Daisy Earles

Hilda Emma Schneider (April 29, 1907 – March 15, 1980), who went by the stage name Daisy Earles, was a German-born actress with dwarfism who migrated to the United States in the early 1920s. She worked in Hollywood films and later toured with circus companies with her siblings under the name of The Doll Family. Daisy Earles was blonde, pretty, and tall compared to her sisters, and had a very well proportioned figure, for which she earned the epithet of a "miniature Mae West". Her circus acts with her siblings were primarily as "parade performers".

Early life

Hilda Emma Schneider was born on April 29, 1907, in Stolpen, Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire, to Gustav and Emma Schneider.> She was one of four siblings with dwarfism, alongside Frieda, Kurt and Elly Schneider, who later became known professionally as Gracie, Harry and Tiny Earles. Career Their first dance appearance was for the Buffalo Bill Show in the roles as "Hansel and Gretel" for which they were hailed as the "Smallest Dancing Couple in the World".

Earles was most well known for her part in Freaks in 1932. However, the film was considered horrifying and was shown in the U.S. with many cuts, banned in England, and in Canada was called "brutal and grotesque".

In 1928, Earles had appeared in the 1928 film Three-Ring Marriage. She and her siblings Tiny, Grace, and Harry, performed as "Munchkins" in a song and dance sequence along the Yellow Brick Road, in The Wizard of Oz (1939). They were not credited individually in the film, but as "The Singer Midgets", despite having been generally well known as "The Doll Family". She had a small uncredited role in 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth, for which she won an award for her "blink-and-you-miss-it" photo shot.

Daisy retired from film acting in 1952, after her bit part in The Greatest Show on Earth. She and her siblings continued working for the Ringling Brothers Circus and Barnum and Bailey Circus where they appeared as "parade performers" in "side shows for 30 seasons". They all retired in 1958.

Following retirement, Daisy lived in Sarasota, Florida with her three siblings. Subsequent to Daisy's death in March 1980 at the age of 72, three documentaries dedicated to her and her siblings were released. These are: Freaks Uncensored! (1999), Ce nain que je ne saurais voir! (2015, a TV film), and Schlitzie: One of Us (2015). In one, it is stated that Franz Taibosh had romantic interest in her, but she was not interested as she was already married to her husband, who also worked as a chauffeur and security person for her family.