A Death in Munchkinland

 

Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed I’ve always been with “The Wizard of Oz.” Before I could even talk, my mother used to put me to bed by placing the needle at the beginning of our long-playing soundtrack for the 1939 film (which included a lot of the dialogue) and I would drift off to sleep somewhere between the Wicked Witch of the West’s threats to kill Dorothy and her little dog and the Cowardly Lion fantasizing about being King of the Forest. It might not have been the healthiest sleep method but it worked for me and by the time I was six I knew every word of Yip Harburg’s wonderful songs. By the time I was 10 I could literally recite the entire film by heart, from Dorothy’s oepning lines: “She isn’t coming yet, Toto. Did she hurt you? She tried to, didn’t she?” to her final “Oh Auntie Em, there’s no place like home!” I would entertain my friends by seeing how fast I could spit out all the whole film, words, songs, and even special effects. If I talked ridiculously fast, I think my personal best was just under 20 minutes. I’ve written about how the annual telecast of “The Wizard of Oz” was a huge event in my family, on par with the Jewish holidays we celebrated (and with some confusing similarities).

 

My daughter grew up watching the movie and we’ve managed to see many anniversary screenings in movie theatres. We attended a sing-along “Wizard of Oz” at the Hollywood Bowl with 18,000 other fans of the film. At the age of eight, Leah appeared on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl dressed as author L. Frank Baum. I certainly plan on introducing Charlie to the film when he’s ready, and I’ve been singing various songs from the film to him since his earliest days in the NICU.

I’ve got Oz on the brain this weekend because Meinhardt Raabe died yesterday at the age of 94. Raabe was one of the few remaining munchkins still alive. We met him and the others in this group several times at various events around town. Leah has an autographed photo she treasures of Margaret Pelligrini, the munchkin who wore the flower pot hat. Pelligrini survives today and has six great-grandchildren. She was only 15 in the film, got $50 a week, and loved every second of it. “Judy Garland was a sweet girl,” Margaret recalled, “a typical teenager and she loved the munchkins. During film breaks, Judy would sit and chat with us on the Yellow Brick Road. We were all so amazed to be working with a star—but she was equally amazed to be working with all of us. She gave me an 8 x 10 photo of herself and wrote on it ‘To Margaret from your pal Judy.’”

As the Coroner of Munchkinland, it was Meinhardt Raabe who pronounced the Wicked Witch of the East legally dead. At the age of 21 and less than four feet tall, it was Raabe who uttered what has become one of the most famous lines from the film:

As Coroner, I must aver 
I thoroughly examined her… 
And she’s not only merely dead 
She’s really most sincerely dead!

For the rest of his life, people would come up to Raabe and ask him what “I aver” means (legal jargon for “I swear”). It was one of the words I learned from the movies but never used, like “ken” that Liesl “Things Beyond My Ken” Von Trapp taught me in “The Sound of Music.”

 

Did you ever get a good look at the death certificate Raabe holds up in the film? It says the Wicked Witch died on May 6, 1938. Funny to think of that date on the certificate when the movie itself is so timeless. As Raabe said himself during one of his last interviews, “There is nothing in the picture that dates it. There are no vintage cars or old streetcars…it’s a fantasy picture that will be fantasy for generations to come.”

Outside of Munchkinland, May 6, 1938 also marked the day that mass deportations of Austria’s Jews were announced. One Austrian named Leo Singer had emigrated years earlier to this country with a troupe of midgets that became wildly successful in vaudeville. Singer’s Midgets took the U.S. by storm appearing in the best theatres in New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. When vaudeville died, Singer tried to get his “little people” into the movies but it was hard going. They made a few shorts for Paramount but the act was languishing when he finally got the call from MGM about “The Wizard of Oz.” Singer was hired to gather all of the midgets he could find for the film. He used the remaining members of his own troupe and looked for any and all performing midgets around the country. In the end, there were 124 midgets plus about half a dozen full-size children making up the munchkin ranks.

During the filming, most of the munchkins stayed in a nearby Culver City hotel. The crazy stories of their drunken debauchery were mostly fiction, although a handful of the midgets had drinking problems and there were a few episodes. But most of the wildly exaggerated tales were spread by Judy Garland as she made the talk show rounds in the 1960s. It made for a good story and was even the basis for a weird 1980s film starring Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher called "Under the Rainbow."

Considering the fact that “The Wizard of Oz” was made over 70 years ago, it’s amazing that anyone from the production survives. When I was growing up, most of the cast was still alive they often appeared to introduce the film during its annual TV showing.  Only Frank Morgan, the charlatan wizard, died before I was born, in 1950. Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion was the next to go, in 1967, followed by Dorothy herself, when Judy Garland died at age 47 in 1969. Glinda the Good Witch’s Billlie Burke died the following year. In 1979, the Tin Man’s Jack Haley went to that great junk heap in the sky (after his son married Dorothy’s daughter, Liza). Following a successful resurgence of her career in Maxwell House coffee commercials, Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West finally went “where the goblins go, below, below, below” in 1985, followed two years later by the Scarecrow’s Ray Bolger. Now, with Meinhardt Raabe’s death, only a very few munchkins are left. How sad it will be when the last person associated with this film leaves the planet. But, like Raabe said, the movie will live on for many generations to come.

I recently heard that no fewer than three Oz projects are in pre-production. Say it ain’t so! I’m game for a movie version of the musical “Wicked” but can’t stand the thought of Hollywood remaking the original film. I’m sure the new munchkins will be CGI monstrosities and I shudder at the thought of some insipid modern teen taking on the role of Dorothy.

 

Meinhardt Raabe spent the rest of his life in his blue coroner’s costume regaling generation after generation of new Oz lovers. He wore it two years ago when the remaining munchkins were on hand for the unveiling of their star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame. 

Farewell, Meinhardt!

You’re out of the woods  
You’re out of the dark  
You’re out of the night.  
Step into the sun  
Step into the light.  
Keep straight ahead for the most glorious place  
On the face of the earth or the sky…

Comments

[Lori Kirkland Baker]

I was just on the Walk of Fame today and there was a big hullabaloo surrounding the Munchkins star. Large standing spray of flowers and lots of people taking pics.

[TorontoPearl]

Thanks, Danny, for such an insightful post.
The Wizard of Oz -- specifically the wicked witch -- scared me. I still am hesitant to watch it when it airs, truth be told.

My parents had a clothing store and as a youngster, I was often there; especially after senior kindergarten classes in the morning, my mom would pick me up from school and take me back to the store for a few hours. One day, a female customer walked in, I took one look at her and announced to my mother, "She looks like the Wicked Witch of the West!" Unfortunately, I can't recall what shade of red my mother turned, or if she made a sale!

[Heather]

Like you I am HORRIFIED at the thought of a re-make!!!
Wonderful tribute Danny, and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only person in the world that's mildly obsessed with this movie! ;-)

[Margalit]

Although I'm slightly mortified to admit the flying monkeys scare me so badly that I have to walk out of the room, I adore the rest of the movie and like you I have it memorized. There is something so special about it and the thought of some monstrosity being made with horrid special effects and a complete lack of understanding of what makes the origional so great makes me physically I'll. Are origional thoughts impossible these days?

[Julie R.]

That's too bad about good ol' Meinhardt. The mother of one of my sister's elementary-school classmates played a Munchkin at age four. She was one of the three ballerinas (I can't remember what they were called).

I always looked forward to the yearly showing of the movie, but I would run to my parents' room and wait out the scene when the witch throws the fireball at the scarecrow. That was terrifying.

[Pam G]

Wonderful tribute. I never knew much about the Coroner Munchkin until reading the obit. I did know that not many associated with the film were still around. I got to know Margaret Hamilton a bit in the late 1970s. She was a nice lady. Hate to think of any remake being done.

[Karen]

Love this post. I've always been a big fan of Oz (what did you think of the sequel?) and loved this bit of insight from 'behind the scenes.' I can't imagine a present-day remake.. how horrid that would be. Say hi to Charlie from Hunter.. :)

[Kirk]

Still one of my favorite movies, and one that no amount of CGI effects can improve on. Thank God nobody's thought of colorizing the Kansas parts (Oops. Shouldn't say that. I don't want to give anyone ideas)

I, too, mourn the fact that hardly any of the original cast survives. That said, back when most were still alive, things could get pretty weird. I remember a Paul Lynde Halloween special from when I was in High school. Margaret Hamilton revised her Wicked Witch character, appearing alongside Witchiepoo from Pufnstuf!

[Larry]

Too funny - It WAS every bit as much a cultural icon as any religion we had at home too growing up. Every year I'd watch it... at least once a year, a lot more often with the advent of videotape, then DVD.

I've watched it with Yakira's 5 year old several times, and I annoy her every time with the fact that I know (and won't keep to myself) every word in the movie.. but the last time we watched it, I learned something else about myself that I didn't know. This last time it was on network television.. probably the first time I've seen it on that medium since Reagan was president. And much to my astonishment, I called (again, out loud) every single commercial break. Apparently they run them in the same spots they did for the last 50 years. It's like it was genetically coded or something. It's moderately disconcerting to have a 5 yr old girl look at you like you're possessed. But then after the fourth time I did it, she just glared.

As far as a remake goes: As long as they're creative. I really liked (and was expecting to HATE) Tin Man... with Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming, and Neal McDonough. Nicely done homage in places without being a "remake"

[Judy]

I too loved this movie. I remember going to the movies and they had it on the big screen. I don't remember how old I was but I stayed in the movie theater all day seeing it 3 times before I went home. I just couldn't leave. This was in the 50s. I used to play the album constantly, alternating with Peter Pan. I also watched it annually. I love Yip Harburg and have a cd where he sings his own songs. My husband met his son when Yip's archive was at NYU but he moved it to the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center because he didn't like the treatment they gave to Yip's work. I also have Yip's biography, written by his son, Ernie. A great read. He also wrote funny poems, commenting on the politics of the day.

[Annika]

This is such a beautiful tribute!

The Wizard Of Oz was the very first movie I ever saw in a theater, sometime around 1982 (I am, obviously, a bit younger than you). I've read all of the books many times and could probably recite most of the movie.

However, I welcome the idea of more movies. I would hate a straight-up remake of the 1939 version, but another movie (or three) based on the source material would be cause for celebration for me! Unfortunately, I do not think my first-choice director is attached to any of the films in development (Guillermo del Toro -- oh, it would look amazing!) but I remain cautiously optimistic.

[Minnesota Mamaleh]

wonderful post! i can't wait to introduce my kids to some of childhood favorites (mary poppins is at the top of my list and thankfully, theirs already, too!) and to see their reactions, hear them sing along to the music. there's just something magical about t*those* movies that can;t seem to be replicated in anything else! thanks for a lovely tribute.

[Shari]

I love the way you ended this post. Also the way you worked in a reference to the Holocaust.

The movie terrified me as a child - I can now watch it all the way through, but still wince at the trees grabbing at Dorothy and the flying monkeys. Too horrible.

[Laura O]

We love this movie and like in your family, the annual showing of the movie usually around Easter was a major event. In some ways, the fact that you can now get the DVD and watch it at anytime (which I often do with our 3 and 6 year olds) takes a bit of excitement and magic away of that special event television feeling. Nevertheless, it's such a wonderful movie.

My mother, who is 83, vividly remembers going to the 1939 World's Fair in NY and seeing Judy Garland and the other major cast members up on stage. That's where she first remembers also seeing a demonstration of television for the first time! Amazing...

Do you own or have you ever seen that pop-up book about the Wizard of Oz? My mother in law gave that as a gift to our children and it's just wonderful!

[Nathalie]

haha, my dad's name is Reinhardt! >.<
has nothing to do with the post, just thought I should point that out... ha...... ha........

[phantoo]

i really thankful for providing very good information

i used this post at night when i think about my friends and family so i really thankful for providing very knowledgeable information for further help

If you want to see more interested and sweet funny clips then you have to visit on phantoo.com

[Chris]

This remains my favorite movie of all time. My oldest son [12] has a parakeet and while he's at school, he plays the soundtrack from "The Wizard of Oz" on a little CD player over and over and over. Wonderful tribute. I learned something, as usual.

[Gary]

I was thrilled to have interviewed each of them, Margaret, Meinhardt, Jerry, Mickey, Ruth, Karl and Clarence. I still have the tapes and am thrilled anew every time I listen to them