Wizard of Oz

On January 21, 1903, The Wizard of Oz opened on Broadway at the brand new Majestic Theatre on Columbus Circle. It became the favorite of a generation. The audiences couldn’t get enough. The Tornado scene! Fred Stone’s boneless Scarecrow walking about on his ankles! The lovely all-girl poppy field! The glittering Emerald City! The audiences came back for seconds and thirds. They brought their kids. Everyone bought the sheet music, the phonograph records, the player-piano rolls, and Baum’s original novel! Oz had entered the American consciousness.  digitalgallery

The Wizard of Oz is one of the best-loved fairy tales and one of the best-loved films of all time. Yet few people know that it was a Broadway musical in 1903 that made Oz, Dorothy Gale, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman household names. ( Montgomery and Stone as the Tin Man and Scarecrow in Wizard of Oz.)             

Source:  digitalgallery |The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts / Billy Rose Theatre Division

Ray Bolger

Raymond Wallace, Ray Bolger (January 10, 1904 – January 15, 1987) began his career in vaudeville. He was half of a team called "Sanford and Bolger" and also did numerous Broadway shows on his own. He, like Gene Kelly, was a song-and-dance man as well as an actor. Bolger was signed to a contract with MGM in 1936 and his first role was as himself in The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Noticed by MGM producers and resulted in his being cast in his most famous role, that of the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Source: nndb | imdb | otrstreet