Ruth Minion – Penguin Lady (5 photos)

Long before the appearance of the frightening character in comics and films, there lived a real person whom popular rumor called the penguin.





Mignon was born in the early 1900s. This probably happened around 1910. The child suffered from phocomelia from birth. Phocomelia is the absence of a limb with continued distal rudimentary development of the hand or foot. In Minion's case, her fingers were fused together in such a way that they resembled flippers.



X-ray of the upper limbs of a patient with phocomelia

Since Mignon's truncated and deformed limbs forced her to hobble rather than walk, her stage name "Penguin Lady" was very appropriate and instantly caught on.

The name Minion is not a real name. Supposedly the girl's name was Ruth. "Mignon" means "cutie" in French. For some time, the name Mickey Minion appeared on the poster of the freak circus where the girl worked.



Although Mignon often donned a two-piece swimsuit to show off her unique physique, she didn't rely solely on looks.



Marimba

The artist learned to play the rather exotic marimba, an African instrument similar to a xylophone. The girl turned out to be very talented, as she not only participated in numerous shows, but also performed at the Century of Progress exhibition in Chicago in 1933, as well as at fairs in New York in 1939 and 1940.



With son Tony

Mignon married twice. From her first husband, an ordinary man named LaArgo, she gave birth to an absolutely healthy boy. In the 1950s, she remarried her co-star Earl Davis, a disabled former acrobat whose stage name was “Hoppy the Frog.” The couple performed as a duet for almost ten years.

After her retirement in 1960, Minion disappeared from the public eye, and the final chapters of the Penguin Lady's life story remained unknown.