The story of the most serious girl, for whose laughter they offered 30 thousand dollars
Everyone remembers the fairy tale about the princess Nesmeyana, having made her laugh, the main character received her as a wife and half the kingdom into the bargain. It turns out that Americans had a chance to improve their financial situation by making a girl laugh at the beginning of the XX century. One of the New York private circuses offered an unusual attraction – it was necessary to make a young lady named Susan Kelly laugh in 1 minute, for which the organizers of the show were willing to pay handsomely.
The laughter of Susan Kelly, whose stage name was Gloomy Sue, was worth fighting for. The reward promised by the owners of the circus, in terms of modern money, was 30 thousand dollars! Whole queues of comedians of all stripes, ages and genres lined up to the theater, where the most serious girl in the USA performed.
But even when everyone present was rolling on the ground and choking with laughter, Frowning Sue remained extremely serious. It got to the point that for many comedians, the girl's laughter became a matter of honor and they came to make her laugh for free. But the time-bound attempts of enthusiasts did not bring success either.
"What's funny about this?" a girl with a stony face asked the audience a standard question, after another disgraced comedian left the stage with whistles and shouts. Some were sure that there was something wrong with Frowning Sue and believed that she was blind and deaf. But everything was fine with Mrs. Kelly – she had no problems keeping up the conversation and naming the number of fingers shown to her.
But those who suspected the owners of the attraction of uncleanness were partly right and Gloomy Sue was actually not quite an ordinary girl. The truth became clear only after the show ceased to exist. It turns out that Susan Kelly suffered from a rare congenital disease – Mobius syndrome. In this disease, the facial nerve is paralyzed and facial expressions are completely absent.
This disease was known back in the XIX century, but, due to the rarity of the syndrome, almost no one has heard of it. This incident gave rise to a popular American saying – "It would make even Gloomy Sue laugh", which can be heard even today. The star of America's most serious show had a lot of imitators, but none of them was so successful.