Little People, Big Woes in Hollywood

August 26, 2016 7:35 AM

The Hollywood Reporter takes a longform look at the history and current status of little people in Hollywood, from the 124 dwarfs (not dwarves) who played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz to Peter Dinklage's Golden Globe speech where he called for viewers to google Martin Henderson, a little person who was paralyzed after being picked up and thrown to the ground by a drunk outside a bar.

The story is framed by visits to a cabaret in Los Angeles and Las Vegas that employs several little people as performers and, thanks to a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar rigging, "flying" drink servers.

posted by Etrigan (31 comments total)

You know who's a great little person actor? Phil Fondacaro. His performance in Charles Band's The Creeps ranks among my favorite Draculas.

And another . for Kenny Baker.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:46 AM on August 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

So why isn't it dwarves like other words that end in F (rooves, leaves, calves, etc.)?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:48 AM on August 26, 2016

You're looking to English for consistent rules?
posted by entropone at 7:55 AM on August 26, 2016 [10 favorites]

It's right there in the fine article

"Dwarf" is acceptable, the plural being "dwarfs" — not "dwarves" (which conjures Tolkien or Snow White's pals)

posted by Nelson at 8:02 AM on August 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

Related: Tito's rant from Living in Oblivion. This (honestly rather middling) 1995 indie film features a young Peter Dinklage as Tito, a dwarf actor who has had enough of the bullshit little person actors go through. It's hilarious, on point, and an early indicator that Dinklage was a scene stealing star.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:10 AM on August 26, 2016 [15 favorites]

I searched the article and saw that. It's not actually an answer. It just means "tolkien says dwarves but (presumably other people don't?) and little people don't like people saying dwarves (if they like the word dwarf at all, which they might not)."

But the question was "why isn't dwarves the regular old plural that non-Tolkien people use, since that's the way English forms plurals for words ending in F?"
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:24 AM on August 26, 2016

The Station Keeper is one of my favorite movies - the cast had an intense chemistry anchored by Dinklage.

I like how Dinlage was cast in that X-Men movie simply because he could glower and chew scenery with the best of them - being a LP may have been acknowledged in passing, but it was not a plot point or character motivation. They simply hired a great actor for a great role.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:26 AM on August 26, 2016 [13 favorites]

But the question was "why isn't dwarves the regular old plural that non-Tolkien people use, since that's the way English forms plurals for words ending in F?"

Like "chief" and "roof"?

Also, what does it harm you to accede to a request from people to refer to them in a certain way?
posted by Etrigan at 8:33 AM on August 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

Whoa, Etrigan... I think that was an etymology question not a "why do I have to call people by their chosen term?" complaint.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:35 AM on August 26, 2016 [14 favorites]

Yeah, it was an etymology question. I actually wouldn't say dwarfs, either, because I think little people is the preferred term and the least likely to offend. But if for some reason I needed to pluralize dwarf in speaking of little people, I would use dwarfs now that I know it's their preferences.

Also, I remember rooves being one of the examples used in my grade 1 class where we learned the rule...I remember colouring in a roof.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:42 AM on August 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

No harm, but open warfare between Little People and grammar nazis excites me more than it should.
posted by dr_dank at 8:43 AM on August 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

For what it's worth, Sir Terry Pratchett thought Tolkein's use of "dwarves" was an erroneous hypercorrection.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:21 AM on August 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

maybe -fs vs -ves isn't the most interesting and discussion-worthy thing about this post?
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:25 AM on August 26, 2016 [26 favorites]

The LPA hopes that Dinklage's success will help change attitudes in Hollywood. "Maybe now that he has hosted Saturday Night Live they'll think twice about the jokes they've made at little people's expense," says Campbell — referring to a running gag in Bill Hader's popular Stefon sketches in which he described "midgets" in demeaning situations.

This is something that always rubbed me the wrong way about those bits. Not just the egregious use of the word 'midget' (I mean, I get that we're supposed to think Stefon is an outrageous character with no conversational filter) but also the unabashed, even gleeful de-humanizing of little people inherent in the structure of the jokes. And how the resulting laughs were at their expense, rather than Stefon's.

I don't know—it always struck me as something plucked without irony straight out of a 1980s hack comic's stand-up routine. (Otherwise, I'm a fan of both Bill Hader and John Mulaney, who wrote the sketches.)
posted by Atom Eyes at 10:01 AM on August 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

The article could have mentioned Gary Oldman... Peter Dinklage seems to be the only LP actor to get roles that could have been played by a non-LP, even in low-brow fare like Pixels.
posted by elgilito at 11:13 AM on August 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm actually distantly related to Lavinia Warren (by marriage; her niece was my great-grandmother's stepmother). I've read her autobiography, and from the sound of it, it was more of a "show-biz", song-and-dance kind of scenario than it was her just sitting there while people went to look at the freaky tiny person. There were songs and sketches in her shows with Tom Thumb, and her sister Minnie (also a little person) and a fourth guy named Commodore Nutt. In fact, it was a late-in-life appearance at Coney Island, where it was more of a sideshow situation, that made her retire from show biz - she and her second husband tried to join the "Midget Village" at Coney Island for a summer, but it was cheap and seedy and they didn't like it, so they packed it in and opened an Ice Cream shop in Massachusetts instead.

Barnum may have been exploitative on some level, but at least he still behaved with a bit of dignity. There's also some evidence that Barnum is who promoted the term "midget" as a preferred term over "dwarf", because it sounded a little more genteel.

I noted with delight that after Peter Dinklage's appearance on SNL, none of the social media buzz was about his stature at all - pretty much all of it was "OMIGOD SPACE PANTS!!!!!!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:19 AM on August 26, 2016 [13 favorites]

Which is as it should be. Space Pants was, as the kids say, everything.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:35 AM on August 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

Peter Dinklage is great, sure, but let's not forget the superb Linda Hunt.
posted by Kat Allison at 12:08 PM on August 26, 2016 [5 favorites]

OMG seeing Deep Roy sent shivers down my spine and I spent the next hour reading about Neverending Story. Again.
posted by Theta States at 12:18 PM on August 26, 2016

Wow, I live in LA and have been to the Roosevelt once or twice but had no idea that's what Beacher's Madhouse was up to. I can't believe the guy brags about being friends with Brett Ratner and calls him "the best"...he's got a pretty shitty reputation about town as a total dickbag to his crews.
posted by JauntyFedora at 12:33 PM on August 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Great article. Thank you.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 12:34 PM on August 26, 2016

thank you for reminding me of Space Pants.
posted by zutalors! at 12:58 PM on August 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

Atom Eyes: "Not just the egregious use of the word 'midget'"

My personal experience with what might now be seen as egregioous usage of the term midget:

Both my father's brother and his mother (my grandmother) were little people.

My uncle actually preferred the term "midget" for himself. To the best of my knowledge, he did not object to the term little person, and his objection to the term dwarf was centered around precision, not discrimination.

As he explained it to me, a midget was a little person whose proportions mirrored those of a non-little person, whereas someone with dwarfism has limbs that are disproportionately shortened. By his definition, he and my grandmother were thus not dwarfs.

He stuck by this usage his entire life, so much so in fact that he would use "mig" (which he pronounced "midge") as a self-applied appelation.
posted by namewithoutwords at 5:16 PM on August 26, 2016 [3 favorites]

My uncle actually preferred the term "midget" for himself. To the best of my knowledge, he did not object to the term little person, and his objection to the term dwarf was centered around precision, not discrimination.

Members of minority groups sometimes use vocabulary to refer to themselves or other members of the group that is offensive when used by non-members.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:53 PM on August 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

A really underrated movie is 'Frankie Starlight', which features a little person as one of the main characters and is basically the story of his life, no freak show, no costumes. Just a person.
posted by h00py at 4:36 AM on August 27, 2016

Space pants made me buy a cowcow dress with a pattern of cats on Venus. I wear it and hum "I am wearing a space dress" as I wander around my confused neighbors. You know, as you do.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:46 PM on August 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

As he explained it to me, a midget was a little person whose proportions mirrored those of a non-little person, whereas someone with dwarfism has limbs that are disproportionately shortened. By his definition, he and my grandmother were thus not dwarfs.

Is that not the commonly accepted breakdown? I am feeling like I have missed a clue somewhere along the way.
posted by Meatbomb at 6:01 PM on August 27, 2016

The genius of Space Pants isn't that Peter Dinklage is a LP... It's that he is literally the only actor working who could stoneface deadpan with that level of sincere intensity. He leverages his identity as a LP with these insane, precise dance moves that would be impossible for an actor of typical stature. Fantastic.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:32 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Also Space Pants uses the whole "serious actor does a ridiculous thing straight faced" trope.

Also, Peter Dinklage can do anything.
posted by zutalors! at 5:15 PM on August 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Michael Dunn from Wild, Wild..West always impressed me..so evil, so good.
posted by judson at 12:23 PM on August 29, 2016

Regarding the word "midget", in 2005 the actor Daniel Woodburn wrote to Roger Ebert to ask him to stop using the word. Their correspondence is reproduced here: Dwarfs, Little People and the M-Word.
posted by Lexica at 1:41 PM on August 29, 2016 [6 favorites]