The little lady known as "Lady Little" but who we know as Marie Jean Bernadet came to marry John Maroldo whose stage name was "Johnny Winters." The two probably met when Winters joined up with the Marechal midget troupe.
I'm not sure where, when or even if they appeared and toured as a couple but I've never seen them referred to as the "smallest married couple."
Reportedly, both appeared in the best forgotten 1938 film "The Terror of Tiny Town" and a year later both had bit parts in "The Wizard of Oz", she as a villager and he as Commander of Navy.
Later, in the 1940's, Johnny got a "real" job as an assembly expert at the Yultee aircraft plant in Los Angeles. Using his size to his advantage, he was able to get into tight spots that normal-sized workers would have found impossible.
The pair eventually retired to San Diego where Marie died in 1979 at age 78 and John in 1985, age 80. |
