JUDY GARLAND
Born: Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA, 1904
Died: Los Angeles, California, USA, 1987
American actor/dancer Ray Bolger grew up in a middle-class Boston neighborhood
called Dorchester. The son of a house painter, Bolger knew what he wanted to do
in life the moment he saw Broadway entertainer Fred Stone literally bounce on
stage in a Boston production of Jack O'Lantern. "That moment opened up a whole
new world for me" Bolger would remember; after a relatively aimless childhood,
he determined to become a performer himself.
Starting out in vaudeville as a dancer, Bolger developed a loose-limbed ad lib
style that would win him starring spots in such 1930s Broadway musicals as Life
Begins at 8:40 and On Your Toes; in the latter, Bolger introduced Richard
Rodgers' Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.
Signed by MGM in 1936 for a featured solo in The Great Ziegfeld, Bolger was
given a $3,000 per week contract and was expected to take whatever part was
assigned him. But Bolger balked when he was cast as the Tin Man in the studio's
Wizard of Oz. He felt the role was too confining for his talents, so Bolger
convinced the film's Scarecrow, Buddy Ebsen, to switch parts with him. This move,
of course, assured film immortality for Bolger, but wasn't so beneficial for
Ebsen, whose allergic reaction to the Tin Man's silver makeup forced him to drop
out of the film and be replaced by Jack Haley.
Born: Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA, 1904
Died: Los Angeles, California, USA, 1987
American actor/dancer Ray Bolger grew up in a middle-class Boston neighborhood
called Dorchester. The son of a house painter, Bolger knew what he wanted to do
in life the moment he saw Broadway entertainer Fred Stone literally bounce on
stage in a Boston production of Jack O'Lantern. "That moment opened up a whole
new world for me" Bolger would remember; after a relatively aimless childhood,
he determined to become a performer himself.
Starting out in vaudeville as a dancer, Bolger developed a loose-limbed ad lib
style that would win him starring spots in such 1930s Broadway musicals as Life
Begins at 8:40 and On Your Toes; in the latter, Bolger introduced Richard
Rodgers' Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.
Signed by MGM in 1936 for a featured solo in The Great Ziegfeld, Bolger was
given a $3,000 per week contract and was expected to take whatever part was
assigned him. But Bolger balked when he was cast as the Tin Man in the studio's
Wizard of Oz. He felt the role was too confining for his talents, so Bolger
convinced the film's Scarecrow, Buddy Ebsen, to switch parts with him. This move,
of course, assured film immortality for Bolger, but wasn't so beneficial for
Ebsen, whose allergic reaction to the Tin Man's silver makeup forced him to drop
out of the film and be replaced by Jack Haley.