Ray Bolger: Immortality as a Scarecrow
Long before Andy Serkis donned the role of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) and before Zoe Saldana took on the role of Neytiri in Avatar (2009), Ray Bolger was cast in the dual role of the Scarecrow and Hunk the Kansas farmhand in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s Academy-Award-Winning classic The Wizard of Oz (1939). Ray Bolger had an interesting career both pre- and post-Oz, and I thought we could explore that in this blog.
A lover of vaudeville since childhood, he started dancing at the age of 19 and auditioned for Broadway at New York’s Palace Theatre at the age of 22. His audition was successful and it immediately led to him gaining leading roles on Broadway. He appeared in the plays “George White’s Scandals,” in 1931, “Life Begins at 8:40,” and in the musical “On Your Toes,” in 1936. After his short run in “On Your Toes,” he signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and his first film with MGM was The Great Ziegfeld (1936) which won the Oscar for Best Picture. He also made the films Rosalie (1937) and Sweethearts (1938). In each of these three films, Bolger worked with future “Oz,” co-star Frank Morgan. Around this time, MGM green-lit “The Wizard of Oz,” and offered him the role of the Tin Man.
Bolger did want to be in “Oz,” but he didn’t want to play the Tin Man. He desperately wanted to be the Scarecrow. But the role had originally been offered to other MGM contract player Buddy Ebsen. Ray Bolger and his wife, Gwendolyn Rickard Bolger, fought hard for him to earn the part claiming that his dancing skills could fit the role of the Scarecrow a great deal better than the Tin Man, and ultimately they won the studio over. At a special gathering honoring “Oz,” at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Bolger said “I had thought of the Scarecrow as a man without a brain, and it so fitted me.”
Throughout production of “Oz,” Ray Bolger developed a close friendship with Margaret Hamilton, who portrayed the dual role of the Wicked Witch of the West and Miss Gulch in “Oz,” (despite the fact that the Witch light’s the Scarecrow’s arm on fire in the film.) Both Hamilton and Bolger appeared together in the film The Daydreamer (1966) and the Broadway Musical Come Summer in 1968. They continued their friendship until Hamilton’s death on May 16th, 1985, and Bolger was one of the speakers at her funeral. He was also very close with Judy Garland to which he was reunited in the MGM film The Harvey Girls (1946) opposite Angela Lansbury. They also appeared together at the Las Vegas Sahara Hotel in 1962, and even worked together on The Judy Garland Show (1963-1964). Garland always referred to Bolger as “My Scarecrow.”
In addition to all of his other film and stage appearances, Ray Bolger also has two connections to the Walt Disney Studios. Thanks to an arrangement with Ward Kimball, who was one of Walt Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” Bolger auditioned for the role of the evil Barnaby in the live-action movie-musical Babes in Toyland (1961) opposite Annette Funicello. Kimball, who was originally attached to direct “Babes in Toyland,” unfortunately got fired from the picture due to bitter creative differences clashing with Walt Disney, but Disney still kept Bolger in the role of Barnaby when Jack Donohue assumed the director’s chair for the film. (Kimball is still credited as a screenwriter for the film.) Ray Bolger also narrated The Story and Songs of The Wizard of Oz, which is an album produced by Disneyland Records in 1969.
Ray Bolger was the last surviving principal cast member of “The Wizard of Oz,” passing away of bladder cancer on January 15th, 1987. When asked on what he was paid for the television repeat airings of “Oz,” and he replied “No residuals, just immortality.” Ray Bolger did create immortality as the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz.” He neither won nor was nominated for an Oscar or Golden Globe, but I think that Ray Bolger is living proof actors don’t need major awards to be remembered for a role on screen!
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