Profile of Harry Earles on Famous Like Me

The Doll Family was a group of four dwarf siblings who were popular performers in circuses and sideshows from the 1920s until their retirement in the mid 1950s.

They were:

• Harry (born Kurt Schneider, April 3, 1902 – May 4, 1985)
• Daisy (born Hilda Schneider, April 29, 1907 – March 15, 1980)
• Gracie (born Frieda Schneider, unknown – November, 1970)
• Tiny (born Elly Schneider, July 23, 1914 – September 6, 2004)

Harry and Daisy were the first of the quartet to begin performing in sideshows in their native Germany, as "Hans and Gretel". They were seen by an American, Burt Earles, who brought them to the United States where he promoted them as sideshow attractions. By the mid-1920s, he had also brought Gracie and Tiny to the United States where they joined Harry and Daisy in their act.

During this time, the four siblings adopted Earles' surname and began touring with sideshows, where they sang, danced, and rode horses. They also began appearing in films, almost always as circus performers, and acted in some comedies with Laurel & Hardy.

Harry and Daisy were cast in major roles in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1932 film Freaks, while Tiny had a small bit part. All four siblings played munchkins in The Wizard of Oz (1939 movie), with Harry playing a small featured part as one of the members of the "Lollipop Guild" who welcome Dorothy upon her arrival in Oz.

It was around this time that their benefactor and employer, Burt Earles, died, and the family began taking the new surname of "Doll" as they entered the most successful and lucrative period of their careers. Their opportunities as film actors had always been limited, and they stopped appearing in films, although Daisy later played a small part in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). They returned to the travelling sideshows and became an important act for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, where their popularity only increased over the next decade.

It provided them with a good living, and they bought a house in Sarasota, Florida, in which all four lived. The house was often featured in magazines, and was furnished with custom built, reduced size furniture. In the grounds of the house was a "Doll's House", which the family opened to the public. Each of the four remained living in the house until their deaths. Tiny, the last survivor, lived there for many years before dying, following a long illness.

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