Hezzy brings anything, it’s a s’prize!) He brought over
     a box of candy and a box of nuts. He says to me, “I know you don’t care about sweets, so I brung the candy over to your mammy,
     and nuts to you!”
    Then me and Hezzy went in the front room and set down on the double settee. Oh, it was so romantic! He was a-settin’ there
     and I looked into his eyes... and he looked into my eyes... and then he says...
    ROD :      Hi-dy, Minnie!
    MINNIE : Well, Rod Brasfield! You come right in between me and Hezzy!
    ROD :      I did, Minnie? You mean I was caught in