When I did all kinds of dancing, toe tap ballet, acrobatic.
And that was like, I said, my first year in show business.
Well, I taught songs.
Not a sing song, but you know, not a singer.
He's out happy for supper.
There's Dorothy.
Oh, Dorothy.
Hi Dorothy.
Sorry Dorothy.
OkayTM, Actually just in Indiana, we are at the We're a little late, and we're trying to catch up to the parade.
The train can't move the house, it can't move this, it can't move that.
Mr.
Finley, it's way past your lifetime.
Isn't it something I can get? Yes, you can get out.
I'm trying to think.
Distractions, interruptions, noise.
Yes, sir, I was born in Chicago on the southwest side.
You want my year? No, not necessarily.
In the 20s or 30s? In the 20s, 1920 to be exact.
Okay.
And what do you want me to talk about? Was there a big family? You were the first child? No, I had two sisters, one older and one younger.
My sister Mae was two years older than me, and my sister Betty six years younger than me.
So you were the second child.
Yes, I'm the only midget in the family.
My mother and father and sisters were normal size.
Later, at about five or something, your parents took you to a doctor or something? Yes, and they examined me and knew that I'd be a midget from then on in.
They said, don't bother trying to make her grow or anything, just let her alone.
She'll be okay.
That's what they did, and I'm glad they did.
They didn't give you any special treatment or anything? No, I just ate and drank food and what everybody else did and grew up to be like I am, normal but little.
Good morning.
How you doing? Watch the boat.
Well, do you know why it rained so much? We wanted a real rainbow.
We also wanted to melt the Wicked Witch.
I think we've accomplished both of them today.
We're still pleased everyone is here.
Everyone's a munchkin today.
We have Auntie Em's pie baking contest at Emma's there in the corner of Porter and Calumet.
That'll be at one o 'clock.
We're all okay.
We'll have a beautiful rainbow this afternoon.
We hope.
Ready, everybody over here in the puddles.
Everybody in the puddles.
That's what we like.
Do it properly.
Ready? Sweep it.
Okay.
You need roller skates.
Who is that everybody? Now you were? I'm a munchkin and sleep head, Margaret Pellegrini.
And a soldier? Clarence Swenson from Texas.
And my wife? Yeah, from Arizona.
Howdy.
We're those big Texans.
We are having great fun here.
Come over to the gazebo.
We're going to have a wedding.
Oh great.
When is that? At noon? Yeah, and we're all in it.
Right after the parade.
Good.
Goodbye.
But not forever.
Damn.
Wait.
This is where the Tin Man contest is supposed to be, but the doors are locked.
It's a certified public accountant's office.
Let's go around the back and see what we can find.
The fair.
Now you were in in 38.
There were two fairs? Two years? There were two fairs.
One in 1933.
My husband was in the one in 1933.
He was the smallest midget then.
He was advertised as little Elmer because his real name is Parnell Elmer St.
Albans.
And he went as little Elmer.
And he was the smallest midget at the Chicago Fair in 1933.
I don't know too much about that because I wasn't there.
Okay, now was that the midget village? That was called the midget village.
This is the famous midget village.
There are nearly a hundred of these little people from all parts of the world live and do business just like a regular city.
Here's Elmer, just a sample of the inhabitants, and rather a small sample at that.
Both are full grown men over voting age.
Let's go in and get acquainted.
Here comes Elmer.
Hi Elmer.
That was Elmer.
In the uniform is the captain of the guard, Prince Ludwig.
Next is Mr.
and Mrs.
Lyable, who have just celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.
Where's Elmer? This picture will be a total loss without Elmer.
There he is.
What a man, Elmer.
Now shake hands with Stella Royall, leading lady in the midget village dramatic performance.
Here we have the Royall family together.
Stella, Helen, and Charlie, all talented performers.
How about a shine? The barber shop is one of the busiest places, for these people are classy dressers and very particular about their appearance.
This is obviously a man's barber shop.
How about a soda? With Elmer at the throttle, you're sure to get a good one.
He claims that to mix a few sodas, he has to cover as much territory as the average size man playing 18 holes of golf.
If you ever see him, ask him about the time he fell in the sink back of the fountain and almost drowned.
You'll notice that these people have to work twice as hard to serve you as ordinary folks would.
They have to reach twice as far and take twice as many steps.
I suppose that's why they're twice as cheerful.
This guy can do better across the alley for a nickel.
The mayor of the village, Mayor Doyle, takes his administrative duties seriously.
Here he is sending an officer out to investigate a complaint.
The officer thinks it's a lot of baloney, but duty is duty.
And now all he needs is a little wooden pistol.
Besides offering excellent entertainment, boxing is also a pretty good way to settle arguments.
Mike and Ike are battling for the Mosquito Weight Championship.
On this diminutive theater stage, excellent vaudeville performances are given.
For most of these people have been performers many years.
Johnny Leal, known as the miniature Will Rogers, is showing some clever rope tricks.
And last but not least, Dolly Bonita from Indiana, who's little in a great big way.
Only 42 inches high, but weighs 225 pounds at the last sitting.
She does very little standing because, well, whoever heard of eating standing up? Careful of the ankles, Dolly.
Oh, oh.
As we leave the midway, we pass a fateful reproduction of Old Fort Dearborn.
And he was selling newspapers.
He was like the little newspaper thing there.
He was a boy, not a boy, but a man.
He was selling the little midget newspapers that were little tiny papers.
And then he also played the clarinet there.
He played the clarinet.
And I don't know too much more about what he actually did then because I didn't know him at that time.
Was that the one with Sally Rand? Sally Rand was at that.
She was, they had all different things I remember being told about.
They had Italian Village.
I think she played in the French Village, but I don't know what they call the name of that.
But that's where she was doing her Sally Rand dance.
I mean, fan dance, excuse me.
And what is that thing on your forehead? That's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
Does that have anything to do with the celebration that's going on today? I'm not sure they were selling them, though, so I thought it would be a pretty good idea.
What do you think of Wizard of Oz? Oh, it's great.
I read the book.
I've seen the movie, too.
Dorothy! Dorothy! Hey, you have been in here.
Karen? This is, this is Karen.
Dorothy! Dorothy! This is lovely! Dorothy! Dorothy! Susan, this is Sylvan.
Dorothy! Dorothy! Very good! How old were you when you left your parents? Well, I started taking dancing lessons when I was eight years old.
And my mother saw Midget Troop advertised at the Englewood Theater on the southwest side.
She took me down there to see the Midget Troop and dancers and everything.
And we went backstage.
My mother talked to the manager, and I went backstage in the ladies dressing room and tried on all our costumes and everything and really enjoyed it.
And Mr.
Rose said to my mother then, well, when she gets about 11 or 12, give us, you know, we'll keep in touch and maybe we can do something.
So when I was 11 or 12, they wrote me again, my mother again.
My mother asked, you know, me, because they asked her, she said, what do you think? I said, well, I'd like to try it.
So my mother signed the contract because I was a minor.
But she said, anytime she wants to come home, she is not binded to this contract.
So that was it.
So I worked with them and I worked with them till I was 19.
And I called my mother one night and I said, I want to come home.
We're glad to have two winners for our Dorothy Longest Braid Contest.
Would you tell us your name? Carla Beesworth.
Carla.
And how long was your braid, Carla? 30 inches.
30 inches and an eighth, I think, too, right? And how about you? What's your name? My name is Amy Garvey.
And Amy, how long was your braid? 19 and three -fourths inches.
19 and three -fourths inches.
Okay.
Can we see your braid? Look at that.
Give it time.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
Terrific.
And for their prize, they've won $50 worth of products, hair care products from the salon, and also a $25 gift certificate for hair services.
Great.
Well, no need.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Scouts, let me get, can I get your picture here real quick, too, before we go? Okay, why don't we let, let me get...
And my mother called Mr.
Rose and said, I'm coming to Detroit to take Mary Ellen home.
And he said, you can't do that.
And my mother says, oh, yes, I can.
That was our contract.
So she came and got me, and that's how I left that room.
Wave your wand, and here's your bubble.
Yeah.
So what does one dolly say? Oh, they know where we're going.
And there's no place for that.
Yeah.
In our homes, a long way, all the way from Louisville, Kentucky.
Everything ready? Yeah.
Ready to go.
Make it pretty Glenda.
Ready to go.
Ready to go.
Good luck.
Okay.
And then I went back in 1940 to the New York Fair.
And then the last time I had seen my mother was when she took me to Midway Airport in 1940 to go to the fair.
So I guess I had an inkling I should quit and go home for a while, be in 1939 when I quit.
Let's go.
Okay.
Is this a video? Oh, it's rolling? That's only a video, actually.
Stir it with it, is it working? What are you doing? Meigling.
On a Christmas Eve, I just couldn't get home to visit them Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, that was in 1940, and I called my mother and dad.
Christmas Day, December 26th, and I talked to my mother and my father.
And then the next day, December 26th of 1940, I got a call that my mother had passed away that night.
And I think that's what you're talking about now.
That was a sad thing because I wasn't home that Christmas to see them, and I was only 19 when she died, and that was kind of sad.
Not kind of sad, it was sad.
I loved the movie.
Now you were with a group and they asked you to be in a movie.
Okay, that was in 1946.
The troop of midgets I was with was called up to do a movie out in MGM Studio called The Three Wise Pools.
That had Margaret O 'Brien was the star, Thomas Mitchell, Edward Arnold, Louis Stone, and Lionel Barrymore.
It was about these three wise men, they were lawyers, bankers, and whatever, I can't remember right now.
That was Lionel Barrymore, Louis Stone, and Edward Arnold.
And Margaret O 'Brien and Thomas Mitchell had come over from Ireland.
And so in the meantime, a midget troop which we were in came into town and these developers said, oh, we'll hire them to pretend they're the leprechauns in the tree and tell this little girl that the tree has to be cut down or it's dying a disease.
The moon is a three quarter.
That's why I thought we'd better come.
Of all the silly adult painted tomfoolery, this is the worst.
It'll never work.
It has to work, Dick.
It's our last chance.
I don't think we should go much closer.
We might scare them.
I don't see them.
Glory be to Christ.
They're in temptation.
Poking, poking, the August moth, it should bloon in on the moon.
Throwing rocks, boog, mugg, glore.
But lack my ruin.
Let's hit it.
There they are.
The good people.
Do you see them? Do you see them? Yes, dear.
Look, darling, just as real as I always knew they were.
Little people, our fairy queen has asked me to explain to her faithful subjects why she always ordered us to move out of this tree, which has been our home these many years.
We are leaving because the heart of the tree is dying.
Yes, it has angina pectoris.
It's no longer a fit home for the wee people.
In fact, the poor old thing should be cut down and taken out of its misery.
Did you hear that, Sheila? The fairy queen has found us a new home, far away.
So let us depart ere the moon sets and the dew is on the grass.
Come, little people.
I've seen them, I've seen them.
Take me home.
One small old body can't stand any more.
Come.
Come, child.
Come.
Come.
Come.
Come.
Come.
So this works out fine until Thomas Mitchell goes to this bar, but this is not in the movie.
They cut this thing out.
Goes in the bar and sees all us midgets drinking in the bar.
Cut.
Cut.
Where did you meet the poor now? Well, he had visited me at Goldblatt's when I worked there at a Christmas show.
And then in 1947, he had called me and he said he had a bar now and would I come and visit him at the bar.
So I had a friend bring me out there and then that's when he asked me if I would like to be a 26 girl.
That was a thing that you sat behind a little counter.
You paid a quarter, the customers paid a quarter, picked a number from a dice, one to six.
You had 13 shakes.
If you got two shakes in each shake, that was 26.
Then you get a dollar in drinks.
I said, well, I can only work for you from November to March because I am going back and show business in March.
But instead, we dated and then February 14th, Valentine's Day in 1948, we got engaged.
And then April 3rd of 1948, we got married.
And then we opened a midget club bar.
So that was the end of my show business career.
You've got a very popular bar here.
Why? What's the secret? I had nothing else to do after World War II so I opened up a bar.
Before that I worked in a war plant.
You worked in a war plant? In Pullman Aircraft, down in East 103rd Street.
Little people seem to keep to themselves a lot, don't they? Oh, yes.
Years ago they used to, not anymore.
Do you get any reaction from people who come in or not used to coming in here? How do they react? They just stop and look and they don't know what to say.
They sit down and get used to us.
Then it's after that, just like any other place.
Does that bother you when people...
Don't bother me with that.
Well, they'll only get used to it.
But here, here you don't get that treatment.
Most of these people are regulars, most of them are your friends.
Oh yeah, most of them are my friends.
Some of these people say they've been coming in here for 20 years.
Oh, yes.
Probably more than that because we used to be on 64th and Kedzie.
A lot of them followed us over here when we came over here.
The thing that we found so fascinating, coming in here and sitting and watching Parnell and Mary make a drink, mostly Parnell, he pours from the bottle into a glass, not from a shot glass.
You know, he can handle the bottle, I suppose, into the glass, not a shot glass.
But we've watched him and maybe he'll have three orders for a Brandy Alexander.
And you'll put them in the blender for the Brandy and other contents, whatever makes up the drink.
And he will come out right to the drop.
Without using a shot glass.
The two of us sit here and make a little bit, you know, it can't be right this time.
And there won't be one drop left over.
What brings them back? I don't know.
They just come back.
That's all.
We're old friends.
Mary Ellen, could I talk to you a second? Parnell was running the bar when you married him and you jumped right in.
How'd you like jumping into the bar business? It was different than what I was used to.
But I got used to it.
Why different? Was it a problem at first? No, I never really tended bar before or anything.
Didn't know how to make a drink or anything.
So I just got into it, you know.
What else can you do? And you like it now? I do.
I meet a lot of nice people.
I like people.
It's doing great.
We've got a great crowd.
The ring stopped finally and everybody's having a ball.
Is there something tonight? Yes, at the Moose Club.
It's an Oz, Judy Oz Swap Meet, isn't that a thing? Yep.
An exchange and an auction.
All the munchkins will be there at one time for autographs and our other celebrities.
And a munchkin auction.
You don't get to buy a munchkin really.
Short auction.
Hi.
The Wizard gave me very special oil and it worked all morning for the parade.
So I'm counting on it to continue.
Great.
Okay, thanks guys.
Thank you.
We'll see you back.
Okay, thank you very much.
We'll see you.
See you.
See you later, Mary Owen.
Okay, bye.
Oh, there's the witch.
Now my husband wants to go.
My husband wants to follow us over.
Bye, bye.
Look where I'm going.
Sure there's no storm to me boots this night.
Just feathers, soft downy feathers.
Thank you, sir.
Hi.
You're not far too.
Look who's that.
Good to see you.
And there's the good witch, Glenda.
It's indeed.
So if you'll still sit on the theater for the gleam, there's most to it.
You can tell them how to put me old tree out of it, Smithy.
Or do anything you want.
You can't still.
I love you truly, truly.
I don't mean because I saw them.
I mean because you saw them.
I know you believe now because we saw them together.
And it was like, like a marriage.
A sacred marriage between us.
Good night.
You got it on your pillow.
Well, boys, this goes to Appleby tonight.
The university gets its property.
The little girl has seen her fairies and we are sitting pretty.
Thank God you're in bed.
Yes, I will too.
I have to go to the car and see the schedule.
Okay, stop now.
Stop now, please.
There must be an arm in there, don't you think, huh? Are you trying to tell this court that you were attacked by supernatural beings? That I answer.
You actually mean fairies? Little things with wings? Yes, sir, you know.
And as they seem, democratic little spites, me not dreaming they use brass knuckles, I invited them to have a few nips of the good stuff.
Over to Murphy's Liquor Emporium.
Well, sir, I wasn't there in a matter of ten minutes when one of them, a North of Ireland runt named Dugan, passed a certain remark about me dear Uncle Seamus, now deceased and departed.
God rest his soul.
Oh, come on, man, make it brief.
Where? I'm a South of Ireland man myself and being remarked at, I remarked right back at him and doubled it.
Are they getting more understanding? Are they beginning to take little people more normally? Oh, yeah, way more.
When did you start noticing the change or has it, when did it start getting better? Oh, about the last 20 years.
Hey.
Okay, okay, okay.
And then this pure unanimous lump told me to shut up or he'd knock me kneecaps off.
Go on, you dummy patsy, I said I could take 20 like you, I said.
Now there, your honor, was where I made my mistake.
There were thousands of them.
I saw them, I smelled them.
I was up to my best buckle in them.
So aside from taking twice as many steps, are there any other tricks to being a bartender when you're small? Oh, I don't know.
I think the same as being a regular bartender.
What gave you the idea to get this, make this a small bar? And did it ever bother any of the customers? My first one, my first bar I had was at 79 South Park and I had a regular size bar.
And I had ramps that used to pull up and down.
And there was too much hard work for me.
You had ramps? What do you mean? Behind the bar I had ramps.
Used to pull up and down.
Hey, uh, uh, listen to me, hey, yeah, get him up, get him up.
No, no, hey, uh.
What happens if you get an obnoxious customer? How do you handle it? Ah, hey, you know this guy.
I've never seen him before, but he just hit me.
What do you do with a guy like that? We don't do nothing.
Next time he comes in, he don't get served.
Um, do you ever have troubles where you have to throw a guy out? No, we don't do that.
How do you avoid troubles like that? Do you think people respect you more and, uh, wait a minute, excuse me, stop.
Stop.
He's beautiful.
This man is beautiful.
You're ugly.
You're an ass.
Hello, there.
Lady, my lady.
You got here.
As soon as I touch this message.
Here, here, here.
Who are you little girl? Officer.
You'll be member to me, sir.
I do? I'm C.
Lowe Monahan.
Oh, yes, of course.
You're the little Irish girl.
Yes, sir.
And thank you for coming.
Thank you for the compliment, sir.
And this is me faithful man, sir.
You are as me humble, privileged, to serve her.
And now that she's here, God bless her kindly, she'll substantiate me story.
You saw the fairies too? Yes, sir.
A whole tree full of them.
Oh, now wait a minute, wait a minute.
Oh, Judge Crumbo.
Come in, gentlemen.
How do you do, sir? I hope you'll excuse this interruption.
We just came to get the little girl.
But you don't understand.
This dabbler is in trouble.
His excellency won't believe that we saw the fairies.
Obviously, the man had hallucinations.
It's terrible what Licker will do to some people.
Come, Sheila, we better go.
Wait.
Tell the poor unbelieving man that you are saw them.
You are going to tell him, aren't you? You did see the fairies last night, didn't you? Tell him.
Oh, but don't you see what you're doing to old Davin? You're sending him to prison for telling the truth.
Please, you tell him.
It was just sort of a game, my dear.
Yes, Sheila, it was just a game.
What's it like being on there? Well...
Huh? I don't see...
You don't believe at all.
And after we saw them together, didn't we see them leaving the tree? Didn't I give you any tea? Oh, could have I been dreaming? Oh, there must be fairies.
Sheila.
I couldn't live with that one.
I wouldn't want to.
There, there, darlin'.
Of course there are fairies.
Mary Ellen, how did you and Parnell get involved in the Wizard of Oz festival? Oh, that came about because Jean Nelson, that started at the Yellow Brick Road there.
She knew of Parnell.
She heard of him, that we had our bar in Chicago.
We all had the Midget Bar.
Parnell was the first Munchkin.
He was the smallest soldier in the Wizard of Oz.
And she heard about that.
And she came and contacted us and asked if we could come to Chesterton.
At that time we said no, because we had our bar and we couldn't close the bar.
We opened up our first bar in 1948 at 64th and Pulaski on the southwest side of Chicago.
We were there from 1948 to 1957.
Then we opened up our other one at 4016 West 63rd Street just west of Pulaski.
And we were there until 1982.
Then the city bought the property for a library and then that was the end of our career as a tavern owner.
A lot of people thought that Mayor Byrne could have found another location and that she did very little to try and save your bar.
They should have relocated us.
They tried, but they didn't succeed in it.
So we just retired.
In 1983 we did go to Chesterton.
For the first four years, 83, 84, 85, three years, excuse me, we were the only two midgets that were in the parade.
And Jean was running it by herself that time.
Parnell and I had given her names and address of other midgets that were Munchkins.
But she's a dope because she was running it by herself.
So we were the only two midgets at the Wizard of Oz festival in Chesterton every year.
But then Parnell got sick.
So then we didn't do it anymore.
And then Jean had hired other midgets to go to the festival.
So then Parnell died in 1987.
And we were married for almost 40 years.
He didn't die December 4th, April 3rd.
We've been married 40 years.
Quiet! Order on the floor.
The little ones, they're here.
A miracle.
A fig! A fig of all figs! Darling, they're not fairies at all.
They're nothing but a mob of midgets.
What midgets? Just people, darling.
Little humans who never grew up.
Humans? Then the real fairies are still in my tree.
You're going to cut it down and kill them all? Stop the game.
We only did it to make you happy.
Make me happy? You made me wish that I was dead.
See you, darling, soon, see? We are having landfills and baths.
Dismissed.
Just a minute, gentlemen.
Joe, catch that little girl.
Bring her to me.
The floor will be set in 30 minutes.
Come on, everybody.
I want to see you gentlemen in my chambers.
What did you like to eat? Oh, I liked everything about him.
He was my guy.
We both liked the same things.
We were both in show business.
So we were used to go, go, going, nightlife, working hard all the time.
He worked hard at the bar.
He put in 14 hours an hour a day at the bar.
When we were off, we always had a day off.
We'd close up for holidays.
We'd close up for vacations.
We were closed once a week.
We didn't sit home on our day off.
We'd go out to restaurants and lounges.
We just enjoyed life.
We were just go, go, go people.
We loved Vegas.
I guess because we were in show business, we were still in the nightlife people.
I still liked going out and still liked life.
You liked going to Cuba.
You went to Cuba with him, didn't you? Oh yeah, we went to Havana, Cuba.
I almost got shocked when they were changing over from Batista to Castro.
Not really shocked.
I shouldn't say that.
We went there at the time when it was kind of the uproar thing.
It was an experience.
We only stayed 24 hours and that was enough.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I was in the bar.
I think it did all of us in it.
So we're going to do this song.
If you all like to sing along, just go ahead and sing along with us.
The clouds are far behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops away upon the chimney tops.
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow through the clouds.
By the old river and the rainbow why then oh why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow why oh why can't I? Why can't I? Why can't I? What's up, Eric? Okay, one last One stage bow for old times.
Always a ham.
Alright, great! Great.
Do you think you'll ever go back to show business? I don't think so, not at my age.
Oh really? You could come back I bet.
Oh no, I don't think so.
I'd like to, but I don't think so.
You like your quiet life? Yeah, more settled down now, in a way.
Okay, I guess that's it.
This is cut.
Good.
Give me a round of applause.
Thank you for watching!
