Remembering the Lollipop Guild Actors and Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz

“The Wizard of Oz” is probably one of the most iconic films in U.S. cinema history. There is a deep level of nostalgia that “The Wizard of Oz” has in its dual-toned world of sepia and Technicolor.

Through a song, the Munchkins reveal that the Wicked Witch of the East had been terrorizing them. Free from her torment, the Munchkins celebrate Dorothy as a hero.

While two of the actors with dwarfism had their voices used in the film, the majority of the Munchkins’ voices were dubbed with studio voices that were recorded at a slow speed and then sped up when played back.

Becker was chosen for the role of the mayor because of his large belly, round face, and facial hair. His thick German accent made it hard to hear his lines, which is why the studio had Bletcher dub the lines.

Dressed in pale pink outfits, the trio of ballerinas presents Dorothy with a greeting to Munchkin Land through a song. The song is simple, as the lyrics state three times that the trio is the Lullaby League and they welcome Dorothy to Munchkin Land.

The Lollipop Guild actors, who are all male, perform a short song while holding huge lollipops. The lyrics to Lollipop Guild are similar to the Lullaby League, as they state three times, “We represent the Lollipop Guild,” and welcome Dorothy to Munchkin Land.

Maren, who boarded an MGM chartered bus headed to Culver City in November 1938, had never met another little person. In his 2006 memoir, “Short and Sweet,” Maren revealed that his “eyes lit up” when he first met the Munchkin cast. “I wondered if they walked like me. Did they have a high-pitched voice like me? Do they eat the same things as me?” he wrote (via The New Yorker).

The supposed Munchkin in the background is a large bird perched on a branch. No evidence of the incident ever occurred during production according to production notes.

However, the truth about the little people on set was crafted into a myth. In an interview with Jack Paar in 1967, Judy Garland said, “They were drunks … They got smashed every night, and they’d pick ‘em up in butterfly nets.” In 1981, Garland’s dehumanizing comments were adapted into Chevy Chase’s comedy “Under the Rainbow.”

The only evidence of misbehavior was found in a memo from production manager Keith Weeks who wrote that Charley Kelley and another person had “tried to knife [an] assistant, Mr. Torelli, in an altercation.”

Not all the little people of “Oz” shared Maren’s sense of indifference. According to a New Yorker article, Addie Eva Frank refused to mingle with them, calling them derisive slurs, believing she was a serious actor. Nita Krebs sometimes cried in her dressing room, fearing that the vaudeville audiences saw her as a “cute little thing” and not an artist.

“The Wizard of Oz” characters in the Lollipop Guild, Lullaby League, and background actors often serve as an introduction to young audiences to little people. It was rare at that time for these actors to be highlighted on the silver screen, let alone in Technicolor.

The actors arrived at the ceremony via a “horse-of-a-different-color” drawn carriage led by the Hollywood High School Marching Band. The Star is located in the Motion Pictures category at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard.