No Bigger Than A Minute
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
'My name is Steven. I am 48 years old and I'm a dwarf.'
So begins Steven Delano's unusual new documentary, NO BIGGER THAN A MINUTE. What follows is neither an academic discourse on the life and times of America's 'little people,' nor a project in self-affirmation in the face of social discrimination -- though the film includes healthy doses of both of these. 'No Bigger Than a Minute' has tongue-in-cheek re-enactments, a music score structured after Delano's own mutated DNA sequence, short-statured Hollywood stars such as Peter Dinklage ('The Station Agent') and Meredith Eaton ('Family Law') and musicians, rappers, comedians, novelists, doctors and ordinary folk.
NO BIGGER THAN A MINUTE also follows the twists in the story of dwarfism today. Scientists have isolated the genetic mutations for the majority of dwarf cases, and, most astoundingly, have developed tests that detect these mutations in the earliest stages of a fetus's development. The question is inescapable: Is dwarfism a chronic handicap to be eliminated? Or is it valuable human diversity?
'[Steven] Delano's documentary is the first film about dwarfism...made by someone who actually knows what life under 5 feet is all about...Delano explores the role of little people in popular culture to find out what being a dwarf really means, to himself and to others of short stature.' Marissa Levy, USA Today
'A warm, thoughtful and informative film loaded with wonderful material for class discussion. No Bigger Than A Minute provides a great integration of historic film clips, interviews and on-site footage to document the experiences of dwarfs in the United States. This is educational material that is both entertaining and engrossing, and advocacy without preaching and finger pointing.' Robert Bogdan, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Social Science and Education, Syracuse University, Author, Freak Show: Presenting Human Oddities for Amusement and Profit
'A terrific film. I love Delano's wry, sensitive, intelligent voice, and his decision to use his own personal biography as a way to explore the vast world of dwarf images and movies and paintings and truths and lies is just brilliant. It gives him a way to weave great interviews...compile a treasure-trove of archival footage, and also ask the toughest questions in the most intimate way - when he asks his own mother if she would have had an abortion, it was so fearless and so unexpectedly tender, it just knocked me out. And the filmmaking was superb too.' John H. Richardson, Author, In the Little World - A True Story of Dwarfs, Love, and Trouble
'Entertaining and informative, a feat many documentaries can't pull off. This is must-see viewing for anyone who wishes to get a glimpse of life as a little person.' Feminist Review
'No Bigger Than a Minute is a poignant, yet upbeat video memoir...The film can easily serve as an excellent teaching tool in an undergraduate Introductory Sociology class or a Sociology of Race, Class and Gender class. The interviews and film clips serve to fully illustrate the issues of socialization, status - ascribed, master and salient, and of course, stereotyping and discrimination. The interviews serve to underscore the importance of the family as a socializing force and the benefits of having a kindly, supportive family and social support system of relatives and peers. In Medical Sociology classes the film can serve as a means to raise questions about the consequences of the 'medicalization' of physical differences...I think the film lends itself to several interactive teaching strategies.' Teaching Sociology
'Fascinating...a compelling hour of warmth, humor and background about the world of little people.' Dusty Saunders, Rocky Mountain News
'While pretty people find things to hate about themselves, a documentary by dwarf Steven Delano explores the challenges of being different.' Molly Willow, The Columbus Dispatch
'Size matters. Bodies matter. But in No Bigger Than a Minute, character matters most.' Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
'A moral inventory fashioned as an almost technically perfect account of the resolutely imperfect life and times of a dwarf. It unfolds as sort of a 'shockumentary.' If you are not prepared to embrace the candor and the honesty, it will completely throw you for a loop...A bold and courageous film endeavor.' Eugene Pidgeon, actor, writer, activist
'It is a wonderful piece of work, raising many important questions and providing the opportunity for an instructor or facilitator to raise many more...Suitable for high school and college courses in cultural anthropology or sociology, multiculturalism/diversity, disability studies, and medical anthropology/sociology, as well as for public audiences.' Jack David Eller, Metropolitan State College, Anthropology Review Database
'A cast of characters who are witty and wry and a film that would be enjoyed by older teens and adults. Recommended for special and academic libraries; a good addition to any adult collection.' Library Journal
Citation
Main credits
Delano, Steven (film producer)
Delano, Steven (film director)
Delano, Steven (screenwriter)
Markrow, Diane (film producer)
Kaplan, Amy (screenwriter)
Other credits
Director of photography, James Phelan; music, Jon Hegel; editor, Chad Hershberger.
Distributor subjects
American Studies; Anthropology; Arts and Popular Culture; Disabilities; Discrimination; Diversity; Dwarfism; Film Studies; Genetics; Humanities; Media Studies; Psychology; SociologyKeywords
WEBVTT
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[sil.]
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My name is Steven, I\'m
48-years-old and I\'m a dwarf.
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[sil.]
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In 1967, there were films taken
at a children\'s hospital.
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I was a subject in a study of
abnormal growth and posture.
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It was my very first starring
role in a motion picture.
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[music]
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There I was, a nine-year-old kid
in a dingy hospital basement.
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Even as the camera was rolling, I could imagine
what those invasive little movies would look like,
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almost dirty. I feel like I\'d been under the spotlight ever
since. So many things were set in motion for me that day
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as if the curtain opened and something was revealed, a
brief glimpse of the mystery of how a physical difference
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can mark a person for life. Me,
I\'m still looking for clues.
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[sil.]
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Baby, although I chose this lonely
life It seems it\'s strangling me now
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All the wild men with big cigars
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and gigantic cars They\'re
all laughing at me now
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No thanks, bad luck, pity I am a midget.
Oh I\'ve been used, used
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I\'ve been taken for a fool, oh what a fool
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I broke all the rules,
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rules, yeah But I won\'t let the show go.
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[music]
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Now this has to do with the small people.
Yeah, with little people,
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say, sometimes call themselves. Then your
family members are small, aren\'t they?
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No, they are not. It\'s just one of those
things where one gene just trips.
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Oh, is that it? Yeah. I\'ve never asked you
before. I\'m always been interested to know why.
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Yeah. It\'s an experience for me.
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Well, I\'ve got to tell you it is for me as well. Oh
really? Well, you had back to Boston to your own family.
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Yeah.
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You are listening to the Saturday Morning Greenhouse.
Now the talk of the bay, AM 1340 WNBH New Bedford.
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And now you follow it
to the boxing matches.
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Yeah? Yeah, really, those
are boxing matches.
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Did he know I was coming? You
came, you already had arrived.
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Oh, anyone anyway. Yes, yes, that was okay.
Either way, don\'t know be that much.
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[music]
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Jimmy Carter was fighting in the size
and field the day you were born.
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He was fighting a guy with an Irish name
but he was really a Greek from Loughglinn.
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And your father came up the aisle and he says it\'s
a boy and I said well, good because I just had
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a boy myself in March. When did
somebody notice that something was up?
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That night, that night Dr.
Collins, the paediatrician came in
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and they didn\'t really know what the situation
was. What were the indicators? You were not
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as long as the average child.
They had suspected Something.
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Do you remember when I was born?
I remember and there
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were a lot of tears. I don\'t think anybody
really knew what it meant at first,
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what exactly was going to happen, and what kind of issues
you would have. Were they getting good information?
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I don\'t think so. I think back then they
had a lot of information. I don\'t think
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that they really knew what it meant.
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Your mother was a typical
mother\'s female reaction
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which was not easy to cope with.
She had a difficult time,
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but your father because he was there and his attitude I
think had a big influence and a big help on keeping her
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on a stable path. Well, it wasn\'t
setting but we had to cope with it
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and eventually come to terms with it.
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As time went on, we\'d talk and visit
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I knew there was a lot of
concerns started taking you
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to people up in Boston. We
were just back and forth,
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back and forth to Boston to Dr. Griffin. Do you remember
Dr. Griffin? Yes. Wonderful, wonderful man, wonderful man.
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He was the one wo did your first operation
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on your hips. Do you remember your hips?
I got a vague recollection.
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So they wind you altogether, all
the bones, they wind you up again,
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and you were in that body
cast for several months.
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Where we put you, your dad put you,
that was your state from that day.
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:04.999
Did you ever meet any other families with
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dwarf children? No. They did have
some at the hospital, but we never …
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many people were standoffish and
didn\'t like to discuss anything.
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Anything that annoyed you over that course?
There are several times.
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Such as? They left you as cousin.
What was he doing?
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Taunting you and yes.
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And I remember dad telling you if he does anything
more to you pick up the crutch and hid them,
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but that was good because he never did
it again. I do remember one tough day
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that you had when you
were in parochial school
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and the kids were picking on you in the parking lot and your
mom came home after dropping you off and she was upset.
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You never felt sorry for yourself.
I saw no sadness in you,
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maybe twice growing up, I saw
you sitting with your dog
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on the top step after a hard day and thought
I was the only one who knew you were sad.
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[music]
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Dad encouraged you to try anything that you wanted to
do and if you couldn\'t do it you couldn\'t do it but
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you were exposed to a lot of
things; all kinds of ball games,
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hockey, do you remember playing hockey? Remember you were the goalie? Yeah,
I do. And when you had eye trouble, they stopped you from doing that
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and stopped you from riding the bicycle.
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I remember bursting into tears
when they told me. The goals were
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all set up by the medical people.
You had limits
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and he wanted you to whatever
that limit was to do it
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and maybe a little more in what you did.
That\'s right. I agree.
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And sometimes a little more than that. He\'s awesome.
Yeah, I agree. I bet you have incredible memories.
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Yeah, I do. The one I\'d like to
tell people this thing that my dad
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and Mr. Brittle O\'Built, which was
effectively an old baby carriage
00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:09.999
with a piece of plywood on top, so they
bought me down on that and pushed me
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around the boulevard. And
that\'s the best thing
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that they ever did for me. It was sort
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of like you know here we are;
in the cold winter days,
00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:29.999
anytime just to get me out.
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I truly never met another
person like me until I was,
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let\'s say, 35.
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So that\'s meaningful that really is.
I pretended not to notice people
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pretending not to notice me, and I
pretended not to care when they did.
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I avoided mirrors and having my picture
taken or defining myself as any
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one thing or another until now.
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Now it\'s become necessary to seek out people,
people who were more comfortable on camera
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and with whom I might share
a little common ground.
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When I was six-years-old,
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this kid that was in my kindergarten class, who continued
to harass me up to the point where I graduated
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punched me in the stomach and
he said, you\'re a midget
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and you\'re never going to be any taller than you
are right now which of course was not true.
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So I went home and I said to
my parents, what\'s a midget.
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I think any parent of a little
person is special in some way,
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even if they don\'t want to be, you know just the tough
love, the lack of pampering and not being overprotective.
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I believe when I learned how to swim,
I had a body cast on at the time.
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My dad would go get the big glad trash
bags and duct tape it around my waist
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and throw me in the pool with me kicking and
screaming, dad, don\'t do it, don\'t do it,
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.999
had the whole time. And it was then he would jump in
and pull us up because I was sinking like an anchor.
00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.999
Well, I guess that didn\'t work too good.
Okie-dokie. I think I\'m ready.
00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:14.999
I come from a family of seven. There\'re five kids, mom
and dad. They treated me just as normal as possible;
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
he\'ll do it. We lived in town, but we
had farms. I did a lot of tractor work.
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.999
There was nothing I really couldn\'t do.
If you say, I would do it a different way
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than the normal person but I would get it done. Nobody waiting
on me. If I wanted it, man, you got to get in and get with it.
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.999
I\'ve always been encouraged. I think that
helps. If you have good teachers along the line
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:39.999
in your education, if you have at least one good
teacher from elementary high school or college
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that helps a lot.
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
People that really sort of
don\'t see your size being
00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:54.999
that it\'s going to hinder you.
I think if somebody
00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:59.999
ever said that to me, fuck you,
00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:04.999
I mean why are you discouraging me.
Positive self-esteem
00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:09.999
comes pretty easily in the first four or five
years when you don\'t care about such things
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
and all you want is a fire
engine for Christmas.
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:19.999
Self-image ultimately has to do with other
people and it\'s hardest to control.
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
Some way down the line you notice the people who
are looking at you is if you\'re some kind of freak
00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:29.999
and they tend to want to fix that.
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
Think about going to a relatively preppy school like
Providence College and adopting buttoned-down Oxford shirts,
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
my new uniform as if putting on
a buttoned-down Oxford shirt
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is going to turn it all around and I\'m
going to be hanging out with the crowd
00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
and be well-liked and dating every night. When I
look back on it, it strikes me as almost ludicrous,
00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:54.999
and it didn\'t work. whoever
said the clothes made the man
00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.999
never shopped for his in
the boy\'s department.
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
Everybody when they are young have a bit
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
of a the-world-doesn\'t-understand-me.
But I think
00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
it\'s a little bit, maybe
it runs a little deeper
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
if you\'re a dwarf.
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
Perhaps I don\'t know, I am not going to compare my
paint to anybody else\'s because we all have scars,
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but there\'s a bit of anger. I don\'t think
I talked to my parents for like a year.
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
Growing up short definitely
has its challenges.
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
It took me way too long to accept that.
First step,
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learn what makes a dwarf a dwarf.
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We are here in Children\'s Hospital in
Denver where there is a genetics clinic.
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Got it. Thanks again. What we\'re looking
to find is an official diagnosis.
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I\'m in my 40s and I still don\'t know
what form of dwarfism I really have.
00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
If you\'re a freak it\'s advantageous
to know what kind of freak you are.
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
So for that reason, the doctors going to
size me up and do some genetic testing
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and find out what made
me the dwarf I am today.
00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
The clinical diagnosis
I think fits very well
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. We presume
since your parents were average stature
00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:29.999
that this was what we called a sporadic
mutation. The machinery isn\'t perfect
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.999
and actually it\'s not perfect for a reason
because that\'s what drives evolution.
00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.999
Mother Nature is always kind of tinkering, sometimes things
work out better, sometimes things work out not as good.
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
When I started out as a
geneticist, I saw your condition
00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.999
as a disease and the more I do this
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I realized it\'s not a disease; it\'s just
different. It\'s like a piece of music
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and you can take a piece of music and you can give it to two
different people and hear two completely different things.
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
That\'s I think a good way to look at
genetics too. We\'re given our score of music
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
and maybe having dwarfism puts you
in a different key. We all know
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
that it\'s difficult to play music when you\'re starting
out if it\'s got five sharps or five flats in it,
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
but that can be some of the most
beautiful music that\'s been written.
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
Dr. Bellus\' musical analogy is
very apropos because the sequence
00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
of genes can be compared to notes on a musical scale.
I\'ve had a composer arranged my mutated DNA code
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
into a theme for this movie soundtrack;
the music you\'re listening to now.
00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
[music]
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
With my DNA theme song
bouncing around in my head,
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.999
I hit the pavement. On the lookout
for all things dwarf related,
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
what better place to start
than my local record store.
00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
There is a relative treasure
trove of dwarf material;
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
Midgets of Metal, Midget Handjob,
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
The Dwarfs, Elf Power.
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
And really all isles and
little people pop inevitably
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:20.000
to a 1977 classic.
00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.999
[music]
00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.999
I\'ve done a lot of waiting in my life.
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
Here I am waiting to see the man who wrote the only top
ten song that will go down in short people infamy.
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
Because it probably looked like I was
waiting in ambush, I was routinely told:
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
Don\'t want no short people to live
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
You know why I am here to talk about – I am going to be
your Charlton Heston like Michael Moore. You know what?
00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
Actually yeah, I mean yes and no. I mean I\'m
sure it\'ll turn up much better than that.
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
But I\'m glad, I thought you probably had
something to do with improving the situation
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
for little people in this country. I hope so.
Galvanizing something. Because attention should be paid
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
to problems that any minority has.
Was there a backlash when?
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
There was, it wasn\'t gigantic,
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
but I never thought it would be as
popular as it was nor did I think
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
that anyone would misconstrue
that it was entirely satirical.
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
It was about someone who was a lunatic, there\'s no
one that harbours feelings like the guy in the song.
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.999
If you can show me someone
I would be astounded.
00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:44.999
My I had been so nervous that I have been… Oh Steve,
that\'s a great pleasure. My pleasure. Thank you very much.
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
Good talking you. It\'s good to talk to you. If you
want to cut it and make me look like Charles Manson.
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:58.000
[music]
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
Are the stars bright in America, Terry?
But the starts are bright.
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
Hey, Frankie, there are more stars…
In 1986, I met Frankie Starlight.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
Frankie was the first dwarf I could
relate to in any way and ironically,
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
I would only meet him in a movie.
Are the dwarfs in America, Terry?
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
Sure.
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
I guess. There are dwarfs
everywhere I guess.
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
How many conferences have you all attended?
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
This is our third, we are sisters. These are
your sisters. My seventh. This is my second.
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
Boy, this is my first.
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
You know there was one year when the
Little People of America Conference
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
was quite literally blocks away from
where I worked and I chose not to go.
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
Friends of mine were asking
why, why don\'t you go,
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
and I had no good answer for that.
It\'s never drawn me in
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
and it\'s not that I\'m like, well, no way, I\'m
not hanging out with those little tiny people.
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
No, I\'m just going to like you
know it\'s not that. It\'s like
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
I don\'t know what it is. It\'s just
because you have dwarfism in common,
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
it\'s sort of expected you are going to have
a lot in common. There are an estimated
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
50,000 dwarfs in the US and
hundreds of types of dwarfism.
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
The most common such as achondroplasia
involve genetic mutations
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
that make bones grow at uneven rates. Others, the
folks who I referred to at least in slang as midgets
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
have pituitary glands that just don\'t
produce enough growth hormone.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
People of uncommon stature comes
in lots of shapes and sizes.
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
Me, for instance, my headsets on my
shoulders are like some pants dispenser,
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
a broad forehead you could post
advertising on it, a barrel chest,
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
clubbed foot, greyed teeth. As you all know
that my name is Matt, this is my wife, Amy.
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
I am the president of the… It\'s common experience of little
people, they might see another little person here and there
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
and I think I\'m not one of those, I don\'t look
like that and then they would come to a conference
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
and they would go down the lobby, see all these
little people, and they come back up to the room,
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
look in the mirror, and look at their back, and go, oh my
god, I do look like them. I never gone to a convention,
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
I\'d never been to a regional, I\'d never
been to even a tiny district meeting.
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
So I dragged my mother with me and
we went to a national convention
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
and there were about 2000 little people in that
lobby when I walked in and I turned around
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
and I walked out. I flipped out. That was the
first time I\'d ever seen another little person.
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
The experience of the Little People
of America Conference was for me
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
one of recognizing that it\'s benefited so
many people. They offer medical resources
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
and information about all kinds
of inventions and contraptions.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
Things like tools to get your socks
on if your arms are too short
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
or mobility aids that can actually be
road-tested. Remember speed kills.
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
It\'s not uncommon for people
to find their roommates there
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
and it\'s not uncommon to find that special someone
you might spend the rest of your life with.
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
If I had learned about LPA earlier
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
in my life, maybe I would have found
someone too, but that didn\'t happen.
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:38.000
[music]
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
Ladies and gentlemen and children
of all ages, we\'re going to present
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
for your approval a novelty picture with an all-midget
cast. The first of its kind ever to be produced,
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
and it\'s called The Terror of Tiny
Town, but I must caution you,
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
not to take it too seriously.
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
You mean, it is serious? Serious serious.
I am the hero.
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
After this picture is up, I\'ll be the
biggest accomplished star in Hollywood.
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
Not is the time for this. If
you don\'t give me the map,
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
my son will be cutting
you into little pieces.
00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
If you think of how few of us
little people they really are,
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
the odds are that most people have never met
a dwarf face-to-face, dwarfs you do meet
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
typically in Hollywood movies, come across
as either cuddly or simply uncouth.
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:48.000
[music]
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
To me like somebody ain\'t very friendly.
I\'d seen little people
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
in films like The Wizard of Oz and Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs, but I never really identified
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
with any of those characters just
because of their relative size. For me
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
Dopey was a guy named Dopey, a Munchkin
was a Munchkin, nothing to do with me.
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
Certainly I never considered
it as a career choice.
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
For whatever reason little people are
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
tend to be in entertainment business.
They are funny
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
to look at, people enjoy watching their movements
and their motions for again for whatever reason
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
that\'s the case. They end up getting
those kinds of opportunities.
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
So it sounds like we\'ve maybe done some of it ourselves.
We may be set societies with expectation of us
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
or perception of us in our own rank and
file, but I personally cannot control
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
if somebody has somebody chooses to be a clown, for
example, who make their living to put food on their table
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
who am I to say you can\'t
make a living doing that.
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:33.000
[music]
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
I started out in show business when I was
15-years-old yeah in comedy, it was comical roles,
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
just slapstick type of humour. People in LPA
get a little upset about that kind of stuff,
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
all that\'s stupidity, why would
they do that. Well, it\'s basically
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
what the director wanted and you know it\'s a living and I have a
family to raise, I\'m just trying to make a living off of my size.
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
I do have limits. I wouldn\'t ever do
nothing to really hurt my people.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
I have been unfortunately exposed
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
to scripts that were insulting, that
I would never be a part of ever.
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
Other little people have called me crazy for
that and said why would you not take that role.
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
They\'ve been paying you, right? You\'re going
to get money for it, do it. Well, no.
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
I think that
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
writers need to be more creative in their
roles that they\'re giving to little people
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
and the little people need to be more
discriminating in what they will agree to take.
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
[music]
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
With the Station Agent, I didn\'t set out to make
a movie about a dwarf or addressing dwarfism.
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
I was much more concerned
with themes of isolation
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
and connection and disconnection. I thought
it would be a visual cue for the audience
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
for someone who is automatically an
outsider. The part of Finbar McBride
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
isn\'t limited by the fact that Peter\'s a
dwarf; it\'s just a part of that role.
00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
It\'s not the essence of the role.
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
I can relate to some of these
things in my character\'s life
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
like how children react to me. I wouldn\'t really have to tell
Tom. Tom and I would walk down. He lives in New York as do I.
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
We walked down the streets of New York
together and he would see how children
00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
react to somebody our size,
sort of that curiosity
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
and wonder and does such comes always from such a
great place with kids. Are you a kid? Are you a guy?
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
I am confused. Responses
have been so amazing.
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
Everything from people saying after an interview, I\'ll
be honest, I always had a thing about little people.
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
They kind of freak me out and this
totally changed my idea. I said well,
00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
have you ever known anyone? No, no.
00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
What grade are you in? I\'m
finished with school.
00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
Are you a midget? No.
00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
It made me realize what it was like to try to make a
film in the 50s or 60s with an African-American actor.
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
People were so isolated that
they didn\'t know a black person
00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
and when they came into contact, they were
responding to the few glimpses they\'d had in
00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
film and TV, right. Do
you people take checks?
00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
Say that again. Do we people take checks?
You mean a black man?
00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
No. God! No, I mean your company. Don\'t
give me that backtracking bullshit,
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
that was a racist slur! No, it wasn\'t, really. I would
never … I Tell you what, I\'ll make it real easy for you.
00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
Why don\'t you just pay me in cotton?
Or a cart load of watermelons?
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
Or how\'s about a couple of them buckets of fried chicken? \'Cause
you know how we black people, we just love fried chicken.
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
Hey, no, come on now. Settle down. I think… This cat
don\'t believe a nigger knows how to cash a check.
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
Charlie, I don\'t want to ever hear you
use the N word in this house. What?
00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
I didn\'t say anything remotely racist. Oh,
so it\'s the little people thing then.
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
No. No. I don\'t know if you\'ve
ever had this before but
00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
if someone comes up to you and says
you are so and so or I know you,
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
it seems like every small person
someone sees, you\'re that same person.
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
They don\'t see you, they don\'t see what colour
your hair is; they just see your shortness
00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
and they think you\'re that person.
I\'m chained to the wall
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
I\'m nothing at all
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
and my eyes look into the sunset thinking
of better things to do like a monkey
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
in a zoo the days go so slow I like to think
and I\'ve gotten used to people staring at me
00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
when I walk down the street, but I have
to say sometimes it used to piss me off.
00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
It\'s a kind of imposed celebrity status
that dwarfs don\'t ask for, but lately,
00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
I\'ve decided to enjoy it.
00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
Out of the corner of your eyes,
you see somebody sort of
00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
regarding you like some painting
on a wall or some well,
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
I apologize for this, but like some animal in a
zoo. They are just trying to figure you out,
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
trying to figure me out. I
feel this responsibility
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
to be polite, to be funny, to
be worthy of that attention.
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
Then sometimes you resent
that responsibility.
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
For me it\'s like this I\'d
have body experience,
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
I think that it\'s like I can
imagine what I look like
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
from inside somebody else\'s head and
I think that most little people
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
can relate to this experience,
feeling that you are separate,
00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
like you are in your own movie. Blending in
00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
as a dwarf is difficult. I wouldn\'t say
it\'s impossible but it\'s difficult.
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
With your baseball hat and
sunglasses and just walk through
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
a movie theatre and not being recognized, I want
to think the people maybe look at me because
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
they like my hair or the
shoes that I have on,
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
not that I am 4\'3 \" but more often than not
I have a feeling it\'s because I\'m 4\'3\"
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
and I get offensive over that. And when I was younger
and I\'ve just should\'ve gotten my ass kicked
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
so many times because I would challenge everything, every
time I heard something from somebody on the street,
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
I would just challenge it like get on their
face. It\'s probably because of my size
00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
I didn\'t get my ass kicked, I am sorry I\'m swearing,
all the time because they\'re like oh no, okay, sorry.
00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
But it gets a little bitter, but not now.
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
I\'m so …
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
It\'s either a skill or it\'s a curse, that\'s a talent
you develop, waiting to catch people staring at you.
00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
You\'ve been walking down the
street and some kids come in,
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
they want to cross over and to avoid some interaction but if you
can\'t, you just keep walking and walking, walking and waiting
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
and waiting and then they spot you.
Hey, excuse me.
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
I asked you, do you mind sitting. No, I
will sit here with you for two minutes.
00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
Hey guess what, I just need a half. Now
guess what, first of all, you got it on?
00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
I\'ve had people kissed me in bars, I\'ve
had people kissed me on a shuttle bus.
00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
I\'ve had people want to pick
me up, want to hold me,
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
and it goes on from there.
You don\'t like me?
00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
That\'s what I knew. Did I respect you?
No. I called you what?
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
Man. Man! I have a story for you. 6
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
:00 AM on a cold, cold Boston winter morning
I took the subway to South Station.
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
The big dig had pretty much just commenced and
there was a lot of construction going on.
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
I was going to take the elevator from
the subway station to the street level
00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
and the elevator laid at the dead end of
this passageway, a sort of concrete hallway
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
which meant that it bucked some people in.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
There was a woman there who had huge gym
bags and duffle bags slung her shoulders
00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
and she had big wide
glasses on, big wide eyes.
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
She was kind of bent over when she\'s spotted me blocking her exit
as if she had to bolt the elevators didn\'t come anytime soon.
00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
So she started screaming. Chucky!
Chucky! Get away, Chucky!
00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
And I am thinking, no, wait, get away, stop.
And she kept coming at me and she kicked me,
00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
kicked me in the shirts. Now I\'ve
been mistaken for other little people
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:45.000
but never homicidal puppet.
00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:54.999
People don\'t believe when I am telling them, it was little
weird because your husband is a little person too? I mean,
00:31:55.000 --> 00:31:59.999
no, well he is six feet tall. It\'s
great because he is not so over me.
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
I deal with a lot of people\'s questions in act. You
get goofy questions like were you always that size?
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
It\'s like yeah, I came out of the womb 3\'7\" for
my mother to handle. I\'ve had people shout at me.
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
They think that I\'m hearing impaired because
I\'m small, I\'ve had people sign language
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
and I mean it just it\'s amazing what people
come up with. People have actually asked
00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
me if dwarfism is contagious.
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
I just wish people would be more,
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
I don\'t know the word for it, just
more informed and not so obvious.
00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
They have to stare… If they have to get out of
curiosity, it would be nice for just come up and say hey
00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
I\'ve got some question.
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
If you\'re curious, those questions
could be answered. What can you do?
00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
People are going to look, people are
going to do whatever their reaction is.
00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
You can\'t stop that.
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
We are in the spotlight whether
we are entertaining or just being
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
normal people and there is a standard that we have
to uphold. I mean no matter what size you are
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
or anything like that, your life goes on, you
have certain responsibilities in society
00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
that you have to fulfil and you can either
make it a positive gift or a negative one.
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
[music]
00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
We\'re on our way to Lafayette,
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
have ways to go as a matter
of fact to see Bushwick Bill,
00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
hardcore rapper. I think I just saw a sign
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
that said Lafayette 67 miles.
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
The sun has pretty much gone down.
Note to the editor:
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
Cut to a shot of this.
00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
It\'s where we\'re on the lookout
for the elusive Bushwick Bill.
00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
We are here at the restaurant
of his manager and they haven\'t
00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
picked him for a day-and-a-half, two days. We were
supposed to meet with him at five o\'clock this afternoon.
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
That gives us about five hours to find him and he\'s
supposed to perform tonight at midnight. Steve!
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
Bill, how are you? I am all right.
Thank you. Oh, okay, here\'s an idea.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
Hey Bill, what\'s the deal,
when are we going to see you?
00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
No, I want to talk to you before that.
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
I want to talk to you as soon as – You never
see people like Bushwick Bill and shows
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
that have been done about people with
dwarfism. Some of the programs that I\'ve seen
00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
they introduce us to people with dwarfism
who have overcome obstacles in their lives
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
and have families now and are
people just like you and me.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
That bores the hack out of me.
00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:59.999
I realized size ain\'t shit.
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.999
Before being popular
00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
I met very few people of my size.
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
They were standing up for themselves and I said,
whatever motherfuckers told me do they did,
00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
I\'ll be damned. I mean they
used to tell me not to hang out
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
at the side because would make fun of me. I mean
I didn\'t give a fuck about that to be honest
00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
with you because they were protecting me but I wanted
to be a part of this great big world that we live in.
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
If I had the except ridicule
because that then f**k it.
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
That\'s what I got to accept, that\'s what I got to deal
with, that\'s what I am going to do. I ain\'t tripping, man.
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
It\'s like everybody is going to be themselves. I appreciate people
for what they do, but that extra bulls**t that comes through,
00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
I\'m not concerned. If you are going
to keep it real, keep it real,
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
but don\'t try to use your brain on me when I\'ve been showed
all my life and that\'s all I had to use what\'s on my mind.
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
You probably use this s**t socially.
I had to use mine minds
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
as a weapon.
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
[music]
00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
It should be clear by now that I\'m drawn
to the more extreme images of dwarfs
00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
and director, Werner Herzog,
has his own radical ideas.
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
The performers in his films
are no fairy-tale creatures.
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
Searching for what constitutes
us as human beings,
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
you have to go to certain extremes.
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
It\'s like when you try as a scientist
to understand the very structure,
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
the innermost structure of some matter unknown
to you, you have to put it under extreme heat
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
and extreme pressure and all of
a sudden you will understand
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
what the latter is all about. The
midgets in Even Dwarfs Started Small
00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
what was the common denominator is that
they have a radical human dignity.
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
Something went wrong in their world
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
and the world of human beings
and it is the world of objects.
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
It\'s not the human beings who are
out of proportions; it\'s a world
00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
that human beings have created. Mr. Herzog\'s
film is about how we\'ve created a world
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
that just doesn\'t accommodate everyone.
That\'s an interesting point
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
and I\'ve begun to reconsider the universe around me. For
starters, I have a whole new relationship with chairs.
00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
After looking at
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
countless photos of dwarfs and people who
become famous because they are dwarfs,
00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
I\'ve have noticed that in virtually every photo
they are posed next to a chair. It\'s a photographic
00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
invention I find significant or maybe
even funny. When it comes to furnishings,
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
there really is something
discomforting about being a dwarf.
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
The midgets scamper up the ladder
to disappear inside the bomber.
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
The drill are buck rivets as they call it and do
other things in respective spaces inaccessible
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
to normal-sized workmen. Our
genius has been called the ability
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
to convert an embarrassment into an advantage.
In the last, say, 50 years we\'ve come a long way
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
in terms of what opportunities are
opening up, but I think height prejudice
00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
is as probably as prevalent as any other
kind of prejudices that are out there.
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
Being of non-common stature
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
has never really entered,
I mean it enters my mind
00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
but only when people stick
it in your face. I\'m sure
00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
opportunities have been limited
because of it even though
00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
I might not have ever realized that.
00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
Entry: Midget, function:
noun, definition: dwarf,
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
synonyms: bantum, dusty butt, gone,
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
half-pint, knee high,
lillipution, little person,
00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
pee wee, pygmy, runt,
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
shorty, shrimp, squirt. The
evolution of what people call you
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
because you are visually
different is probably parallels,
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
similar things that black
people have gone through
00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
or Asian or every generation
has something else.
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
Right at the moment, short stature seems to work
for me. I don\'t really recognize the word, dwarf,
00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
or any of the other ones,
I just never have.
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
Short stature seems to fit the bill.
The term, little people,
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
in some regards it\'s a little
demeaner, it\'s too protective,
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
it\'s too cautious. I don\'t
know, I don\'t respect
00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
that sort of behaviour. I\'m sure
if I heard the word midget,
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
it\'s sort of like weirdness,
it\'s like the N word.
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
A lot of people in this country still don\'t
realize that the word midget is unacceptable
00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
and insulting and degrading.
They don\'t realize it.
00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
So you were pretty steady or was
it more the bachelor party…
00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
One of the first roles that I ever did was
on NYPD Blue and I always remind that people
00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
to this day remember. It\'s a midget too?
It\'s little person, a**hole.
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
Look, I\'m supposed to know that. Some people call themselves
little people, some people call themselves dwarfs,
00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
some people call other people midgets not
knowing whether they are a midget or not.
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
There\'s midget baseball, there are
midget cars, the word\'s a valid word,
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
but it\'s just not hurled at you from across the
street. So it\'s the tongue that doesn\'t work.
00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
There are just three things
in this laugh I can\'t stand;
00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
hatred, bigotry, midgets. I am sorry,
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
I just don\'t want them. Do you ever want to
spray a midget with ray to see (inaudible)
00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
you know, make it wiggle a little bit.
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
Looking for more midget humour,
00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
I was perversely delighted to find that some of
it\'s actually funny and politically incorrect,
00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
but you don\'t have to look too far to see that lately we
little people have redeemed our prominence in pop culture at
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
the most mainstream media.
We are everywhere you look;
00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
there\'s Daytown TV. Welcome back everybody!
The guests on today\'s show,
00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
you know they are little people.
They barely stand three feet tall.
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
[sil.]
00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
We are having fun today, helping
lovelorn little people finding them.
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
Did she choose for you?
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
No way. Until I started watching,
00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
I hadn\'t fully understood the
reality of our numbers on TV.
00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
We are legion. 44 little people are going
tow to tow with an Asian elephant.
00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
The elephant looks very explosive to
the lead and the elephant has won.
00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
And I wasn\'t in the habit
of looking at pornography
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
on the internet either.
Yes, indeed, there we are.
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
Dwarfs and sex
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
is a common curiosity.
00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
He\'s Frankie Starlight all grown up.
00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
You are the bloke who wrote
the book, aren\'t you?
00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
Yeah. Do you guys f**k? Pardon me?
Do you guys f**k?
00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
Dwarfs or writers? Obviously, sexuality
is an enormous part of what it
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
means to be human and it would be
impossible to imagine any character I think
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
without in some way addressing and
understanding their sexuality.
00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
Frank\'s sexually as I understood
was complicated by his stature
00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
but it certainly didn\'t change his sexuality itself.
Well, I haven\'t had much experience with women.
00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
Do you often feel sorry for yourself?
I felt that when I read your book.
00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
It\'s true. I don\'t really like myself very
much. He has an important encounter with the
00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
beautiful female interviewer who reaches out to him,
but whom he asked that very demanding question,
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
but could you love someone like me.
00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
There you go. I\'ll get your card.
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
Your first name is Finbar?
00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
Yes. My name is Emily. Hi.
00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
Hi.
00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
You have a nice chin. After
a lot of conversations,
00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
people will say almost in a hush voice,
and he\'s so sexy. But they will,
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
I\'m like, well, say that. You don\'t hesitate to say
George Clooney is sexy in the middle of an interview.
00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
You know you\'ll say I\'d sleep with George
Clooney, but with Peter, it\'s still interesting.
00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
There\'s still a barrier to be crossed there.
At the moment, my sex life is non-existent.
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
I won\'t tell you how many dates I\'ve had in my
lifetime but I\'ve only had one with a little person.
00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
I hope she doesn\'t see this, because
I don\'t think it went very well.
00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
Look at me, side-by-side comparison,
00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
I think little people take most
congeniality in the beauty pageant of life.
00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
I look pretty good in that shot.
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
[music]
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
We are examining the idea
00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
of what is beautiful
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
and what is not.
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
I am asking Nicholas too make me
as beautiful as he possibly can.
00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
We are also referencing things
like this, (inaudible) painting,
00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
the portrait of Sebastian Morra.
00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
Do I look anything like him?
It\'s spitting image.
00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
Thank you for that.
00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
My wife and I really knew nothing about
dwarfism until our daughter Rebecca
00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
was born in 1992. We
were given some pictures
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
of kids with achondroplasia. We were
offered psychological counselling
00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
which we turned down and we were offered a
chance to have an appointment with a geneticist
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
which we took. She reconfirmed the diagnosis,
pointed to some other kind of subtle signs
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
and she told us I want to assure
you that there was nothing
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
you could have done. We kind of sat there and
weren\'t really quite sure what she meant
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
and then eventually I think it
dawned on one of us at least
00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
that what she meant was this couldn\'t have been picked
up in utero and you couldn\'t have chosen abortion.
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
If you had known earlier
than the night I was born,
00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
there was a problem and that my life might
have been more difficult because of it,
00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
would you have considered terminating the
pregnancy as they say? No, not at all.
00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
Is it for religious beliefs?
00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
No, because you have to
give you a chance at life,
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
such it would be, but so far it\'s been very
good for you. So I don\'t regret that, no.
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
When look at it this way the
medical problems that may come up,
00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
there\'s no guarantee they will, but
they can and in some cases, they do,
00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
that can happen to any normal couple. You see
Down Syndrome children and so on and so forth
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
all the time and these happened to
supposedly normal people. Having children
00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
is kind of like a gamble. I would
like to think that if we were given
00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
complete information we would have
chosen to go ahead with the pregnancy,
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
but would we have been given complete information,
is it in the interest of insurance companies
00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
and the medical establishment
to present a full picture
00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
or is it more in the interest
to present a picture of
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
these are all the things that can go
wrong and in fact, plenty went wrong
00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
for us in the first few
years, but we got through it.
00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
There were some people who believe that in
not that many years certainly affluent,
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
well-educated people will look at
sex in purely recreational terms,
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
but when it\'s time to have a child,
you\'re going to want to go in vitro
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
so that you can scan the embryos and make
sure that you were implanting an embryo
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
that will grow into the
so-called perfect child.
00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
That random element
00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
that\'s in nature is important for evolution,
evolution couldn\'t work without it.
00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
So in nature it\'s neither good nor bad.
00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
The universe that I know as a
scientist is not just, unjust,
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
loving or unloving, beautiful
or ugly; it just is,
00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
those concepts are concepts that we invent
to find our own place in the universe
00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
and make sense out of the universe. I think
it\'s going to be a lot easier for my kids
00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
and their generation than it was for ours.
Kids in my kids class now
00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
in kindergarten, they\'re being
taught a whole new way.
00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
There\'s models of inclusion where it\'s
like a good thing to include people
00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
with difference in social activities
to the best of their ability.
00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
Kids of our generation weren\'t taught that.
There\'s so many average people in the world
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
and I\'m not one of them. So I think
00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
that\'s kind of cool. I mean people look at me and
I\'m at the point where I\'m like yeah, come on,
00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
look at me. Why not, I think it\'s
different. I can be in a different way,
00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
maybe not the glamorous side, but I may eye
candy in interesting curious kind of world.
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
We live in a society where
image is so important.
00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
We get magazines and then we see movies and
you know you want to look like Tom Cruise.
00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
You want to have the perfect
body and all that and I think
00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
part of maturation in growing up in wisdom
is realizing that that\'s not important.
00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
And I think people with genetic challenges
00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
realize that sooner than other people do.
00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
The older I get, the different joints and
parts of my body be hurting is not arthritis;
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
it just has to do with
the frame that I\'m in,
00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
in this life that I got to do it. I\'m
not disappointed or discouraged.
00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
It takes strength to maintain anything we
do. So I am always going to take strength
00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
to keep and drive my life and I got
more than a separate tank for that
00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
Step up, get your ticket,
00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
alive and inside, a full grown
human being, only 29 inches tall.
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
She speaks, breathes and feeds
just like everybody else.
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
Like general this pint-sized princess
00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
is no bigger than a minute.
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
I like these photographs by Bruce Davidson.
He took them in New Jersey
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
about the time I was born, 1958.
I think they\'re beautiful,
00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
but despite their beauty, it represents the
notion that it\'s inherently sad being a dwarf.
00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
Is it? No.
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
In fact, a small revolution has happened over
the course of my lifetime. Whether my parents
00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
knew it or not, we were part of it.
00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
[music]
00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
So this is where I find myself,
my place in the universe.
00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
I\'m still a guy who sdoesn\'t like the sight of his
own reflection or the sound of his own voice.
00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
Now I\'ve gone and made a spectacle
of myself. Yes, things have changed,
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
things are changing. I wonder if in another
50 years, dwarfs might not be something
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
of an endangered species,
but for now, here I am.
00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
All of you average people got to know a dwarf a
little better even if it was only in a movie.
00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
The next time you know what to call me,
00:51:55.000 --> 00:52:00.000
Steven. And now I have a question for
you; what do you think you\'re looking at.
00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:50.000
Chucky! Chucky! Get away, Chucky!