The Doll family were four of seven children born to Amelia Emma Preusche and Gustav Schneider in Stolpen, Germany.

Kurt and Frieda changed their names to Harry and Grace to act in films, and they adopted the surname Earles of their manager.

[4][5][1][6] At this time, the Dolls began touring with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, where they sang, danced and rode horses and wagons for the next 30 years.

However, the 1932 film was considered horrifying, and was shown in the U.S. with many cuts, banned in England, and in Canada was called "brutal and grotesque".

[8][9][4][10] In fact, Harry himself brought to Browning's attention the Tod Robbins story "Spurs" on which elements of the film were based.

They were not credited individually in the film, but as part of the larger group of "The Singer Midgets", despite having been generally well known in their own careers as "The Doll Family".

[1][4][12] The Doll family were close-knit, and always lived, ate and worked alongside one another, with the exception of Daisy's brief marriage in 1942, to an average-sized man, which ended in divorce less than a year later.