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- Elizabeth Green (aka Betty Green) was an American sideshow performer who was presented to audiences as "The Human Stork" during the early 1900's. Elizabeth was actually the first "Koo Koo the Bird Girl" (predating Minnie Woolsey), and toured with Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus in the 1920s and '30s.
Her background is obscure, but it's generally accepted that a genetic condition was responsible for her unusual features, and she was described in a newspaper article as "a cross between a crane and a shaved dachshund." Also, she might have suffered from mild retardation, although she had no other known medical problems. Anton La Vey, who had worked in the circus with several oddities and later founded the Church of Satan, claimed that Betty Green was not a freak at all and had entered the profitable profession of circus life by exaggerating her worst features: deliberating sucking in her cheeks and bulging out her eyes. Some claim that Green, being one of the "less weird-looking" attractions, was placed at the entrance to the oddities sideshow to catch the attention of passersby. Evidently, she had a sense of humor about her condition, because her comedy act involved dancing like a bird in a feathered bodysuit, large bird feet, and a gigantic feather in her cap.
She was a first-rate comedienne, but she also had a rare aptitude for business; she owned five large apartment houses in the Boston area and managed them herself when she wasn't touring with the circus. Her agent said of her, "She may be koo koo enough to be able to make people laugh, but she's not koo koo when it comes to signing contracts."
Betty was an avid movie fan and had autographs of almost every well-known star in the picture business, securing them when Hollywood stars came to see her sideshow act. Her only film credit is Tod Browning's "Freaks" (1932), and it's claimed that Green only signed the contract to appear in "Freaks" for the opportunity to get the autograph of her favorite actor, Ronald Colman, and she was especially eager to leave for Hollywood immediately because she had heard of Colman's impending divorce. She appears in several scenes in "Freaks," including a conversation with the Armless Girl, Frances O'Connor, while seated at a table eating dinner.
At the time she obtained the role in "Freaks," Minnie Woolsey had already received billing as Koo Koo the Bird Girl. Betty's thoughts on this situation are unknown, but after the film was completed, she returned to the sideshow and continued her role as Koo Koo. It's unfortunate that because Minnie was featured in the table-dance scene instead of Elizabeth, Minnie should be commonly associated with the Bird Girl.
No information is known about the date or cause of Elizabeth Green's death. - Animation Department
- Art Department
- Writer
Susan Carol "Sue" Nichols was an artist from Massachusetts, active in the field of animation from the 1980s to the 2010s. She variously worked as a story writer, a visual development artist, a character designer, a storyboard artist, and a supervising artist. She is primarily remembered as one of the credited writers for the feature films "Aladdin" (1992) and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996). In 2020,she was posthumously awarded with a Winsor McCay Award for her contributions in animation.
In 1965, Nichols was born in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. The town is located about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from downtown Springfield. The former basis off its economy were its brownstone quarries. Nichols received her secondary education at the East Longmeadow High School, the only secondary school in her hometown. She graduated in 1983.
Nichols enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) to study visual animation. She formally graduated in 1987, and would later return to CalArts as a faculty member. Prior to her graduation, she had already served as a design artist for the syndicated television series "My Little Pony" (1986-1987). From 1986 to 1989, she served as a model designer for the long-running series "Muppet Babies" (1984-1991). She was credited as a character modeler in early episodes of the educational series "McGee and Me!" (1989-1995).
Nichols was eventually hired by the Walt Disney Animation Studios, and would remain affiliated with the animation studio for decades. Her debut film was "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), where she was a visual development artist. Her subsequent film credits included "Aladdin" (1992), "The Lion King" (1994), "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996), "Hercules" (1997), "Mulan" (1998), "Fantasia 2000" (1999), "The Emperor's New Groove" (2000), "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001), "Lilo & Stitch" (2002), "The Princess and the Frog" (2009), and "Moana" (2016).
During the 2000s, Nichols started working for the sibling studio Disneytoon Studios (1990-2018). Many of the studio's films were direct-to-video productions. Her film credits for the studio included "Piglet's Big Movie" (2003), "Mulan II" (2004), and "Bambi II" (2006).While commercially successful, these films were dismissed as derivative works by critics.
In 2015, Nichols was diagnosed with breast cancer. While she continued working in animation, her output was rather limited in this period. She died in September 2020, at the age of 55. Disney commemorated her death with an online listing of her achievements in animation, and through providing photos of her character designs from the 1990s.- Abel Meeropol was born on 10 February 1903 in New York City, New York, USA. He was married to Anne Shaffer. He died on 29 October 1986 in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, USA.
- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Composer, lyricist, songwriter and teacher, educated at City College of New York (BA), and Harvard University (MA). He was an instructor in English literature, and a writer for theater, radio, television and film. He joined ASCAP in 1945, and his chief musical collaborators were Robert Kurka and Elie Siegmeister. He co-wrote the classic song "The House I Live In", sung by Frank Sinatra in the 1945 Academy Award-winning short film of the same title. His other songs include "Strange Fruit" and "Apples, Peaches & Cherries". His classical compositions include the operas "The Good Soldier Schweik"; "Darling Corie"; "Malady of Love"; and "The Soldier", plus the cantata "The Town Crier" (which garnered the Natl. 5 Arts award).